Newspapers / North Carolina Wesleyan University … / Oct. 12, 2007, edition 1 / Page 3
Part of North Carolina Wesleyan University Student Newspaper / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
October 12, 2007 North Carolina Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, North Carolina 27804 SPORTS Wesleyan Football Team Moves to 2-0 in Conference By Decree Sports Stafr The Bishops football team broke the 50-point barrier for a second straight week, exploding for a 51 -20 Homecoming victory over conference rival Maryville before 1750 fans on a cloudless, hot day at Rocky Mount Athletic Complex. The team’s third consecutive win improved its conference record to 2-0 and its overall mark to 3-2. Wesleyan is tied for first place with Ferrum, while Christopher Newport is in second at 1-0. The Bishops next play October 13 at Danville, Va., against conference foe Averett, which is 0-2 (04). Assessing the season as the Bishops enter a bye-week, Ginn said he’s pleased over all, but believes the team can elevate its game. “I don’t think we have played to our full capability yet,” he said. “We’ve gained momentum here lately, and have showed the ability to carry that momentum from one game to the next It will be an interesting challenge to see if our team can sustain that through our open week and into the Averett game.” One week after it scored 50 points at Methodist, Wesleyan staked itself to an early lead against Maryville. The team led 14-0 five minutes into the game and extended it to a 21 -0 advantage on the first play of the second quarter “I thought we played well,” Ginn said. “We made plays in all the phases: offense, defense, and special teams. I was impressed. Our team played with excitement. I thought we were ready to play right form the start, and it showed.” It was important that the Bishops maintain their intensity for the full 60 minutes after last year’s debacle against the Scots, a 50-48 loss in quadruple overtime. Playing at Maryville, Wesleyan built a 24-3 lead before it surrendered three fourth-quarter touchdowns. Last season’s game was on the minds of Ginn and his coaching staff. In fact, at one point, the fourth-year head coach was seen on the sidelines berating his offense after a stalled drive, even though his team led by three touchdowns. After the game, players said that the coach wanted to prevent the kind of letup that led to last year’s loss. Once again, the Bishops offense was paced by senior quarterback Ceiic Townsend, who ran for three touchdowns and threw for three more. He rushed for 67 yards and completed 16 of 24 passes for 218 yards on the day. The Bishops running attack was potent, with 100-yard performances from fullback Brian Haywood (8 carries, 120 yards) and tailback Teron Bush (12-101). Wideout Orlando Webb grabbed 4 passes for 113 yards and a score. The Bishops outgained the Scots 503 to 358, though much of the Maryville offense came after the outcome had been decided. The NCWC defense was spearheaded by the linebacking tandem of Davelle Whitney (6 tackles, 4 assists) and Justin Augustin (6-3). Strong safety Jezreel Davis increased his team- leading interception total to 3 with a second quarter pick, which he retumed 55 yards. Wesleyan got on the scoreboard first, as Townsend ran 9 yards for a TD five minutes into the game. The scored punctu ated a 13-play 78-yard opening drive. A minute later the Bishops capitalized on the first of three Maryville fumbles. Two plays after Brian Binkley recovered the loose ball, Townsend found Webb open in the left flat and the second-year receiver made a breath-taking 25-yard rumble down the left side, bulling over several tacklers before he plunged into the end zone. It was Webb’s fifth TD catch of the season. The Bishops increased their lead on the first play of the second quarter, a 6-yard pass from Townsend to Bush. The TD followed a sensational 76-yard punt return by defensive back Davon Collins, who fielded the Maryville punt, found open space around midfield and then raced down the left sidelines. On several occa sions, Maryville players were poised to knock Collins out of bounds, only to watch him cut back and then break tackles along the sidelines. By halftime, the Bishops were winning 35-6. In the second half, they held their lead and maintained their cool as the Scots were penalized numerous times for unsportsman like conduct and personal fouls. In the previous two games Wesleyan beat non-conference opponent, Emory and Henry, 20-16, and then trounced Metiiodist, 50-10, in Fayetteville. The two victories Hfted tiie spirits of tiie Bishops after two tough losses to top-flight opponents, Wesley and Widener. Senior tight end Matt Schell said after the Methodist game it was clear that tiie Bishops had recaptured the magic of last year when tiiey won their last four games to finish at 6-4. “We’re slowly