September 14,2000
The Blue Banner
Page?
Sports
Soccer picks up 2 wins
Men’s soccer triumphs over Warren Wilson and the Virginia Military Institute
Luke Knox
Staff Writer
The UNCA men’s soccer team
recorded their first two victories
of the season when they defeated
Warren Wilson College on Sept.
8 and Virginia Military Institute
(VMI) on Sept. 10 at Greenwood
Field.
“It takes the pressure off,” said
head coach Steve Cornish. “We
dropped the first two games, and
players have to get a sense that
they can win. Hopefully, we can
build on this.”
UNCA (2-2-0) bounced back
from season-opening losses against
East Carolina and Kentucky to
pick up the victories.
The Bulldogs picked up their
first win of the year when they
defeated the Warren Wilson Owls
7-0. The Bulldogs had 33 shots
on goal in the match, while hold
ing the Owls (1-3-0) to one shot
on goal. Freshman forward Mike
Kachan scored two goals in the
match, leading a group ofsix Bull
dogs who found the back of the
net.
Among all of the good perfor
mances in the match for the Bull
dogs, Cornish said he was most
impressed by sophomore
midfielder Spencer Hines.
“Above all, I was very pleased
with the way Spencer played,”
said Cornish. “He took the
midfield role. Spencer is a great
player who hasn’t had as much
playing time, and he really got
into a rhythm.”
Warren Wilson could have given
up once the game got out of hand,
but their attitude was admirable,
according to Cornish.
“Warren Wilson came out and
tried to play good soccer,” said
Cornish. “They gained much
more respect in doing that than in
just setting six people in the pen
alty box to stop us from scoring. I
have the utmost respect for War
ren Wilson and their coaching
staff and players for trying to play
us straight up.”
On Sept. 10, UNCA gained a 2-
0 victory over visiting VMI (1 -2-
0). The Bulldogs outshot the
Keydets 14-8.
Kachan began the scoring at
29:05 on a pass from junior
midfielder Brian Domby. Kachan
was left with a one-on-one
matchup against VMI goalkeeper
John Simmons, and slipped the
PHOTO BY ANTHONY GRECO
UNCA's Arin Glass, a senior defender, manuvers his way past an opponent in a
recent game.
ball past Simmons into the right
side of the net.
Senior forward Kane Lawson tal
lied the second goal at 70:40 on a
pass from sophomore midfielder
Brad Falk, and the Bulldogs held
the Keydets scoreless for the re
mainder of the match. Sopho
more goalkeeper Andrew Heath
had three saves in posting his first
shutout of the season.
The UNCA coaching staff told
the players before the game that
passing would be important in
countering the superior
athleticism of VMI, according to
the athletics Web site.
“We thought that our best
chance to succeed against a faster
team was that they can be faster
than us, but they cannot be faster
than the ball,” said Cornish. “If
we kept our ball movement go
ing, we would be able to create a
number of scoring opportunities
from crosses. In fact, that is what
happened, and it happened from
the very start.”
“Before the game, the emphasis
was on possession of the ball,”
said Lawson. “We talked about
playing simple and just getting
rid of the ball.”
Junior defender Nick Sands and
sophomore defender Jeremy
Schrader played important roles
in the victory, according to Cor
nish.
“We released Sands a number of
times,” said Cornish. “We looked
to play him in deep, and he had a
lot of success in the first half
Once they tried to deny us doing
that, it opened things up around
the goal a little bit.”
“When we moved Schrader to
midfield in the second half, he did
very well,” Cornish said. “All of a
sudden, we had a defensive pres
ence in midfield that perhaps we
did not have in the first half.”
After Kachan scored three goals
in two games, other Bulldogs
talked about his early success this
season.
“Kachan gave us a spark in the
first half He is playing extremely
well right now,” Cornish said.
“He works hard and makes it dif
ficult for teams to play their game.”
“When you can get a freshman
to come in and be an impact
player like Mike has, there’s a lot
to be said for that,” Lawson said.
Cornish discussed the Bulldogs’
performance in the close game
with VMI as opposed to their
play in similar situations last sea
son.
“Last year, we lost five or six
games 1-0,” Cornish said. “We
would squander opportunities,
and we never really thought that
we could come back. The impor
tant thing for today was, we went
up 1-0 and got the second goal in
a tight game.”
“We were able to sit on the lead
a little bit. We’ve rarely been in
that position, so that was good for
us,” Cornish said.
The Bulldogs played at Georgia
State on Sept. 13, and return home
to play Charleston Southern.
