Home Sweet Home: Volleyball Team Plays Friday and Sunday

Riding a ten game winning streak the women's volleyball team welcomes in USF and Georgetown this weekend. With only 5 games remaining on the schedule winning is very important for seeding in the Big East Tournament later in November. The team is playing well and with confidence so we asked them if the winning streak is something they think about. We also spoke with them about the two opponents coming in this weekend, USF and Georgetown.

Friday USF 7:30

Sunday Georgetown 2:00

Cross Country Teams Finish 6th and 9th

At the Big East cross country championship meet run earlier today in New York it was the Georgetown men's team and the Villanova women's team that took home the titles. In the men's race UC finished 6th and the women came in 9th. Lilian Jelimo was the top finishing Bearcat runner coming in 25th.

The goals going into the meet were for both teams to finish 7th.

The cross country season wraps up November 15th with the Great Lakes Regional Championship.

Here is a rundown of how the UC runners finished:

Men 6th Place:

28 Eric Finan

31 Tommy Morgan

39 Randy King

42 Rick King

48 Kyle Dragan

59 Bill Keckeis

62 Kyle Lang

Women 9th Place

25 Lilian Jelimo

50 Tamara Masters

54 Jill Glassmeyer

58 Megan Knapp

68 Allison Leckrone

86 Michele Mckenney

102 Samantha Scipio

Mens Soccer On TV Tonight

Don't forget to watch the UC men's soccer team on TV tonight. They play a very important game at St John's. Game time 8:00 on Fox Soccer Channel. A win puts UC in the Big East Tournament a loss could knock them out, depending on what other teams do.
After the trick or treating is done catch the Cats on TV.

More info and links to game tracker at www.gobearcats.com

Big Night!

Thursday night proved to be a big one for UC sports! The football team knocked of the #24 ranked South Florida Bulls in "The Nip", and the women's soccer team won their first round game in the Big East Tournament against St. John's in New York.
The football team played a tremendous game before packed house. Tony Pike played a tremendous game going 20 for 28 and 281 yards, remember this is the guy that couldn't play the second half 5 days earlier because he couldn't grip the football. As great as Pike played the Bearcat Sports Page.com player of the game was Connor Barwin. He caught a TD pass, and was after USF quarterback Matt Grothe all night. The play that shows what this guy is about was Mike Mickens interception in the first quarter. Barwin dove at Grothe's feet trying to trip him up before he threw the ball, then as Mickens is returning the interception who was his lead blocker before he was forced out of bounds? Connor Barwin. From all the way across the field on his back he ended up in front of Mickens. The Cats are now 2-1 in the Big East as they head off to West Virginia next Saturday.

As for the women's soccer team. They went on the road as the underdog and upset St John's to advance in the Big East Tournament. Freshman Julie Morrissey scored the games only goal at the 56 minute mark. The team now heads off to South Bend Sunday to take on the #1 seeded Fighting Irish.

Bearcat Soports Page .com is trying to get interviews set up with players and coaches from both the football team and the women's soccer team.

No Dumb Jocks Here

Bearcat football may not be in the top 25 on the field (yet), but they are when it comes to the classroom.
The team recently received a 2008 American Football Coaches Association Academic honorable mention for it's recent graduation success rate of over 90% for the class entering in 2001.
The award is given based on the NCAA's graduation success rate formula, which measures the academic success of student athletes on a six year graduation window.
UC was one of 7 programs honored here is a list of the programs:
Cincinnati
Colorado
Duke
Navy
Notre Dame
Rutgers
Vanderbilt
Each of the seven schools achieved over 90% success.
46 programs across the country graduated 70% or more of their football student athletes.

Considering the list of schools, that is a tremendous accomplishment. The academic support staff should be congratulated as should the football staff for bringing in the type of athletes that prepare for the classroom as seriously as they prepare for the playing field.

Another Team Heads to New York

What is it about this week? It seems like every team is either playing against USF on campus or they are heading off to New York.
With both soccer teams in New York playing St John's the cross country teams headed to the Big Apple this morning for the Big East Championship meet. The event will be held in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
The Big East Conference has good representation in the top 25 for both the men and women so bringing home a Big East title may not be realistic, but improvement over last years finishes is something both teams are looking for.
Wednesday afternoon we stopped by the Armory Fieldhouse before the team took off on their final practice run and we spoke with Coach Bill Schnier and a couple of his top runners

Race Day: Friday October 31

The women start the morning off with a 6k race at 10:30. The the men run an 8k at 11:10

To keep up with the results your best option is: www.bigeast.org then go to cross country.

