2011-12 Peach Belt Conference Yearbook

Armstrong AtlAntic stAte University • AUgUstA stAte University • Clayton State UniverSity

ColUmbUS State UniverSity • Flagler College • FranCiS marion UniverSity • georgia College

georgia SoUthweStern State UniverSity • lander UniverSity • UniverSity oF montevallo

north georgia College & State UniverSity • UnC Pembroke • USC aiken

2011-2012 yearbook

Peach Belt conference

https://twitter.com/#!/PeachBelt

https://www.facebook.com/peachbelt

Greetings from Augusta!

We have just finished up another amazing year in the Peach Belt Conference and I am proud to present to you the second annual Peach Belt Yearbook.

In the following pages you’ll find recaps and highlights from the year, news from around the league and much more. We hope you enjoy!

David R. Brunk PBC Commissioner

189

Contents[sChool ReCaPs]

2 Armstrong Atlantic State University4 Augusta State University6 Clayton State University8 Columbus State University10 Flagler College12 Francis Marion University14 Georgia College16 Georgia Southwestern State University18 Lander University20 University of Montevallo22 North Georgia College & State University24 University of North Carolina Pembroke26 University of South Carolina Aiken

[sPoRt ReCaPs] 31 Men’s Cross Country36 Women’s Cross Country42 Men’s Soccer52 Women’s Soccer66 Volleyball78 Men’s Basketball96 Women’s Basketball112 Men’s Golf119 Women’s Golf123 Men’s Tennis131 Women’s Tennis140 Softball159 Baseball

186 [In the news]

201 [ChamPIonshIPs CalenDaR]

203 [yeaR In PICtuRes]

[featuRes]

“Make These Days the Best You Can”

192

187Young Harris to Join the PBC

PBC Banquet Recap

197Tripp Warrick: Living a Life in Balance

ReCaPThe Armstrong Atlantic State University athletic department enjoyed an unprece-dented 2011-12 campaign, collecting a league-record seven Peach Belt Conference Championships, earning the school’s ninth and 10th NCAA Division II National Championships with crowns in men’s and women’s tennis while also capturing its first Peach Belt Confer-ence Commissioner’s Cup.

A glimpse into how special of a year it would be for the Pirates came in the fall when the Armstrong vol-leyball team won a school- and PBC-record 31 straight games to begin the year, finishing the season with a PBC regular season title and an NCAA Championships berth. The Armstrong women’s soccer team would not only earn the PBC regular season and tournament titles but also advance to the NCAA DII Final Four.

Success in the spring continued with the Armstrong baseball and softball teams both captur-ing Peach Belt regular season titles with the baseball team also winning the PBC Tournament crown. Arm-strong women’s golf notched its first league crown with an 11-stroke victory in the 2012 PBC Champi-onships and sent Jenna Birch to the NCAA National Championships as an individual. Armstrong men’s golf also advanced to the NCAA Regionals.

The Armstrong tennis teams then put an exclamation point on the outstanding season by completing unde-feated seasons en route to the men’s third NCAA DII National Championship and the women’s seventh, both won at the DII Spring Sports Festival in Louis-ville. The women upset No. 1-ranked BYU-Hawaii, 5-2, for the title while the top-ranked men blanked No. 2 West Florida, 5-0, in the championship match.

aRmstRong atlantIC state unIveRsIty

QuICk faCtsfounded: 1935enrollment: 7,650Colors: maroon & goldnickname: Piratesweb site: www.aasupirates.com

2

PresidentLinda Bleicken

Athletics DirectorLisa Sweany

hIghlIghts* A school-record 18 student-athletes earned All-America honors for the Pirates in 2011-12, led by PBC Players of the Year Kristina Pascutti (women's soccer), Brittany Wolf (volleyball), Georgi Rumenov (men's ten-nis), April Jowers (softball) and Zach Taylor (baseball).* Armstrong celebrated the 35th Anniversary of Wom-en's Athletics in a February celebration on campus and all former female student-athletes for the Pirates were awarded with an Armstrong "A" letter.* The Pirates featured four Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in 2011-12 with Kelli Bahr and Kristina Pascutti (women's soccer), Shelby Duff (softball) and Clayton Miller (baseball).* Armstrong collected its most points in the Learfield Sports Director's Cup standings and finished 24th in the national all-sports competition sponsored by NACDA.

Women’s Soccer [Regular Season Champions][tournament Champions][national semifinalists]

[Regular Season Champions]

Volleyball

Women’s Golf

[tournament Champions]

www.aasupirates.com

School Recaps

BASEBALLFinal Record: 41-16, 20-10 PBC

MEN’S BASKETBALLFinal Record: 10-16, 6-12 PBC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Final Record: 13-13, 7-11 PBC

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY9th at PBC Championship

MEN’S GOLF5th at PBC Championship

WOMEN’S GOLF1st at PBC Championship

WOMEN’S SOCCERFinal Record: 18-3-3, 9-0-1 PBC

SOFTBALLFinal Record: 45-11, 19-1 PBC MEN’S TENNiS


3

WOMEN’S TENNiSFinal Record: 29-0, 12-0 PBC

VOLLEYBALLFinal Record: 36-3, 13-1 PBC


Men’s Tennis

[tournament Champions][national Champions]

Women’s Tennis

[Regular Season Champions][tournament Champions][national Champions]

Softball


Baseball

[Regular Season Champions][tournament Champions]

4

QuICk faCtsfounded: 1925enrollment: 7,071Colors: Blue and whitenickname: Jaguarsweb site: www.jaguarsroar.com

augusta state unIveRsIty

ReCaPAugusta State athletics enjoyed another great year in 2011-2012, including a number of teams that achieved success in the Peach Belt Conference and regionally in Division II.

The men’s cross country team took home their first ever Peach Belt Conference championship with four runners (Dustin Ross, Jaiden Brandt, Robert Black-welder and Matt Johnson) finishing in the top-12, and finished seventh at the NCAA Southeast Regional.The women’s cross country team finished in third at the PBC Championship and in sixth place at the NCAA Southeast Regional.

