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Bearcats Open 2009 Season at Dayton

Bearcats Open 2009 Season at DaytonBearcats Open 2009 Season at Dayton

Sept. 1, 2009

Game Notes | |

STORY LINES

  • The University of Cincinnati men's soccer team opens its 2009 season against regional rival Dayton on Tuesday, Sept. 1, at UD's Baujan Field. The Bearcats are coming off a 7-10-2 season in 2008 and return 10 starters from last year's squad.
  • Head coach Hylton Dayes is in his ninth season at Cincinnati and 19th season as a head coach overall. Dayes is 168-148-41 overall and 72-63-21 at UC. His 72 wins at Cincinnati rank in a second-place tie with Jim McDowell for coaching wins in program history.
  • UC wrapped up its 2009 exhibition slate with a 1-1-0 mark. The Bearcats dropped the opening match at Ohio State before rebounding with a 5-1 win against Cincinnati State in Gettler Stadium. Alex Fernandes scored twice for UC in the drubbing of the Surge and five Bearcats scored in the preseason.
  • The Bearcats return 10 starters from last year's squad, including leading scorer Branden Stelmak (Broadview Heights, Ohio/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) and goalkeeper Matt Williams (Portland, Maine/Cheverus), who posted nine shutouts a season ago.
  • The Bearcats have experience in goal as Williams - the 2008 starter - and Miguel Rosales (Aurora, Colo./Smoky Hill), who started all but one match in 2007, return this season. Williams holds a career 1.17 goals against average, while Rosales' sparkling 0.81 GAA in the 2007 season shows the Bearcats have strength in numbers between the pipes.
  • Cincinnati needs to replace a third-team all-BIG EAST defender Brad Simpson, a four-year starter at central defense. Senior captain Luke Henke (Wauwatosa, Wis./Milwaukee Lutheran), who missed a portion of 2008 with an injury, will be key in solidifying a young and talented defensive unit.
  • UC is looking for its fifth consecutive trip to the BIG EAST Tournament. The Bearcats have qualified for the conference tourney in each of the first four years of affiliation with the powerful soccer league. UC won the school's first BIG EAST regular season title in 2006.

LAST TIME OUT

  • Fernandes scored a pair of goals to lead UC to a 5-1 win over Cincinnati State in its final exhibition contest on Aug. 25 in Gettler Stadium. UC wrapped up the exhibition slate with a 1-1-0 mark.
  • Mark Konitsch (Clarence, N.Y./Clarence Senior), Chris Mitchell (Pickering, Ontario/SUNY Plattsburgh), and Nick Weightman (Lanark, Scotland/Webber International) also tallied for the Bearcats.
  • The Bearcats allowed an own goal, but the defense held Cincinnati State to just three shots, outshooting the Surge, 21-3.

UP NEXT

  • The Bearcats will take on Canisius in the 2009 home opener at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 4. Sunday, Sept. 6, UC will welcome regional foe Wright State to Gettler Stadium for a 5 p.m. tilt.