Women Leave for 1st Big East Soccer Tournament

Earlier this morning the women's soccer team loaded up the bus and headed to New York to play St John's in the opening round of the Big East Tournament. Since joining the Big East this is the teams first trip to the post season tournament.
Bearcat Sports Page . com was on hand this morning when they boarded the bus. The second round game will put them back on the road Sunday playing Notre Dame in South Bend. Notice how we didn't say "if they win" they go to Notre Dame. That's because this team isn't content just being in the tournament they expect to advance, even if others don't.

UC is the #5 seed and St John's is the #4 seed.

Thursday October 30 7:00

To follow the game visit: www.gobearcats.com

Mens Soccer: Big Win Over USF

Tuesday night the Bearcats went into their game with USF knowing that a loss would seriously hurt their chances of making the Big East Tournament. Getting that "must win" would not be easy. USF came into Gettler stadium as the #11 team in the country.

On a cold evening there was no score in the first half then at just past the 50 minute mark Junior Paul Hoste picked a tremendous time to score his first career goal.

Defense and great goal keeping from sophomore Matt Williams preserved the big win.

Courtesy of the soccer teams video department we are able to show you a few plays from last nights game.

The first play is Hoste's goal to put UC up 1-0. Then we have a great save by Williams as he deflects a rocket shot above the goal.

Friday the team travels to St Johns to take on another ranked opponent. St Johns is #4 in the country. Tuesdays win takes no pressure off of this game. A win puts them in the tournament. A loss would have them scoreboard watching to see what other teams do to see if they would need some help to get in.

The game against St Johns can bee seen on Fox's Soccer Channel. It is available on Time Warner and most surrounding cable systems.

For more information on the big win over USF or to follow the Cats trip to St Johns be sure to check out: www.gobearcats.com.

Campus Excitement Grows For Big Game

Days have turned into hours as students gear up for the big game Thursday night at Nippert Stadium.  Students as well as the surrounding community in Clifton are ready to welcome both the USF Bulls and a national television audience to campus.

Saturday's loss at UCONN didn't hurt the Cats chances to win the Big East....nor did it dampen the enthusiasm surrounding campus.

Bearcat Press Conference: QB's, Third Downs and The Black Out

Today's weekly football press conference was Head Coach Brian Kelly and Sophomore tight end Ben Guidugli ( Major: Communications; Hometown: Ft. Thomas, KY).
A number of topics were discussed. Here we will try to break them down into different themes.

Coach Kelly talks about bouncing back from the loss at UCONN Saturday, and how having a short week actually helps the team.

There has been some conversation this week on the play calling for UC last weekend. Coach Kelly takes the blame for not making proper adjustments in the second half with Chazz Anderson replacing Tony Pike. In his defense, he didn't find out that Pike was unable to grip the football until they came out for the second half. Offensive adjustments made at halftime by Kelly and the staff were with Pike as the quarterback. As he said in the press conference today UC got the ball first in the second half so he had all of 90 seconds to prepare any adjustments for Anderson. He spoke about having his hand forced on playing quarterbacks as opposed to decisions made after evaluation of a players performance on the field.

With the problem that occurred at halftime last week every quarterback will be ready to play this week. Yesterday in practice the Bearcat Sports Page staff that was on hand noticed that everyone was taking snaps. Chazz Anderson, Zach Collaros and Demetrius Jones were all under center at one point or another. Here Coach Kelly and Ben Guidugli discuss all QB's getting some work in.

In the last two weeks the offense is "O-fer" on third down attempts. It's something they are working on in practice this week. Here are comments by both Coach Kelly and Ben Guidugli on solving the third down conversion problem.

This is a big week on campus. The students are ready for the nationally televised game and the "Black Out". Black out t-shirts have been on sale at the bookstore and a sellout crowd is expected.

For Ben Guidugli the transformation of Nippert Stadium has been incredible. He has seen plenty of Bearcat home games with only a few thousand people in the stadium. Here he talks about what it was like coming to Nippert to see his brother Gino play, and he talks about what he expects from the crowd this Thursday night.

Thanks to the athletic staff, Coach Kelly and the players for being so cooperative the past two days and giving Bearcat Sports Page .com interviews and discussing a tough loss.

24 Hour Rule: Time to Move on to USF

The Bearcats were on the practice field Monday working on their upcoming opponent, USF. Even if it weren't a short week the team still wouldn't dwell on Saturdays loss to UCONN. Brian Kelly has what's known as "the 24 hour rule". That means that the team only has 24 hours to reflect back on a loss.

The team is expecting "The Nip" to be electric this Thursday night. Spirits were high when we spoke with some of the players after practice. We asked them about getting over the UCONN loss, what to expect from South Florida and what they expect the atmosphere to be like with the blackout on Halloween Eve.