The volleyball team continued to build and finished the regular season in a tie for third in the conference. The team hosted to conference championship tourna-ment at Christenberry Fieldhouse and made it to the semifinal round before succumbing to the regular sea-son champion Armstrong Pirates. Alex Rohfling was named to the All-Tournament squad and also earned Freshman of the Year honors.

The Jaguar men’s basketball team could not replicate the success of recent years but still managed a solid year in spite of many new faces. Led by Freshman of the Year Devon Wright-Nelson the Jags went 17-11 this season, but improved throughout the year, going 12-6 in the always competitive Peach Belt Confer-ence.

The Jaguar women’s basketball team continued it’s upward trend in year two of head coach Nate Teymer’s tenure, earning a berth in the PBC tourna-ment and hanging tough with the defending National Champions from Clayton State before falling in the

first round.

In the Spring semester Jags’ sports teams continued achieving at a high level, with almost every team mak-ing an NCAA tournament appearance.

The men’s tennis team made a brilliant run through the NCAA Southeast Regional to make it to the NCAA Championships Festival in Louisville, Kentucky. Their

PresidentWilliam Bloodworth

Athletics DirectorClint Bryant

[Conference Champions]

Men’s Cross Country

[Southeast Regional champs]

Men’s Tennis

[national Semifinalists]

www.jaguarsroar.com

School Recaps

5

outstanding form carried them to the National Semifinals where they lost to national runner-up West Florida.

The women’s tennis squad also made the NCAA Southeast Regional but lost in the first round to the eventual national champions from Armstrong.

The softball team continued their quality play in the super-competitive PBC, finishing third behind peren-nial powers North Georgia and Armstrong. The Jaguars made it all the way to the championship game of the Dahlonega Regional of the NCAA tournament before falling to North Georgia.

In addition to all of the news made on the field by ASU, there was a lot of news made off the field as well, high-lighted by the Jaguars receiving the prestigious PBC Presidents’ Academic Award at the PBC Banquet in May. The award goes to the PBC institution whose student-athletes are performing the best relative the rest of their school’s student body.

Augusta State also announced it will be starting men’s and women’s track and field this coming Fall of 2012 under the stewardship of coach Adam Ward. The PBC hopes to sponsor these sports as official conference sports in the near future. Current schools competing are Clayton State, Columbus State and UNC Pembroke, with Montevallo also starting women’s track and field soon.


MEN’S BASKETBALLFinal Record: 17-11, 12-6 PBC

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLFinal Record: 12-15, 7-11 PBC

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY1st at PBC Championship

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY3rd at PBC Championship

SOFTBALLFinal Record: 33-18, 12-8 PBC

MEN’S TENNiSFinal Record:19-10, 4-5 PBC



QuICk faCtsfounded: 1969enrollment: 6,600Colors: Blue and orangenickname: lakersweb site: www.claytonstatesports.com

Clayton state unIveRsIty

ReCaPAfter an historic year in 2010-2011 Clayton State Laker athletics put together another impressive campaign in 2011-12. The Lakers made known they were once again a program that will continue to be atop the Peach Belt Conference.

The continued success was marked by a top 3 finish in the Commissioners Cup, second and third place fin-ishes by the women and men’s cross country teams (respectively) at the PBC Championships, three teams making NCAA tournament appearances, sixteen All- Conference selections and nine individuals earning conference all-Academic honors.

Following up their National Championship title from last year the women’s basketball program turned in a successful 29-4 season, led by senior standout Tanisha Woodard. Woodard was a first team All-Con-ference honoree, the PBC Defensive Player of the Year and a WBCA All-American. In her final campaign she passed the 1,000 point threshold and also recorded only the third triple-double in PBC history.

Lakers head coach Dennis Cox was also honored this year as the WBCA Southeast region coach of the year. Before falling just short of another Sweet Sixteen ap-pearance they were able to snag a runner up finish in the PBC tournament behind the Pacers of USCA.

As for men’s and women’s cross country, both teams excelled at both the conference and regional levels. Each of the teams had a strong showing at the NCAA Southeast Regional race, where the men improved from the previous year with a 9th place finish and the women held steady with another 7th place finish. Albert Mong’ony, a first team All-Conference and All-

Southeast region honoree paced the men through out the year and led at regionals

with a team best 21st place overall finish.

After getting off to a slow start the women’s soccer team went a remarkable 9-6-2 for the year marking their first winning season since 2007.

The men’s soccer team was able to boast two Dak-tronics all southeast region selections in Chris Klute and Janny Rivera.

Men’s basketball also made noise throughout the conference and improved to 16-11 from a prior 10 win season, while placing two players on the PBC All-Conference team in Anthony Salter and Teondre Williams.

Finally, the women’s tennis team had an up and down year as they battled injuries but still pieced together a solid, ranking as high as 7th nationally during the year.

In addition, Albert Mong’ony was honored as the Laker Award winner, while Tanisha Woodard was selected as the Lady Laker award winner. Winning the H. Mason Barfield Award as the top male academic student-athlete for a second straight year was track and field athlete Robert Spezzacatena, while cross country/track and field athlete Paige Galvin won the Dotty H. Bumbalough Award for being the top female academic student-athlete.

PresidentThomas Hynes

interim ADMike Mead

6

www.claytonstatesports.com

School Recaps

MEN’S BASKETBALLFinal Record: 16-11, 8-9 PBC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Final Record: 29-4, 16-1 PBCMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

3rd at PBC Championship

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY2nd at PBC Championship


MEN’S SOCCERFinal Record: 10-8, 4-4 PBC

mCaloose nameD athletIC DIReCtoR

For only the second time in school history, Clayton State University has a new athletic director. Carl McAloose will be the Lakers new athletic di-rector, overseeing the institution’s 12-sport NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics program that competes in the Peach Belt Conference. McAloose officially begins his new position at Clayton State on June 4.