finding our niche,” Schell said. Against Metiiodist, Haywood ran 13 times for 128 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Bishops. Townsend passed for 238 yards and two scores, one a 57-yard strike to Webb one minute into tiie game, the other a 47-yard pass play to Bush. Men’s Soccer Team Remains Undefeated By Decree Sports Staff The undefeated men’s soccer team finished September with impressive wins against a number-two ranked Greensboro College and regional power Mary Washington University, as it opened a lead in die USA Conference and rose to fifth in the national rankings. On September 29, die Bishops extended tiieir winning streak to 10 with a 2-0 victory at Methodist. Sbttii-year coach Jason Kilby is pleased witii his team’s performance in tiie early going, but wants to guard against complacency. “We’re doing well,” he said. “We’ve got a group of guys who have been very disciplined. We’re working togetiier.” In games and practices, Kilby added, “we’re trying to stay consistent and come every day. We’re concentrating on small details such as set pieces like comer kicks and penalty kicks.” Against Metiiodist, the Bishops jumped Rockies Will Take Series over Red Sox By Brock Griffin Decree Sports Writer (Editor's note: Brock's picks were submitted prior to the playoffs.) As a baseball fan, tiiis is tiie most exciting time of tile year. It's time for tiie Major League Baseball playoffs to begin and tiie awards for tiie 2007 regular season to be handed out. I’m going to give you my predictions of who will win tiiis year’s World Series and who will be leaving witfi flie hardware for tfieir regular-season performances. The final four teams in tiie American League are the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Angels, Cleveland Indians, and tiie New York Yankees. The Red Sox are playing tiie Angels in tiie one match-up while tiie Indians and Yankees are in the otiien The Red Sox will take tiie Angels in four games. The Red Sox have a deeper rotation and lineup than do the Angels. hi the otiier match-up, tiie Indians will find a way to slow down tiie Yankees and take tiiem in five games. This series will go to tiie Indians because of tiieir two great young pitch ers; C.C. Sabatiiia and Francisco Carmona. In a short series, tiiese two will be enough for tiie Indians to get past the Yankees. Now, for tiie American League Championship Series, tiie Red Sox will play tile Mans. TTie deep pitching of tiie Red Sox will help tiiem get by tiie Indians in six games. The Red Sox have tiie best bullpen in tiie Major Leagues and pitching wins championships. The final four teams in tiie National League are tiie Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and tiie Colorado Rockies. The Diamondbacks will play tiie Cubs while tiie Phillies will have to have to handle tiie red-hot Rockies. The series between tiie Diamondbacks and tiie Cubs will come down to experience. The Diamondbacks are such a young team, and it will be interesting to see how tiiey handle tile pressure. I predict tiie Cubs will take tiiis series in five games because of tiie team’s experience and better lineup, which includes Alfonso Soriano, Derek Lm, and Aramis Ramirez. In tile Phillies-Rockies series, we’ll see a battle of tiie two hottest teams in baseball and I feel tiie Rockies will carry tile momentum tiirough to tiie next round. Botii teams have great lineups, but no team has played better defense tiian tiie Rockies tiiis season. Their defense will not give tiie Phillies any extra opportunities; however, tiie Rockies are likely to receive some defensive gifts firom tiie Phillies. These extra outs will be the difference in what should be a high-scoring series. This leaves tiie Rockies and tiie Cubs in tiie National League Championship Series. The Rockies offense will prove to be too much for tiie Cubs pitching staff to handle. The Rockies will take tiie series in six games. The World Series will pit tiie Rockies against tiie Red Sox. The Rockies seem to have no chance in tiiis one-sided series. However, my gut feeling tells me die Rockies will win it all, riding tiieir current hot streak all tile way to tiie World Series titie. Their superior defense, adequate pitching, and powerful lineup will pull tiie series out in seven games. The series win will give tiie Rockies tiieir first World Championship title even As for tiie awards, tiie American League MVP will be tiie NY Yankees’ Alex Rodriquez. He led tiie majors in home runs (54), RBIs (156), and slugging percentage. He batted .314 for tiie season and stole 24 bases while only getting caught 4 times. He kept tiie Yaiikees in tiie playoff hunt all by himself The Nation^ League MVP should go to Matt Holliday of tiie Colorado Rockies. He has been one of tiie most underrated hitters in baseball. That should change after this season. He won the NL batting crown