Lessons Learned From the Olympic Trials

Last year as a sophomore Josh Schneider swam his way into the NCAA Championship and earned All American honors with his 14th place finish.

With the collegiate season behind him Schneider set his sights on the US Olympic trials in Omaha, Nebraska last summer.

Not sure what to expect out of the meet or himself the Cincinnati native made it into the semi-finals of the mens 50 meter freestyle race.  Going up against future Olympic medal winners Schneider held his own and finished 16th.

That was back in July.  It's now October and it's back to swimming at the college level, but the Olympic experience has given the Josh a new perspective on how he approaches every meet.

Volleyball Team On A Roll!

The volleyball team recorded their tenth win in a row Sunday with a three nothing sweep at Marquette. Earlier in the weekend the Cats beat Syracuse on the road. Sundays victory was head coach Redd Sunaharas 200th match win at UC.
UC returns home to face USF on Halloween night, Oct 31 at 7:30 then welcomes Georgetown into Fifth Third Arena Sunday Nov 2 for a 2:00 match.
Bearcat Sports Page will give you an update on UC's hottest team from one of their practices later this week.
For more information on Sundays big win as well as other volleyball news and stats visit gobearcats.com : http://gobearcats.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/recaps/102608aaa.html

The Mens Soccer Team Controls Their Own Destiny

The mens soccer team had a dramatic win Saturday night against Syracuse winning 1-0. Senior Brad Simpson was responsible for the only goal, fittingly on senior night.

If the season ended today the Bearcats would make the cut for the Big East Conference Tournament. However, the season still has one more week. We caught up with a few mens soccer players at the womens game on Sunday and spoke to them about the final week of the season and the fact that they control their own destiny.

Tuesday: UFS

Friday: At St Johns

UC Ends Season with 2OT Loss

It wasn't the way the seniors wanted to end their last game at Gettler Stadium. However, the sting of the season ending loss is helped by the fact that this team is still playing. Next thursday they play in their first ever Big East Tournament game.

Sundays game was a hard fought contest that saw Georgetown find the wining goal in the second overtime breaking the scoreless tie.

After the game we talked with some of the players about their "second season" that starts Thursday against St johns.

Winning Weekend?

It has been a very active weekend for UC athletics across the board. Volleyball, soccer, football and swimming were all in action. Here's a quick look at how everyone has done so far:

Womens Volleyball: Friday night the Cats had a fantastic finish coming from behind in the fifth game to defeat Syracuse on the road.

Womens Soccer: The womens soccer team to a step into the history books Friday night with their 2-1 defeat of Villanova at Gettler Stadium. With the win they qualified for the Big East Tournament for the first time in team history!

Mens Soccer: The mens team kept their hopes alive of qualifying for the Big East Tournament with a big win over Syracuse Saturday night at Gettler Stadium. On Senior night the teams only senior, Brad Simpson, scored the game winning goal.

Swimming: The swimming and diving team traveled to Detroit for a quad meet. The teams didn't fair to well but Josh Schneider won his individual event, the 500 meter freestyle. We will have a feature story on Josh up later this week.

Football: The football team dropped a tough contest at Connecticut Saturday. We will look toward the USF match up with a report from practice Monday night that should be posted by Tuesday.

Todays schedule: Womens Soccer: Senior Day against Georgetown at 1:00 Gettler Stadium
Womens Volleyball: At Marquette 2:00

Big East Standings

Football:

West Virginia 2-0

Connecticut 2-1

Pittsburgh 2-1

Rutgers 2-2

UC 1-1

Louisville 1-1

South Florida 1-2

Syracuse 0-3

This weeks games:

USF at Cincinnati 10/30

West Virginia at UCONN 11/1

Pittsburgh at Notre Dame 11/1

Louisville at Syracuse 11/1

Bearcats Earn Birth To Big East Tournament

Friday night the Bearcat women's soccer team put another win in the books by downing Villanova 2-1. Senior Kristen May scored both of UC goals in the first half.
The win got the team their first trip to the Big East Tournament.
The Bearcats wrap up the regular season Sunday with a home game against Georgetown at 1:00.
Beracat Sports Page will be at the game and will bring you highlights and interviews after the game.

Bearcats Get Ready For trip to UCONN

This week the Bearcats got back to their normal routine in practice as they prepare to play the University of Connecticut Saturday at Rentschler Stadium.

Last year UC dominated UCONN in Cincinnati behind a strong defense led by senior defensive end Anthony Hoke. Hoke recorded 3 sacks and the potent Husky ground game was held to just 22 yards.

