KICKS Against Breast Cancer Tournament a Major Success

April 22, 2005

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s soccer program was pleased to announce a major success at the first annual KICKS Against Breast Cancer Tournament.

The tournament, held Saturday, April 16 at the Sunrise Hilton Soccer Complex, and surrounding efforts, including on-line auctions featuring a signed jersey by Brandi Chastain and an autographed ball by Freddy Adu, raised more than $8,000 for the Howard County General Hospital’s Claudia Mayer Cancer Resource and Image Center and the Braman Family Breast Cancer Institute at the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“We were very excited about the amount of success we had in the first year of this tournament,” said head UM soccer coach Tricia Taliaferro. “Anytime you can do something positive for such a good cause and help organizations, such as the Claudia Mayer Center and the Braman Institute, has to be considered a success.”

“The Sunrise Hilton and everyone involved in this tournament did an outstanding job, and we want to thank everyone for all their hard work and help,” said Taliaferro.

Saturday’s five-team tournament featured UM, Florida Atlantic, LSU, Marquette and Carmel United, who participated in six, one-hour games throughout the day.

The tournament was kicked off Friday night by a banquet at the Sunrise Hilton. The highlight of Friday night’s banquet was the powerful messages delivered by keynote speakers, Jill Ellis and Robyn DesOrmeaux.

Ellis, head women’s soccer coach at UCLA, spoke of a very personal story of her mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer while DesOrmeaux, a senior goalkeeper at LSU who was recently diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma, a rare form of malignant cancer, shared her own battles with the disease in a moving speach.

“The experiences of both Jill and Robyn were exactly what this tournament and fund-raising efforts were about – to reach people on a personal level to bring awareness to a very important cause.”