April 9th, 2008 | Written by: Kevin Bissmeyer | Posted in Uncategorized |
The Cincinnati Bearcats Lacrosse team took part in the Midwest Lacrosse Festival last weekend where they competed with 15 other teams from the Midwest region in a two day tournament at Ohio State University. The tournament consisted of a four game qualifier followed by an eight team single elimination playoff.
In the Bearcats first game of the weekend they faced off against a traditionally strong Denison University squad. The first half was all Cincinnati as they were seemingly scoring at will and piled up a 6-1 lead at the half. The second half looked quite different as Denison came out strong and got to within 6-5 before the Bearcats regained control and were able to hold on for an 8-6 victory.
The next three games were not quite as competitive as Cincinnati rattled off wins of 11-0 over Youngstown State, 14-1 over Ohio Dominican, and 12-1 over Ashland respectively. After these strong performances the Bearcats had piled up an undefeated qualifying run and stood poised Heading into their quarterfinals match up with Slippery Rock Pennsylvania to make a finals run.
In the match up with Slippery Rock the Bearcats came out strong early and were able to out match the Rock defenders. In a relatively easy game for the Bearcats, they came away with a 5-2 victory in which the score did not necessarily represent the nature of the game. The Bearcats would need every bit of their energy as their looming semi-final game with John Carroll would test their heart.
Cincinnati started off very slowly and looked worn out at times as they got down 2-0 early and remained so until half time. After having their first goal called back because of a substitution infraction, Cincinnati was able to register another goal soon after to climb back in the game and take the momentum. However, Cincinnati was not able to score again and as the game was entering its final minute the Bearcats found themselves trailing by a goal until sophomore captain Ray Harper found the back of the net to tie the game at 2-2 with 2 seconds left. The game would go into overtime and it would once again be Ray Harper, who, 13 seconds into the golden goal period, scored again to advance The Bearcats into the finals. The finals had to be played 30 minutes later against an Ohio University squad that had been resting and watching the Bearcats for over an hour.
The final was not the Bearcats best showing as they were unable to find their offense and entered halftime trailing 4-1. The second half didn’t get much better; Cincinnati looked tired and slower than OU and found themselves unable to mount a comeback with the final score reading 7-2.
Cincinnati advanced to the finals for their first time and turned out one of the best showings of the tournament. Goalie Kyle O’Neal was like a brick wall in front of the goal limiting opponents to an average of 2.7 goals per game, while registering a shutout, and multiple single goal games. Helping Kyle was the stellar defense of team captain Mike Noonan, Paul McKay, Josh Schwab, John Paino, and T.J. Duffy who combined to allow only two out of their seven opponents to score more than twice. Perhaps the most acknowledgment should go to the midfield lines which were low in numbers but high in impact. Exemplified by line leaders, Ray Harper, Brandon Mowrey, and Rob Magness, the midfielders excelled in all aspects of the game and were a crucial part of the Bearcats success. While The Bearcats did loose midfielder David Jarmus for the remainder of the year breaking his collar bone in the 2nd game, they had significant contributions from recent transfer Andy Herriot who helped to stabilize the Bearcats Third line. On offense the Bearcats lone stabilizing force was Danny Macaully who played in every game. The remaining two attack positions saw a rotation of Bobby Nagle, Stephen Heffner, Zack Fehr, Tony Piloto, and Adam Fintak who all contributed their share of offense for the Bearcats.
Looking back at the tournament the Bearcats will take pride in the fact that they outscored their opponents 55-19, but will not be content with their second place finish, and will look to win the Xavier Tournament taking place at Xavier on April 12th and 13th.
