CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati lacrosse team, coming off its best season in program history, will play 16 regular season games in 2020 including eight at home and eight away Head Coach Gina Thomas announced today. The Bearcats (12-7, 4-1 AAC) will see their season get underway February 1 with an exhibition game at Penn State with the regular season starting February 7 at Kent State.
"I can't be more excited about our schedule this year," Head Coach Gina Thomas said. "We have really great opponents in our non-conference schedule to help prepare us for our second year with the AAC. We have to continue to protect home turf and improve on the road to be successful this year. We are looking forward to getting the season underway and continuing to build on our program's success."
// SCHEDULE NOTES
• Cincinnati will play one exhibition and 16 regular season games in 2020
• Of the regular season games, eight will be played at home, including seven at Gettler Stadium and one at Nippert Stadium
• The second season of American Athletic Conference play will see Cincinnati host two (ECU, Florida) and travel for three (UConn, Vanderbilt, Temple) conference games
• Two of UC's opponents competed in the 2019 NCAA Tournament with both Michigan and Florida reaching the second round
• Three of UC's foes in 2020 ended the 2019 season ranked in the IWLCA National Top 25 rankings, including #11 Michigan, #13 Florida and #25 Virginia Tech
• The Bearcats have played all 16 of their 2020 opponents at least once in program history and will look to secure their first wins against four of those teams, including Louisville, Virginia Tech, Michigan and Florida
// THE SCHEDULE
UC will get its season underway February 1 when it travels to State College, Pa., to face Penn State in an exhibition game for both squads. One week later, the season gets underway as the Bearcats will open the slate at Kent State on Friday, February 7, before opening their home schedule with a visit from Louisville Sunday, February 9, at 1 p.m. inside Gettler Stadium. From there, the Bearcats hit the road for a pair of games, first playing at Marquette Friday, February 14, before facing Ohio State in Columbus on Wednesday, February 19. The month comes to a close Wednesday, February 26, with a visit from #25 Virginia Tech at 4 p.m.
March will open with three more home contests, starting with a Sunday, March 1, meeting with Central Michigan at noon. The next two Friday's also will be home games with visits from Stetson on March 6 (5 p.m.) and #11 Michigan on March 13 (4 p.m.). From there, the Bearcats will travel to the West Coast for two games with both being played at San Diego State. First, the Bearcats will face the Aztecs at 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET) on Monday, March 16, before playing Fresno State at SDSU on Thursday, March 19, at noon PT (3 p.m. ET) to close out the trip. Three days later, the Bearcats will play their final non-conference game of the season as they welcome Gardner-Webb to town for a noon contest on Sunday, March 22. The final game of the month comes Saturday, March 28, and sees UC travel to UConn for both teams' AAC opener at 11 a.m. in Storrs, Conn.
Four conference games are on the schedule for April, starting with the home AAC opener against visiting ECU on Saturday, April 4. The game will start at noon and be played at Nippert Stadium. The Bearcats will then play each following Saturday to close out the regular season as they travel to Vanderbilt on April 11 (1 p.m. CT/2 p.m. ET), host #13 Florida on April 18 (noon) at Gettler Stadium, and cap the season on the road at Temple on April 25 (1 p.m.).
Similar to last year, the Top 4 teams in the AAC standings will qualify to the AAC Tournament which will be hosted by Florida in Gainesville. The tournament semifinals will take place Thursday, April 30, with the championship game played Saturday, May 1. The winner of the tournament will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
// REWIND
The Bearcats are coming off a season in which they finished 12-7 overall and 4-1 in the AAC. Runners-up at the inaugural AAC Tournament in Cincinnati, UC competed in the postseason for the first time in program history while setting program records in every statistical category along with season wins overall and conference wins. UC also went 10-2 at home last year, falling in its first (Ohio State) and last (AAC final to Florida) games after stringing together a program-record 10-game winning streak on home soil.
// EXPERIENCE UC
As part of the Experience UC initiative, all home games in 2020 will once again offer complimentary admission.
Bearcats Lacrosse Announces 2020 Schedule
The University of Cincinnati lacrosse team, coming off its best season in program history, will play 16 regular season games in 2020 including eight at home and eight away Head Coach Gina Thomas announced today.