"I would like to thank Dr. (Tim) Hynes for the great opportunity he has given me because I think Clayton State has the potential to be one of the top NCAA II athletic programs in the country,” said McAloose. “Mason Barfield has done a great job assembling a fantastic group of coaches, and I hope to continue to build upon his dream.”

He added, “I believe with the university leadership and the location of the University, we can do something extremely special. My goal will be to create an outstanding environment for our student-athletes that enable them to be successful in the classroom and in the playing arena."

McAloose most recently served as president and CEO of Athletics Staffing & Consulting, a consulting company that supports college and university athletic programs with feasibility studies, strategic planning, compliance reviews, NCAA membership initiatives and conference realignment proposals.

Prior to his role with Athletics Staffing & Consulting, he served as the director of athletics at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, FL from 2000 to 2008. Like Barfield at Clayton State, McAloose built the FGCU program from scratch in 2000, overseeing a program with 14 sports and an annual operating budget of $8 million.

Along with his experience as an athletic director, McAloose also brings a wealth of experience in athletic conference administration. He served as the commissioner of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference from 1996 to 2000 after serving as the associate commissioner in the Big South Conference from 1992 to 1996. He also served in associate athletic director roles at both Coastal Carolina University and at West Chester University.

WOMEN’S SOCCERFinal Record: 9-7-2, 4-4-2 PBC WOMEN’S TENNiS


7

ReCaPColumbus State University once again excelled in athletics in the 2011-2012 season. After winning its fourth Peach Belt Conference Com-missioner’s Cup last season, the Cougars finished in second place in this year’s standings marking the seventh straight season that CSU has finished first or second in the final Commissioner’s Cup standings.

The Cougars placed seven teams in the top-four of their respectively league standings including both the men’s and women’s tennis teams who finished the year as runners-up.

Columbus State hosted an unprecedented six PBC Championships this past year and captured its lone title on the softball diamond. The Lady Cougars cap-tured its first conference tournament title since 2007 and became the first PBC team to win every contest in the tournament despite being the lower seed in all of their games.

The men’s basketball team had a resurgent run in the 2012 PBC Tournament winning two overtime thrill-ers to reach the championship game for the first time since 2005.

On the national level, Columbus State sent five teams to the NCAA Tournament as well as a couple of female track runners to the national meet. The women’s tennis team reached the national quar-terfinals for just the second time in school history led by PBC player of the Year, Paola Cigui.

QuICk faCtsfounded: 1958enrollment: 8,200Colors: Red, white and Bluenickname: Cougarsweb site: www.csucougars.com

ColumBus state unIveRsIty

PresidentTimothy Mescon

Athletics DirectorJay Sparks

8

hIghlIghts* 12 All-American student-athletes * 21 All-Conference student-athletes* Two Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year award winners* Paola Cigui finished the season with a perfect 23-0 record and was the first CSU female to win PBC Tennis Player of the Year* Assistant tennis coach Eva Huning named National Assistant Coach of the Year for men’s tennis, the first female to re-ceive this honor for a men’s team* Three Academic All-Americans* 23 All-Southeast Region student-athletes

[Player of the year]

[Paola Cigui]

www.csucougars.com

School Recaps





WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY6th at PBC Championship


WOMEN’S GOLF6th at PBC Championship



MEN’S TENNiSFinal Record: 23-4, 8-1 PBC


9

[national quarterfinalists]

Women’s Tennis

QuICk faCtsfounded: 1968enrollment: 2,537Colors: Crimson and goldnickname: saintsweb site: www.flaglerathletics.com

flagleR College

PresidentCharles Abare

Athletics DirectorJud DamonReCaP

The Flagler College Saints had another excellent season with three teams advancing all the way to the elite eight (men’s soccer, volleyball and softball) and the women’s tennis and men’s and women’s cross country teams advancing to regional play.

Flagler was awarded the Peach Belt Conference’s “Institution of the Year Award” for the second consecutive season. Four teams earned team sportsmanship awards: men’s cross country, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and softball.

The men’s soccer team had a banner year as they won the Peach Belt Conference regular and post-season titles and finished with a 17-3-3 overall record. The Saints advanced to the NCAA Division II quarterfinal, a match Flagler hosted. Johan Bergfeld was named the Peach Belt’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was a first-team Capital One Academ-ic All-America® and a second-team NSCAA Scholar All-Amer-ican. He was the PBC’s Men’s Soccer Player of the Year. John Lynch was tabbed as the conference’s Coach of the Year and was named the NSCAA/Mondo Southeast Region Coach of the Year.

The volleyball team continued to dominate the Peach Belt as they shared the regular season title, but won the tournament crown for the third consecutive season. The Saints marched through the Southeast Region Tournament before falling in the quarterfinals of the national championships in California. Taylor Mott shared PBC Coach of the Year honors, the third year in a row she has received the award. Olivia Snipes took home Setter of the Year honors while Casey Gnann was named the Libero/Defensive Specialist of the Year. Flagler finished the season 31-7, its 11th consecutive season with 20 or more victories.

The softball team advanced to their first-ever national

10


[National quarterfinalists]

Men’s Soccer

Volleyball

Softball

[tournament Champions][national quarterfinalists]

[Regular Season co-Champions][tournament Champions][national quarterfinalists]

www.flaglerathletics.com

School Recaps

BASEBALLFinal Record: 27-22, 13-17 PBC MEN’S BASKETBALL






WOMEN’S GOLFt-2nd at PBC Championship

MEN’S SOCCERFinal Record: 17-3-3, 6-1-1 PBC






championships after winning the Savannah Regional and Dahlonega Super Regional. The Saints finished 39-20 and were led by first-team all-conference pitcher Donna Munafo. Joining Munafo on the NFCA All-Southeast Region first-team was Breezy Collings. Alona Personius and Lauren Bessent were selected to the second-team. Earning the NFCA Southeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year were head coach Kristen Overton and assistant coach Sam Boatner.

