TicketsSept. 25, 2009
CINCINNATI - Andrea Kaminski (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) made a season-high 13 saves and the University of Cincinnati (6-4-0, 1-1-0) women's soccer team held No. 12/14 Notre Dame (6-3-0, 2-0-0) scoreless for 77 minutes in a hard-fought, 2-1 loss in BIG EAST Conference action on Friday night at Gettler Stadium.
"I thought we executed our game plan," said head coach Michelle Salmon. "It's a credit to the team. They did an excellent job. We were in a position to win this game tonight and that team (Notre Dame) was in the national finals last year. If you look at how far our program has come in a year, it's tremendous. I'm pleased with the courage and heart that we played with tonight. I think tonight's game proves that our young team, that's fun to watch, can play with any team in the country."
The Bearcats put the first point on the scoreboard when Emily Hebbeler (Park Hills, Ky./Notre Dame Academy) took a lob pass from Julie Morrissey (Abington, Mass./Tabor Academy) just two minutes after she entered the match and floated a goal past the Notre Dame goalkeeper at the 75:56 mark. Notre Dame responded with a goal from Lauren Fowlkes from a free kick by Rose Augustin. Jessica Schuveiller scored the game-winning goal after a Kaminski save took an odd bounce off her body, setting up Schuveiller.
"A huge credit to Emily Hebbeler who came off the bench for a huge goal but really it was a combined team effort tonight," noted Salmon. "We executed our game plan flawlessly until the last 13 minutes."
Kaminski was outstanding in goal, keeping the Fighting Irish scoreless in the first half for the fifth time this season. She made three amazing diving stops in a span of six minutes in the first period and in the second half she made a one-handed diving save on a Fowlkes shot in the 76th minute.
Notre Dame out-shot Cincinnati, 24-4, and held a 6-1 advantage on corner kicks.
Cincinnati will play at DePaul next, on Sunday, Sept. 27 at 2 p.m. Eastern in a BIG EAST match.