Tony Pike is back under center for UC and UCONN is without senior quarterback Tyler Lorenzen. The Bearcat players know that the defense must play well if they want to win and it won't be an easy game.

Comments from after practice by seniors Connor Barwin, Ryan Manalac and Kevin Huber

Michigan St. downs UC, 2-0, in Men's Non-Conference Action

The UC soccer team was defeated by Michigan St., 2-0, earlier today in East Lansing. The loss drops the Bearcats to 5-8-2 overall while the win pushes MSU's record to 9-5-0 overall.

The Bearcats kept it close for most of the first half, matching MSU shot for shot, corner for corner, and foul for foul. Unfortunately, the 30:00 minute mark in the first half yielded the first goal, and the game-winner, when MSU senior midfielder, Zac Scaffidi, off a pass from fellow midefielder, red-shirt sophomore, Jeff Ricondo.

The game would begin to turn ugly as yellow card were handed out left and right to both sides however, no red cards were issued.

The second goal of the game was scored in the 53:00 minute when Louis Stephens III took a pass from Spencer Thompson. Thompson sent the ball into the box from the right side where he connected with Doug DeMartin for the second and final goal of the match.

Overall, both teams attempted 10 shots for the game. MSU led the corner kicks with three to the Bearcats one. The Bearcats won s statistical category you don't want to in committing 16 fouls to the Spartans 11.

The Bearcats return home this Saturday for a game with the Syracuse Orange at 7:00pm.

For more information, visit:

www.gobearcats.com

Women's Soccer Gets Road Tie at Marquette

The University of Cincinnati women's soccer team came away with a hard fought tie on the road against conference foe, Marquette on Tuesday night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The Bearcats struck first as freshman midefielder Julie Morrissey took a corner kick from senior forward Kristin May in the 6th minute of the game to put the Bearcats up 1-0. But that lead would be short-lived as Marquete evened it up, 1-1, with a pass from Danielle Martens to Rachael Sloan for the Golden Eagle goal.

The game at Marquette completes a 2-0-2 road trip with wins at Seton Hall and USF, and ties with Rutgers and Marquette.

Cincinnati, 8-5-3 (4-2-3 Big East) will wrap up the 2008 regular season this weekend with a 7pm game at Gettler Stadium on Friday against Villanova. They will then play the last regular season match of the year on Sunday, when they host Georgetown on "Senior Day" at 1pm.

For more information, visit:

http://gobearcats.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/recaps/101908aaa.html

Bearcats Weekly Press Conference: Football

UC hits the road to Connecticut for their next Big East conference game this upcoming Saturday (10/25). The Bearcats look forward to trying to take advantage of UConn's loss to Rutgers last weekend, after Cincinnati defeated them on October 11th at home.

Coach Brian Kelly said in a press conference, both Tony Pike and Dustin Grutza will be putting on gear for today's practice. Grutza is still recovering, but Pike will start in Saturday's game.

Overall, the Bearcats' attitude is positive, and their spirits are high, as they prepare to try to follow in Rutgers footsteps, and take down the powerful UConn Huskies.

Here is a recap of todays weekly press conference. Along with Brian Kelly, Mike Mickens and Jabom Ramsey fielded questions from the media in attendance.

UC Men's Keeper Earns Big East Goalkeeper of the Week Honors

Cincinnati red-shirt sophomore goalkeeper, Matt Williams, took home Big East Goalkeeper of the Week honors in the weekly league awards.

Williams helped the Bearcats to post a pair of 1-0 shut-outs, the sixth and seventh this year for Williams. He also was credited with an assist for the the goal against Alabama A&M.


Stelmak named to Big East Honor Roll

Sophomore forward, Branden Stelmak, was named to the Big East honor roll for his two game-winning goals to lift Cincinnati past Alabama A&M and Rutgers this past weekend. He leads the Bearcats with four goals, three game winners, and nine points.

For more information, visit:

http://gobearcats.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/102008aaa.html

Bearcats take a pair of "W's" on the road to East Lansing

Over the weekend, the Bearcat men's soccer team notched another close victory, this time over conference foe Rutgers in their second consecutive physical battle.

It was the second time in as many games that forward Branden Stelmak put away the game winner away only this time, it came early in the second half. The sophomore put the game away in the 56th minute of play when he took a feed into the box from Paul Hoste in which he turned and fired to the far post past Rutgers goalkeeper Mark Konitsch.

Coach Hylton Dayes said his team "played with confidence tonight....we did what we needed to do to close it out."

That shot gave the Bearcats their second consecutive win after an earlier weekend battle with Alabama A&M which favored the 'Cats in a 1-0 decision.