11

hIghlIghts* Flagler had a record 112 student-athletes on the PBC Presidential Honor Roll* Alex Bonus (cross country) was selected Capital One Academic All-American* Kristen Overton won her 100th game on Feb. 25, 2012 vs. Saint Leo* Joel Dahlenburg (men’s golf) won PBC Tournament medalist honors for the second consecutive season

ReCaPFive Francis Marion University athletic teams participated in NCAA post-season competition: baseball, men’s and women’s cross country, and men’s and women’s tennis. Of the 10 teams that keep win-loss records, six registered winning records this past year, and three ap-peared in national poll rankings. Nineteen FMU student-ath-letes earned PBC All-Academic honors, while twelve received All-Conference honors for the efforts on the playing field. Six Patriot student-athletes, representing five sports, were named to their respective Capital One Academic All-District III Teams.

Francis Marion’s baseball team ended the 2012 campaign with a 40-18 record, a national Top-10 ranking, and a fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament – where the Patriots reached the regional title game for the third consecutive season. The squad received the PBC Team Sportsmanship Award for 2012. Senior OF Buddy Sosnoskie picked up All-Region accolades and was named a Capital One Academic All-American. The baseball program entered the 2012 season ranked first in two NCAA Division II pre-season national polls and second in another.

The women’s tennis squad finished with an 18-4 record, a Top 10 national ranking, and the program’s sixth NCAA na-tional tournament bid in the past seven seasons. Senior Jitka Gavdunova (71-8 career singles record) and junior Mona Blauen both garnered ITA All-American honors. The men’s tennis team ended with a 10-7 record, a Top 25 ranking, and the program’s 16th appearance in the NCAA tournament over the past 18 years. Junior Alex Caspari and freshman Gavin Davison both picked up ITA All-America recognition.

The Patriot softball squad finished 2012 with a 31-20 mark, the program’s twelfth 30-win campaign in the past 15 sea-sons, while also opening up the new FMU Softball Stadium in April.

The men’s basketball team posted a 16-12 mark, the pro-gram’s fourth straight winning season – a first since 1989-1993. Twelve of its 18 PBC games were decided by a com-bined total of 47 points, with four going to overtime. Fourteen student-athletes were inducted into the university’s

chapter of Chi Alpha Sigma, the National Col-lege Athlete Honor Society: baseball players

Addison Dunn and Dalton Gress, golfers Sebastian Backlund and Travis Gantt, volleyball players Liz Drewry and Hallie Legg, women’s tennis players Mona Blauen and Kerry Hall, women’s soccer players Megan Ogiltree and Lauren Vetock, softball players Tristan Faile and Olivia Ferguson, women’s cross country runner Samantha Smith and men’s cross country runner Ryan Woloszyn.

The Patriot men’s soccer program has a new head coach, John Campbell. He comes to FMU from Dominican College (NY), where he posted an 86-27-20 record in seven seasons and earned four invitations to the Division II Tournament.

Six members of the 2011 softball team received NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete recognition: Tristan Faile, Carson Summersett, Chelle Phillips, Olivia Zielinski, Olivia Ferguson, and Cea Knox........Senior middle blocker Danielle Parker, a member of the Patriot volleyball team and owner of a perfect 4.00 grade point average, was awarded the 2012 Debra Lee Orander Swamp Fox Academic Award.......The volleyball team earned an AVCA Team Academic Award for 2010-11......Long-time athletic trainer (and Francis Marion graduate) Spyder Webb retired.......Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame members Pearl Moore and Sylvia Hatchell both spoke to FMU student-athletes as part of the Champs Life Skills program.......Faculty Athletic Representative Dr. D. Allen Clabo attended the inaugural Division II FAR Advanced Leadership Institute, Oct. 14-16, in Indianapolis, Ind.

QuICk faCtsfounded: 1970enrollment: 4,019Colors: Red, white and Bluenickname: Patriotsweb site: www.fmupatriots.com

fRanCIs maRIon unIveRsIty

PresidentFred Carter

Athletics DirectorMurray Hartzler

12

FRANCiS MARiON OPENED UP CORMELL FiELD AT SPARROW STADiUM WiTH A BANG (SEE STORY ON NExT PAGE)

www.fmupatriots.com

School Recaps






fRanCIs maRIon stuns gameCoCks 5-4 In staDIum oPeneR

Twentieth-ranked Francis Marion plated all its runs with two outs and the Patriots held on for a 5-4 win over ninth-ranked and two-time defending NCAA Division I champion South Carolina, Wednesday evening (April 11) at the opening of the new Cormell Field at Sparrow Stadium.

Francis Marion improves to 27-13, while USC drops to 24-10. FMU sophomore right-hander Jeffrey Stoner induced a sharp line-out to right field by USC pinch-hitter Sean Sullivan for the final out with the tying run on second base to send the capacity crowd of 1,755 into a frenzy.

FMU junior first baseman Stephen Tarkenton was 2-for-3 with a pair of runs batted in, while sophomore third baseman Michael Wilson and junior right fielder Jarrod Reed both collected a pair of hits. FMU senior southpaw Matt Broderick (6-1) limited the Gamecocks to two runs on four hits in five frames, while striking out three and walking one.

Junior first baseman Christian Walker led South Carolina with a 3-for-4 night that included an RBI single and a mammoth 392-foot solo homer to left field.

Francis Marion broke up the scoreless contest with three runs in the bottom of the third. Walker got one run back with his solo shot in the top of the fourth. An RBI single drew South Carolina to within 3-2 in the fifth. FMU added a pair of two-out runs in the seventh to go up 5-2, both coming home on Tarkenton’s single up the middle. Single tallies in the eighth and ninth got the Gamecocks to within 5-4, but Stoner got the final out to earn the save.






