Women’s soccer tops Truett McConnell; men fall in double OT
Posted by The Skyliner on October 7th, 2009Paul Conner
Sports Editor
The women’s soccer team dispatched Truett McConnell 2-1 on the road in Cleveland, Ga., Friday night to improve its record to 6-3-0. Leah Ward, junior sport management, and Rebecca Stidham, junior health and wellness, each netted goals for the Lady Crusaders.
“It is always nice to win on the road, and it gives us momentum going into our next match,” North Greenville coach Jesse McCormick said.
The North Greenville defense has only allowed eight goals in nine games this season. Emily Pittman, junior sport management, assisted Stidham’s goal.
North Greenville will travel to Due West, S.C., tomorrow at 6 p.m. to face Erskine, a team ranked fifth in Conference Carolinas. The Lady Crusaders are 2-1 against Conference Carolinas opponents this season and will have a chance to improve their record when they face St. Andrews, also a Conference Carolinas school, next Tuesday at 4 p.m. in Tigerville.
The men’s soccer team took Anderson into double overtime but conceded a golden goal and fell 3-2 Friday night in Anderson. Jonathan Restrepo, junior international business, and Seth Snyder, senior business, each netted a goal, while Chandler Patterson, sophomore media ministry, and Benjamin Bosco, freshman mathematics, assisted on the goals.
“I’m disappointed that we didn’t get at least a tie out of it, but honestly I don’t think our guys could have played any better,” North Greenville coach Chad Gfeller said. “They were all over the place. This team has only lost once all year, so to be in position to win at the end of the game says a lot about how far our program has come.”
Anderson (8-1-1), a team whose 11 starters hail from seven different countries, increased its home unbeaten streak to 16 games. Max Duarte, senior marketing, missed a shot off the crossbar in the fourth minute, but the Trojans had most of the chances in the first half. Crusaders goalkeeper Justen Braddock, freshman sport management, made four saves in the half to keep the score tied 0-0 at halftime.
Anderson’s Ben Jones scored in the 52nd minute, but three minutes later a Trojan player received his second yellow card of the match. North Greenville took advantage of playing with an extra man, and Snyder found the back of the net just minutes after the red card was shown by the referee.
With 9:10 remaining in the match, Restrepo headed in a cross from Bosco and celebrated in front of a vocal band of traveling Crusader fans. The Trojans’ Ryan Messick scored with five minutes left to tie the game, and Lasse Sohrweide scored the winner in the second overtime.
“This is probably the toughest team we will face the rest of the season, so if we play with the intensity we did tonight, we have a chance to finish the season really well,” Gfeller said.
North Greenville will face Mars Hill Friday at 7 p.m. at Pepsi Stadium. The Crusaders will play five of their remaining six games at home.
Tags: Fall 2009, Vol. 109 - Issue 5