A 21-year-old University of Cincinnati soccer player drowned in a state park in Ohio over the weekend, authorities said.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) said witnesses reported Allyson Sidloski, of Strongsville, Ohio was hanging from the platform of a boat before disappearing into the water in East Fork State Park just before 5 p.m. Saturday.
ODNR said Sidloski was not wearing a life jacket.
Search crews recovered her body just after 1 a.m. Sunday, according to ODNR.
Sidloski had recently completed her sophomore soccer season with the Bearcats, but did not play in 2020 due to injury, the university said in a statement.
“I am absolutely crushed for the Sidloski Family, our soccer team, and the University,” UC’s soccer head coach Neil Stafford said in the statement. “There’s no words for dealing with a tragedy on this scale.”
Stafford said, “Ally was such a pillar of everything that’s right about our program. A great student, gritty and resilient player, and a phenomenal human being—this is an immeasurable and unspeakable loss.”
“Our hearts go out to her family and friends and we will lift them up with our fond memories of Ally,” he added.
UC Soccer said Sidloski was named a “TopCat scholar” in multiple semesters for achieving a 4.0 GPA.
“Our Bearcats family has suffered an extreme loss,” Director of Athletics John Cunningham said in the statement. “We send all our prayers, love, and support to the Sidloski family and will do everything we can to support them and our student-athletes as we all process and work through this tragedy.”
Sidloski leaves behind her parents and two sisters.
East Fork State Park is about 25 miles southeast of Cincinnati in Clermont County.
