The Cincinnati Bearcats would like to announce the beginning of their summer pickup league. The free pickup league begins on June 16th and will last through the end of July and will take place at Sheakley Lawn at the University of Cincinnati. The league is open to all players 17 or older and will take place every Wednesday from 7-9 PM.

All players are required to bring their own light/dark reversible jersey and their own water as there is none on site. The teams will be decided each night by tossing in sticks and then picking sides. players are asked to bring extra balls with them as the field is notorious for stealing them.

This is the third year UC has run this summer league and in years past it has been a great success and has attracted a lot players from all kinds of competitive backgrounds. Pass on the news, and bring your friends as all are encouraged to come out and help keep this summer league growing! Follow the Bearcats on Facebook for the quickest updates on information and schedules! UCLAXFacebook

      The Cincinnati Bearcats had an excellent 09/10 campaign making it to the NCLL final four for just the second time in the schools history, but also the second time in the last three years. The recent success of the Bearcats program can be traced to many contributing factors such as increased team organization, good coaching, more commitment, and higher levels of incoming talent then in years past, however one of the other crucially important reasons for the growth and improvement of the team has been the outstanding contributions from the Bearcats seniors who have been a part of the early years of mediocrity at UC and have been instrumental in the emergence of the program in the last three years.

This years senior class was the last link to the Schools first head coach Dave Reed, and have been a part of the changing atmosphere at Cincinnati that has included two coaching changes, an increased practice schedule and the first lacrosse games played at Nippert Stadium. The expansion of the sport has a lot to do with the success of the team, and this success is thanks in large part to the seniors who have helped lead the way through the transition.

This years graduating seniors are one of the most accomplished groups to come through the school; consisting of the schools all time scoring leader, as well as the all time winningest goalie and one of the longest tenured defensive starters to play at UC. Here is a look back at the individual accomplishments of seniors Bobby Nagle, Kyle O’Neal, and Paul Mckay.

Bobby Nagle has been a staple on the UC attack since his first game as a freshman. A four year starter, Nagle has also been a team captain in both his junior and senior seasons as well as a member of the team leadership council. In addition to his accomplishments as a team leader he has been one of the teams most important players winning the UC offensive player of the year award in both his junior and senior years on his way to setting the schools all time scoring record. Since team statistics began being kept in the 07-08 season, Nagle has racked up an impressive 63 goals averaging out to 21 goals a season.

Senior goalie Kyle O’Neal may have had to wait to get his starting job, but once it was his he made a name for himself as one of the best goalies in all of club lacrosse. O’Neal, a two time team MVP is a three year starter for UC and has been a three year captain with the team as well as a member of the leadership council. Kyle will leave UC with an all time winning percentage of 81% and in his three years as a starter has led the Bearcats to a 44-10 record while allowing an average of only 4.6 goals per game. O’Neals presence between the pipes will be missed next year as the Bearcats will have to find a new starter in the net.

Senior Paul Mckay is only the second defensive player at UC to start all four years of their career. Since settling into his role on the team as a freshman, Mckay has been one of the most improved players on the team as he was able to get better every season with the team. Mckay, like the other seniors has been instrumental in helping the team on the field, but he has also extended his influence off the field. Paul was a two year captain with the team, a founder of the leadership council, and the team president in his junior year. Mckays presence on defense, his motivational speeches, and his leadership and organization efforts off the field have all been a major part of the programs improvement, and his effort will be recognizably missed in the years to come.

With these three seniors moving on to the next stage of their lives and leaving the program behind the Bearcats will have to find ways to fill the large shoes left by these players. Cincinnati is full of both youth and talent and this summer will be an important one as Cincinnati will try to fill in the holes left by the departures of these players. On behalf of all the Cincinnati Bearcats Lacrosse Community I would like to thank the seniors for all their contributions to the program over the years and wish them the best in whatever awaits them in their post lacrosse careers.

The 2009/10 lacrosse season was one of the best seasons in Cincinnati’s history and was a year filled with accomplishments and firsts. It started in the fall with the Bearcats beating Miami in the Capitol Tournament Championship to bring home the inaugural trophy in that tournament. Cincinnati continued its winning ways in the Midwest Lacrosse Festival where they brought home their first ever championship in that tournament after placing second and third in the previous seasons. During the MLF the Bearcats were also able to knock off rivals Ohio U. and Ohio State on their way to the trophy. By the end of the year Cincinnati had won its third consecutive Midwest Regional Championship, and was advancing to the NCLL Elite Eight for the second time in the last three seasons. There was one thing Cincinnati was not able to cross off its list though, a National Championship as they lost in the Final Four to Lynchburg University in a high scoring back and forth game.

In Cincinnati’s first game they lined up against a talented St. Mary’s team that looked ready to give the Bearcats all they bargained for. Cincinnati started off strong taking a 9-3 lead into the half and controlling the ball possession. The second half was a much different story as UC was outscored 6-2 and was looking out of sync. However, the Bearcats pulled themselves together at the end of the game and were able to hang on to an 11-9 win moving them onto the Final Four.

