Ofts
Bulldog volleyball remains
undefeated in the Big South
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Wednesdayjg October 7, 2009
{The Blue Banner}
Page 14
Panthers claw back to win 2-1 against Bulldogs
By Natalie Pearson
Staff Writer
NGPEARSO@UNCA.EDU
Coming back from a 1-0 deficit, the
High Point Panthers overwhelmed the
UNC Asheville Bulldogs 2-1 in a fran
tic match last Saturday.
The defeat was especially frustrat
ing for Head Coach Steve Cornish
after the Bulldogs’ confident 1-0 win
over East Tennessee State University
earlier in the week.
“We just didn’t
play well,” he said.
“Our weaknesses
matched up against
their strengths.”'
The Bulldogs
stayed in the match
when UNCA goal
keeper Lassi Hur-
skainen saved sev
eral early shots from the Panthers.
“Lassi played very well, making an
outstanding save minutes in,” said Matt
Kern, assistant coach for the Bulldogs.
“He made saves of the highest quality
and kept us in the game because I think
the fans knew it (the score) could be
more.”
Although freshman midfielder Da
vid Parra worked the right wing and
sent multiple crosses into the box, fre
Steve Cornish
Ian Hayes - Staff Photographer
Bryan Bartels fights off a High Point defender early In the first half.
quent fumbles in front of Asheville’s
goal left sophomore forward Bryan
George exasperated, flailing his arms
in frustration.
“We just didn’t work together as
an offensive imit today,” George said.
“We picked it up in the second half,
but not to the standards we’ve been
playing at.”
Even though High Point outshot
Asheville 13-1, it was the Bulldogs
who came through with the lead at
halftime, thanks to Parra’s goal in the
44th minute.
Using an assist from sophomore
forward Alex Koslick, Parra cut
through the defense just outside the
box and created just enough space to
boot the ball straight past the Panther’s
goalkeeper, sinking it into the back of
the net.
The goal was also Parra’s first of his
collegiate career.
“I’m very happy to get my first goal
of my career,” he said. “I just took the
defender, took the ball and then fin
ished.”
Although UNCA finished the first
half in charge, the Panthers were quick
to retaliate, coming into the second half
with an aggressive offense and scoring
the equalizer just eight minutes in.
After being awarded a free kick just
outside the 18-yard line, High Point’s
Matt Tuttle put the ball to the side of
the Bulldogs’ wall and found the right
side netting, slipping it past Hurskain-
en, who couldn’t see through the jum
ble of players.
“It was a good free kick,” said
sophomore midfielder Jake Hagedom.
“They got the equalizer and then just
kept possession.”
The Bulldogs responded by chang
ing formation, but couldn’t stop the
Panthers, who scored the game winner
in the 72nd minute when Fejiro Oki-
omah snuck the ball in to the left side
of the goal, finalizing the score at 2-1.
“In the second half we changed for
mation and stopped what they were
See Hi2h Point Page 16 I
VMI hands women’s soccer second straight conference loss
By Dan Weller
Staff Writer
DJWELLER@UNCA.EDU
The UNC Asheville women’s soc
cer team lost their concentration as
they fell victim to an early attack by
Virginia Military Institute and could
not recover in a 2-0 loss.
“Unfortunately, VMI came ouL
harder than us and it showed when they
scored a goal right from the start,” said
senior midfielder McKenna Stockhaus
en. “It shows how such a short mental
lapse can result in something as detri
mental as a loss. We dominated the at
tack later in the game, but just couldn’t
put one away.”
The Keydets (4-6, 2-0) struck early,
scoring the first goal of the game 59
seconds in. The early goal created a
deficit the Bulldogs (3-5-1,0-2) would
not overcome.
“We were scored on early and as
a result had to play catch-up for the
duration of the game,” Head Coach
Michele Cornish said. “We pushed
players forward late in the game in the
hope of tying the game up, and ended
up getting scored on a second time.
When down a goal, it is a risk to get
that tying goal.” ■
After a slow first half, the Bulldogs
started the second half by spraying the
VMI goalkeeper Heidi Beemer with 11
shots, the most in a half this year.
“We wanted to get a goal so badly
that we weren’t playing smart soccer,
but more frantic,” Stockhausen said.
“We needed to slow down and do the
simple things well and the game would
have gone the way we wanted it to.”
Cornish offered a more straightfor
ward explanation to the shutout.
“We simply couldn’t score,” she
said.
See VMI Page 16 |