page 8
Sports
the lance
St. Andrews Riders Aim For National Title
October 1,1987
Sports Briefs
The St. Andrews Lady Knights
volleyball team defeated Methodist
College Wednesday night, 15-12,
15-11, 15-7. Diana Jones had 14
offensive assists and Kristin Mosher
had 12 assists. The Lady Knights
are 3-1 in DIAC competition and 16-5
overall. Their next match will be at
N.C. Wesleyan on Friday.
jooooi >1II il'inn
The St. Andrews Soccer
team defeated Averett College 3-2
Wednesday. It was the Knights first
conference soccer victory in five
years. SA had 14 shots on goal with
scores by Will Whitehead, Greg
Dorsey and Phil Nolette. The
Knight hooters are 1-2 in DIAC
by Communications & Marketing
As St. Andrews Presbyterian
College shoots for a national tide in
equestrian competition, it will be spot
lighted on the riding scene as it hosts the
IHSA National Championship in May.
Four years in a row Sl An
drews’ equestrian team has been at the
national championships of the Intercol
legiate Horse Show Association and the
National Riding Council. Each year St.
Andrews, Sweet Briar College (Va.)
and the University of Virginia have
been the top finishers at the NRC Cham
pionships.
With essentially the same
teams that finished third in those two
competitions last year, St. Andrews will
enter the 1987-88 season. The college
will defend its boast as home to the best
riding program in North Carolina.
“We expect tough competi
tion from U.Va. and Sweet Briar, as
competition and 3-4 overall. Their
next game is at home against Greens
boro College Saturday.
Booters Place 4th In Carolina Classic
by Ren Townsend
St. Andrews hosted the 4th
Annual Carolina Classic Soccer Tour
nament and dropped games to Francis
Marion College and Coker College over
the weekend. This was the first year that
the Tournament was held at St. An
drews.
The kick-off game pitted
Pembroke State University against
CokerCollege. Witha 1-1 ticatlheend
of regulation time, Pembroke went on to
win the game in overtime shoot-out by
scoring 4 more goals against Coker,
who managed to score only 3. The final
score was Pembroke 5, Coker 4. Coker
head coach Tim Riggs said that an
unusually designed play allowed Coker
to tie PSU late in the game: “The play is
called the High Pressure Even play,”
Griggs said. “In man-to-man coverage,
we move the sweeper back. You take
the risk of getting scored on, but there is
a chance of you scoring.”
Early in the 1st half of
Saturday’s game against Francis Mar
ion, Senior Mat( Wilson went down
with an injury. “The goalie came out
from guarding the net, and his knee hit
me in the thigh,” Wilson said. “After he
hit me, 1 kicked the ball at the goal.”
That kick almost scored. Wilson was
taken to the hospital and says he has a
badly bruised thigh. Sl Andrews never
recovered from The loss of their co-
caplain, and was defeated 1-0.
In Sunday’s consolation round
game between Coker and St. Andrews,
Mike Torres helped Coker strike first,
scoring the game’s first goal at the
16;06 mark. Before the half ended
Torres would score again (36:45) to give
Coker a 2-0 lead at the end of the half.
Tlie Knights looked like a new
team in the second half. FreshmaivChns
Wallace narrowed the gap to within a
pointwithagoalatthe 17:30 markofthe
second half. St. Andrews was on the
verge of scoring again as time expired.
St Andrews head coach Lorenzo Ca-
nalis feels that the team can play better
than they did in the tournament. “We
did not play up to our potential.” Ca-
nalis said, “Our biggest problem was
when Matty went down, no one stepped
into a leadership position.”
PSU came out firing in the
championship game. Alex Gaines
scored at just 1:08 in the match. Eagles
head coach Mike Shaeffer felt that the
timing of that goal was very important.
“That goal took FMC off stride,”
Shaeffer said. “It was more a case of
them making a mistake than us making
a good play.” Jimmy Mask added an
other goal for PSU at the 23:50 point
giving his team a 2-0 lead at half-time.
Dave SklairputFMC back into
the game with a goal early after play re
sumed. Only 3:07 had passed when the
Patriots got their first and only goal.
PSU hung on to win the match and the
toumamentwitha2-l victory. “This is
the second year in a row that we have
won this tournament.” Shaeffer said,
“It feels good...the competition gets
tougher every year.”
