Appalachian's
men's soccer team finishes second in SoCon
Andrea Barrows
- Sports Beat
The Appalachian
State University men's soccer team played strong in the 2000 Southern
Conference (SoCon) tournament, but fell short in the final game,
losing to the number-one seeded Furman University Paladins in the
championship match, 1-4.
The tournament
was held in Charleston, S.C. last Thursday through Sunday.
The Mountaineers
were seeded third in the tournament after being tied with Davidson
College and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The
three teams each had a 6-2 SoCon record and a lottery was held for
individual, tournament rankings.
Appalachian
went into the tournament with a lot of confidence. Head Coach Aidan
Heaney was named SoCon Coach of the Year. Junior Jordy Broder was
named to the First All-League team and awarded SoCon Player of the
Year. Senior Chris "Zidane" Weddle was also honored by
being named to the Second All-League team.
The Mountaineers
played their first-round game Friday evening against the sixth-ranked
Georgia Southern University Eagles and won in a shut-out victory,
2-0.
Senior Eric
Daughtry was the first Mountaineer to strike in the tournament,
with a goal at 36:03 in the first half. His goal was assisted by
Roddy Chisholm and Josh Foltz. In the second half, the Mountaineers
took advantage of another scoring opportunity with Foltz scoring
Appalachian's second goal, assisted by Bobby Maloney.
The Mountaineers
out-shot the Eagles 9-8 and ASU goalkeeper Chris Robinson had four
saves in the match.
In the second-round
match, Appalachian played the second-seeded Davidson Wildcats. The
last time these two teams met, Davidson had a huge advantage over
the Mountaineers when two ASU players were ejected from the game.
This game's outcome was much different, though.
The Mountaineers
came out showing a lot of tenacity, attacking every ball and playing
a very physical match. There were seven yellow cards given out in
this match, three of which went to Mountaineers Daughtry, Broder
and Andy Simpson.
The Wildcats
were first to score, but the Mountaineers remained collected. At
the 26:30 mark, David Boyd was ready to rumble as he aggressively
attacked the Davidson goal on a corner kick. His goal was assisted
by Broder and Daughtry, and tied the match 1-1. A minute later,
Maloney had an unassisted goal to give Appalachian a 2-1 lead at
halftime.
In the second
half, the Mountaineers remained in control and the momentum of the
game still seemed to be in Appalachian's favor.
Broder, who
led the league in scoring for the season but had gone without scoring
a goal in the tournament, managed to free himself from his defenders
for the pass from Simpson and Foltz to score Appalachian's third
goal with 33:26 left to play in the game.
With 19:24 to
go in the match, the momentum suddenly turned to the Wildcats as
they scored another goal to leave ASU with just a one-goal lead.
The MountaineersÕ tough, defensive play by Weddle, Simpson, Daughtry
and Ray Soporowski contained the attacking Wildcats, but with only
7:39 remaining in the match, Davidson snuck another goal past ASU
to tie the match 3-3.
Frustration
hit Appalachian State and with only six minutes to play, Broder
and Simpson each received yellow cards. Regulation time ended and
the Mountaineers and Wildcats found themselves in sudden-death overtime.
With two and
a half minutes remaining in the first period of overtime, senior
defender and co-captain Weddle came out of nowhere to tap the ball
into DavidsonÕs goal to advance the Mountaineers into the championship
game against Furman University Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
Davidson out-shot
the Mountaineers 18-12 and ASU goalkeeper Robinson, though bruised
and beaten, made seven saves for the Mountaineers.
The Southern
Conference Championship game against Furman was less than ideal
for the Mountaineers. The game went scoreless until the Paladins
knocked a ball past Robinson with 7:41 remaining in the first half
to give them a 1-0 lead at the half.
Only down by
one goal, Appalachian came back onto the field for the second half
composed and ready to play, but after only three minutes Furman
scored again to go up 2-0. Broder received a yellow card at 36:40
for aggressively going after a ball and colliding with the Paladin
goalie.
FurmanÕs speed
led to two more goals at the 26:31- and 25:15-minute marks when
the Paladin forwards beat the Mountaineer defense. Robinson was
forced to come out of the goal to challenge the ball.
After these
two plays, Robinson left the game and freshman keeper Greg Brooks
entered the game for the final 25 minutes of play.
Down 4-0, the
Mountaineers continued to play tough and were able to score their
final goal of the season with 7:57 remaining in the match. Brian
Fowler scored the goal off a free kick taken by Broder. The final
score of the game was Furman 4, Appalachian State 1.
