Bearcats Win D-II Regional Championship, Head to “Elite 8″ in Maryland
On Friday, April 23rd the Bearcats walked into a hostile environment at Youngstown State and walked out with an NCLL D-II Regional Championship, Cincinnati’s second in three years. However, this game was anything but easy for the Bearcats as they were trailing the entire first half to a big and physical Youngstown State team. With freshman Zia Ahmed in goal for starter Kyle O’Neal, and several other starters missing, the young Bearcats were able to come from four goals down halftime to win the game 9-5 moving on to the NCLL “Elite 8″ in Maryland with their first game against St. Mary’s on Saturday, May 1st.
The turn in momentum can be attributed to an increase in the aggressiveness of the defenders as well as a very quick two goals scored by Ray Harper to start the third quarter and bring Cincinnati to within a two goals of the Penguins. Senior Bobby Nagel also had a great game finding the back of the net five times, leading all scorers.
After an impressive come from behind win at YSU the Bearcats travelled to New York to take on Buffalo State and Canisius in UC’s first trip to the liberty state. The Bearcats beat both Buffalo State and Canisius 11-5 and 11-1 respectively. Cincinnati had an impressive team effort as every player contributed equally to the quality road wins. In his first extensive action since joining the Bearcats, freshman goalie Zia Ahmed played very well allowing only 11 goals in 3 games on the road trip. Ahmed will be counted on next season as the Bearcats will lose senior Goalie Kyle O’Neal.
Cincinnati will leave Friday morning and stay over night to prepare for their first game at 8:30 Saturday morning against St. Mary’s of Maryland. The games will be played at The University of Maryland.
