Men’s and women’s soccer falter after strong start, go winless
Posted by The Skyliner on September 24th, 2008Paul Conner
Staff Writer
After putting together a four-game winning streak, the women’s soccer team lost twice last week to fall to 4-3 on the season. The Lady Crusaders fell 1-0 in a tight match at Brevard College last Wednesday. They were in action again last Friday afternoon, losing 2-0 to Lander at Pepsi Stadium.
The Lady Crusaders created several scoring chances in the first half against Lander but could not put them away. Andrea Camere scored for the Bearcats in the first half, who led at halftime.
Lander controlled most of the possession in the second half, and Camere netted her second goal with 25:15 left in the match. After netting 17 goals in the first 5 games, NGU offense has been held scoreless in the past two games. Emily Pittman, sophomore undecided, had the best chance in the second half on a breakaway with 8:46 left but was denied by the keeper.
“We had a tough game [against Brevard] a few days ago, and I think we were still tired from that, and that hurt us a little bit,” said coach Jesse McCormick. “But we’re playing well, and when we have those opportunities to score, we have to finish them.”
North Greenville has been getting key contributions from Leah Ward, freshman sport management, and Ashlyn Henderson, freshman health promotion and wellness, in the first half of the season. Henderson was recently named the NCCAA National Student-Athlete of the Week.
“Yes, it’s great having those new girls coming in who can give us that extra push, but if it’s not for the girls who have been working hard the last two or three years, we are not where we are either,” said McCormick. “It’s really a credit to the whole team.”
The men’s team dropped a 5-1 decision to a much improved Mars Hill team on Saturday. Juan Carlos Aguilera, junior economics, scored North Greenville’s only goal of the day. Mars Hill took the early lead, with Giovanni Malnati scoring five minutes into the game. Aguilera answered halfway through the first half on a through ball from Seth Snyder, junior business administration, to tie the game at 1-1. With eight minutes left in the half, Troy Cole nodded a corner kick past keeper Nick Williams, freshman print media, for the Lions’ second goal. Two minutes later, Brandon Tardioli scored again for Mars Hill, which added two more goals late in the match to win 5-1. Williams and Dana Blackwell, junior Christian studies, each tended the net for the Crusaders (1-4) and had seven saves each.
“They are much improved from when we played them two years ago,” said coach Chad Gfeller. “They had a lot of speed, and they did a good job picking us apart. We didn’t play with as much intensity and quickness as I would have liked. They were definitely the better team, but we didn’t perform as well as we could have and probably could have had a better showing.”
The Crusaders will hope to turn things around and break their four-game losing skid on Saturday at Southern Wesleyan’s homecoming game.
“I don’t think we’ve ever beaten them at their place, so it will be a tough game for us,” said Gfeller. “Our schedule does lighten up a bit in October. We’ve had some difficult games so far.”
Tags: Fall 2008, Vol. 108 Fall - Issue 3