Cincinnati was led in this game by Zach Fehr who tallied four goals, as well as attackmen Bobby Nagle and Danny Macauley who each scored two goals. other scorers were Ray Harper and and Alex Arkeilpane.

The Final Four match up featured a high powered Lynchburg team that has made multiple championship appearances recently and was a favorite coming into the tournament again this year. Cincinnati started the game off well taking a 6-1 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the momentum would not last as the second quarter scoring was 6-2 in Lynchburgs favor with the halftime score reading 8-7, Bearcats. The third quarter remained close as each team notched four more goals and went into the final quarter with Cincinnati leading 12-11. The fourth quarter saw it slip away from the Bearcats as they were losing the ground ball battle and as a result the possession battle as well. Lynchburg was able to rack up five more goals in the quarter while UC managed only three and with five seconds left and the ball at midfield after a penalty UC had one last chance to try to even the score, but the pass was batted down and the game, as well as the Bearcats season ended.

UC was led in scoring by returning attackman Jason Keck, who in just his second game back with the team since injuring his hip racked up four goals and an assist in limited playing time. In his final game with the Bearcats, senior Bobby Nagle scored three times while the other two attackmen Danny Macauley and Joe Werner both scored twice, with Werner adding two assists. Other scorers were Zach Fehr, Phil Cowles, Matt Keller and Alex Arkeilpane.

With the season ending one game earlier then the Bearcats would have liked the team will be working hard in the off-season to improve and reload for next season. With a returning core of players, as well as a highly anticipated incoming class Cincinnati looks to be on track for another tournament run next year.

The Bearcats would like to thank everyone who has supported and followed us and helped make this such an incredible year, we could not do it without the help of our fans!

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.

The Cincinnati Bearcats will be traveling to Youngstown State University on Friday night to play their NCLL regional qualifying game against YSU. The winner of this game will advance to the NCLL “Elite 8″ in Maryland the weekend of May 1st. In a game that was originally scheduled to be played at a neutral site in New York, due to scheduling conflicts beyond the Bearcats control, they will now have to travel to Youngstown State and play the Penguins at home. The game will be played at Stambough Stadium at 8:00PM.

Following the game against Youngstown State the Bearcats will travel to Buffalo State to finish their regular season games against Buffalo State and Canisius on Saturday. The games will begin at 2:00PM and will be played at Nichols High School Stadium, located at 1250 Amhurst St. Buffalo, New York. 14216.

If the Bearcats are able to pull off a win against YSU on Friday night they will qualify for their second NCLL “elite 8″ in the last three seasons. Dont miss your last opportunity to see the Bearcats play in Ohio when they face off in the NCLL regional qualifier Friday night, at Youngstown State.

The Cincinnati Bearcats Travelled to Ohio State University where they participated in the two day Midwest Lacrosse Festival on Friday and Saturday, and came home with their first MLF Championship, as well as the good feeling of avenging their earlier losses to Ohio State and Ohio University. Cincinnati has never won this tournament before, finishing second in ‘08 and third in ‘09, but this year the Bearcats got hot at the right time and were able to make the victorious drive back to Cincinnati for the first time. The tournament started off at 7:00PM on Friday and concluded with the Championship game at 4:30PM Saturday evening.

In the Preliminary rounds of the tournament The Bearcats faced off against Kent State, Ohio University, and Bowling Green going 2-1 with a 3-2 loss to Ohio University. Cincinnati got solid contributions from the entire team as every player was counted on to contribute through the preliminary rounds in order to keep the team fresh for the elimination rounds. UC won their games against KSU and BG 12-5 and 8-4 respectively.

The first round of elimination had the Bearcats facing off against a familiar foe, the Louisville Cardinals, whom the Bearcats have already faced once in the regular season, and twice in the pre-season. Well, a familiar foe produced familiar results as the Bearcats picked up a 5-0 shutout victory and advanced to the Semi-Final round of the tournament against OSU.

In the Semi-Finals Cincinnati got caught up in a hard fought battle with the Ohio State Buckeyes that went into overtime where the Bearcats Sophomore midfielder Andrew Murray was able to win the face-off giving UC the ball. Cincinnati quickly found the back of the net for the 6-5 sudden death victory and advanced to the Finals against Ohio University for the second time in the last three years.

The MLF Championship game was not very much different from the Semi-Final as the teams were tied or within one goal of each other for the entire game.  And just like the previous game, regulation was not enough time to decide the winner and the game would go to overtime. However, in this overtime both teams had opportunities to end the game, but a big save by Goalie Kyle O’Neal, and a huge game winning goal from midfielder Zach Fehr sealed the 4-3 win for the Bearcats as the bench stormed the field to celebrate their first MLF Tournament Championship!

The Bearcats had an outstanding tournament from senior Goalie Kyle O’Neal who denied, rejected, and stuffed almost every shot that came his way posting a shutout and frustrating the other teams to no end. The Bearcats defense got hot at the right time as they were able to control their opponents and keep the crease clear holding their final three opponents to a combined total of 8 goals.