Eleven players were named to
the All-Tournament Team: Walter
Krauss and Chris Walker, St. Andrews;
Mike Torres and Mike Wallace, Coker;
DaveSklair, Charlie Haines, and Andy
Roxburgh, FMC; and Jimmy Myers
(tournament MVP), Steve Gaines,
Mark Honeycutt, and Richie Whis-
enant, PSU.
always, but there might be room for a
North Carolina school at the top this
year,” said director of the riding pro
gram Shelby French.
Returning riders include:
Katie Martin, a junior from Winston-
Salem, N.C., who was the highest
overall scorer for SL Andrews at the
ANRC nationals. Other key returners
include senior Margaret Fuller, sopho
more Beth White and senior Cyndi
Adams.
Fuller, from Mountain Lakes,
NJ., finished 5th at the ANRC nation
als last year. At the IHSA nationals,
Cyndi Adams finished 2nd in high point
beginner stock seat equitation.
“I’m real excited about what
this team did last year and what it is
capable of doing this year,” French said.
“A national championship is always a
possibility.”
With a little luck, 1987-88
could be a year of dreams fulfilled for
the SL Andrews equestrian program.
Beginning with a centered riding clinic
on Oct 3, Sl Andrews will play host to
many riding events at Singing Wood
Farm in Laurinburg.
“Between the Riding Club
and the equestrian team, we’ll be kept
busy throughout the fall,” said French.
All of this preparation is an
effort to ready the team for the nationals
in the spring.
“Hosting the IHSA national
championship in May is a really big
undertaking for us,” said French.
“We’re expecting about 400 people
from all over the country, excluding
spectators.
Fall Baseball Underway
by Doug Dawson
As the fall season arrives on
the St.Andrews campus, so do many fa
miliar sights: the leaves turning from
green to brown, students crowded
around T.V. screens watching football,
the mercury dropping steadily, and our
soccer team taking the field.
One sight that many may find
out of place is the SL Andrews baseball
team practicing in the autumn sun. Al
though the season is still months away,
the Knights are hard at work in hopes
of avenging last year’s disappointing
season.
Having only eight returning
players out of a total of thirty-six candi
dates, one of the Knights’ main prob
lems is inexperience. To better prepare
the new players, first year head coach
Gary Swanson has set up a six game
exhibition schedule against area
schools.
Each game will run from nine
to fourteen innings with no statistics or
standings being recorded. No starting
team has been set for these scrimmages,
for, as Coach Swanson said,”Each posi
tion is there for the taking. Everyone
will get a chance.” He will use these
practice games to help determine the
1988 Knights varsity baseball team, but
those who fall short will still have their
chance; for the first time St. Andrews
will field a J.V. team.
At the end of this “mini-sea
son”, the Knights will take part in the
first annual St. Andrews World Series.
This event, which takes place from OcL
. 28 through Nov.7, gives the Knights
a chance to compete against each other.
The players will divide into
two teams(which they will pick and
coach). They will play a best out'of
nine series, with the losers treating the
winners to a pizza party.
W'hilc Coach Swanson feels
that this series will be fun and exciting
for his players, he also sees it as an
important step in developing a winning
team.
Coach Swanson also sees
this series as a chance for the team to
develop into the tight-knit unit that is
an integral part of the successful coach
ing style he brings to St. Andrews. What
he is looking for is not a team full of
stars, but rather a team player, someone
who is willing to work hard for success.
In these early days, he sees a
solid pitching staff and team that is fun
damentally sound. What he feels is most
promising about this team is their enthu
siasm about the long hard hoiu’s they put
in practicing. “I’m really happy with the
players’ attitudes. It makes coaching
fun. I hope that good things come of
this team because they deserve it,”
Swanson said. He went on to say that
this year’s team was “the hardest work
ing team I’ve ever coached.”
The players too have much to
say about the work they ’ ve put in. Fresh
man Dane Gordon, an outfielder from
St. Simons Island, Ga. feels that the
team’s strength lies in its unity. “We
have a real desire to succeed and Coach
Swanson is doing some job of driving
us to overachieve. He pays attention to
the little things that make a team good.”
Gordon said. He only hopes that the
student body can respond with the same
enthusiasm that the team has, and asks
for filled stands during these games.
In the wake oflastyear’sless
than successful season, there are many
questions unanswered abouttheSL An
drews baseball team. As the season
slowly but steadily approaches, fans can
be assured of one thing: no matter what
the final standings are, both the team and
the coach will have given it their best
shot, and if the amount of effort is any
measure of success, the Knights will be
no less than champions.