NGU Skyliner

Paul Conner
Sports Editor

Chandler Patterson takes a North Greenville corner kick Saturday night at Pepsi Stadium. Patterson had two goals in the Crusaders' 5-0 victory over Chowan. (Photo by Timor Kamilov)

Chandler Patterson, sophomore media ministry, powered the men’s soccer team to a 5-0 victory over Chowan Saturday night at soggy Pepsi Stadium. Max Duarte, senior marketing, assisted two of the goals, and Seth Snyder, senior business, added a goal and an assist.

“We finished well and attacked well tonight,” Crusader coach Chad Gfeller said. “We did what we needed to do, and hopefully we can carry some momentum into our last four games.”

North Greenville (5-5-1) scored first in the 24th minute when Manuel Izquierdo, senior, drove the ball into the goal from 22 yards away. Crusader keeper Justin Braddock, freshman sport management, came off his line for saves on two breakaway opportunities for Chowan.

Patterson directed a Duarte free kick into the net in the 33rd minute and added his second goal four minutes later on an assist from Joel Watkins, junior marketing, to give the Crusaders a 3-0 lead at halftime.

“Chandler always plays with speed, and it was nice to see that pay off tonight,” Gfeller said. “We have a lot of guys contributing, which is a good thing.”

In the second half, Snyder headed the ball into the path of Jonathan Restrepo, junior international business, who finished with ease. In the 78th minute, Snyder dribbled through the Chowan defense for an unassisted goal.

North Greenville will travel to Erskine today for a 6 p.m. match before facing Brevard at home on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Rebecca Stidham and Leah Ward each scored for the women’s soccer team in a 2-0 victory over Chowan Saturday afternoon at Pepsi Stadium. The Lady Crusaders outshot the Hawks 22-6 and controlled much of the possession in the victory.

“The key was starting well, coming out and playing as a team,” North Greenville coach Jesse McCormick said. “That’s something we have to do every game for the rest of the year. Our players did a good job of possessing the ball, finding the open player and not forcing it when it wasn’t there.”

North Greenville (8-4) got on the board in the fourth minute when Lauren Norris, sophomore early childhood education, laid the ball off for Stidham, junior health and wellness. Stidham finished the ball into the left corner of the goal for the early lead.

In the 26th minute, Ashlyn Henderson, sophomore outdoor leadership, collected the ball on the left side of the box and passed to Ward, junior sport management, at the top of the box. Ward evaded a Chowan defender’s challenge before scoring.

The Lady Crusaders have now won four out of five matches with five matches remaining in the regular season. North Greenville will go on the road to face Toccoa Falls tomorrow at 6 p.m. and Anderson Monday at 7 p.m.

“There was a couple games in the middle of the season where I felt like we weren’t playing up to our potential, but I think we’re on the right track now,” McCormick said.

Tags: Fall 2009, Vol. 109 - Issue 6

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.