Around the Big South Conference
vwwv.BigSouthSports.com
www.Oldsmobile.com
O I d s m o tD i I o
Big South Conference Adds Birmingham-Southern
The Big South Conference recently announced that it has accepted Birmingham-Southern College’s application for membership, making it the
ninth Big South Conference institution. The Panther athletic program will become NCAA Division 1 and a full Big South Conference member in the
fall of 2003. The Big South Conference’s Council of Chief Executive Officers voted unanimously on Wednesday, August 30 to accept Birmingham-
Southern’s application for membership. It will become the third institution to Join the League since 1997. A private liberal arts college that is
making the transition from NAIA to NCAA Division I, Birmingham-Southern is located in Birmingham, Alabama, and has a student population of
1,528. The Panther athletic program currently sponsors 10 sports and will be adding four more prior to it’s official admission in 2003. Founded in
1856, Birmingham-Southern will become the first Alabama-based school to join the Big South Conference. Currently, the Big South has institutions
in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Coastal Carolina Scores Big Men’s Soccer Win
Coastal Carolina handed the UNC Greensboro men’s soccer team it’s first home opening loss since 1988 winning 2-0. The Chanticleers, one of
the favorites in the Big South Conference, scored the only goal they would need in the 25th minute and sealed their second straight shutout win with
a penalty-kick goal in the 56th minute. The Spartans, l-i, turned up the heat in the last 32 minutes of the contest, attempting all nine of their shots
in thaf span. It was UNCG’s first loss in 10 home openers in UNCG Soccer Stadium and first in an opener on campus since Appalachian State won
2-1 12 seasons ago. It was the first time the team was shut out in a home opener since 1973.
Lady Eagles Win Micro-Tel Invitational, Erin Lehman Voted MVP
The Winthrop University volleyball team captured the Microtel Inn & Suites Winthrop Invitational, September 2 as the Lady Eagles captured
two of three matches. The Lady Eagles dropped their final match of the tournament to East Carolina, 3-1. but defeated Samford University earlier in
the day 3-0 and were crowned tourney champs by virtue of the first tie breaker based on winning percentage. Winthrop had a 7-3 record in its three
matches. Samford University was the runner-up, East Carolina finished third, and Bethune-Cookman was fourth. Erin Lehman was named to the
All-Tournament Team and was also named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Sports Commentdru
Indiana ends a
"Knight” mare
Lena Bums
Sports Editor
Ben Ezell
Staff Writer
At Indiana University (lU) on
Sept. 10, head basketball coach Bob
Knight was fired after coaching for
thirty yeras due to an alleged verbal
and physical assault on a player.
This was the final violation of the
“zero tolerance policy” initiated by
the university after several alleged
assaults on players-and others at the
university, according to
www.cnn.com.
While lU president, Myles Brand
has no qualms about the decision,
some students, including players,
are protesting, according to CNN.
Students at lU plastered dorm
windows and fraternity balconies
with signs such as “Bob Knight is
God.”
How can those students possibly
want Knight to remain at their
school.’ The only thing Knight did
for lU was bring three National
Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) championships in 1976,
1981 and 1987.
Not only was Knight a Hall of
Fame coach, he also led lU to 11
Big Ten titles and coached the 1984
men’s Olympic basketball team to
the gold medal.
Obviously, Knight has abundant
coaching knowledge and an un
canny ability to extract every ounce
of effort from his players.
However, for the past six years,
Knight’s team has not gotten past
the second round of the NCAA
tournament.
Knight may be a legend at lU for
his coaching ability, but his resume,
especially in the state of Indiana,
has blinded people from seeing his
true persona, which is a violent,
foul-mouthed tyrant who envokes
fear in players, fans and coworkers
through intimidation and threats.
His rap sheet includes allegedly
choking former player Neil Reed in
1997 (which CNN/Sports Illus
trated caught on came.ra), showing
his players a soiled piece of toilet
paper to motivate them and alleg-
'edly punching former players, not
to mention several other incidents
with athletic faculty.
How can people possibly respect
or revere a person who uses fear as
a motivational tool with his players
and to manipulate others? This type
of behavior is not only dangerous,
but also an embarassment to the
school.
Coach Knight does not serve as a
model for affective coaching. Vio
lence, threats, foul language and
assaults are not viable means to
convince a team to win.
Knight may be a legend in lU’s
eyes, but the only way Knight knows
how to coach is through inducing
fear into others. Is this the way to
succeed? Not anymore.
Tennis opens
PHOTO BY ANTHONY GRECO
Sophomore Stephen Poulos swings his racquet to
launch the ball over the net. Poulos won his singles
match, and said the win "clenched the team's victory."