Oct. 15, 2008

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Department of Athletics is getting ready for the first-ever "Pink Out" this weekend.

The event will involve both the women's soccer match on Friday and the women's volleyball contest on Saturday, with an assist from a pair of area businesses during the week.

The Pink Out is a joint venture between the UWM community and the athletics department to promote breast cancer awareness, celebrate the survivors and support progress toward a cure. The idea builds off of the highly-successful "Think Pink" promotion involving women's basketball last February.

This week's event finds the women's soccer team facing Butler Friday at 7 p.m., while the women's volleyball team entertains Wright State Saturday at 4 p.m.

There will be a youth clinic before the matches Friday and Saturday. Friday's clinic at Engelmann Field runs from 5:30-6:15 p.m., while Saturday's clinic at the Klotsche Center goes from 2-3 p.m. Participants must register for the clinics by Oct. 16 by e-mailing David Nikolic at cosmo@uwm.edu for soccer and Lindsey Vanden Berg at laspoden@uwm.edu for volleyball.

Free admission is available to anyone attending either the soccer or volleyball clinic, while anyone else wearing pink can get in to either event for $1.

This week's Pink Out is also getting fundraising help from Qdoba and Noodles. The two restaurants on Oakland near the UWM campus will both be donating a portion of their profits from sales this week to the Pink Out. From 4-9 p.m. on Wednesday, Noodles will donate 25 percent of its profits, while all day on Thursday, Qdoba will donate 10 percent of its profits.

Money raised through the Pink Out goes to UWM's Norris Health Center, which will dedicate the funds to women's health issues. In particular, Norris hopes to help uninsured or underinsured students cover the costs of laboratory, radiology and immunization services needed for cancer prevention.

For more information on the events or clinics, or to buy tickets, call the Panther Ticket Office at 414-229-5886.