Cincinnati will be playing their last home game of the season on Wednesday night at 8:00PM when they face off against cross-town rival Xavier Musketeers. Dont miss this last chance to see the Bearcats before they begin their NCLL Tournament run.

Today the Cincinnati Bearcats will head up to the Midwest Lacrosse Festival in Columbus, Ohio to compete with some of the top area teams in one of the final weekends before NCLL tournament play begins. The Bearcats have had a reasonable amount of success in years past as they have made the final four of the MLF in both 08 and 09, but they are hoping this will be the year they win the whole thing. The first three games will be against Kent State and Ohio University on Friday, and then Saturday against Bowling Green. After this preliminary round of play the teams will be seeded and the elimination rounds will begin. The tournament should culminate with a championship game around 8PM.

Cincinnati would also like to announce a few schedule changes that have occurred recently. The games against Miami and Western Michigan scheduled for the 11th have been cancelled due to unavoidable field issues in Miami. The Bearcats final home game will be against Xavier on April 14th at 7PM as they look to finish off their year undefeated at home. The Bearcats are also close to finalizing the game times and locations for their New York trip on April 23rd and 24th, and would also like to announce that the NCLL Regional Final game against Slippery Rock has been moved up to April 25th. The game will be played at Slippery Rock and the game time will be posted in the near future.

Be sure to check the schedule to stay up to date with schedule changes!

The Bearcats would like to announce a few changes to their end of the season schedule. They have scheduled an inter-squad scrimmage for Friday night at 7:00PM at Nippert Stadium, and they have also agreed with Buffalo State to take an end of the year trip to New York to play a few of the area teams. The times, teams, and terms are still being negotiated, but the schedule will be updated as soon as the teams have reached an agreement. UC is also in the process of setting up a wednesday night game with their cross-town rival Xavier University. This game will be played at XU and will take place on either April 7th or 14th.

After a tough loss to Ohio University before heading on Spring Break, the Bearcats will look to fine tune their game in the scrimmage against the Mens Team and then travel to Ohio State the following weekend for the Midwest Lacrosse Festival. The MLF will conclude on April 10th, and on April 11th Cincinnati will travel to Oxford, Ohio to take on Western Michigan. This is a tough stretch of upcoming games and the Bearcats will need to perform well to secure their place in the NCLL Tournament. Come out and support the Bearcats as they look to qualify for the tournament for their fourth consecutive year.

The Cincinnati Bearcats would like to announce that they will be hosting Xavier University at Nippert Stadium on Wednesday March 10th. This scrimmage will be the first time the Bearcats have hosted a night game at Nippertand it should serve as a great opportunity to prepare for their upcoming meeting with Ohio University. The scrimmage will be played at 7PM under the lights and will end around 9. Come out and support the Bearcatsas they welcome their rival Muskies in the “lacrosse-town showdown”.

Cincinnati would also like to announce that they are now selling team gear and apparel on a limited basis. If you are interested please contact Coach Bissmeyer at bissmeyer@bearcatlacrosse.com. The merchandise offered will be; black UC lax hoodies, black UC lax sweatpants, grey UC lax t-shirts, black game jerseys, and white game jerseys.

On Sunday the Bearcats travelled to Denison University for a double-header against Denison and Ohio State. These games figured to be the first that would really test the Bearcats, and they certainly lived up to those expectations. Cincinnati was able to pull off a come from behind 9-7 victory over Denison University, but lost their second of back to back games 12-8 to Ohio State University.

In the first game against The Big Red, Cincinnati was unable to get things going in the first half and looked very sluggish as they found themselves trailing 4-2. In the second half the Bearcats looked like a totally different team as they went on to rack up six more goals while limiting Denison to just Two. Midfielders Zach Fehr and Ray Harper were instrumental in the win as they filled in for the Bearcats three injured face-off specialists and were able to win ten out of seventeen face-offs against Denison. Great games were also turned in by attackmen Bobby Nagle and Danny Macauley who scored four goals and two goals respectively. Although the first half was sloppy the Bearcat defense really stepped it up in the second half and did a great job of playing physical and imposing their will on the Denison attackmen.

The Bearcats took a quick fifteen minute break to rest and stretch out before suiting up again to play the Ohio State Buckeyes in what turned out to be a game the Bearcats will want to forget. Cincinnati came out slow, and let the game get away from them early as a barrage of dropped balls, bad passes, and missed assignments contributed to a hole to large for the Bearcats to climb out of. Cincinnati made a push in the second half and began playing better lacrosse, but it was too little too late as Cincinnati dropped their first game of the year. The stats tell the story of this game as Cincinnati lost the ground ball battle 20-12 and lost the face-off battle 16-7.

These games will move the Bearcats record to 5-1 on the season keeping Cincinnati at the top of the Midwest South Conference. UC will travel to Athens to take on the Ohio University Bobcats next week in hopes of avenging their overtime loss in the pre-season; don’t miss this opportunity as it promises to be a great game of lacrosse!