David Cohen
Director / Strategic Brand Engagement
CINCINNATI -- The University of Cincinnati soccer team will begin its 43
rd season in three short months, again with a strong returning nucleus and a wave of newcomers set to raise the bar another notch.
The spring season featured the arrivals of midseason transfers
Mackenzie Tucker (Xavier) and
Vyviene Spaulding (Rice), each carrying interesting backgrounds on how their roads led to Clifton.
For Tucker, it was the familiarity of having both a former high school and college teammate at UC in third-year goalkeeper
Anna Rexford and second-year defender
Maddie Thiss, respectively. She also got to know the program in her first recruitment cycle.
"Cincinnati is one of the first schools who recruited me the first time around," she said. "I fell in love with the city, and when I transferred from up the road, it worked out perfect. After talking with the coaches and meeting with some of the girls, it felt like the perfect fit. My senior year of high school, Anna and I became good friends. She and Maddie helped put me in with the team."
On the flip side, it was a whirlwind for Spaulding, a North Texas native who played a significant role at Rice for two years, including a pair of NCAA starts in the Owls' Spring 2021 Sweet 16 run.
She described the next events as "random," laughing at how Ohio was not on her radar compared to other states closer to home.
"One night I was sitting on my couch watching a basketball game, and I get a random call and I answered it and he was like, 'hey, I'm Tom (associate head coach Anagnost) from Cincinnati,'" Spaulding said. "He said he had already talked to my old coach and he'd seen all my film and we didn't even need to talk anymore, saying 'I want you to come here.' His enthusiasm and research on me showed how many plans he had for me when I came here."
Tucker, like Spaulding's aforementioned Rice era, also brings a winning pedigree to a UC program on the cusp in its AAC, and eventual Big 12, journey, as she started eight games for Xavier's Big East title team last fall.
The pair also remarked on their ability to mesh with the team over spring workouts, as well as a chance to embrace the program's future.
"We are a very forward-thinking, attack-minded team which I think will be interesting," Tucker said. "I'm super excited to see with what we do with that, especially with all the players we have coming back and here now. We can be super dangerous on the attack."
For Spaulding, it is also about a bigger picture that serves both a team and player, big-picture purpose.
"I definitely think our coaches are preparing us for the professional level by playing through the back and connecting passes and stuff and not kicking the ball over, really moving the ball and being smart and patient," she said. "That's a big thing I've noticed with them. I was really glad to come here and have that."
Tucker and Spaulding are just two pieces of a large influx of newcomers ahead of the fall. What happens next hangs in the balance, but the Bearcats will be ready for their next championship push.
