Sports

Finished Business:
Mountaineers out of SC title race with 20-14 loss to Furman
Mike Daniels
Sports Editor

The Appalachian bench sits in disbelief after Saturday's 20-14 loss to Furman which basically ended the Mountaineers Southern Conference title run for this season (photo by Robert Parriott)

Did you ever have a favorite team who won the championship and reached the pinnacle of their sport, and it made you wish that they would never play another game and stay at that position forever?

That’s how the Appalachian State Mountaineers probably felt after their 20-14 loss to Furman Saturday that, for all intents and purposes, took away any chance of their winning the Southern Conference again or making the playoffs.

In the words of quarterback Gerard Hardy, "It’s pretty much a long shot at winning the conference or getting to the playoffs at this point."

After starting out strong and holding their own in the first half, the Mountaineer offense fizzled in the second half, scoring no points and putting up only one yard passing. The offense looked its worst in the fourth quarter, going three and out on three of their drives and only collecting two first downs when they desperately needed a score.

After the first period, it looked as though it was going to be anyone’s ballgame. After driving 78 yards on eight plays for a touchdown on the game’s opening drive, the Apps defense allowed the Paladins to counter with a six play, 80-yard scoring drive that tied the score at 7-7.

When Damon Scott finished another Appalachian scoring drive with a four yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, Furman again answered behind the rushing of running back Ernest Crosby, who took the Paladins 69 yards down the field on one play, setting up the tying touchdown. When the two teams went into the locker room at half-time, it looked as though it was going to come down to whoever had the ball last.

However, when the teams came out of Owens Field House to start the second half, it became Furman’s game. The Furman defense shut down the Appalachian running game and its cornerstone option play, forcing the Apps to the air. Unfortunately, Hardy was only able to complete one out of 13 pass attempts in the half for one yard.

The result was a 20-14 Furman victory, despite the fact that the Appalachian defense was able to limit the Paladins to just six points in the half after Elando Johnson was able to block the extra point attempt on Furman’s only touchdown of the half in the third quarter. Hardy said that he didn’t think the Mountaineers, "...were a physical team in the second half, and that allowed their defense to make plays."

Two major reasons for the Apps loss were penalties and turnovers. Appalachian was only penalized four times for a loss of 35 yards, but all of these penalties seemed to come on crucial plays for the Mountaineers, such as the roughing the kicker flag in the second quarter that gave Furman the chance to re-kick a field goal that they had just missed. Luckily for the Apps, freshman kicker Jason Wells also missed his second attempt from 33 yards out, five yards closer than his first miss.

Much like their loss to Wake Forest, the Mountaineers also hurt themselves with turnovers. Appalachian gave up the ball four times in the contest, three on fumbles and once on an interception. In the Wake game, the Apps committed four fumbles and an interception.

After the game, Head Coach Jerry Moore said that the Mountaineers, "...can’t just show up" as they have been doing so far this season, because "...we’re going to catch everybody’s best shot." Moore went on to say that he wasn’t sure that "We mentally and physically prepare ourselves to play to the level we did last year."

The loss marked the first time since 1993 that Appalachian lost back-to-back conference games in a row. The last time it happened in October of that year, the team lost a string of three in a row to Furman, Georgia Southern and Marshall. Coincidentally, the Apps next two games are against those very same teams. Yet as any optimistic coach would, Moore said that "I do believe that (we) could still make the playoffs. I think we have to go through from this point undefeated to get it done."

At 1-2 in the conference and 3-3 overall, Appalachian will begin its playoff quest Saturday in Statesboro, Ga. when they take on the Eagles of Georgia Southern. The following week the Mountaineers will return to Kidd Brewer Stadium for their big showdown with top ranked Marshall on homecoming.

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Baseball receives another black eye from Roberto Alomar
Sports Commentary
Danny Sink
Staff Writer

Would you spit in the eye of a policeman that just wrote you a ticket? No, I did not ask if you would like to - but would you? The answer is, if you have any kind of common sense, no.

