November 211997
5qqos
Men's Soccer ends turbulent season
by Mel Collins
The men's soccer sea
son has been filled with ups
and downs.
There have been many
changes on the field, which
goes to show how strong a
program we have here. They
have continued to work and
show the fans what they want
to see.
Coker Cobras
This game was in
tense right from the start. The
teams came out fired up, mak
ing the action fast and furi
ous. Kevin Vamado managed
to get the ball away from an
opposing defender. The ball
worked its way from there to
David Hartman, Frank
Balentine, and Warren Roca
before being caught by the
keeper. This play was fol
lowed up by ensuing shots
by Vinny Eamma and Denis
Hilton. The Cobras mounted
some offense which was
quickly smothered by goalie
Mark Wagner. The defense
helped start some more of
fense, with Tom Cimalore,
Roca and Hartman leading the
push. The offensive push forced
a penalty on the Cobras near the
goal. Eamma passed to Hartman,
who put it in the goal. The offense
did not rest, with Dan Pagnotta,
Roca and Mark Clemente combin
ing on a drive which would have
scored a goal were it not for an
amazing diving stop by the Co
bras' keeper.
That woke the Cobras up
and they started mounting pres
sure. The Knights defense tried
their hardest but the Cobras man
aged to get one past them to tie
the score at one. It remained that
way into the half The second
half began with a mighty thrust
of offense from the Knights.
Hilton and Varnado each had ex
ceptional runs through the oppo
sition with Josh Smith coming up
with a quick goal. Neil Fillmore,
Jorge Villalobos, Vernado,
Hartman and Eamma all used
fancy footwork and heads up play
to put more pressure on the Co
bras^ . jrn'.nc'^
Clemente, Varnado, and
Smith worked the ball downfield
to have a beautiful shot negated
by a penalty. The team contin
ued working even after an in
jury to Clemente forced him off
the field. With the time running
down, a momentary lapse by the
team allowed the Cobras to tie
the score again. A last minute
drive and shot by Hartman was
wide.
The game moved into
sudden death overtime. The
shortened period ended with no
change in score despite some
amazing shots by Coker which
Wagner and his defense
stopped. The Knights had very
little offense to show. The sec
ond overtime was quite a dif
ferent story. It was like Hilton
had had enough messing
around and got down to busi
ness. He took the first pass
downfield and attempted a goal
front pass. The problem was, he
missed his teammate and hit the
goal.
The game ended a 3-2
victory for the Knights. The
first half of this game showed
just how well the Knights can
work as a team. They kept up
constant offensive pressure
and good communication on
the field. Roca, Pagnotta,
Balentine, Clemente, Vamado,
and Eamma all made offensive
runs at the goal but were turned
away by the Francis Marion
goalie. For the defensive end,
goalie Chris Walker and Roca
combined on an amazing save
combination, turning away a se
ries of shots. Jason Diehl and
Hilton also got involved in the
defense, with several blocked
passes and aggressive steals.
Unfortunately, on an attempted
save. Walker tripped over the
opposing player. The resulting
penalty kick was good, allow
ing Francis Marion to take the
lead. The offense returned to
command with runs involving
Eamma, Villalobos, Vamado,
Pagnotta, Balentine, and Roca.
The defensive plays of Eamma
and Andrew Patrick ended the
first half on a positive note de
spite the 1-0 Francis Marion
lead.
The second half spelled
disaster. The Knights lost their
communication and fire. They
kept the pressure up but those
two factors prevented them
from finishing with a goal.
Varnado, Balentine, Eamma,
Hilton, and Villalobos each con
tributed to several impressive
runs downfield. Clemente,
Varnado and Balentine each
showed some fancy footwork
to move around the Francis
Marion players but none could
find the necessary outlet to
score. As the team began to
deflate, Francis Marion was
able to tack on three more goals.
The team put together a final
offensive push as time ran
down, during which Daniel
Phifer, Clemente, Wagner,
Pagnotta and Patrick each
touched the ball but the effort
was for nothing. The final score
was 4-0.
The team completed the
season with a better record than
last year. They lost in the first
round of the CVAC tournament
but that does not change the
accomplishment of the team.
Their play continued to improve
and hopefully that will cariy
over to next year.
Women's Soccer finishes season fighting
a reputation for being a physi- fore the half
cal team and they lived up to The second half was as
that billing. However, the Lady intense as the first. The pres-
by Mel Collins
The women's soccer
team ‘s record especially im
pressive when it is realized
that they had just enough
players to put on the field for
most of the season. They
managed to get things done
in an impressive and classy
manner. While they lost in the
first round of the CVAC tour
nament, they made a state
ment by getting there.
Pfeiffer
The Lady Knights
started off strong against
Pfeiffer. Natalie Krvaric and
Shelly Kleinschmidt made
nice steals to keep things un
der SA control. The defen
sive end was handled well by
goalie Tori Rutherford, Jill
Kappus, Cindy Phifer and
Nicola Ager. Offense was the
name of the game pretty quickly.
Alyssa Gann, Mary-Kathleen
Daley and Kleinschmidt started
the offense's motor with an im
pressive push.
Sammy McGee and Farah
Allen each added contributions
to the offensive effort. Perhaps
one of the best of these offen
sive series came when was when
a drive by Daley and
Kleinschmidt ended with a shot
on goal which was deflected out.
Daley handled the corner kick in
to McGee, who's shot landed just
short. Kleinschmidt ran it down
and play resulted in a penalty kick
by Daley which was just wide. It
was the sort of great team play
which gives you an idea that
things are going well. But a dark
cloud loomed in a sudden offen
sive push by Pfeiffer. After sev
eral blocked shots by Rutherford,
Ager and Krvaric, the ball shot
into the SA goal. As the half
ran down, the score remained
I -0 in Pfeiffer's favor.
The Lady Knights did
not take long to respond in the
second half Kleinschmidt
scored a goal in the first five
minutes to tie the score. The
team was fired up by another
save by Rutherford. McGee,
Allen, Kleinschmidt, Daley, and
Phifer managed to get the pres
sure back on the Pfeiffer de
fense. It was McGee who finally
broke the tie with a late goal.
The offense kept the pressure
up and when the defense
needed to come through it did.
The game ended with the Lady
Knights beating their CVAC foe
2-1.
Coker
The Cobras came in with
Knights were not about to be
intimidated. The team was fo
cused from the start.
Rutherford, Ager and McGee
made it hard for the Cobras to
get anything going while Lorein
Chilton, Kleinschmidt and
Daley combined on a goal. The
offensive pressure kept up with
contributions from Daley,
Kleinschmidt, Phifer, McGee,
Krvaric, Chilton, Allen, and
Gann. Ager, Kappus, and
Krvaric helped Rutherford on
defense but the goalie made
some amazingly acrobatic saves
to keep the Cobras at bay. Yet
the pressure got to be too
strong, as the Cobras snuck in
a goal to tie the score just be-
sure was kept just about equal
throughout the time. But on an
offensive drive by Coker,
Rutherford committed too much
to the first shot and the rebound
shot got past her. The Lady
Knights rallied to try to regain
control. Gann used some fancy
footwork and Phifer and Daley
each made offensive deliveries
deep into Coker territory. The
defense prevented any further
scoring. The offense came close
on several drives to scoring,
with shots going just wide or
right to the keeper. There were
a couple of drives negated by
offsides penalties. The fhistra-
tion resulted in a lack of fire and
a 2-1 loss.