April 15th, 2008 | Written by: Kevin Bissmeyer | Posted in Uncategorized |
The University of Cincinnati lacrosse team participated in the Xavier mini-tournament in which they continued to show that they are one of the premier lacrosse teams in the Midwest region. In three games the bearcats managed to outscore their opponents 57-6 and racked up three big wins the weekend before heading into the national tournament.
In the Bearcats first game against Marshall on a muddy grass field the game saw a goal scored on Cincinnati’s very first possession, from that point on there was no looking back as the Bearcats rattled off 22 unanswered goals in route to a shutout win. A huge effort was turned in by the Bearcats Ryan Osborne who filled in (from the hockey team) for absent goalie Kyle O’Neal and recorded a shutout with 9 saves. The big Saturday win would prove to be a surge of momentum that carried the Bearcats throughout the rest of their games.
Cincinnati’s first game of the day on Sunday would be against the highly ranked Louisville Cardinals who had given the Bearcats a very close game in the pre season. On this day the same would not hold true however, as the Bearcats were able to score early and often and dismantle a Louisville team 17-3. With this big win Cincinnati cemented their spot in the national tournament and was looking for one more victory to catapult themselves into the top five rankings (http://www.laxpower.com/update08/binmen/rating07.php).
Standing in the Bearcats way for their second match of the day were the hosting Xavier Musketeers who had been resting on the sidelines watching the Bearcats game vs. Louisville and were fresh and ready to begin as soon as the game had ended. The rematch of the “Lacrosse-town Shootout” would fare somewhat better for Xavier, though not very much. Whereas the first game between these two teams ended in a 21-1 Cincinnati win, this game saw a slightly lower score of 18-3 in another lopsided Cincinnati victory.
With these three impressive wins the Bearcats are now ranked #4 in the country and named Division 2 Midwest Regional champs. For the first time the team will be heading into nationals as one of the favored squads that everyone will be looking to beat; and the Bearcats will have to continue their excellent play if they want to remain alive in the tournament battle where UC knows they have a target on their backs.