witii a .340 average and led tiie NL in RBIs (137), edging Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard by one. He helped carry tiie Rockies in to the playoffs. The Cy Young awards go to Josh Beckett of tiie Red Sox in tiie American League and Jake Peavy of tiie Padres in tiie National League. Beckett gets tiie nod here because he was tiie majors’ only 20-game winner Likewise, Peavy gets the award for leading tiie National League witii 19 wins. More impressive for Peavy is tiie fact he led all starters witii an earned run average of 2.54 and had 240 strikeouts. The Rookie of tiie Year awards goes to Ryan Braun in tiie National League and Del- mon Young in tiie American League. Braun, tiie Milwaukee tiiird baseman, became tiie first rookie to lead a league in slugging percentage (.634) since Mark McGuire in 1987. He had 34 home runs, drove in 97 and batted .324, despite playing in only 113 games. Delmon Young had 93 RBIs and 38 doubles for tiie Tampa Bay Devil Rays. These are my predictions for tiie close of tiie 2007 MLB season. Whetiier my opinion * proves to be right or wrong, I am certain tiiis will be an entertaining post season. to a 2-0 lead by tiie 20tii minute, but failed to knock out tiie opponent. Kilby would like his team to develop a stronger killer instinct “After we got tiie lead,” he said, “it was as if we only played as hard as we had to play. We didn’t play well. I tiiink all our players would tell you fliat.” The team’s play was more inspired in tiie tfiree previous games, an 8-0 drubbing of Chowan and, in particular, tiie wins over Greensboro and Mary Washington. Playing at home on September 19, Wesleyan avenged last year’s 2-1 loss tiiat Greensboro administered to tiie Bishops in tiie conference semi-finals. First-year striker Marco Kirsch scored in double-overtime to send tiie Bishops to 2-1 victory against tiie Pride, which entered tiie match as tiie number two team in tiie country. The decisive goal was set up by Jimmy Pierce, who received a pass on tiie left side, beat his man, cut back to his right and served tiie ball 25 yards to Kirsh in tiie middle. Kirsh tiien volleyed—or kicked tiie ball out of mid air—into tiie top right comer of tiie goal. “He roofed it,” Kilby said. “It was beautiful goal.” The coach called tiie Greensboro victory one of tile most impressive he’s seen during his tenure as Bishops coach, pointing out tiiat his players adhered to tiie team’s system. “We’ve had talented players in tiie past,” he said. “But it’s tiie team tiiat wins. Talented players will only get you so far. That was a team win against a very good team.” Midfielder Danny Jones said tiie victory raised tiie team’s confidence level. “Coach Kilby really liked tiie way we Marco Kirsch, the soccer team's 27-year-old striker. came togetiier as a team,” Jones said. “I tiiink tiie win showed him tiiat we really are contenders this year. We cleared up tiie doubts tiiat we had before tiie game. We had played well in tiie previous six games, but we had lapses where we let up goals. We really came to play against Greensboro.” Kirsch sparked tiie Bishops in tiie next game, a 4-0 win over Mary Washington, a Vu^inia school tiiat is in tiie same region as tiie Bishops. Should tile Bishops fail to win tiieir conference, tiie victory will increase tiieir chances of receiving an at-large bid for tiie NCAA toumey. Not only did Kirsch open tile scoring, but he made a pretty pass to set up Jones on die second goal. Breaking free in the box, Kirsh passed on a sure goal before slipping tiie ball to Jones, who was open just to tiie right of tiie goalkeeper. “He probably has tiie best vision in tiie conference,” Jones said. “He reads tiie game very well and locates open men witii ease to distribute tiie ball.” Kirsh leads tiie team in scoring witii 7 go_als and 11 assists for 25 points. Besides impressive offensive skills, tiie 27-year-old German brings leadership to a team witii many young players of diverse backgrounds. “He’s a natural leader,” Kilby said. “He’s got a lot of experience. Because he’s older, he’s like a player/coach. He’s been very positive to tiie young players who need guidance. I tiiink tiie players can learn a lot from him.” Jones, a senior captain, agreed. “Marco is a respected teammate tiiat has a lot of knowl- Volleyball Team Takes Three Matches in a Row By Jade T. Johnson Decree Staff Writer The Battling Bishop Volleyball team has made striking leaps forward since the 2000 season, Coach Robin Pietryk’s first season, and their hard work can be seen every time the team steps on the floor. With a host of exciting young talent, Pietryk has a promising outlook for the season. She added that she’s pleased “to get everyone healthy, finally.” Coming off a 12-19 season in 2006, the team looks to make their mark this year. The team has a few tough opponents still left in the