TicketsApril 2, 2009
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The University of Cincinnati lacrosse team returns home for its first BIG EAST Conference home contest in school history. UC will play No. 9/10 Notre Dame on Friday, April 3, in a 4 p.m. game and take on Rutgers on Sunday, April 5, at 2 p.m. The Bearcats will be looking to notch their first ever BIG EAST Conference victory this weekend.
Cincinnati is coming off an 23-7 defeat at No. 8/7 Syracuse. The Bearcats are led statistically by freshman Laura Simanski, who has 29 goals in 2009. With one more goal Simanski will match the 30 goals that teammate Lindsey Marshall achieved last season. The freshman leads the team in goals, points (31), shots (50) and shots on goal (44).
Notre Dame will serve as Cincinnati's first BIG EAST Conference home opponent. The Bearcats played their inaugural lacrosse season as an independent before officially joining the BIG EAST in 2009. The Fighting Irish are led statistically by Gina Scioscia, who has 33 goals and 54 points on the year. Notre Dame is currently 9-2-0 overall and 2-1-0 in BIG EAST play, defeating Loyola (Md.) 16-13 in its last game. UND is currently ranked No. 9 in the IWLCA/Under Armour Poll and No. 10 by the Inside Lacrosse Poll.
Rutgers travels to Louisville on Friday (April 5) before they arrive in Clifton to challenge the Bearcats on Sunday. The Scarlet Knights are currently 4-7-0 overall and 1-2-0 in BIG EAST play, defeating Loyola (Md.) 12-11 on March 27 to capture their lone conference win. RU is led statistically by Brooke Cantwell, who has 19 goals and 23 points on the year.
Notre Dame will serve as UC's fifth ranked opponent in 2009. The Bearcats played three ranked opponents in their inaugural season and are looking for their first win over a ranked opponent.
Katherine Russo, who has started all 10 games for the Bearcats, was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for the second time this season after her performance against nationally ranked Johns Hopkins and Villanova. Russo gave up 18 goals for the week, but had 22 saves, including two crucial saves with 23 and 17 seconds remaining in the victory over Villanova. She was also named to the Honor Roll for the week of Feb. 23.
Lynsey Burton, MacKenzie Parsons, and Natalie Starvaggi each have 10-plus goals this season. Burton has scored the first goal of a game four times in her career - including the first goal in UC history last season, on a free position attempt at the 22:10 mark of the first period at Vanderbilt on Feb. 14, 2008. Parsons has scored eight goals in the last seven games and has 10 for the year while Starvaggi surpassed her number of goals scored in 2008 (8) at Connecticut last weekend and has 10 goals in 2009.
Senior Lindsey Marshall has a team-high 17 caused turnovers and has scored 23 goals this season. Freshman Lauren Houck is UC's assist leader, dishing out an impressive 11 total assists and twice recording 4-assist games in 2009. Freshman Ali Mattingly leads the squad with 23 controlled draws while classmate LB Zinkand leads the team with 26 ground balls.
Lindsey Marshall, Patty Kelly, Natalie Starvaggi and Paige Stratton are the 2009 captains. The group of leaders provide solid experience for the 2009 squad that includes 15 newcomers.
Cincinnati's game against Detroit on April 29 has been moved to April 27. The Bearcats will play Detroit on April 27 at 7 p.m. at Indian Hills High School in Cincinnati.