TicketsCINCINNATI— After a year full of changes, a new head coach, a new conference, and new challenges, the 2023 Cincinnati women's soccer season can be defined by one word: Resilient.
In December of 2022, head coach Erica Demers was announced as the sixth women's soccer coach in program history, ushering in a new era of Bearcats soccer.
She led UC to the program's first Big 12 Championship Tournament victory, defeating Baylor 3-2 in the first round of the tournament in the team's first year in the conference. After taking time to reflect on her first season at the helm of the program, Demers' biggest takeaway was how resilient her team was.
"From start to finish, not only were the players adapting to a new coaching staff, but they were also adapting to a new style and competitiveness of the Big 12," Demers said.
"From day to day, we saw a change in our program from August to December to be honest. I think our players took on all the changes that were happening head-on, and they were able to adjust. Every day, we ask them to go out and give their best. That is always the thing we ask them to do, whatever their best is on that day, can they give that to us, and we thought they did that."
Demers and her staff adopted a saying at the beginning of the season to help the team adapt to the changes at hand and embody the team's mindset and playing style, which is to play with "Clifton Confidence." Demers and her staff spent the entire season setting the foundation of "Clifton Confidence," helping the team buy into the new system.
"I think with our players, we found that they were able to embody 'Clifton Confidence' and that helped alleviate some of that pressure and anxiety that some of them felt," Demers said. "Reflecting back and having conversations with our players, they felt a sense that they could be and can be a part of the Big 12."
The effect of Clifton Confidence became a reality during the match against then-ranked No. 6 BYU, where the team went into Provo, Utah, and shocked the Cougars and 5,000 fans in attendance, walking away with a 1-1 draw against one best scoring teams in the nation, and a team that advanced all the way to the 2023 College Cup Final Four.
That reality continued throughout the conference schedule as UC recorded three of its four shutouts during conference play, but where "Clifton Confidence" shined was during the Big 12 tournament as Cincinnati played its best soccer season defeating Baylor for its first Big 12 Tournament and fought extremely hard against No. 1 seeded Texas Tech falling 2-1 on a last-second goal.
Demers' team goal last year was just to make the tournament and go from there. Heading into next season, the goal is not just to make the tournament but to earn a first-round bye.
"Now it is how we get ourselves into a position where we do not have to play that first game," Demers said.
"Again, you go back to being resilient. I think our players gave their absolute best against Texas Tech, and I thought we were the better team for the majority of the game, but you could as see that the fire was burning out. Our goal next year is how do we get ourselves into the Big 12's top six, so we are not playing in that first game and we can be rested going into that quarterfinal game."
The first step on the path to make that goal a reality came in early December as veteran leaders Ellie Flower, Anna Rexford, Lauren Bastian and Vyviene Spaulding announced they would be back for another season.
"It's huge, I think all four of them bring something different to the team," Demers said. "I think one that stands out for sure is Ellie. In our final meeting with her, she said wants to be a more vocal leader. I think she is a doer by leading but we need her to be more vocal and hold the rest of our attacking players accountable in the final third."
On the defensive side, returning four-year starting goalkeeper Rexford brings stability to a UC backline that will be replacing key players from last season. The Wilmore, Ky., native has started 64 straight games and has accumulated the sixth-most career wins (23), seventh-most career shutouts (15) and eighth-most career saves (205) in program history.
"When Anna called to say that she was staying, it was like an early Christmas present, we are so happy she is coming back," Demers said. "From January to now, we saw a huge amount of growth with who she is, not only as a confident leader but as someone who can come in and make saves that I don't think a lot of goalkeepers can make at this level."
With the departures of five-year defensive stars Ashley Barron and Kendall Battle and to address other areas of improvement, Demers signed eight freshmen and will bring in multiple transfers in her first signing class at UC in addition to bringing back the four graduate students.
"This is our first full class, and we are really looking forward to what they can bring and add to the style that we want to continue to play here at Cincinnati," Demers said. "What we have done before is make sure that they feel comfortable coming in with the changes so we can make them uncomfortable when they get here. I think all of them are going to bring something unique to it."
One of the team's biggest struggles this past season was in the final third. One of the team's main goals for the upcoming spring season is to continue improving their scoring ability.
"I think we got ourselves in really good positions this past fall, making sure we were putting ourselves in positions to score, and now it's working on that final product," Demers said.
"I think goal scoring is one of the hardest things to do, but I think for us, we have the starting point ourselves in positions, but now we have to finish. Bringing back players like Ellie [Flower], Laura [Zemberyova], Fran [Stables], all three of them are going to help us impact the final third."