13

ReCaPThe Georgia College athletic department finished up another outstanding season in 2011-12. The Bobcats had 19 student-athletes select-ed All-Peach Belt Conference this season, and added a pair of PBC Freshmen of the Year in Shanteona Keys from women’s basketball and golf’s Ryan Trocchio. GC had nine All-Region performers as well.

Softball centerfielder Whitney Okvist stole a school-record 52 bases in as many tries en route to National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) First Team All-America honors. GC has just two First Team All-Amer-icans in school history, the other coming for pitcher Mandy Chandler in 2009.

Senior Jerome Leborgne and junior Johan Wadstein teamed for All-American honors in doubles through the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). The Bobcat duo finished No. 7 in the nation thanks to their 13-8 overall mark, adding a 6-3 record in conference play. Leborgne and Wadstein are also just the second pair-ing to win All-America in doubles, with Erick Siqueira and Justin Pickham earning the spot in 2009.

Bobcat golf capped an amazing season with three golf-ers taking Ping Division II All-America Honors. Junior Patrick Garrett rode his 72.6 stroke average to a third-team selection, adding honorable mention positions for junior Taylor Smith and Trocchio. All-time, Bobcat golf has earned 24 All-America honors, all coming under head coach Jimmy Wilson.

More special honors came for basketball’s Ryan Aquino, as he was chosen to the Reese’s Division II All-Star Game, played at the NCAA Finals site in Highland Heights, Ky. He was just the third Bobcat all-time to be

chosen for that national all-star game.

GC cross country had its first All-Region selections on both the men’s and women’s side this year. Sopho-more Allison Lones took 19th at the NCAA Southeast Region Championship. Senior Tyler Mattix was the first all-region runner in men’s history, blistering the course for a 17th place finish.

Bobcat cheerleading also won the 2012 PBC Champi-onship, unseating perennial champion Columbus State University.

QuICk faCtsfounded: 1889enrollment: 5,500Colors: hunter green and Bluenickname: Bobcatsweb site: www.gcsubobcats.com

geoRgIa College

interim PresidentStas Preczewski

Athletics DirectorWendell Staton

14


Men’s Golf

[South/Southeast Region Champs]

Cheerleading


www.gcsubobcats.com

School Recaps



RegIon ChamPs! #21 gC golf takes south/southeast RegIon tItle

CONOVER, N.C. – The No. 21 Georgia College golf team punched their tick-et to the NCAA Finals May 9, winning the NCAA South/Southeast Region Championship by a single stroke. GC put up a 289 on the final day, added to rounds of 291 and 289 for five-over par on the par-72, 7,064-yard Rock Barn Golf & Spa Jones Course. No. 2 Barry University was just one stroke behind in second.

Junior Taylor Smith shot a team-best 70 today, and finished a team-best second at five-under par after previous rounds of 69 and 72. Smith missed a playoff for individual medalist honors by one stroke, carding five birdies in final round action. Classmate Patrick Garrett was one stroke later in seventh place at three-under par. Garrett shot 71-70-72, birdying four straight from the seventh to the 10th hole. Freshman Ryan Trocchio saved his best round for last, firing par after a 74 and 75 for plus-five in 28th place. Trocchio birdied the 13th and 15th, both were holes he bogeyed yesterday. Classmate David Sullivan came next at plus-10 on rounds of 77, 74 and 75. Sullivan finally figured out the 18th, as after a triple and double-bogey the first two days, he recorded a birdie, one of his two on the final round. Sophomore Victor Monte was 12-over par with rounds of 80-73-75. He was one-over on the back nine in the final round.

The Bobcats had won the Regional title just once before, in 2008. GC Golf finished fifth during stroke play at the NCAA Finals in Simpsonville, Ky., advancing to medal-match play, where they would fall in the NCAA Quarterfinal round.



WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY7th at PBC Championship MEN’S GOLF

3rd at PBC Championship

WOMEN’S SOCCERFinal Record: 5-14, 4-6 PBC




15

ReCaPA pair of upward-trending Hurri-cane teams experienced breakthrough years in 2011-12. The spring sports season in Americus belonged to the GSW men’s golf team as the program saw an-other year of success culminate in representation at the NCAA Championships and a pair of All-American selections.

Coming off a 2010-11 season where they received votes in the national coaches’ poll, the Hurricane golf team kept that momentum rolling right into the 2011 fall season. Coach Danna & Co. recorded team victo-ries at the season-opening Kiawah Island Invitational, the RTJ Grand National Challenge and the AFLAC / Cougar Invitational. Craig Gibson won the individual title at the AFLAC / Cougar Invitational for the second time in three seasons.

The Blue & Gold was also represented at the NCAA Championships for the first time in school history thanks to a second-place finish from J.P. Griffin at the South/Southeast Super Regional. Post-season awards were bountiful for the Hurricanes as Craig Gibson (First Team All-PBC), J.P. Griffin (Second Team All-PBC) and Head Coach Andrew Danna (PBC Coach of the Year) were all honored at the conference level. Gibson and Griffin earned All-Southeast honors and were named to the PING All-America Third Team.

Perhaps no turnaround has been more prevalent and methodical over the past five years in GSW athlet-ics than the accomplishments of the Southwestern women’s basketball program. The Lady Hurricanes, 1-26 overall in 2007-08, went from 12-14 in 2010-

11 to 18-9 this past season en route to capturing the program’s second Peach

Belt Tournament appearance. Junior forward Adrian Randall became the first Lady ‘Cane to receive Peach Belt Player of the Week honors in program history. She and Terra Branch would also receive the pro-gram’s first PBC All-Conference accolades. Branch, a senior guard, would also join the exclusive 1,000 career-point club. The Lady Hurricanes tennis team had their best spring season in the PBC and set the program record with the most conference wins in a season.

