This afternoon, the Bearcats (3-1-3) welcomed in Murray State (3-3-1) to the pitch for Senior Day as the Bearcats would look to honor their five seniors. The Bearcats would honor Ashley Barron, Kendall Battle, Maddy Pittman, Maddy Thiss and Kate Marrs ahead of this contest for all their hard work and contribution to the Bearcats program over the last four seasons.
“Each senior class is just so special for different reasons, Kate Marrs, no longer plays but has taken on a manager role here and her leadership off the field has been so important at times for us, to see her evolve to be resilient with her situation of not being able to play anymore. You have people like Maddy Pittman, who is just an extraordinary young woman, balancing nursing school and soccer and to do that, it takes a certain high character person, and Maddy Pittman is that. We can talk about Ashley Barron for days with her accolades, Kendall Battle is just a warrior, you think about these kids, you think of Maddy Thiss, the transfers that have impacted our program, they have been really big for us, you see the Minutes Maddy Thiss gives for us, she is constantly sacrificing her body, these kids are so resilient, those five you think about what they have been through with covid, with a players death last season with Ally, it speaks volume about who these young woman are,” said head coach Neil Stafford.
Bearcats senior Ashley Barron, a two- time AAC Defensive Player of the Year, was also named the AAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year heading into the 2022 season. Barron has played a key role for the Bearcats over her career at Cincinnati and should cement her name next to Vanessa Giles in the near future for the Bearcats soccer program. Barron was also named to the Mac Hermann Trophy List, given to the best player in the country annually. Barron has anchored the back line for the last three seasons and has continued to do so this season as well through the team’s first 7 matches.
“Ashley is arguably one of the best defenders I have ever coached here at Cincinnati, which says a lot when you mention Vanessa Giles in where she is at today in her career and what she has accomplished. Ashley is a high character young woman, she is intense, a competitor, she engraves the standard within the program, even academically, I think she’s defender of the year, I also think she is a full book student. It really speaks to who she is on and off the field, she leads by example, I think kids look up to her, I have always said if my daughter is half the woman Ashley is, I’d be a proud dad,” aaid Bearcats head coach Neil Stafford.
Starters for the Bearcats- Ashley Barron, Megan Smith, Vanessa DiNardo, Maddy Pittman, Brandi Thomsen, Lauren Bastain, Maddy Thiss, Kendall Battle, Emma Schmelzer, Maddie Swingle, Anna Rexford.
Starters for Morehead State- Michelle Jerantowski, Nicole Flantaco, Erin Fite, Anna Lohrer, Kate Larbes, Madelyn Mozeleski, Colleen Swift, Madison Feldhaus, Sejla Podzic, Hadley Cytron, Avery Redmon.
The Bearcats would look to push the tempo early as they put up two shots on goal early as Vanessa DiNardo rattled off a shot that was just an off target in the 4th minute over the goal, but Neil Stafford and the Bearcats were looking to push the ball down the pitch early. The Bearcats would strike first as Vanessa DiNardo was seeming to be a problem early for the Eagles, as she would line up a shot that would find the back of the net to give the Bearcats an early 1-0 lead over the Eagles in the 12th minute. The Bearcats wouldn’t be done there as the Bearcats would add to their lead this time it was freshman Maddie Swingle who connects for her first career goal. Swingle, who was left open in the box, as the Eagles really played Ashely Barron, leaving Swingle wide open in the box and she would connect and give the Bearcats a 2-0 lead in the 15th minute.
The Bearcats would continue to push the ball up the pitch as Vanessa DiNardo would connect for her second goal of the game, this time in the 26th minute off a Paige Miller assist to give the Bearcats a 3-0 lead early. DiNardo showing why she is one of the most dangerous forwards in all of the AAC as she was named to all AAC Preseason team ahead of the season, where she joined teammate Ashley Barron.
The Bearcats would take a 3-0 lead to the break, behind two goals from Vanessa DiNardo and Maddie Swingle who connected for her first collegiate goal of her Bearcat career. Overall, Neil Stafford and the Bearcats were really pushing the tempo early as they outshot the Eagles 10-1 in the first half, behind four shots from Vanessa DiNardo, as the graduate forward was showing why she is one of the best players in the American Athletic Conference.
The Bearcats would hold strong in the second half, as they had some opportunities to put this one away including a chance for Vanessa DiNardo to record a hat trick as she had a great opportunity after a penalty kick soared right over the net. The Bearcats dominated from start to finish here at Gettler Stadium this afternoon, where they would record a season high 24 shots on goal, led behind Vanessa DiNardo with five, but Lauren Bastain also saw a couple of opportunities to find the back of the net as she recorded four shots on goal, and all four were very good shots on the goal, including a header off the side post. The Bearcats were dominant from start to finish and really controlled the tempo from start to finish here at Gettler Stadium as the Bearcats defeat Morehead State 3-0, behind two goals from DiNardo, and Swingle, as the Bearcats improve to (4-1-3) on the season as they head into conference play next week when they take on Memphis.
“We came out firing and that was something we challenge them on. I thought we came out vs Western Michigan guns blazing, we really did a great job in the first 20-25 minutes of that game and sort of fell off, so the challenge today for senior day, with a lot of emotions behind today, I’m really proud of how we came out and applied pressure to Morehead State, we didn’t let them play a lot, pressed on their goal kicks, I thought we created a lot of opportunities with and without the ball so that was great to see,” said head coach Neil Stafford.
The Bearcats will be back in action September 22nd at 7 pm when they kick off conference play here at Gettler Stadium vs a very talented Memphis team as they look to improve to (5-1-3) as they take the next week and half to get ready for a gauntlet in conference play.
