Tickets// THE OPENING DRAW
The University of Cincinnati lacrosse team will finish out a season-opening three-game home stand this week as the Bearcats are set to welcome Marquette to Gettler Stadium for a noon opening draw Friday. Both teams enter the game following a victory Sunday after dropping their season opener Friday with the Bearcats (1-1, 0-0 American) downing Kent State, 19-8, and the Golden Eagles (1-1, 0-0 Big East) tripping up Louisville, 15-12.
// DRESS CODE: WEAR RED!
Friday's game will be the first of four color games this year for the lacrosse program as the team will wear their red uniforms and are encouraging fans to join in by also wearing red. Later this season, UC will wear pink (March 24), red (April 2) and white (April 13).
// FOLLOW US
GoBearcats.com is your one-stop destination for all things UC Athletics. Socially, the team can also be followed on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with all using the handle GoBearcatsLAX. Head Coach Gina Thomas (@GinaOliverUC) also can be followed on Twitter.
// GOING LIVE
All 10 home games on the schedule this season will be streamed live by BearcatsTV will all airing free of charge. Visit the lacrosse schedule page on GoBearcats.com and click WATCH next to the game you want to view. A link for live stats can be found on the schedule as well.
// EXPERIENCE UC
Once again in 2019, all home games will be part of the Experience UC initiative, which is geared toward inviting the community to campus to see firsthand the great things about and surrounding the university. Experience UC includes complimentary admission for patrons attending women's basketball, lacrosse, volleyball, women's tennis, men's and women's soccer, swimming and diving and track and field home events.
// QUICK SHOTS
• Friday's game with Marquette is a WEAR RED game and fans are encouraged to wear red to the game
• The AAC announced its inaugural set of weekly awards with Monica Borzillo being named the Attacker of the Week and Sam Mlkvy earning a spot on the Honor Roll
• Borzillo's big weekend saw her score a league and NCAA-leading 14 points while she also ranks in the Top 3 in both goals and assists as well
• Mlkvy also is highly ranked nationally in both goals and draw controls per game
• Several Bearcats are among the league leaders after the first weekend with several performances setting the early standard for single-game records in the AAC
• Several players turned in career highs against Kent State, including Gianna Napoletano, who scored four goals in the win, including the 300th home goal at Gettler Stadium for UC
• Four players made their debuts for the Bearcats over opening weekend, including three true freshmen and one transfer player
// FEELING HONORED
The first set of weekly awards were announced by the American Athletic Conference Tuesday with a pair of Bearcats picking up awards, including Monica Borzillo being named the Attacker of the Week and Sam Mlkvy earning a spot on the Honor Roll. Borzillo earned her 10th career weekly award as her first AAC attacker honor joins three Big East Attacker of the Week, five Big East Freshman of the Week and one Big East Honor Roll accolade previously while Mlkvy garnered her second career honor roll selection after being tabbed for the Big East Honor Roll late last year.
// EARLY LEADER
Borzillo's 14 points on nine goals and five assists have her ranked highly among the AAC and the NCAA through the first week of games. On a national level, Borzillo is 15th in goals per game average (4.5), 22nd in assists per game average (2.5) while her nine total goals rank her third nationally. On a conference level in those three categories, she is third, second and first, respectively.
// CLUBHOUSE LEADER
Although the league is just one week old, Borzillo currently holds two single game records and is tied for another in the AAC with all three stemming from her 11 point performance against Kent State. The 11 points are four more than the next highest (7, Shannon Kavanagh, Florida at Colorado) while seven goals is two ahead of Kavanagh and Vanderbilt's Sophie Furlong (vs. Wagner). Borzillo's four assists ties her for the single-game record with ECU's Brittany Borchers (vs. Gardner-Webb).
// MLKVY ON POINT
Mlkvy also is highly ranked nationally and in the conference as she sits fifth nationally with 8.50 draw controls per game and tied for 23rd with 4.5 ground balls per game. The leader in the AAC in draw controls, Mlkvy is also tied for fifth in goals per game (3.5) and sixth in points (4.0) after scoring four or more goals in each of the first two games of the season.
