Newspapers / Gardner-Webb University Student Newspaper / Oct. 23, 2008, edition 1 / Page 4
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Page A4 Thursday, October 23, 2008 The Pilot Sports Future is bright for Lady Bulldogs basketball team By Lanny Newton Pilot sports editor Gardner-Webb will return nine players, including four start ers, from last year’s A-Sun Con ference Tournament semifinalist women’s basketball team. After finishing 13-18 last year, GWU is poised to have a big year. Now in the Big South Con ference, the Lady Bulldogs need to gain respect within the new group. The team was picked to tie for sixth in the conference pre season poll, but that doesn’t trou ble Head Coach Rick Reeves. “The pre-season poll picked us to tie for 6th, I think we’re going to be better than that,” he said. “I think that a lot of the me dia doesn’t know us.” At the point guard position, the Lady Bulldogs have both ju nior Meranda Burnett and sopho more Dominique Hudson return ing. Between them they started every game at the position for the past two years. “A lot of the time we may play both point guards together, we’re putting in a little bit different sys tem just to do that,” said Reeves. “Meranda gives us a lot of leader ship, and I really think that Domi nique Hudson is going to have a breakout year this year.” At shooting guard, reining A-Sun Freshman of the Year Mo nique Hudson is returning along with sophomore Courtney Epps. They will be joined by newcomer Teonika Webb. Along with play ing at the wing position, sopho more Ashley Falknor could also see minutes at the position. Due to an off-season illness, Monique Hudson is questionable for the upcoming season, and may receive a red shirt depending on her progress. “I’m really expecting Court ney Epps to have a big year. At the end of the season last year she really started understanding the system and playing a lot more for us,” said Reeves. “We expect Teo nika Webb to see some playing time; she was an all-state player in Virginia. She may be the best athlete on the team, but she will have to focus on technique.” At the wing position, Hudson, Epps and Webb could see play ing time when both point guards are on the floor. Redshirt junior Laura Povilonyte will start at the wing. Falknor will see increased minutes at the position. “Last year we had to make sure Margaret Roundtree and Laura Povilonyte were on the floor all the time because they were really productive from a points standpoint for us, so I feel like we kind of wore them out,” said Reeves. “Ashley is picking up the system and learning more, and I expect her to have a very good season for us.” At power forward, junior Roundtree will look to have an other huge season for Gardner- Webb. Last year she led the team, averaging 12.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game and earning a spot on the all-conference team in the process. However, sophomore LaTroya Pope will play increased minutes at the position. “We expect Margaret to have another big year,” said Reeves. “LaTroya Pope is really going to step up and take some of Marga ret’s minutes; LaTroya is play ing so much more confident and comfortable right now.” At center, redshirt junior Sherika Montgomery will get the starts this year. She will be joined by two freshmen, Breynna Win kler and Andrada Cornea. Trans fer junior Sandra Vaitkute has to sit out this year due to her trans fer, and will be redshirted along with Cornea. “Sherika is a good defensive player and a great rebounder, but she has to score points for us,’’said Reeves. “Breynna Win kler comes from an undefeated 6A state championship team in Oklahoma. We expect Breynna to step in and play.” Along with most of Gardner- Webbs other sports, the 2008- 2009 season will mark the Lady Bulldogs first year in the Big South. Although they have faced some of these teams before, many will present fresh challenges. The Lady Bulldogs will start the season at Houston Nov. 15 before coming home to play in Paul Porter Arena against Virgin ia-Wise Nov. 17. GWU will have 13 home games this season, including eight conference games. “The A-Sun was ranked RPI about 26, whereas the Big South is ranked about 14th or 15th in women’s basketball, so it’s a huge jump,” said Reeves. Dawg Pound disappoints with dismal support for GWU teams By Lanny Newton Pilot sports editor Although I praised the Dawg Pound members earlier this year for their high attendance and relatively raucous performance, a sharp decline in attendance and very quiet crowd has become a disappointment in this fall sports season. While the attendance at foot ball games has been fairly high, the noise level has left something to be desired. The other sports have been plagued with low at tendance, especially from the Dawg Pound. The first football, men’s and women’s soccer, and the early volleyball games drew huge crowds that could be heard clear across campus, or, in the case of the volleyball games, rivaled the noise level at some basket ball games. Since that time there has been a steady decline in atten dance, with an especially auspi cious lack of showing from the Dawg Pound. Many athletes have showed up to watch their fellow student athletes, but the rest of the student body seems to have lost interest in the sports other than football. During the last home game against Presbyterian, even the football team was plagued by the quietest Dawg Pound I’ve heard in my four years at Gardner- Webb. While there are definitely a few members who have done their part, the majority leaves something to be desired. Newton Knows While soc cer and vol leyball have struggled at times, the home games are where they are supposed to draw energy from the crowds to help raise their game to the next level. This home advan tage is what got us in the top three schools in the A-Sun last year as toughest places to play, basketball in particular. Moving into a new, more chal lenging conference has resulted in an increased difficulty for the GWU teams, so the Dawg Pound and the student body should step up to the plate and make it tough er for other teams to come here and win. As a senior, I intend to help defend our house as much as I can; it is my hope that you all will do this as well. While most peo ple can’t show up to every home event in every sport, as I have tried to do, they could at least show up to the football game and one other home event a week. If you have any complaints about this article, address them to me at the next Dawg Pound meet ing. The last one was attended by a grand total of five members out of a roster of