Then why is that Roberto Alomar can spit in the eye of a umpire and get off as easy as he did? Now don’t get me wrong, when I watch baseball it is going to be a Baltimore Orioles game, but that was uncalled for.

As if the players haven’t already shown that they are spoiled pampered little babies (with the exception of my idol Cal Ripken Jr. of course), Alomar has to go out and re-affirm the public’s suspicions.

And what is up with this ruling that Alomar doesn’t have to sit out in the post-season? Can we say pay off? The man didn’t wait until next season to spit in the ump’s face, so why should he be allowed to wait until next season to serve his suspension?

If baseball is to ever fully regain its status as America’s favorite past-time, then it has to start acting as though it deserves to be given that distinction.

Compare this action with that of Michael Irving’s. True, Irving’s actions were a little more serious with the drug involvement and such, but what would have been said if the NFL held his suspension off until half way through the season to give Dallas a better chance to make the playoffs?

Someone (like me) would be writing the nastiest things they could think of about Irving, Dallas, and the corrupt NFL administration.

So why should we treat baseball any different? Are these rich jocks some how better than the rest of the people who inhabit the face of the earth? Evidently they think that they are!

As long as any sport has people crying that they are not making enough money when they are taking home a couple million dollars a year, there is going to be some cynicism on the part of spectators and fans. When you add on the fact that they cannot even act their own ages, then even less credibility is left.

When I was seven or eight, I knew better than to spit on someone. My mom would have smacked the fire out of me (and I would have deserved it).

So exactly why is Alomar getting away with this so easy? One answer is the lack of the stable leadership of a commissioner like the rest of the professional sports have. Baseball is not doing anything about the situation because they have no authority over each other.

Bud Selig, the active commissioner and also owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, is in a very touchy spot. If Selig does anything drastic with baseball, then he is going to be criticized for trying to help his team out in some way. If, on the other hand, he sits there like a knot on a log then he is criticized for not taking the proper action.

It all comes down to the point that for baseball to be effective in backing up their officials and going forward, then they must first put a non-biased commissioner into power who is not afraid to put his foot down once in a while.

As it stands right now, the individual owners have all the power. So tell me, if you are the Baltimore Orioles owner, are you going to suspend one of your star players going into the American League Championship race? NO!

It comes down to that almighty dollar sign again. The players and owners want the extra money that comes with more games, not to mention the prestige that comes with playing for a championship. So they no longer care what is right and what is wrong, as long as they give themselves a better chance to advance.

Sunday night it seems as though poetic justice caught up with the Baltimore Orioles in the form of the New York Yankees. Down 6-4 in the ninth, Cal Ripken stepped up to the plate in an attempt to play hero one last time. With a shot down the left line Ripken took off toward first base, only to be beaten to the bag a fraction of a second by the ball.

So the Orioles will stay home as the Yankees head to battle it out against the NL champ. But there is always next year. Until then, Alomar will have to sit at home and listen to the sneers of the crowds in his dreams and wait for his late season to begin.

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Men's Soccer collapses in second half, lose to UNC-Asheville 3-1
David Jackson
Staff Writer

Scoreless first halves are something that the Appalachian State Men’s Soccer team have become used to, and may have looked forward to.

Coming into Wednesday’s game with the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs, the Apps’ held a 3-1 record in games in which neither team found the net in the first half. Unfortunately, that victorious scenario didn’t continue for the Mountaineers, as they were downed 3-1 by the Bulldogs.

After a scoreless first half, both teams came out of the locker room with tremendous defensive intensity. That pattern lasted until the 62:10 mark as UNC-Asheville senior midfielder Chris Lawrence broke the deadlock, off a direct kick, putting the Bulldogs up 1-0. UNC-Asheville was not finished. Senior midfielder Tracy Tymko pounded his first career goal at the 67:26 mark, past a diving Brandon James, to extend the Bulldog lead to 2-0.