// HELPING HAND
With her five assists last weekend, Borzillo brought her career total to 66 helpers, making her the program's all-time leader in the category as she moved past Katie Kiriazoglou's old standard of 64 (2010-13). Those assists, along with her nine total goals, brought her career total to 156 points, just 13 off the all-time mark of 169 recorded by Laura Simanski (2009-12). With 90 goals, Borzillo is now just 10 shy of becoming the third UC player with 100+ goals in a career, joining Simanski (153) and Courtney Curtis (104, 2013-16).
// MORE MOVEMENT
Mlkvy also moved into the Top 10 in two categories as she now ranks ninth with 56 career goals and tied for ninth with 69 points (56 goals, 13 assists). Her 17 draw controls pushed over 100 for her career (104), making her the seventh Bearcats player to hit the century mark, sitting her sixth overall.
// GAME RECORDS
On a single game level, Borzillo posted four and Mlkvy two marks that landed on the all-time Top 10 as well. Borzillo's 11 points are the most in a single game, surpassing the 10 she recorded twice previously. Her seven goals tied for second and is one off her own record while her four assists tied her for eighth with all of those coming in the game against KSU. She also added five caused turnovers against the Golden Flashes, tying for the fifth spot all time. Mlkvy's 11 draw controls against Ohio State ranks second all-time in a single game while her 10 shots against KSU tied for the 10th.
// DEBUTANTES
Four players made their Bearcats debuts over opening weekend including a trio of freshmen and one sophomore transfer. Kylie Nause tallied her first collegiate goal in the opener with Ohio State while fellow rookies Zoe Antona and Kate Brocato also saw action, including Brocato halting three shots and allowing two goals in the second half of play against Kent State. Lauren Harrison, who played last year at Mount St. Mary's, also saw her first action with Cincinnati.
// OTHER NOTABLES
• Gianna Napoletano scored four goals against Kent State, her first scores of the year and a career high, bettering the two hat tricks she recorded over the past two seasons.
• Napoletano's third goal was the 300th scored at Gettler Stadium by the Bearcats
• Jayde Sains scored twice against the Golden Flashes, her first multiple-goal game as a Bearcat and the first she recorded since doing so four times at LIU Brooklyn her freshman year
• The 19 goals UC scored against Kent State rank as the sixth-highest total in a single game in program history while the team's 17 caused turnovers stand at the third-most in a game
// SCOUTING: MARQUETTE
The Golden Eagles enter the game with a 1-1 record after splitting a pair of home games to open the season, including a 19-4 setback to #20 Notre Dame before downing Louisville, 15-12. In the early going, seven different players have scored at least one goal with Grace Gabriel leading the charge with a team-high five. Defensively, Julianna Horning has seen much of the action in the cage as she holds a 15.40 goals against average and a 41.5 save percentage after stopping 17 shots and allowing 24 goals in the first two games.
// SERIES HISTORY: BEARCATS vs. GOLDEN EAGLES
Friday's game will mark the seventh played in the series and just the second as a non-conference tilt after playing one another in the last five games as members of the Big East. The last time UC and MU played as members of different conferences was their first meeting in 2013 with the Bearcats taking a 14-5 decision in Cincinnati. Since then, Marquette has won the last five, including a 19-15 decision last year in Milwaukee. The last time the two teams met in Cincinnati came in the 2017 season with the Golden Eagles recording a 16-10 victory. That game also was the only time the two had met at Gettler Stadium with the previous two coming on the turf at Sheakley Athletics Center.
PREVIOUSLY NOTED
// NEW LEAGUE
This year, the Bearcats will play as members of the American Athletic Conference after playing in the BIG EAST the past 10 seasons (UC was an independent in 2008). UC will be joined by fellow full members ECU, Temple and UConn with Florida and Vanderbilt also joining to give the AAC six teams. With lacrosse moving to the AAC, every sport at UC is now a member of the same conference.
// PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS
Ahead of the inaugural season, the AAC announced the results of the coaches' poll with the Bearcats selected to finish fifth. According to the coaches, the predicted finish is Florida (25 points), Vanderbilt (18), UConn (17), Temple (16), UC (9) and ECU (5). In the IWLCA Division I Preseason Poll (January 28), Florida enters the season ranked #6 nationally, the only member of the AAC in the Top 25.