more than 300. Meetings are publicized through the Dawg Pound group on Facebook and other mediums. If you have not been invited to the group, message me, Jason Tice or Brian Arnold. If you don’t have Facebook, feel free to ask me when the meeting is. Tice and B.A. have not been notified of this article and therefore should not be held responsible for this. Women’s soccer comes up short agains Winthrop Men’s golf finishes 5th in tourneys By Andrew Veeder Pilot sports writer The men’s golf team participated in two back- to-back tournaments and finished in the fifth spot in each. Ryan Bell also took second place in both con tests. Competing in the Charleston Southern Fall Invitational Monday and Tuesday, the men finished with a team score of 905. Bell’s total score was 216. Immu Korvenmaa fin ished in 11th place with a total score of 225. Competing in the Da vidson College Invitation al on Oct. 13-14, themen’s golf team ended in fifth place out of eight schools at the competition. Sophomore Scott Wheeler shot an eight- over par 224, coming in sixth place for the tour nament. Wheeler’s score was the lowest round posted by any of the other Bulldogs. Ryan Bell, currently competing in his last sea son, was only one shot behind Wheeler, posting a 225, and finishing sev enth. However, Bell re bounded nicely lowering his score by five strokes from a second round score of 79 to a third round of 74, respectively. Tying for 13th, An drew Rickard compiled a score of 226. He shot 10 sfrokes over par for the tournament. Posting a total score of 229, Blake Palmer tied for 21st. Immu Korvenmaa finished in 32nd place with a score of 234. The Bulldogs shot a score of 903. By Lanny Newton Pilot sports editor Although the offense came out firing when the Gardner-Webb women’s soccer team traveled to Rock Hill, S.C., to take on the Winthrop Eagles, the Lady Bull dogs were unable to hang on, eventually falling 2-1. “We’ve had a hard time finding the net, so we’ve been doing a lot of things with the offense and it’s coming around really good,” said Head Coach Kevin Mounce. “Defensively we seem to play pretty good for most of the game and then we have individual letdowns here and there, and that’s what’s hurting us. “We have to understand that that’s going to happen, but our letdowns seem to result in goals. Our letdowns need to result in something like a shot.” Freshman Stephanie Benshoof scored her first collegiate goal just 7:52 into the match. Taking a free kick from 20 yards out she slammed it home for aI-0 lead. Sarah Wyszynski led the GWU defense, keeping Winthrop off the board in the first half, and picking up two saves in the process. The second half was a different story. Winthrop scored goals in the 64th and 79th minutes to take the lead. The second goal grazed Wyszynski, but she was un able to stop it. GWU was only able to put up one shot on goal in the second half, finishing with three on the day. The Eagles, on the other hand, put six shots on goal in the second half Gardner-Webb was outshot on the day 15-7, including 8-3 on goal. Wyszynski finished the day with six saves. Along with Benshoof, Jillian Dean and Kasey Gladhill had the Bulldogs’ shots on goal. Brooke Bull, Megan Re- imer. Dawn Rollyson and Megan Trem blay also had shots for GWU. Gardner-Webb (3-11 overall, 1-4 Big South) faces Liberty University tonight at 7 p.m., returning home for the first time in almost three weeks. Liberty has caught fire after struggling through their first 10 games, creating what could be an intriguing matchup. “They are another team that has found their identity in the past 10 days; they scored eight goals in the last two games, so they’re coming in riding a nice little wave of their own. It’s going to be a good game for us,” said Mounce. Men’s soccer team results mixed, but spirits good By Andrew Veeder Pilot sports writer After beating Coastal Carolina and UNC-Asheville with identical 2-1 scores, the Runnin’ Bulldogs lost to Georgia Southern Friday, 1-4. With the loss the Bulldogs now have a total record of 5-8, and a conference record of 4-1. Newcomer Richard Gray was the only Bulldog to score in the bout against Georgia Southern. Gray was in a promis ing position during the first half Ryan Snodgrass, a senior on the team, assisted Gray’s fourth goal of the season. After a well placed pass. Gray finished the deed, leveling the match at one. The lone goal would be the first and last of the game for Gardner-Webb. After halftime, the Eagles came out and took advantage of every opportunity that they were given. Gardner-Webb’s defense struggled with the ever-constant pressure being applied by the Eagles. Georgia Southern scored three more goals before the end of the second half Coach Tony Setzer is upbeat about the team despite the defeat. “We are doing all right,” he said. “I really believe in this group. They are great guys to work with. “I would have liked to have had more positive results, but I’ll take conference wins over nonconference wins any day. We are a bit unlucky not to be 8-5 rather than 5-8.” Against UNC-Asheville, the Bulldogs got off to a slow start, finding themselves down an early goal in the 12th minute. However, the early goal played to the ad vantage of Gardner-Webb, lighting a fire under the team. Just 10 minutes later, senior Jarrett Jackson crossed a ball to Gerard Hef- feron. Hefferon, a redshirt junior, headed the ball past the keeper, to level the match at one goal each.The game remained tied at the break. The first 10 minutes of the second half proved set the win for the Bulldogs. Receiving a pass from sophomore Adam Augruso, Miguel Pinzon worked his magic to put Gardner-Webb up 2-1. The goal is Pinzon’s third of the season. IT’S UNBELIEVEABLE! ... that a dozen full-time sophomore/ju nior students wouldn’t want to spend a month in Germany for only $1,500. Here’s the 411: • No knowledge of the German language neces sary • Spend GWU first summer session 2009 at Schiller International University in Heidelberg • Earn 3 credits in a course taught by Dr. Ute La- haie • $1,500 includes tuition, airfare, lodging, 2 meals M-F, and transportation. • Must be rising junior or senior in May 2009; mini mum 3.0 GPA; no disciplinary measures in your stu dent file Let’s get it started: • Pick up application and course outline at the Of fice of International Programs, 112 Suttle Hall • Turn in application by Nov. 5 • For more information, contact Dr. Helen Tichenor 704-406-3993 OR Dr. Ute Lahaie 704-406-4415.
Gardner-Webb University Student Newspaper
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