James Nix - Clubs and Intramural Sports

The Appalachian State University AHO Rugby Club suffered its first defeat of the season Saturday.

This loss came from the only other undefeated team in the North Carolina Rugby Union (NCRU), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels won 32-3.

ASU is the second-ranked team in the NCRU and will travel to play the top-ranked team in the Mid-South Rugby Union, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, next weekend.

UNC dominated the game from the beginning when Steve Buechner scored the first try of the game.

James Haggie then missed the conversion kick to keep the score at 0-5.

Haggie then made a Tar Heel penalty kick, bumping the score to 0-8.

ASU remained scoreless and allowed North Carolina another try followed by a successful conversion point, making the UNC lead 0-14.

The AHO squad finally answered back with Darren Bedbetter's penalty kick, which gave ASU three points.

Another UNC penalty kick followed by a try scored by Larry Braithwaite at the end of the first half made the halftime score 3-22.

"There were some silly penalties in the first half on things I know the guys know better," said ASU head coach David Rogers. "That kind of stopped momentum a couple of times and that's just unfortunate."

"I applaud Chapel Hill for once in my life," said Roger Fay. "They played great. Injuries really hurt us this game. We were missing a lot of starters."

In the second half, the Tar Heels shut out the Mountaineers while staying strong and scoring two tries to win the game 32-3.

"I think we came up here for a hard game," said UNC head coach Steve Powell. "We took them on up front, good clean ball, so I'm pretty happy with the performance."

Jeep Barret, the assigned referee for the game, was unable to make it due to a leg injury. To cope with the problem, Rogers acted as the referee during the first half, and an experienced player from the Chapel Hill lineup refereed the second half.

"It was a difficult day," said Rogers. "The standpoint is the regular ref was not here and that puts everyone in a different state of mind.

"It's tough when you have to bring in a coach from one side or the other and I know that our guys probably had more difficulty with it than theirs."

Aside from the referee problem, Rogers mentioned that the team was not at full force against Chapel Hill.

"This was a really difficult week for us," said Rogers. "We had injuries, we had people out of town for unexplained reasons and we were not at full strength. This was a poor weekend for that to have occurred."

Up next for the AHO rugby club is the first round of the playoffs against UT in Knoxville, Tenn. If ASU is successful in the playoffs, then there is a chance for a rematch against UNC.

"It's not over yet. It's not over," said Fay. "I think we definitely have a chance to meet these guys again."

ASU's sudden fall from glory could be a blessing in disguise, showing the team members that they are not the invincible maniacs they think they are.

"The loss today gave us a reality check," said Fay. "If you keep winning the way we did, it definitely gets to your head. You don't want it to, but it does."

As for now, it is important for the AHO squad to shake off the loss and work hard to prepare for the postseason.

"We are the second-place team," said Fay. "If we want to be first place, we'll have to work a lot harder so we can show everybody that we're as good of a team as we say we are."

Reserves key as Mountaineers fall to Blue Devils 3-2, sprint past Wolfpack 4-2

Andy Morris - Sports Beat

When the going got tough, the Appalachian State University men's club soccer team brought in the substitutes.

On a rainy day at Duke University, the Mountaineers' bench accounted for five goals in the team's 3-2 loss to Duke and 4-2 win against North Carolina State University.

In the early game against the Blue Devils, ASU struggled to find their footing on the muddy, rain-soaked field and trailed 2-0 after two quick Duke goals.

Miscommunication on defense left an open man at the top of the 18-yard box, and the Blue Devil drilled a shot into the lower right corner of the goal.

Fifteen minutes later, Duke was awarded a free kick about 30 yards away from the goal.

The Blue Devils chipped the ball to another unmarked forward who managed to head the ball past ASU goalkeeper Brian O'Connor.

But Appalachian would soon retaliate after halftime.

Freshman Lee Spruill, coming off the bench, received a cross from Jeff Seibert and buried the ball past the Duke goalkeeper, cutting the margin to 2-1.

John Chicelli, another freshman off the bench, tied the score with a spectacular diving header from Justin Kingon's cross to the far post.

But the Blue Devils would be victorious with a Duke forward beating the defense and scoring with under a minute remaining to give them a 3-2 win.

"It was a tough loss for the team, considering how well we played in the second half," said Spruill. "I think we just took a while to get used to the playing surface and were unlucky at the end."

The Mountaineers came out for the second game better prepared and a little wiser. Appalachian controlled the ball early in the first half but allowed another goal on miscommunication to give the Wolfpack a 1-0 lead.

However, senior Matt Georgitis scored on an unassisted goal to tie the game 1-1.

Substitutes Andy Morris and Spruill came on later in the first half. Morris made an assist to Spruill for his second goal of the day.

Chicelli followed with his second goal of the day on a header flick from Matt Kimball to give the Mountaineers a commanding 3-1 lead.

Morris closed out the scoring for Appalachian on a pass from freshman Philip Gooding, giving the Mountaineers a 4-1 lead. The Wolfpack scored one more goal late in the second half.

"Although the field was bad, we played really great soccer," said Spruill.

Club team president Terry Rafferty was pleased with the team's results.

"We had really bad conditions today but we moved the ball really well," he told the players after the game. "I haven't seen ball movement like that in all the years I've been playing club soccer."

According to Spruill, a key to the win was the play of the team's bench. "I think the other team's defense took us lightly when we substituted, and we were able to turn that into points."

The win against State was sweet revenge as the Wolfpack beat the Mountaineers 4-0 in the fall semester in a tournament at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Appalachian did not have enough players and had to put a field player in goal. These games were the first for the team as Davidson College and Duke's "B" team canceled last weekend.

The club team plays a couple of key games looming on the horizon March 31 when the Mountaineers face Wake Forest University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.