Volume XXI, Number 1
North Carolina Wesleyan College Rocky Mount, North Carolina 27804
SPORTS
fter Two
earn Still
By Trevor Seibert
gecree Staff Writer
Each Saturday the North Carolina
Wesleyan football players must face
their toughest opponent...themselves.
On September 3rd, in its first game
of the sophomore season, Wesleyan
lost 37-21 to an athletic Newport News
Apprentice team that took advantage of
|hree turnovers Wesleyan committed in
the red zone. Wesleyan’s one bright spot
vas once again the rushing of Javon
k^illiams, who carried the ball 18 times
"^for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns.
A week later, the Bishops
again almost handed away the game,
[but showed a lot of enthusiasm as they
|:rushed the South Virginia University
[nights, 36-15. The Bishops muffed
hree punts, which resulted in two
[touchdowns and a field goal for the
Cnights. But the Bishops offense piled
up 378 yards and put up the most points
in one game in their two-year history.
“We showed much more enthusiasm
on every play, offense and defense,
and that was the difference,” said head
coach Jack Ginn.
[CWC Men’s
Soccer Team
Starts 2-3
I By Anthony DeGregorio
Decree Staff Writer
The men’s soccer team fell to East
ern Mennonite when a late goal broke
the scoreless tie. It was the team’s third
loss in a row after two early victories.
“We just need to finish out our
games and keep positive,” said Jason
Kilby, who is entering his fourth year
as head coach. Kilby earned USA South
coach of the year honors last year.
“Our goals are to win the conference
tournament again and make a run in the
NCAA tournament again this year.”
The team looks to improve upon
one of the best seasons in school history.
It finished last season at 16-2-2 and
advanced to the second round of the
NCAA tournament after claiming the
conference title.
■‘This team has a great attitude
which makes them very easy to coach,”
Kilby said.
Key returners include Stephen
Tupy, Jason Bottani, Chris Forcum,
Dan Jones, Salvador Benitez, and
Lucas Fuentes, who will lead the
Bishops in their quest for a national
championship. Freshman Alimamy
Jabbie, already a conference rookie of “
the week, hopes to make an impact in
his first year. The team’s leading scorer
after the fifth game, he is one of many
first-year players on the team.
Important conference match-ups
include Greensboro (Sept. 20) and
Christopher Newport (Oct. 29). The
Bishops will be tested outside of the
conference against strong opponents
such as Salisbury University (Sept. 24)
and Mary-Washington (Oct. 1).
Games NC Wesleyan Football
Trying To Find Its Identity
Prior to last year’s inaugural
season, Ginn had one thing on his mind:
question marks. This season, Ginn said,
the questions lingered. “I know as much
about what this team will do as you do,”
he said before the season began.
Wesleyan returns 17 of its starters
from last year’s 5-4 team. Included in
those returnees are two 2004 USA South
rookies of the year, Williams on offense,
and Andrew Quigley on defense. While
starting only seven games last year, Wil
liams led the Bishops attack by rushing
for 924 yards. He will be co-offensive
captain with returning offensive lineman
Brandon Craig who helped open holes
for Williams last year. Quigley, tops on
the team with 99 tackles, will lead the
defense as co-captain with returning
middle linebacker Bo Brown.
Despite returning most of last year’s
team, Ginn’s main concern is going into
the season a little cocky. If the NCAA
had recognized Wesleyan’s win over
George Mason University’s club team,
last year’s team would have tied an
NCAA record for most wins in a season
by a first-year program. “This year is a
new North Carolina Wesleyan football
team and we’ll find out what kind of
team we are” in coming weeks, Ginn said.
Ginn noted that the team worked
hard during pre-season camp and that
no major moves were made in any of
the positions, except quarterback. Last
year Cedric Townsend shared time with
Josh Dunnigan. During this year’s camp
returnee Kevin Allen showed much
improvement and now shares time under
center with Townsend.
With all the returning players and
the success of last year’s team, one
would think that the Bishops would
receive respect from the other teams in
the conference. But after finishing fourth
in the conference, the Bishops were
picked to finish sixth out of eight teams
in the 2005 pre-season poll.