// FEELING HONORED
Ahead of the season, the league coaches also voted for individual honors with three Bearcats being selected to the 2019 Preseason AAC All-Conference Team. That trio includes Monica Borzillo, who was unanimously selected to the list, Amanda Donovan and Sam Mlkvy. The honors are the first preseason awards in each players career with Borzillo (twice) and Donovan (once) previously being selected as BIG EAST All-Conference Second Team with Borzillo's honors coming in 2017 and 2018 and Donovan being selected in 2017.
// FIRST TIME AWARDS
Not only were the selections for those three players the first preseason awards of their careers, they also marked the first preseason awards earned by any Bearcats player in program history. Previously, no UC player had been named to a preseason list in the BIG EAST with Borzillo and Donovan standing as two of just five players to earn postseason accolades.
// CROWNING A CHAMP IN THE QUEEN CITY
The 2019 American Athletic Conference Lacrosse Tournament will be coming to Cincinnati in May with three games being played at the Sheakley Athletics Center on the UC campus. The Top 4 teams in the final regular season standings will play for the postseason crown and a spot in the NCAA Tournament with the AAC semifinals taking place Thursday, May 2, and the final Saturday, May 4. Game times and ticket pricing will be made available closer to the start of the tournament.
// PLAYING HOST
While the Bearcats will playing host to their first lacrosse conference tournament in 2019, the University of Cincinnati is no stranger to welcoming the American to town for a conference event as this year's event will mark the third-consecutive academic year UC has held an AAC championship event. It began in the 2016-17 academic year with the 2016 AAC Cross Country Championships being contested at Voice of America MetroPark in West Chester. One academic year later, Gettler Stadium served as the site of the 2018 AAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
// THE AD STAT SPREE
In her first three seasons with the Bearcats, Amanda Donovan has certainly made her mark on the program. Not only is she one of only six players to rank in the program's all-time Top 10 in the three scoring categories (goals, assists & points) and one of four in the Top 10 of the three defensive categories (ground balls, draw controls & caused turnovers), but she is the only player in UC history to be ranked in the Top 10 of all six categories. Heading into her senior campaign, Donovan currently ranks ninth in goals (55), tied for ninth in assists (21), seventh in points (76), ninth in ground balls (84), ninth in draw controls (71) and fourth in caused turnovers (59).
// GETTING DEFENSIVE
Another reason the Bearcats fared well in 2018 was the play of Giuliana Durso in goal. The then junior posted 161 saves, averaging 9.47 per contest to not only lead the BIG EAST, but also rank first in UC's single season history, tying her with Katherine Russo (2009 and 2010 seasons). Durso, who took the season victories record from Russo (7) with eight in 2018, finished the year with 12.95 goals against average and a 44.7 save percentage, the #5 and #4 marks, respectively, in single season history at UC.
// RECORD SEASON
Offensively in 2018, the team snapped eight program records and added two more on defense as well. Here is how the Bearcats fared:
• 201 Goals: The team bettered the previous record by 13 goals (188) they set one year prior and scored 200+ goals in a season for the first time in program history
• 86 Assists: UC recorded 80+ helpers for the first time ever and surpassed the previous record of 78 that was set in 2010 (the 2017 team had 70, good enough for third)
• 287 Points: The 287 points broke the previous record of 258 points (2017) by 29
• 504 Shots: Like its goal total, UC recorded 500+ shots for the first time in program history and beat out the previous mark by 37 attempts (467 in 2017)
• 371 Shots on Goal: Of those record shots, a record 371 were on frame, an improvement of 26 from last year's record total of 345
• 12 Man-Up Goals: Not only did UC reach double-digits for the first time in this category, it also doubled the previous record of 6 that was shared by the 2017, 2013 and 2012 teams
• 43 Free-Position Goals: The 43 FPG edged the 2009 team's record of 42, marking just the second time UC has converted 40+ free-position shots in a season
• 8 Game-winning Goals: The 2009 and 2013 teams held the record with seven before the 2018 team won a record eight games on the season
• 501 Ground Balls: The total also led the NCAA last year
• 187 Caused Turnovers: Not only did the 187 surpass 2017's 169 turnovers by 18, it also marked the fourth year in a row the Bearcats have bettered the previous single season record
// HELLO! MY NAME IS...
