Cincinnati Tops Wisconsin 1-0 In Double Overtime

CINCINNATI, Ohio (Nov. 4) - Cincinnati freshman Jeremiah Gallegos (Laguna Beach, Calif./St. Margaret) came off the bench in the second overtime to give the Bearcats a 1-0 win over Wisconsin on Nov. 4 at Meyers Field. The win came as a tuneup to this week's Conference USA Tournament starting on Thursday in St. Louis, Mo.

Gallegos settled a long ball played to him from midfield by sophomore Scott Lyons (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller) on the right side of the field, took two dribbles and put a shot into the left side of the goal in the 116th minute. The freshman had missed the previous 10 matches with a knee injury and had re-entered the contest less than two minutes before the goal.

"This was a great win for us against a team that is regionally ranked," said head coach Jeff Cook. "I thought we had the advantage for most of the first half and early in the second half and hung on in overtime. When we took Jeremiah out of the game in the first half, I didn't really expect to use him again. We put him back in late just to give him some more experience up front."

UC (7-8-3) outshot Wisconsin 8-5 in regulation, but Wisconsin fired seven shots in the two overtimes. Freshman goalkeeper Sacha Nathu made three brilliant saves in the two overtimes and six total for the match. Nathu lowered his goals against average to 1.49 while registering his fourth shutout in seven matches and sixth of the season.

Dominic DaPra and Narciso Fernandes each put two shots on goal for Wisconsin (11-8-1) in the loss and goalkeeper Moriba Atiba Baker had four saves.

After starting out slowly, Cincinnati went 3-1-3 down the stretch of the regular season and will enter the Conference USA tournament as the fifth or sixth seed with play beginning on Thursday. The Bearcats were assured of a playoff berth with their draw against Louisville on Wednesday, coupled with Saint Louis' 4-3 win over South Florida on Friday evening.