2005 Football Schedule
09/0.^
, at Newport News Apprentice
09/10
SOUTHERN VIRGINIA U.
09/17
HUNTINGDON COLLEGE
09/24
af Methodist College
10/01
MARYVILLE (Homecoming)
10/15
at Averett University
10/22
SHENANDOAH U.
10/29
at Christopher Newport U.
11/05
FERRUM COLLEGE '
11/12
at Greensboro College
New Cross Country Team Up and Running
By Christine Werfelman
Decree Staff Writer
The North Carolina Wesleyan
College athletic department keeps grow
ing. While last year was the inaugural
season for the NCWC football team, two
more teams have been added to the list.
Women’s cross country and lacrosse are
finally established at NCWC and both
are coached by Lorin Smith.
Smith is a 2004 graduate of
Greensboro College. As a member of the
lacrosse team, she was selected player
of the year twice and first time all-con-
ference three times in the USA South
Athletic Conference. She was chosen to
the all-tournament team three times in
her four-year career at Greensboro.
Smith has devoted the last year
to establishing the lacrosse and cross
country programs at NCWC. Lacrosse
will begin its official season in the
Lorin Smith has joined the
NCWC Athletics Department
as coach of cross country
and lacrosse.
Photo by Sports Information.
spring. The NCWC women’s cross
country team opened its 2005 season
at Methodist College September 10
at the Clayton-Sykes Invitational.
Godfrey Posts Shutout, McCloud
Scores Only Goal As Women’s
Soccer Team Raises Record to 2-1
Mt. Olive, NC—The North Carolina
Wesleyan women’s soccer team raised
its record to 2-1 following a 1-0 victory
over Mount Olive College.
Photo by Sports Information.
Freshman Reva McCloud.
NCWC was paced by freshman
Reva McCloud who scored her first goal
of the season in the 38th minute. She
was assisted by Mayra Gomez, who set
up McCloud at the right top of the box.
Though Mount Olive held Wesleyan
to 4 shots on goal, it was unable to get
on the scoreboard as Bishops goalkeeper
Bryanne Godfrey made 14 saves, the
last one during a wild scramble as time
expired. Mount Olive had five of its 15
comer kicks in the first 15 minutes of
the match, but failed to capitalize.
For Mount Olive, it was the first
shutout in 19 matches and its first home
loss in 11 matches.
NCWC begins USA South Confer
ence action Sept. 17 at Shenandoah
University in Winchester, Va. On Sept.
21, the team travels to Newport News
for a match with Christopher Newport
University, and on Sept. 30 it hosts
Greensboro College.
NCWC’s Kaitlin Wells, a freshman,
placed second with a time of 30:09 on
the 6K (or about 3.7 miles) course. The
other women on the team include Allie
Style, Sarah Smith, Tiffany
Roberson, Kristen Fleming
and Stephanie Branch.
“The first meets will be
new, not hard, but I believe
the girls will be just fine,”
said Smith, who added
that Wesleyan’s runners,
accustomed to the flat Rocky Mount
terrain, found the hills at the Methodist
meet challenging. The coach intends
to vary the practice session sites, on
and off campus, to prepare for different
courses the runners will encounter
during the fall season.
While Wesleyan develops its
own course, the team will travel to all
its meets this season. Smith expects
Christopher Newport and Greensboro
to provide the stiffest competition this
season, in their 5K and 6K meets.
NCWC Volleyball
Team Sweeps
Guilford, 3-0
Led by Erin Bryant’s 10 kills, the
Wesleyan volleyball team continued
its impressive play, sweeping Guilford
College by scores of 30-15, 30-22 and
30-16 September 13 at home.
The Bishops have won six of their
last seven contests to push their overall
record to 6-4.
NCWC’s April Wilson added
eight kills and six blocks while Caitlin
George tallied 22 assists. Melissa
Leonard again anchored the defense
with a game-high 16 digs.
As a team, NCWC made eight
blocks and recorded a .253 hitting
percentage, compared to Guilford’s .030.