The Bearcats will now travel to East Lansing, Michigan to take on the Michigan State Spartans in a non-conference tilt on Wednesday, October 22 at 3:00pm. The Bearcats go into the match with a 5-7-2 (2-5-1 Big East) record while MSU comes in at 8-5-0 (4-1-0 Big Ten).

For more information, visit:
http://gobearcats.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/recaps/101808aaa.html

Volleyball Team Looks at Out of Conference Game

Tuesday night the Bearcats step out of conference to host Morehead State. This will be the third Tuesday in a row the team has played a non conference opponent. Previously they played Dayton and Western Kentucky.
Both of those games are part of the seven game winning streak the team is currently enjoying. Western Kentucky has been the only game of the seven that was played away from Fifth Third arena.
We spoke with the team about playing these non conference games. With Big East play being so intense is it difficult to get up for these opponents?
For more information on the game and tickets, go to http://gobearcats.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/102008aag.html.

To hear what the players and Coach Sunahara had to say about this mid week match, here it is.

Still Perfect at Home: UC Beats Louisville

Saturday night the volleyball team played host to the Louisville Cardinals. Both teams entered the evening tied for fourth in Big East Conference.

Here is a video recap of the contest complete with player interviews.

Barwin and Carey Get Defensive

Today in the Cincinnati Enquirer there was an article on Connor Barwin making the switch from tight end to defensive end.

Back when spring practice stared we did a story on the switch made by both Connor Barwin and Craig Carey from offense to defense.

Back in the spring both got high marks on their transformation from offense to defense....now it certainly looks like a great move. Connor Barwin leads the Big East Conference in sacks.

Here is our story from spring practice.

Mauk Back With Bearcats

This past week Ben Mauk was back on the practice field with the Bearcats.

This time he has a clipboard in his hand, not a football.

He has joined the team as a "quality control" expert.  As his position was described he is another set of eyes to watch the offense.  The main focus of his observation will be with the quarterbacks and the receivers.

Mens Soccer: Alabama A & M

Wednesday night the Bearcat Mens Soccer team welcomed Alabama A&M to Gettler Stadium.
With a two game loosing streak, it was an opportunity to step out of conference and get a win.


It was a perfect night for a game, temperatures in the mid 60's. A small crowd that started the game quickly grew as the game wore on.


It was a very physical game, especially in the first half. Several Bearcats went down. The aggressive play of Alabama A & M got them in trouble late in the first half as a red card was issued and they had to play the remainder of the game with one less player.


As of Thursday morning there was no word if any UC players were seriously injured.


UC prevailed with a goal late in the second half to give them a victory 1-0


The Bearcats next game is at home this Saturday night against Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights are ahead of UC in the Big East standings and as time goes on victories in conference are very important... especially at home.

Here is a video recap of the game including the "red card".

Football Practice Tuesday

The football team was back on the practice field Tuesday. With a bye this week, the philosophy behind practice was correcting mistakes from the Rutgers game. Coach Kelly said it's a luxury to go back and fix mistakes, without having to start preparing for an upcoming opponent.

All quarterbacks were present and throwing. Tony Pike was in full pads taking snaps in the drills and running the first team offensive unit. He looked good. Coach Kelly was pleased with how his junior quarterback looked, he said he didn't look too rusty at all.

Dustin Grutza was also at practice. He was wearing a brace on his ankle, but still took advantage of some time out of the training room and threw the football around a little bit.

The week off will help the team heal from some of it's injuries but the biggest advantage will be for the coaches. After the UCONN game, they have a 5 day turnaround before South Florida comes to Nippert the next Thursday. The extra time this week allows them to start some prep work for the short week.

Here is some video from practice along with comments from seniors Kevin Huber, Ryan Manalac, and Connor Barwin.

Up and running soon.

In the next 7 to 10 days we hope to be up and running.
Bearcat Sports Page will give you an inside look at the athletic programs at the University of Cincinnati.
Reports as well as videos will be placed on this site by a team of UC students that make up a Sports Reporting class at UC out of the Electronic Media Division.
So it will be students reporting on student athletes. Our goal is to cover all sports, not just football and basketball.
Student athletes themselves will also act as reporters, taking you behind the scenes where no fans ever go. They will give you a guided tour of locker rooms, training rooms and an impressive weight lifting facility.
After the games you will hear from the athletes that were on the field, not just the coaches. We will try to give you a recap of all games with video taped hi lites and interviews.
If you follow UC sports....you will love this site!

Stay tuned and check back in a few days to see what we have!

Test post

Welcome to Bearcat Sports Page.