QuICk faCtsfounded: 1906enrollment: 3,037Colors: navy Blue and old goldnickname: hurricanesweb site: www.gswcanes.com

geoRgIa southwesteRn state unIveRsIty

PresidentKendall Blanchard

Athletics DirectorJaclyn Donovan

16

[t-9th at National Championship]

[J.p. Griffin]

www.gswcanes.com

School Recaps



A pair of GSW teams cracked the national polls during the year, as the men’s golf team was recognized throughout most of the academic year and topped at No. 5, while the men’s basketball team appeared for the second-consecutive season and earned a No. 12 ranking during a three-week stay to open the 2011-12 campaign. All-in-all, the Hurricane athletic program captured four Peach Belt weekly honors, seven All-Conference selections and 20 All-Academic awards.





WOMEN’S SOCCERFinal Record: 3-15, 0-10 PBC SOFTBALL

Final Record: 22-30, 4-16 PBCMEN’S TENNiS



17

hIghlIghts* Men’s golf climbed to as high as No. 5 in the Golf World/Nike Golf Coaches’ Poll for its highest ranking in school history* J.P. Griffin and Craig Gibson named to the PING All-America Third Team* Men’s basketball reached No. 12 in the NABC Coaches’ Poll for its highest ranking in school history* Phillip Brown named to the 2011-12 Division II Bulletin Super 16 All-American Preseason Men’s Basketball Team* Phillip Brown signed a professional contract in June to play for Pays des Olonnes Basket of the French National 2 League* Mollie McGowan named CoSIDA Academic All-District in women’s tennis* Ethan Vick named CoSIDA Academic All-District in men’s soccer

ReCaPThe Lander women’s basketball and baseball teams reached their highest heights during 2011-12, while two Bearcats earned first-team All-American honors. The Lady Bearcat women’s basketball team, which has reached the NCAA Sweet Sixteen the previous two seasons, finally made it to the Elite Eight in 2012 when they downed Wingate University, 72-67, in double overtime in the NCAA Southeast Regional and advanced to San Antonio, Texas. Lander, which was led by All-PBC seniors Ciara Lyons, Brittni Johnson, Jasmine Judge, posted a 24-8 season and capped their careers by winning 100 games. The Bearcats finished No. 8 in the final national rankings after falling to Rollins in the first round of the Elite Eight. The Lander baseball team, under the direction of third-year coach Kermit Smith, qualified for its second straight Peach Belt Conference Tournament, then advanced all the way to the tournament’s champion-ship game. The Bearcats set a school record for wins in a season as they recorded a 38-20 year. After falling to Arm-strong Atlantic in the PBC championship game, Land-er earned its first-ever berth into the NCAA Southeast Regional. As the No. 6 seed, Lander upset top-seeded Mount Olive in the first round, then suffered back-to-back defeats to Armstrong and Francis Marion. The Lander men’s basketball team, led by first-team All-American Dwight Tolbert, streaked to an 18-9 overall record, its best season since 2006-07. Tolbert,

a senior, was also crowned the NABC Southeast Region Player of the Year and

the PBC Player of the Year after averaging 21.5 points per game. Junior tennis player Paul-Henri Arrigoni was named a first-team All-American for the third time after leading the No. 8 Bearcats to an 18-5 overall record and a spot in the Southeast Regional Tournament. The first-year Lander women’s golf team had an ex-ceptional season as it placed Ashley Shinn and Mari-ana Martins on the All-PBC team and finished fourth of seven teams in the PBC Championship Tourna-ment. Lander said farewell to Carla Decker, who led the Lander volleyball program for six years. Decker was replaced by Lander alumnus Ashley Stathas. Stathas coached the previous year at Belhaven (Miss.) Col-lege. LU also hired a new head coach for the softball program after Lander Athletics Hall of Famer Doug

QuICk faCtsfounded: 1872enrollment: 3,000Colors: Royal Blue and goldnickname: Bearcatsweb site: www.landerbearcats.com

lanDeR unIveRsIty

PresidentDaniel Ball

Athletics DirectorJeff May

18


Women’s Basketball

[Southeast Region Champs]

www.landerbearcats.com

School Recaps



Spears returned from a seven-year retirement to coach for one season. After the team posted a 26-26 record – its best season since 2003 – it was announced that former University South Carolina All-American Christina Plew-Whitlock would take over the program. Whitlock coached the previous four years at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y. The Bearcats were led by four-time All-PBC pitcher Hayley Leissner and two-time All-PBC second baseman Brittney Sheriff. The women’s soccer team, led by All-Southeast Region and All-PBC players Christina Barbour, Jamie Shaw and Daniel Shaw, tied a school record for wins in a season when the Lady Bearcats went 13-5-1 over-all. The Lady Bearcats posted a school-record 11 shutouts during the year.









19


hIghlIghts* Lander women’s basketball team reaches Elite Eight for first time* Lander baseball team has best season ever* Men’s basketball’s Dwight Tolbert and men’s tennis player Paul-Henri Arrigoni earn All-American Honors

ReCaPThe University of Montevallo Ath-letics Department’s 2011-12 year was one of firsts.

The men’s basketball team captured its first Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship, first NCAA Southeast Region Championship and made its first appearance in the NCAA Championship game. The women’s cross country team captured its first Peach Belt Conference Championship, made its first appearance in the NCAA Championship race and had its first individual conference champion, Haley Ev-ans. The women’s volleyball team produced the first female First Team Academic All-American in school history, Anna Garrison, and also captured the school’s first PBC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, also Garrison. The baseball team made its first trip to the PBC Tour-nament while women’s basketball head coach Cindy Hilbrich made her first appearance as a head coach.

As a group the Falcons had 24 PBC All-Academic performers and 14 All-Conference honorees. Nine of UM’s 11 teams made it to postseason play with four of the teams going on to NCAA competition.

On the academic side the student-athletes finished with a GPA above 3.00 for the entire school year in-cluding 10 athletes who posted a perfect 4.0 GPA on the year. Volleyball led the department with the high-est GPA for the year while four teams posted at least a 3.3 GPA or higher.