In December of 2022, head coach Erica Demers was announced as the sixth women's soccer coach in program history, ushering in a new era of Bearcats soccer.
She led UC to the program's first Big 12 Championship Tournament victory, defeating Baylor 3-2 in the first round of the tournament in the team's first year in the conference. After taking time to reflect on her first season at the helm of the program, Demers' biggest takeaway was how resilient her team was.
"From start to finish, not only were the players adapting to a new coaching staff, but they were also adapting to a new style and competitiveness of the Big 12," Demers said.
"From day to day, we saw a change in our program from August to December to be honest. I think our players took on all the changes that were happening head-on, and they were able to adjust. Every day, we ask them to go out and give their best. That is always the thing we ask them to do, whatever their best is on that day, can they give that to us, and we thought they did that."
Demers and her staff adopted a saying at the beginning of the season to help the team adapt to the changes at hand and embody the team's mindset and playing style, which is to play with "Clifton Confidence." Demers and her staff spent the entire season setting the foundation of "Clifton Confidence," helping the team buy into the new system.
"I think with our players, we found that they were able to embody 'Clifton Confidence' and that helped alleviate some of that pressure and anxiety that some of them felt," Demers said. "Reflecting back and having conversations with our players, they felt a sense that they could be and can be a part of the Big 12."
The effect of Clifton Confidence became a reality during the match against then-ranked No. 6 BYU, where the team went into Provo, Utah, and shocked the Cougars and 5,000 fans in attendance, walking away with a 1-1 draw against one best scoring teams in the nation, and a team that advanced all the way to the 2023 College Cup Final Four.
That reality continued throughout the conference schedule as UC recorded three of its four shutouts during conference play, but where "Clifton Confidence" shined was during the Big 12 tournament as Cincinnati played its best soccer season defeating Baylor for its first Big 12 Tournament and fought extremely hard against No. 1 seeded Texas Tech falling 2-1 on a last-second goal.
Demers' team goal last year was just to make the tournament and go from there. Heading into next season, the goal is not just to make the tournament but to earn a first-round bye.
"Now it is how we get ourselves into a position where we do not have to play that first game," Demers said.
"Again, you go back to being resilient. I think our players gave their absolute best against Texas Tech, and I thought we were the better team for the majority of the game, but you could as see that the fire was burning out. Our goal next year is how do we get ourselves into the Big 12's top six, so we are not playing in that first game and we can be rested going into that quarterfinal game."
The first step on the path to make that goal a reality came in early December as veteran leaders Ellie Flower, Anna Rexford, Lauren Bastian and Vyviene Spaulding announced they would be back for another season.
"It's huge, I think all four of them bring something different to the team," Demers said. "I think one that stands out for sure is Ellie. In our final meeting with her, she said wants to be a more vocal leader. I think she is a doer by leading but we need her to be more vocal and hold the rest of our attacking players accountable in the final third."
On the defensive side, returning four-year starting goalkeeper Rexford brings stability to a UC backline that will be replacing key players from last season. The Wilmore, Ky., native has started 64 straight games and has accumulated the sixth-most career wins (23), seventh-most career shutouts (15) and eighth-most career saves (205) in program history.
"When Anna called to say that she was staying, it was like an early Christmas present, we are so happy she is coming back," Demers said. "From January to now, we saw a huge amount of growth with who she is, not only as a confident leader but as someone who can come in and make saves that I don't think a lot of goalkeepers can make at this level."
With the departures of five-year defensive stars Ashley Barron and Kendall Battle and to address other areas of improvement, Demers signed eight freshmen and will bring in multiple transfers in her first signing class at UC in addition to bringing back the four graduate students.
"This is our first full class, and we are really looking forward to what they can bring and add to the style that we want to continue to play here at Cincinnati," Demers said. "What we have done before is make sure that they feel comfortable coming in with the changes so we can make them uncomfortable when they get here. I think all of them are going to bring something unique to it."
One of the team's biggest struggles this past season was in the final third. One of the team's main goals for the upcoming spring season is to continue improving their scoring ability.
"I think we got ourselves in really good positions this past fall, making sure we were putting ourselves in positions to score, and now it's working on that final product," Demers said.
"I think goal scoring is one of the hardest things to do, but I think for us, we have the starting point ourselves in positions, but now we have to finish. Bringing back players like Ellie [Flower], Laura [Zemberyova], Fran [Stables], all three of them are going to help us impact the final third."