UNC-Asheville tacked on one more goal to make the score 3-0 before Appalachian managed to get on the board. Sophomore midfielder Jeremy Marsh netted the Mountaineers lone goal at the 80:27 mark as too little proved to come too late for the Apps’ in the 3-1 Bulldog victory.

Despite the loss, the play of Marsh has been a bright spot for the Appalachian offense. By netting four goals in the last two contests for the Mountaineers, he provides an added weapon in the Apps’ scoring attack as the team heads into the stretch of the ’96 campaign.

Strength of schedule will not get any easier for Appalachian the rest of the way. The Mountaineers take to the road for the next three games, two of which will come against ACC opponents.

It all gets started tomorrow night as the Apps’ journey to Winston-Salem to face the nationally ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons, at 7:00 p.m. During fall break, Appalachian heads to Huntington, West Virginia to battle Marshall in a key Southern Conference match-up.

The next Mountaineer home game will come on Friday night, Oct. 25, as VMI travels to Boone to kickoff Homecoming Weekend.

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Apps split weekend series
Eric Ehlers
Staff Writer

An App player goes up for a spike in Sunday's game against UTC (photo by Richard Thomas)

Coming off a conference win against Davidson, the Appalachian State Women’s Volleyball team looked for another conference win against Western Carolina. The Catamounts came into the game with a lowly 4-14 record.

ASU dominated the first game. The Apps had 14 kills to Western Carolina’s six in a 15-8 win. The rest of the games would also be easy wins for the ladies. The Apps won game two 15-7 and game three 15-6. Paula Levay of Mt. Pleasant, S.C. led the team with 10 kills in the 3-0 victory.

The Apps next opponent was a strong UT-Chattanooga team. UTC came into this game with a 14-7 record, and an undefeated conference record. ASU would bring a two game win streak into this match.

The Mountaineers played tough in the first game but were eventually wore down by UTC and lost 15-9. The Moccasins had 14 kills in this match, while ASU had 10. The second match was owned by the Mountaineers who pounded their opponent 15-2. The ladies hoped to carry the momentum of the second game into the third game, but were unable to do so, losing 15-9. In the fourth, and final game, Appalachian lost 15-8, dropping the match three games to one. The team was led by Miriam Sealy with 14 kills.

ASU goes into fall break with a 8-12 record, 2-3 in the conference. On Oct. 18, they will travel to Furman for another conference match followed by a trip to Statesboro, Ga. to take on Georgia Southern.

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Mountaineers subdued
Chris Kinner
Assistant Sports Editor

Georgia is definitely not on the mind of the Appalachian State University women’s soccer team, as the squad dropped its second straight contest to an opponent from that state, losing to Georgia State University 3-1. This loss followed a 5-0 shutout at the hands of Georgia Southern University Oct. 6.

The Panthers opened up quickly on the Mountaineers, as freshman midfielder Christine Wolff scored 2:54 into the match. The crowd of 102 saw ASU fight back to knot the score at one apiece when freshman Ashton Robinson scored at the 13:36 mark. Forward Renee Biggers assisted Robinson on the play.

The game remained tied until Wolff netted her second goal just before halftime. She converted on a corner kick that found its way past Appalachian goalie Kelley Guinn at the 42:40 mark.

Georgia State struck once more three minutes into the second half. GSU freshman forward Jill Mayotte booted the final goal of the game to put the Mountaineers out of reach.

Mountaineer Head Coach Tracy Davis said, "I thought we played fairly good soccer. We had several chances toward the end of the game, but we just didn’t seem to get the lucky breaks."

Appalachian had many chances, outshooting the Panthers 18-16, but could not find the back of the net. Davis added, "Georgia State played a good game. I just wish the breaks would have come our way."

The loss marked junior forward Farrell O’Quinn’s 50th career start. She is in second place on the team in goals and assists with two each.

Appalachian will look to rebound from the loss when the team returns from fall break. The Mountaineers will complete a four-game homestand when they face rival Furman Oct. 19 at 12:00 p.m.

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