The team added nine newcomers to the roster prior to this season with eight freshmen and one sophomore transfer. The rookies include Zoe Antona (Roswell, Ga.), Kate Brocato (Baltimore, Md.), Brooke Holmstrom (Canton, Ga.), Camille Johnston (West Chester, Ohio), Isabelle LeJeune (Williamsburg, Va.), Kylie Nause (Phoenix, Md.) and Anna Platou (Naperville, Ill.). The final newcomer to the group is Lauren Harrison, who will be a sophomore this season after playing her freshman season with Mount St. Mary's before transferring to UC this fall.
// NEW TO THE CREW
The players are not the only newcomers to the program this year as Caitlin Prince has joined the Bearcats as an assistant coach. Prince, who played collegiately at Duquesne, including her first two years under then assistant coach Gina Thomas, comes to Cincinnati after serving as an assistant at her Alma Mater from 2017 to 2018. Prior to that, she served as an assistant at Robert Morris (2015-16).
// LAST GO AROUND
As with every season, several Bearcats will be suiting up for the final time in 2019 as four players are entering their senior seasons. The Class of 2019 includes Maria Collacchi (Parkton, Md.), Amanda Donovan (Ellicott City, Md.), Giuliana Durso (Mendham, N.J.) and Jayde Sains (East Islip, N.Y.). The group will be honored at Senior Day April 20 when the Bearcats play host to Vanderbilt.
// MAKING THE GRADE
Following the fall semester, the grades were tabulated and the Bearcats recorded a cumulative team grade-point average of 3.466 as 23 of the players posted at least a 3.0 GPA. To top that off, 15 players held GPAs of 3.4 or better in the semester to be named to the Dean's List while five of those players - Alyssa Adams, Monica Borzillo, Kate Brocato, Maria Collacchi and Alexandra Fess - each were named TopCats as they all posted perfect 4.0 GPAs.
// NEXT TIME
The Bearcats will play a pair of games next week with their first road game of the year leading things off. UC will trek to Blacksburg, Va., to face #14 Virginia Tech Wednesday at 4 p.m. before returning home to play host to Detroit Mercy in a noon start Sunday at Gettler Stadium.
The University of Cincinnati lacrosse team will finish out a season-opening three-game home stand this week as the Bearcats are set to welcome Marquette to Gettler Stadium for a noon opening draw Friday. Both teams enter the game following a victory Sunday after dropping their season opener Friday with the Bearcats (1-1, 0-0 American) downing Kent State, 19-8, and the Golden Eagles (1-1, 0-0 Big East) tripping up Louisville, 15-12.
// DRESS CODE: WEAR RED!
Friday's game will be the first of four color games this year for the lacrosse program as the team will wear their red uniforms and are encouraging fans to join in by also wearing red. Later this season, UC will wear pink (March 24), red (April 2) and white (April 13).
// FOLLOW US
GoBearcats.com is your one-stop destination for all things UC Athletics. Socially, the team can also be followed on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with all using the handle GoBearcatsLAX. Head Coach Gina Thomas (@GinaOliverUC) also can be followed on Twitter.
// GOING LIVE
All 10 home games on the schedule this season will be streamed live by BearcatsTV will all airing free of charge. Visit the lacrosse schedule page on GoBearcats.com and click WATCH next to the game you want to view. A link for live stats can be found on the schedule as well.
// EXPERIENCE UC
Once again in 2019, all home games will be part of the Experience UC initiative, which is geared toward inviting the community to campus to see firsthand the great things about and surrounding the university. Experience UC includes complimentary admission for patrons attending women's basketball, lacrosse, volleyball, women's tennis, men's and women's soccer, swimming and diving and track and field home events.