The Falcons had an impressive fall with the women’s cross country team capturing the Department’s first Peach Belt Conference Championship for a female squad. The women’s cross country team also made the first trip to an NCAA Championship race in pro-

gram history. The Falcons were led by junior Haley Evans who won the PBC Indi-

vidual Championship by over 30 seconds. The men’s soccer team competed in their second-straight PBC Tournament Championship game and received an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.

The men’s basketball team shined in the winter as the Falcons won the PBC Tournament and the NCAA Southeast Region Tournament both firsts for the program. UM then advanced to the Elite Eight where they won a pair of games to advance to the NCAA

QuICk faCtsfounded: 1896enrollment: 3,200Colors: Purple and goldnickname: falconsweb site: www.montevallofalcons.com

unIveRsIty of montevallo

PresidentJohn Stewart iii

Athletics DirectorJim Herlihy

20

[National Finalist]

Men’s Basketball

[Southeast Region Champs][tournament Champions]

Women’s Cross Country

[National Qualifier]


www.montevallofalcons.com

School Recaps





WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY1st at PBC Championship







Championship. The Falcons were led by senior All-American D.J. Ri-vera and senior Antoine Davis who were both named to the Elite Eight All-Tournament Team. The spring was highlighted by the baseball team making their first trip to the PBC Tournament.

21

hIghlIghts* Men’s basketball competed in front of an estimated television audience of 3.1 million viewers for the NCAA Championship * 100 Montevallo student-athletes named to the PBC Presidential Honor Roll* Men’s soccer head coach Ken Hassler has led the Falcons to the PBC Championship game in his first two seasons at the helm* Men’s basketball head coach Danny Young has led the Falcons to the NCAA Tournament seven of the last nine seasons and has advanced to the Elite Eight three out of the last seven seasons* Men’s soccer led the department with five athletes on the All-Conference Teams including one first team selection* Women’s cross country led the department with three first team All-Conference selections

ReCaPNorth Georgia placed three teams in the NCAA postseason this past year, as the men’s tennis team, women’s soccer team and softball team all finished very strong seasons. Individually, the Saints saw three players receive All-American honors, including the Division II Na-tional Player of the Year in women’s basketball standout Jaymee Carnes.

The women’s soccer team had their best season in school history at 16-3-1, including a second-place finish in the PBC and an NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance. Se-nior forward Emily Dover received the Golden Ball Award for the most goals scored in conference and also earned All-American honors as well. Three players were named All-Region as Dover, Natalie Douglass and Kelly Penston all earned the honor.

Earning the No. 4-seed in the PBC Tournament after a 9-7-1 season, the men’s soccer team had a quality year, but came up just short against Clayton State in the quarterfinals. Jesy Phelps and Rade Tanaskovic received All-Conference honors for their banner seasons. It was a young team on the pitch in 2011-12 for head coach Pat Parris and it looks to be a promising future with that.

Despite not reaching the conference tournament, the women’s basketball team still boasted the best player in all of NCAA Division II. Jaymee Carnes was named Player of the Year for her sensational 2011-12 season, after leading the nation in scoring at 25.0 points per game. She set multiple school records in just her sophomore campaign. The team struggled to gain momentum but also showed many bright spots.

The 2011-12 men’s basketball season was one of many ups and downs. They finished at 10-18 overall and just

5-12 in conference as the team struggled for much of the season. There will be plenty of new faces on the roster this next season to join PBC All-Conference player Scott Windom, as North Georgia will replace three starters.

The men’s tennis program had the best season in school history this past year, as they earned a berth in the NCAA Regionals. With a record of 3-6 in the loaded PBC, the team saw a three-win turnaround from a year ago. The lineup is also very young for Kent Norsworthy and looks to be built for the near future. They were ranked in the top 25 at several times throughout the season and Felipe Friedrich received national recognition as well.

QuICk faCtsfounded: 1873enrollment: 5,227Colors: Royal Blue and whitenickname: saintsweb site: www.saintssports.com

noRth geoRgIa College & state unIveRsIty

PresidentBonita Jacobs

22

Athletics DirectorLindsay Reeves

hIghlIghts* Jaymee Carnes earned Division II National Player of the Year honors, along with Region Player of the Year and PBC Player of the Year. Carnes is the third con-secutive student-athlete to receive National Player of the Year recognition.* The men’s tennis program made their first-ever ap-pearance in an NCAA Regional, along with winning a team-record three conference games.* The women’s soccer team earned their first-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament. They also won their first game and made a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. Emily Dover received All-American honors.* The softball team was a win short of their fourth straight trip to the NCAA College World Series, losing in game three of the Super Regionals. Jessica Coan was named All-American and Melissa Dickie was PBC Freshman of the Year.* For the first time in school history, a North Georgia athletic team was broadcast nationally on ESPN3. The softball team was put on the big stage when they took part in the Citrus Classic at Disney.

www.saintssports.com

School Recaps





The women’s tennis team went 7-16 but only won one game in the PBC going 1-10 in conference. They started off 4-0 on the season, but faced the difficult Peach Belt Conference schedule and struggled to compete against it. A good recruiting class and a couple of key returnees should bode well for this pro-gram in the coming years.

It was another highly successful season for the North Georgia softball team, as they came up just a win short of their fourth straight trip to the NCAA College World Series. They were ranked in the top 25 throughout the entire season and were ranked in the top five for much of the season as well. A runner-up finish in both the regular season and the PBC Tournament were both firsts for the squad in four years. Senior pitcher Jessica Coan was named All-American as numerous players received All-Conference and All-Region honors as well. Melissa Dickie was named PBC Freshman of the Year for her dominant season.

The baseball team made an appearance in the PBC Tournament but went a quick two and out. The pitching struggled for much of the season as the hitting never got on the same page. Both Kenny Bellavance and Blake Hobby received PBC All-Conference honors for their outstanding seasons. The squad will look to bounce back in 2012-13.

