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Bearcats Welcome Crosstown Rival Xavier

Bearcats Welcome Crosstown Rival XavierBearcats Welcome Crosstown Rival Xavier

Sept. 30, 2009

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STORY LINES

  • The University of Cincinnati men's soccer team returns to Gettler Stadium for a 7 p.m. match against crosstown rival Xavier on Sept. 30. The Bearcats and Musketeers will meet for the 38th time, with UC leading the series, 24-8-5. The Bearcats have won the last four meetings.
  • UC's 1-0 win vs. Notre Dame on Sept. 27 was televised live on CBS College Sports Network. UC's last televised match came at St. John's on Halloween night at St. John's in 2008. The Bearcats fell, 2-0, to the Red Storm.
  • Head coach Hylton Dayes is in his ninth season at Cincinnati and 19th season as a head coach overall. Dayes is 173-150-41 overall and 77-65-21 at UC. With the win against Dayton in the 2009 season opener, Dayes moved past Jim McDowell into sole possession of second place in coaching wins in program history. Bob Muro is the program's winningest head coach at 114-111-13.
  • After a 5-2 victory over No. 18 Dayton on Sept. 1, UC defeated Canisius 5-0. It marked the first time the Bearcats have scored five or more goals in back-to-back matches since the 1983 season. UC defeated Virginia Tech, 10-2, before falling at Bellarmine by a 7-6 count.
  • A 3-0 win over Western Illinois pushed the Bearcats' record to 4-0-0 for the first time since 1989, when the Bearcats finished with a school-record 14 wins (14-4-1).
  • UC has scored 17 goals in the first nine matches of the season after tallying just 13 scores in 19 matches in 2008.
  • Junior forward Branden Stelmak (Broadview Heights, Ohio/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) took home two awards in the season's opening week, being named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll on Monday, Sept. 7, and being named to the Collegesoccernews.com National Team of the Week. Stelmak scored three goals in the first three matches and is tied for the team lead with three goals.
  • Redshirt freshman defender Kit North (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) was named BIG EAST Rookie of the Week on Sept. 7. North, who scored his first career goal in his first career appearance against Dayton on Sept. 1, helped lead the defense to consecutive shutouts.
  • Miguel Rosales (Aurora, Colo./Smoky Hill) posted three shutouts in his first four appearances of the season. He moved ahead of teammate Matt Williams (Portland, Maine/Cheverus) and into a tie for seventh in school annals with his 11th career shutout against Pittsburgh. Williams pulled even with his 11th career shutout at Notre Dame.
  • The Bearcats return 10 starters from last year's squad, including leading scorer Branden Stelmak and goalkeeper Matt Williams, who posted nine shutouts a season ago. The Bearcats have experience in goal as Williams - the 2008 starter - and Miguel Rosales, who started all but one match in 2007, return this season.
  • Williams posted his second career assist from his goalkeeper position against Dayton. He cleared a Dayton crossing pass out of his own end and onto the foot of Nick Weightman (Lanark, Scotland/Webber International), who scored his second career goal on the breakaway.
  • 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.

WEIGHT OF THE WORLD

  • Junior Nick Weightman tallied a goal and three assists in UC's season-opening 5-2 win at Dayton on Sept. 1. The Scotland native surpassed his 2008 production in one game (2008: 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 points).
  • Weightman became the first Bearcat to record three assists in a match since current MLS star Omar Cummings posted three helpers against Louisville on Sept. 26, 2006.
  • Weightman is No. 1 in the NCAA in single-game assists with three vs. Dayton on Sept. 1.

LAST TIME OUT

  • Mark Konitsch scored his second game-winner of the season to lead UC men's soccer team to a 1-0 win against No. 21 Notre Dame on Sept. 27 at Alumni Field.
  • Cincinnati (6-3 overall, 2-2-0 BIG EAST), coming off a heartbreaking, 1-0 loss with five seconds remaining in double overtime against Marquette on Sept. 25, showed its resolve by picking up three big points on the road.
  • The Bearcats now lead the all-time series against Notre Dame, 5-4-2. UC is 3-1-1 against the Irish since joining the BIG EAST in 2005, and is 2-0-1 in South Bend during that same span.
  • Nick Weightman, who tallied an assist on the Konitsch goal, leads the team with 10 points (3 G, 4 A), and recorded his first point since scoring the game-winner against Western Illinois on Sept. 11.

UP NEXT

  • The Bearcats will head to Tampa, Fla., to take on BIG EAST Red Division rival USF on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m.