// QUICK SHOTS
• Friday's game with Marquette is a WEAR RED game and fans are encouraged to wear red to the game
• The AAC announced its inaugural set of weekly awards with Monica Borzillo being named the Attacker of the Week and Sam Mlkvy earning a spot on the Honor Roll
• Borzillo's big weekend saw her score a league and NCAA-leading 14 points while she also ranks in the Top 3 in both goals and assists as well
• Mlkvy also is highly ranked nationally in both goals and draw controls per game
• Several Bearcats are among the league leaders after the first weekend with several performances setting the early standard for single-game records in the AAC
• Several players turned in career highs against Kent State, including Gianna Napoletano, who scored four goals in the win, including the 300th home goal at Gettler Stadium for UC
• Four players made their debuts for the Bearcats over opening weekend, including three true freshmen and one transfer player
// FEELING HONORED
The first set of weekly awards were announced by the American Athletic Conference Tuesday with a pair of Bearcats picking up awards, including Monica Borzillo being named the Attacker of the Week and Sam Mlkvy earning a spot on the Honor Roll. Borzillo earned her 10th career weekly award as her first AAC attacker honor joins three Big East Attacker of the Week, five Big East Freshman of the Week and one Big East Honor Roll accolade previously while Mlkvy garnered her second career honor roll selection after being tabbed for the Big East Honor Roll late last year.
// EARLY LEADER
Borzillo's 14 points on nine goals and five assists have her ranked highly among the AAC and the NCAA through the first week of games. On a national level, Borzillo is 15th in goals per game average (4.5), 22nd in assists per game average (2.5) while her nine total goals rank her third nationally. On a conference level in those three categories, she is third, second and first, respectively.
// CLUBHOUSE LEADER
Although the league is just one week old, Borzillo currently holds two single game records and is tied for another in the AAC with all three stemming from her 11 point performance against Kent State. The 11 points are four more than the next highest (7, Shannon Kavanagh, Florida at Colorado) while seven goals is two ahead of Kavanagh and Vanderbilt's Sophie Furlong (vs. Wagner). Borzillo's four assists ties her for the single-game record with ECU's Brittany Borchers (vs. Gardner-Webb).
// MLKVY ON POINT
Mlkvy also is highly ranked nationally and in the conference as she sits fifth nationally with 8.50 draw controls per game and tied for 23rd with 4.5 ground balls per game. The leader in the AAC in draw controls, Mlkvy is also tied for fifth in goals per game (3.5) and sixth in points (4.0) after scoring four or more goals in each of the first two games of the season.
// HELPING HAND
With her five assists last weekend, Borzillo brought her career total to 66 helpers, making her the program's all-time leader in the category as she moved past Katie Kiriazoglou's old standard of 64 (2010-13). Those assists, along with her nine total goals, brought her career total to 156 points, just 13 off the all-time mark of 169 recorded by Laura Simanski (2009-12). With 90 goals, Borzillo is now just 10 shy of becoming the third UC player with 100+ goals in a career, joining Simanski (153) and Courtney Curtis (104, 2013-16).
// MORE MOVEMENT
Mlkvy also moved into the Top 10 in two categories as she now ranks ninth with 56 career goals and tied for ninth with 69 points (56 goals, 13 assists). Her 17 draw controls pushed over 100 for her career (104), making her the seventh Bearcats player to hit the century mark, sitting her sixth overall.
// GAME RECORDS
On a single game level, Borzillo posted four and Mlkvy two marks that landed on the all-time Top 10 as well. Borzillo's 11 points are the most in a single game, surpassing the 10 she recorded twice previously. Her seven goals tied for second and is one off her own record while her four assists tied her for eighth with all of those coming in the game against KSU. She also added five caused turnovers against the Golden Flashes, tying for the fifth spot all time. Mlkvy's 11 draw controls against Ohio State ranks second all-time in a single game while her 10 shots against KSU tied for the 10th.
// DEBUTANTES
Four players made their Bearcats debuts over opening weekend including a trio of freshmen and one sophomore transfer. Kylie Nause tallied her first collegiate goal in the opener with Ohio State while fellow rookies Zoe Antona and Kate Brocato also saw action, including Brocato halting three shots and allowing two goals in the second half of play against Kent State. Lauren Harrison, who played last year at Mount St. Mary's, also saw her first action with Cincinnati.
// OTHER NOTABLES
• Gianna Napoletano scored four goals against Kent State, her first scores of the year and a career high, bettering the two hat tricks she recorded over the past two seasons.
