Sports
November29,1990
Page X9
Wrapping up Elon fall sports
Football improves, women's soceer excels
Chip Lupo
The Pendulum
It was a year of vast
improvement for the football
team, a record-setting year for
women's volleyball, an up-and-
down season for men's soccer and
yet another day at the office for
women’s soccer.
Football head coach Leon
Hart could only hope to improve
on 1989's 1-9 campaign. After a
season opening loss to Wofford,
it appeared that a long season was
to be in store for the Christians.
A 17-16 victory over N.C.
Central and a heartbreaking last-
second defeat to Fayetteville State
showed signs of promise. After
droppping two straight to
nationally ranked Carson-
Newman and Lenoir-Rhyne, the
Christians exploded for four
victories in five games, including
a 31-17 pasting of Gardner Webb.
A shot at a winning season
hinged on the outcome of the
season finale at Wingate. The
Christians, however, were turned
away, 34-13, ending their season
at 5-6.
All things considered, this
could still go down in the books
as a banner year for Christian
football, considering the fact that
such a record was achieved with
the luxury of only one legitimate
home game. The football team
opened with two games at
Jamieson Stadium in Greensboro,
faced Carson Newman at
Cummings High School, and had
to have the Parent's Weekend
game moved to Clinton, S.C.,
home of the opposing
Presbyterian Blue Hose.
Problems with the grass at
Memorial Stadium in Burlington,
kept the Christians from
enjoying most of their home
games.
Kelly Holder, last year’s
starting quarterback, converted
this year to wide receiver is
overail pleased with the team’s
performance.
"I feel pretty good,
considering we were so young
and we did play only one game at
home," the junior from ML Airy,
N.C. said. "I still think we could
have done better...you can never
be completely satisfied, but still,
Fm kinda pleased.”
Crowds of fans packed J(»rdan
Gymnasium this season to watch
the Christians women's
volleyball team take to the net.
The reason was obvious.
When the smoke had cleared
following a second-place finish in
the Conference tournament at
Presbyterian College on October
26-27, Coach Sue Leonard's team
walked away with the most
single season matches since
1974, posting a 24-14 mark.
The mark was also second best in
the program's history.
1990 was not without other
highlights for women's
volleyball. The Christians
placed first in class B in the
Maryville (Tenn.) College
Tournament and took the
consolation bracket of the Francis
Marion Tournament in Florence,
S.C. It was that second place
finish in the conference
tournament that prevented the
Christians from advancing in
postseason play.
Lynn Hefty and Cheryl
Spivey led the attack for the
Christians this season. Both
were honored by being named to
both the All South Atlantic
Conference team and the All
District 26 team. Spivey, a
sophomore striker from Robbins,
N.C., was also named to the
SAC-8 All Tournament team as
was teammate Fae Foster, a
sophomore stiker/hitter from
Baton Rouge. La.
What was sui^sed to be a
standout season for Coach Rob
Brewer's men's soccer team,
turned out to be one of up-and-
down spurts and inccNisistencies,
leading to 8-10 overall record.
The outlook for 1990 could
not help but lo^ prcMnising with
the return of Jeff Cabot. MVP
from a year ago, and senior
midHelder Kevin Thomas. The
addition of goalkeeper Nelson
Palacios, a junior transfer from
New York City looked to keep
opposing offenses in check.
The seniot leadership of
Cabot and Thomas, however,
would succumb to the
inexperience of a
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freshman/sophomore dominated
lineup. The Christians' roller
coaster ride started with four
straight defeats, followed by a
three game winning streak. Hie
celebration was shcvt lived as the
Christians dropped four straight
After defeating Guilford 2-0 and
then falling to Presbyterian 4-3.
the Christians went on a tear,
closing out the season with three ‘
straight victories, outscoring the
(^position 9-1. The Christians
entered the SAC-8 tournament on
a emotional high, knocking off
Gardner-Webb 3-1 in the first
round. A powerful nationally
ranked Catawba squad ended any
title hopes for Cabot, Thomas
and Co. in the second round, by
knocking off the Christians 6-1.
Freshman Bob Artioli
provided a ray of hope for the
future by leading the Christians
in goals scored with five. Cabot
and Thcxnas scored four apiece.
Since its beginning in 1986,
the Christians' women’s soccer
team have been among the
nation's elite. And with
returning standouts Kelly
Gonteski, Chris Greenspan, Tara
Houston and Amy Melander. plus
the experience of Heather Kline
in the goal, national
championship dreams could
easily have become a reality.
With key recruits Katie
McGrath and Jane Skidmore
complementing an already
powerful lineup, the Christians
Lupo
only regular season defeats would
come against NCAA powers
North Carolina and North
Carolina State, and UNC-
Greensboro.
Meanwhile, the Christians,
with Brewer doubling as the
women’s coach, would go
undefeated in both the conference
and the district, destroying all
opposition, including an 11-0
thrashing of Gardner-Webb and a
10-0 drubbing of Lenoir Rhyne
in the first round of the SAC-8
tournament. A 0-0 tie against
nationally ranked Berry late in the
season would set the stage for a
South regional showdown
between the two arch rivals. But
Berry, on their home field in
Rome. Ga.. shattered the
Christians title dreams, 4-0,
ending the Elon women's season
ataremaricable 12-4-1.
Despite the heartbreaking
loss to Berry in the regionals,
Melander is keeping a positive
outlook on the season as a
whole.
"When you lose 4-0 in the
regionals, you tend to look down
on things. Coach Brewer told us
to remember how successful our
season was and to not let one
game influence our thoughts or
perspectives of the entire season."
The junior midfielder from
Bowdoinham, Maine added: "It
was a really fun season with a
fun group of people... jit least we
did tie the national champions."
From Page 18
The reason? Because the
1990 version of the Boston
Celtics are hitting on all
cylinders, just like the Celtics
we've known and loved (or hated)
over the years. And - the Celtics
are currently the second hottest
team in the NBA, having rattled
off seven straight victories en
route to an Eastern Conference
leading 11-2 mark.
If Boston is the second
hottest team in pro basketball
right now, which is the hottest?
The Portland Trail Blazers,
' which arc currenlly«UrO. Get this
- in addition to Clyde Drexler
and Buck Williams, the Blazers
feature their newly acquired,
playmaking point guard named
Danny Ainge.
Imagine that
EXTRA POINT: Forget the
incoming crop of NBA films. If
you see one NBA flick this year
be sure to catch the blockbuster
film Sex Lies and Videotape, an
action packed drama in which
James Worthy patrons a local
escort service and finds himself in
the midst of an FBI sting
opbralibn. ^