TicketsAug. 10, 2010
By Dave Malaska
GoBEARCATS.com
The Bearcats men's soccer team doesn't officially report until Sunday, but with the combination of a veteran squad, high-level summer experience and a few impact transfers, Hylton Dayes already has a good feeling about the 2010 season.
"I think there's a hunger for success with a lot of guys on this year's team, because they haven't really experienced it here," says Dayes. "From what I've seen, they're going to come in motivated and ready to go."
The Bearcats, coming off a 8-10-0 record last year -- a slight improvement over 2008's 7-10-2 mark -- head into the 2010 campaign with the bulk of its scoring attack returning. Seven of its top eight scorers are back, led by the senior trio of Mark Konitsch, Branden Stelmak and Nick Weightman, a Scot. The trio was also among a record 10 members of the club's roster to participate in the Premier Development League this summer, keeping an edge on their playing skills while maintaining their all-important conditioning, according to Dayes.
Staying in the city, five Bearcats played for the league's Cincinnati Kings, where Stelmak was tied for the team's scoring lead, logging six goals to go along with two assists. Fellow seniors Konitsch and Tristan Watson, along with juniors D.J. Albert and Matt Bahner, also played for the Kings, who finished the season with a 6-6-4 mark.
Weightman helped propel the PDL's 10-2-4 Portland (Maine) Phoenix club to the playoffs, finishing as the team's second-leading scorer with eight goals and two assists, while Matt Williams helped anchor the run in goal. Meanwhile, Bearcat sophomores Dan Cooperider and Danny Mortemore played for the 2-12-2 Cleveland Internationals, and Chris Mitchell, one of UC's three Canadians, returned home to play for the league's Toronto Lynx who finished with a 4-11-1 record.
"Playing in the PDL has been very good for our guys," says Dayes. "First, it allows them to play at a consistently high level, so when they come back to campus they're ready to go -- they haven't lost their touch and they're still in the rhythm of playing 1-2 games a week with training in between." Second, he says, it can be a real confidence boost, helping players develop quicker.
"It's been important to a number of our guys over the years. Matt Bahner has played for the Kings for two or three years, and because of it he's made rapid improvement each year. So have other guys. They come back and we've seen things that they've added to their game."
Having one of the clubs in town has been a major push for the Bearcats' success in the PDL, he adds.
"(Kings coach) Roby (Stahl) and I have had a lot of discussions over the years. We share coaching philosophies, and his style is consistent with ours," Dayes explains. "Over the summer, we talk quite a bit about how the guys are progressing, what positions they should be focusing on, how they should be working to make themselves better."
The result of which, Dayes and his staff will soon see.
After reporting on Sunday and undergoing the annual fitness test, the team will take off for a four-day training camp at the Athletes in Action campus in Xenia, Ohio. They'll return on Aug. 19 in time for a quick tune-up in preparation for their 7 p.m. exhibition opener the next day at Northern Kentucky University. They open the season just 12 days later at home against Dayton. The staff, as well as the players, are eager to get back on the field, according to Dayes.
"We prepare eight months out of the year for August, September, October and November. When it gets to mid-August, we're ready to go. We can't wait to get back out there," he says.