• Napoletano's third goal was the 300th scored at Gettler Stadium by the Bearcats
• Jayde Sains scored twice against the Golden Flashes, her first multiple-goal game as a Bearcat and the first she recorded since doing so four times at LIU Brooklyn her freshman year
• The 19 goals UC scored against Kent State rank as the sixth-highest total in a single game in program history while the team's 17 caused turnovers stand at the third-most in a game
// SCOUTING: MARQUETTE
The Golden Eagles enter the game with a 1-1 record after splitting a pair of home games to open the season, including a 19-4 setback to #20 Notre Dame before downing Louisville, 15-12. In the early going, seven different players have scored at least one goal with Grace Gabriel leading the charge with a team-high five. Defensively, Julianna Horning has seen much of the action in the cage as she holds a 15.40 goals against average and a 41.5 save percentage after stopping 17 shots and allowing 24 goals in the first two games.
// SERIES HISTORY: BEARCATS vs. GOLDEN EAGLES
Friday's game will mark the seventh played in the series and just the second as a non-conference tilt after playing one another in the last five games as members of the Big East. The last time UC and MU played as members of different conferences was their first meeting in 2013 with the Bearcats taking a 14-5 decision in Cincinnati. Since then, Marquette has won the last five, including a 19-15 decision last year in Milwaukee. The last time the two teams met in Cincinnati came in the 2017 season with the Golden Eagles recording a 16-10 victory. That game also was the only time the two had met at Gettler Stadium with the previous two coming on the turf at Sheakley Athletics Center.
PREVIOUSLY NOTED
// NEW LEAGUE
This year, the Bearcats will play as members of the American Athletic Conference after playing in the BIG EAST the past 10 seasons (UC was an independent in 2008). UC will be joined by fellow full members ECU, Temple and UConn with Florida and Vanderbilt also joining to give the AAC six teams. With lacrosse moving to the AAC, every sport at UC is now a member of the same conference.
// PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS
Ahead of the inaugural season, the AAC announced the results of the coaches' poll with the Bearcats selected to finish fifth. According to the coaches, the predicted finish is Florida (25 points), Vanderbilt (18), UConn (17), Temple (16), UC (9) and ECU (5). In the IWLCA Division I Preseason Poll (January 28), Florida enters the season ranked #6 nationally, the only member of the AAC in the Top 25.
// FEELING HONORED
Ahead of the season, the league coaches also voted for individual honors with three Bearcats being selected to the 2019 Preseason AAC All-Conference Team. That trio includes Monica Borzillo, who was unanimously selected to the list, Amanda Donovan and Sam Mlkvy. The honors are the first preseason awards in each players career with Borzillo (twice) and Donovan (once) previously being selected as BIG EAST All-Conference Second Team with Borzillo's honors coming in 2017 and 2018 and Donovan being selected in 2017.
// FIRST TIME AWARDS
Not only were the selections for those three players the first preseason awards of their careers, they also marked the first preseason awards earned by any Bearcats player in program history. Previously, no UC player had been named to a preseason list in the BIG EAST with Borzillo and Donovan standing as two of just five players to earn postseason accolades.
// CROWNING A CHAMP IN THE QUEEN CITY
The 2019 American Athletic Conference Lacrosse Tournament will be coming to Cincinnati in May with three games being played at the Sheakley Athletics Center on the UC campus. The Top 4 teams in the final regular season standings will play for the postseason crown and a spot in the NCAA Tournament with the AAC semifinals taking place Thursday, May 2, and the final Saturday, May 4. Game times and ticket pricing will be made available closer to the start of the tournament.
// PLAYING HOST
While the Bearcats will playing host to their first lacrosse conference tournament in 2019, the University of Cincinnati is no stranger to welcoming the American to town for a conference event as this year's event will mark the third-consecutive academic year UC has held an AAC championship event. It began in the 2016-17 academic year with the 2016 AAC Cross Country Championships being contested at Voice of America MetroPark in West Chester. One academic year later, Gettler Stadium served as the site of the 2018 AAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
// THE AD STAT SPREE
In her first three seasons with the Bearcats, Amanda Donovan has certainly made her mark on the program. Not only is she one of only six players to rank in the program's all-time Top 10 in the three scoring categories (goals, assists & points) and one of four in the Top 10 of the three defensive categories (ground balls, draw controls & caused turnovers), but she is the only player in UC history to be ranked in the Top 10 of all six categories. Heading into her senior campaign, Donovan currently ranks ninth in goals (55), tied for ninth in assists (21), seventh in points (76), ninth in ground balls (84), ninth in draw controls (71) and fourth in caused turnovers (59).
