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Appalachian State competes with Spartans in semi-finals |
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Thursday, 02 November 2006 |
by MATT SCHNEIDER
Sports Reporter
A trip to the Southern Conference Championship game is on the line Friday, as the Appalachian State University men’s soccer team takes on top-seeded University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Greenville, S.C.
The Mountaineers earned the right to play the Spartans after defeating the College of Charleston 4-1 in the first round.
ASU is the only team in the SoCon to defeat Greensboro this season, as they beat the Spartans 3-2 Oct. 7 in Greensboro.
ASU Head coach Paul Stahlschmidt is pleased with the way his team has
performed recently and thinks they are a better team than when they
played the Spartans last time.
“We’re sharper offensively and we don’t lose the ball nearly as much as
we have in that game [against Greensboro],” he said. “Early in the
season, our team was basically giving up and conceding goals on our
turnovers rather than the other team’s good play.”
The team has won three of its last four games, with the only loss to
nationally ranked No. 25 Virginia Tech University 0-1 in the season
finale.
Against UNCG, Stahlschmidt wants to continue Appalachian’s aggressive style of play and not put more players on defense.
“[We are] a top ten ranked team in the country offensively,” he said. “We don’t believe in packing it in this year.”
The Spartans are led by two-time All-American forward Randi Patterson
who has tallied 10 goals on the season, including both goals in the
team’s quarterfinal win over Wofford College.
“He’s not the craftiest player in the world, but he’s got a lot of
speed,” sophomore defenseman Paul Pessina said. “We’re going to treat
him just like any other forward.”
The team has a lot of confidence against the Spartans, even though
Greensboro is the top seed and won the SoCon tournament last season.
“We’re overall just sharper in every sense of our game,” Stahlschmidt said. “We’ve got a lot more games under out belt.”
Pessina added that the Mountaineers are peaking at the right time.
“We’re actually finishing and scoring goals,” he said. “If we do that against UNCG, we’ll win.”
In the quarterfinals, Appalachian dominated offensively, out-shooting Charleston 24-9.
“Last game was the best game of the year,” Stahlschmidt said.
Freshman forward Arie Muniz led the Mountaineer offense, scoring two goals in the game.
Also, the win over Charleston was the largest goal differential in any quarterfinal match in the SoCon tournament this year.
The tournament is still wide open, with ASU, UNCG, Furman University
and Georgia Southern University all vying for the conference title.
“It’s a real competitive league. It’s real open this year, so I think
the [UNCG] game is anyone’s,” assistant coach Robert Andrews said.
The winner advances to take on the Furman-Georgia Southern winner Nov. 5.
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