Alumni Match Highlights Spring Season-Opening Weekend for Men's Soccer

Alumni Match Highlights Spring Season-Opening Weekend for Men's SoccerAlumni Match Highlights Spring Season-Opening Weekend for Men's Soccer

April 6, 2009

CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati men's soccer team opened its 2009 Spring season this weekend, highlighted by the annual Alumni Match on Friday, April 3. The Bearcats then hosted the UC Invitational on Sunday, April 5, welcoming Marshall and Northern Kentucky to Gettler Stadium.

The current Bearcats topped the alumni, 2-1, in the alumni match on Friday night. An own goal and a Mark Konitsch tally were the scores for UC. The alumni's goal came late in the match off the foot of current volunteer assistant coach Sam Miller inside the box. All four of UC's current goalkeepers split time, with Miguel Rosales making several key saves as a member of the alumni squad.

"It is always good to have our Alumni return to campus. The turnout was great, the match was very competitive, and overall everyone had fun," said head coach Hylton Dayes.

The UC Invitational, which featured Marshall, Northern Kentucky, and Rio Grande, featured a win and a tie for the Bearcats. In the first match of the day, UC topped Marshall, 2-0. In the 27th minute Branden Stelmak beat his defender and slotted a shot to the lower left corner to give UC the lead. Just two minutes later Matt Bahner carried the ball to the endline and played a cutback ball to Stelmak inside box who calmy collected the ball and beat the keeper for his second goal of the match. Rosales and Peter Steve combined for the shutout in the 2-0 final.

UC opened up an early lead against Northern Kentucky when Konitsch put home a Chris Mitchell cross in the third minute. NKU equaled just two minutes later and took the lead in the 20th minute on a header off a free kick. UC's play was stronger in the second half and the Bearcats leveled the score in the 38th minute when a Tristan Watson redirection was cleared unsuccessfully and found the side of the net for an own goal. Joey Barnard made a great save late in the half when he closed down a forward in the box and deflected a shot hit hard and low from 12 yards to keep the score tied at 2-2.

"Overall it was a successful weekend! Both matches were competitive and gave us a chance to evaluate the team's progress," Dayes added. "It was good to see us score four goals in the two matches, this is an area that we have targeted for improvement this spring"

UC will head to Dayton for a tournament at UD on April 11. UC will play the host Flyers at 11:30 a.m. and Western Michigan at 2:15 p.m.