// GETTING DEFENSIVE
Another reason the Bearcats fared well in 2018 was the play of Giuliana Durso in goal. The then junior posted 161 saves, averaging 9.47 per contest to not only lead the BIG EAST, but also rank first in UC's single season history, tying her with Katherine Russo (2009 and 2010 seasons). Durso, who took the season victories record from Russo (7) with eight in 2018, finished the year with 12.95 goals against average and a 44.7 save percentage, the #5 and #4 marks, respectively, in single season history at UC.
// RECORD SEASON
Offensively in 2018, the team snapped eight program records and added two more on defense as well. Here is how the Bearcats fared:
• 201 Goals: The team bettered the previous record by 13 goals (188) they set one year prior and scored 200+ goals in a season for the first time in program history
• 86 Assists: UC recorded 80+ helpers for the first time ever and surpassed the previous record of 78 that was set in 2010 (the 2017 team had 70, good enough for third)
• 287 Points: The 287 points broke the previous record of 258 points (2017) by 29
• 504 Shots: Like its goal total, UC recorded 500+ shots for the first time in program history and beat out the previous mark by 37 attempts (467 in 2017)
• 371 Shots on Goal: Of those record shots, a record 371 were on frame, an improvement of 26 from last year's record total of 345
• 12 Man-Up Goals: Not only did UC reach double-digits for the first time in this category, it also doubled the previous record of 6 that was shared by the 2017, 2013 and 2012 teams
• 43 Free-Position Goals: The 43 FPG edged the 2009 team's record of 42, marking just the second time UC has converted 40+ free-position shots in a season
• 8 Game-winning Goals: The 2009 and 2013 teams held the record with seven before the 2018 team won a record eight games on the season
• 501 Ground Balls: The total also led the NCAA last year
• 187 Caused Turnovers: Not only did the 187 surpass 2017's 169 turnovers by 18, it also marked the fourth year in a row the Bearcats have bettered the previous single season record
// HELLO! MY NAME IS...
The team added nine newcomers to the roster prior to this season with eight freshmen and one sophomore transfer. The rookies include Zoe Antona (Roswell, Ga.), Kate Brocato (Baltimore, Md.), Brooke Holmstrom (Canton, Ga.), Camille Johnston (West Chester, Ohio), Isabelle LeJeune (Williamsburg, Va.), Kylie Nause (Phoenix, Md.) and Anna Platou (Naperville, Ill.). The final newcomer to the group is Lauren Harrison, who will be a sophomore this season after playing her freshman season with Mount St. Mary's before transferring to UC this fall.
// NEW TO THE CREW
The players are not the only newcomers to the program this year as Caitlin Prince has joined the Bearcats as an assistant coach. Prince, who played collegiately at Duquesne, including her first two years under then assistant coach Gina Thomas, comes to Cincinnati after serving as an assistant at her Alma Mater from 2017 to 2018. Prior to that, she served as an assistant at Robert Morris (2015-16).
// LAST GO AROUND
As with every season, several Bearcats will be suiting up for the final time in 2019 as four players are entering their senior seasons. The Class of 2019 includes Maria Collacchi (Parkton, Md.), Amanda Donovan (Ellicott City, Md.), Giuliana Durso (Mendham, N.J.) and Jayde Sains (East Islip, N.Y.). The group will be honored at Senior Day April 20 when the Bearcats play host to Vanderbilt.
// MAKING THE GRADE
Following the fall semester, the grades were tabulated and the Bearcats recorded a cumulative team grade-point average of 3.466 as 23 of the players posted at least a 3.0 GPA. To top that off, 15 players held GPAs of 3.4 or better in the semester to be named to the Dean's List while five of those players - Alyssa Adams, Monica Borzillo, Kate Brocato, Maria Collacchi and Alexandra Fess - each were named TopCats as they all posted perfect 4.0 GPAs.
// NEXT TIME
The Bearcats will play a pair of games next week with their first road game of the year leading things off. UC will trek to Blacksburg, Va., to face #14 Virginia Tech Wednesday at 4 p.m. before returning home to play host to Detroit Mercy in a noon start Sunday at Gettler Stadium.