Although the
outcome wasn't what Appalachian had hoped for, the Mountaineers
held their heads up and accepted the defeat with dignity showing
that win or lose, Appalachian maintains a high level of class.
Weddle, Daughtry
and Broder were named to the All-Tournament Team. This was the first
time since 1994 that the men's soccer team has made it to the SoCon
Championship game.
Heaney said,
"The team did fantastically well and we surpassed the expectations
of a lot of people."
Mountaineers
win exhibition game 90-83, still desiring to improve game
Chris Boyce
- Varsity Sports
The Appalachian
State University men's basketball team saw their first action of
the season Saturday night, defeating Crossfire Ministries in an
exhibition match by a score of 90-83.
The game was
filled with new faces and some familiar ones and was the first chance
for first-year Appalachian State basketball coach Houston Fancher
to evaluate his team.
"I thought
we did some good things," said Fancher. "It was an obvious
first-time-out exhibition.
"We're
gonna have to be patient with this team. We're to the point where
we scored 90 points and were not nearly satisfied with the way we
played. We're almost perfectionists to a fault."
The Mountaineers
were led by familiar faces from last season's SoCon Championship
team, guard Shawn Alexander and center Corey Cooper.
Alexander paced
Appalachian with a game-high 21 points on nine-of-14 shooting and
contributed three assists and three steals.
Cooper scored
17 points on eight-of-10 attempts and led the Mountaineers with
five rebounds.
Crossfire took
the early lead on a lay-up by guard Jamie Johnson but Appalachian
responded with a jumper from Buddy Davis.
Appalachian
seized its first lead of the game with 17:24 left in the first half
on a Corey Cooper jumper giving the Mountaineers a 6-4 lead.
The Mountaineers
extended their lead to ten points after a three-pointer by Alexander
with 6:38 left in the half made the score 27-17 in favor of ASU.
Crossfire cut
the deficit to five after a pair of free throws by Eric Grayson,
but Appalachian's Alexander knocked down a jump shot with only thirty
seconds remaining in the half to give ASU a 39-32 lead going into
halftime.
The play of
Jonathan Butler was solid throughout the night, and the 5-11 junior
sparked two big plays early in the second half.
Butler stole
the ball from Crossfire's Grayson with 19:04 left in the half and
fed the ball to Alexander for an emphatic dunk, giving ASU a 41-34
lead.
On the ensuing
play, Butler robbed Crossfire's Scott Bradley, this time taking
it himself for the uncontested lay-up.
Butler finished
the game with six points, six assists and five steals. "I thought
Jonathan Butler did some good things tonight," said Fancher.
One of the
biggest surprises of the game and perhaps the one play that put
Crossfire away was a three-pointer by Corey Cooper from the top
of the key with only 3:26 left to play, giving Appalachian State
the commanding 81-74 lead.
After the game,
Cooper commented on his range from beyond the arc.
"It's
something that we've been working on lately and Coach has given
me permission to take the shots as long as I'm in rhythm and as
long as I'm getting good shots," said Cooper. "I feel
comfortable out there taking those shots because I practice them
everyday."
After the game,
both players and coaches felt that defense was the teamÕs main weakness
so far.
"Defense.
That's the main thing we need to work on," said Alexander.
"Off-the-ball defense and on-the-ball defense. We need to pressure
the ball a lot more. We're a young ball team but I think weÕll get
to that point."
Fancher agreed
with this assessment.
"My biggest
concern right now is defense," said Fancher. "We've got
to get better defensively."
The exhibition
game provided Appalachian State basketball fans a chance to get
their first glimpse at some of the new faces on this year's squad.
One of the biggest
contributions from the bench this year will be freshman Noah Brown
at point guard.
The 6-1 playmaker
out of Keene, Texas was the third leading scorer for ASU Saturday
night with 10 points to go along with four assists and two steals.
Brown feels
that this year's freshman class will make a big impact for Appalachian
State basketball.
"I think
we'll be real important as long as we step up and not play like
freshman," said Brown. "We're gonna make mistakes but
we just gotta know how to build and get better from the mistakes."
Although the
game against Crossfire was not played in the Holmes Center as earlier
scheduled, the team is anxious and excited about opening it up Nov.
17 against the University of North Carolina Tarheels.
"I can't
wait," said Alexander. "I'm excited about our first practice
in there on Friday. I think once we get in there and get used to
it, everybody will be calmed down and ready to play."
"That's
one of the reasons why I came up here, was because of the schedule
they have," said Brown. "It's always been my dream to
play for the Tarheels and you can't beat going up against them if
you didn't get to play for them."
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