season, Chowan Uni versity being one of them. But Pietryk says her team is “ready for anyone.” Junior Sydney Bens has been impressed so far by the skill level of her new teammates. “We’re way better than last year,” she said. “We have a whole lot more skill, more individual skill.” The individual skills meshed well in a recent three-match winning streak that raised the team’s record to 5-4 in the conference and 13-10 over all. On September 29, the Bishops beat both Peace and Shenando^ in a tri-match in Raleigh. Bens said the victories helped build confidence for the young team, which includes 11 freshmen. “I think the coach was very satisfied with our performance,” said Bens, who noted that in the early going the team’s play was marked by inconsistency. “We have a lot of skill,” she said. “So it really boggled our minds.” Against Peace and Shenandoah, Bens said, “We were more enthusiastic and pulled together and played to gether, which made a huge difference.” Wesleyan carried that enthusiasm and strong team play into a match October 2 against Guilford, a 3-2 victory for the Bishops. Brittany Insley paced Wesleyan with a team-high 19 kills. Freshman Kelly George turned in a career-high 32 digs on defense, while Caitlin George, her sister, amassed 28 assists. Bens added 13 kills and 15 digs. Bens is one of only three upperclass men on the team. The others are senior Caitlin George and sophomore Insley, a middle hitter, who leads the Bishops with 309 kills so far this season and is well on her way to besting her last year team high of 456 kills. Significant contributions have been made by the talented freshman class that includes Alyssa Balzano, Kelly George, Jessica Johnson, Alexis Gallop, Carla Pridgen, Kacie Brandes, Cassie Durham, Sarah Gibbs, Brittany Nichols, Barbara DeRatt, and Jasmine Johnson. “The freshmen are adjusting well,” Pietryk said. (Sports Information contributed to this article) edge of die game,” he said. “He expects his teammates to do tiie simple tilings and if tiiey don’t, he’ll take tiiefn aside and teach tiiem what tiiey can do better.” Kirsh is just one of many talented play ers on tiie NCWC roster Kilby praised the otiier leading scorers, who include Kevin Lue (8 goals, 6 assists), Jones (9,1) and Alimamy Kaigbo (7,1). As Kilby surveyed his starting lineup, he ticked off tiie complementary skills tiiat each adds to tiie team. “Marco can do whatever he wants to do witii tiie ball,” tiie coach said. “Ah mns a 4.40 forty; tiiat’s unheard of Kevin Lue is a target; at 6 feet, 195, it’s hard for tiie otiier team to knock him off tiie ball. Danny Jones is a ball winner; he gets every fi:ee ball...” Noting tiiat his team “has all tiie pieces,” Kilby added tiiat senior Jason Bottani has anchored a stingy defense. Freshman goalkeeper Alberto Faisca has emerged as tiie starter His tiiree shutouts include a strong performance against Mary Washington, when he displayed an aggressive style in tiiwarting several comer kicks. “He made some excellent saves against Greensboro and Mary Washington,” Kilby said. “He’s playing witii confidence. He’s been real aggressive on comer kicks. He’s so good now, he’s hardworking, and he’s got a ton of potential.” Kilby likes tiiat his team can play all types of games, which distinguishes tiie Bishops from tiieir competition. “You take a team like Mary Washington,” Kilby noted. “It’s a good team. But we know tiieu' style. And they play it tiie same way every game. What I love about our team is tiiat we have a unique ability” to adapt to different opponents. “You can’t stereotype our team, which makes it difficult for teams to defend against us.” Kilby said tiiat he and assistant coach Frankie Taal place an emphasis on recraiting creative players, who can beat opponents one-on-one. He said tiiat altiiough his team can match up well witii different teams, he always stresses speed, anticipation, quick passes and overall intensity on tiie attack. “We have dynamic players,” Kilby said. “You get tiiem in tiie comer and tiiey can get out of tiie comer They can beat you on tiie dribble. Against Greensboro, we had two bicycle kicks. It’s rare tiiat you see a bicycle kick in our league Sophomore Juliana Richardson paced the Wesleyan cross country team with a time of 26:45 to take 14th place in a 5K race at the recent Salem Col lege Invitational. The Bishops, led by first-year coach Dominic Modise, finished last of the four teams. Other Bishop runners included Jessica Pollard, who finished 20th with a time of 29:15, and Meghan Herd (24th, 33:19) and Tasheika Fulmore (26th, 35:31). Salem's Rachel Fichthorn took individual medalist honors with a time of 20:34. Sports Information Photo
North Carolina Wesleyan University Student Newspaper
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 12, 2007, edition 1
3
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75