Both golf teams earned the PBC Sportsmanship Award for the 2011-12 season. The men’s golf team finished ninth at the PBC Championship while the women’s golf team placed seventh. Catalina Olarte became the first North Geor-gia women’s golfer to be named All-Conference along with All-Tournament. Both teams won the tournament’s they hosted at their home course of Achasta. The men’s team also placed first in the Montevallo Invitational.


MEN’S SOCCERFinal Record: 9-7-1, 5-3 PBC





23

ReCaPThe Braves posted another memorable athletic season in 2011-12 year as the Black and Gold had 22 athletes earn all-conference awards including Sam Miles as Freshman of the Year in men’s soccer, Pardon Ndhlovu as Runner of the Year in men’s cross country, Livia Mahaffie as Runner of the Year in women’s cross country, Jordan Walor as Player of the Year in men’s golf and Meghan Moore as Player of the Year in women’s golf.

In addition, 28 athletes earned all-region honors, 10 athletes earned all-American honors, nine athletes earned academic all-district laurels and 12 different athletes earned national academic honors.

UNCP had seven teams finish their season with win-ning records. Two non-conference sports (wrestling and men’s track and field) had four individuals qualify for postseason competition, including an NCAA na-tional champion in wrestling.

The women’s golf, men’s cross country and women’s cross country teams competed in postseason action, as did the men’s golf which made its first-ever appear-ance in the NCAA national championship round after capturing UNCP’s first-ever Peach Belt Conference Championship.

Not only are the Braves talented in athletic competi-tion, UNCP had a league-best 118 student-athletes grace the PBC Presidential Honor Roll for the second consecutive year.

Three UNCP teams football (22), baseball (14) and women’s soccer (12) sent 10 or more student-ath-letes to the Presidential Honor Roll, while six teams

– tennis (7-of-8), women’s soccer (12-of-18), women’s golf (5-of-8), women’s cross

country (6-of-10), volleyball (8-of-14) and men’s golf (6-of-11) – sent more than half of its roster to the laurel. The announcement marked the third-straight year that UNCP reached the century mark with its honorees.

QuICk faCtsfounded: 1887enrollment: 5,632Colors: Black and goldnickname: Bravesweb site: www.uncpbraves.com

unIveRsIty of noRth CaRolIna PemBRoke

PresidentKyle Carter

Athletics DirectorDan Kenney

24

[National Runner-up]

Mike Williams

Meghan Moore

Pardon Ndhlovu

[Southeast regionchampion]

[National champion]

www.uncpbraves.com

School Recaps




MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY2nd at PBC Championship WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

4that PBC ChampionshipMEN’S GOLF

t-1st at PBC Championship

WOMEN’S GOLFt-2nd at PBC Championship




25



wIllIams CaPtuRes natIonal ChamPIonshIPPUEBLO, Colo. – All-American Mike Williams completed an unblemished two-day run through the 165-pound tournament with a 5-2 decision in the national championship match with Findlay's Mason True to help give UNCP an eighth-place finish in the final the team standings at the NCAA Championships.

The result gave the Braves their first-ever national championship (team or individual) in wrestling, while giving UNCP its first national championship of any kind since former track & field standout Garry Henry grabbed the title in the 10,000-meter run at the 1982 national championships.

Williams booked a takedown in the first period to grab the early lead over True, and then scored two more points on a reversal in the second stanza. He would stretch his lead out to 5-1 with an escape in the third period, but yielded a stalling point to provide the final.

ReCaPUSC Aiken’s 2011-12 athletic campaign was a strong one. The USC Aiken men’s basketball team won the 2011-12 Peach Belt Conference regular-season championship, while the USC Aiken women’s basketball team won the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Tournament title.

Four Pacer athletic teams advanced to NCAA regional play with the men’s and women’s basketball, cross country and golf teams all playing in the NCAA Tourna-ment. The USC Aiken golf team advanced to the NCAA Division II quarterfinals.

USC Aiken had five of its team conclude the year with a national ranking.

Numerous Pacer student-athletes claimed individual accolades from the Peach Belt Conference with 18 Pacer student-athletes earning PBC All-Conference plaudits. A total of 23 Pacer student-athletes were selected to PBC All-Academic Teams. USC Aiken had nine Pacer student-athletes garner PBC All-Tourna-ment laurels, while six USC Aiken student-athletes were tabbed to the PBC preseason All-Conference Teams.

USC Aiken head men’s basketball coach Vince Alex-ander was chosen as the 2011-12 PBC Men’s Basket-ball Coach of the Year. USC Aiken women’s basketball player Hannah DeGraffinreed was selected as the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Tournament Most Valu-able Player.

In total, 11 Pacers were selected as weekly award winners by the PBC in the 2011-12 athletic year.

QuICk faCtsfounded: 1961enrollment: 3,203Colors: Cardinal, white and navynickname: Pacersweb site: www.pacersports.com

unIveRsIty of south CaRolIna aIken

ChancellorTom Hallman

Athletics DirectorRandy Warrick

26


[Tournament Champions]


Men’s Basketball


Men’s Golf

www.pacersports.com

School Recaps





MEN’S GOLFT-1st at PBC Championship MEN’S SOCCER

Final Record: 3-10-4, 1-5-2 PBC

WOMEN’S SOCCERFinal Record: 4-12, 1-9 PBC

SOFTBALLFinal Record: 26-17, 10-10 PBC MEN’S TENNiS



27


Seven Pacers collected All-Region honors, while two Pacers garnered All-America accolades with Matt Atkins and Kayla Harris both tabbed All-Americans in their sport. Atkins was also chosen as an Academic All-American.

USC Aiken concluded the year with five student-athletes earning Academic All-Region laurels.

hIghlIghts* Four USC Aiken teams appeared in NCAA Regional Play (men’s and women’s basketball, golf and cross country)* The USC Aiken men’s basketball team claimed the 2011-12 Peach Belt Conference men’s basketball regular-season title* The USC Aiken women’s basketball team obtained the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament title* The Pacers hosted the 2012 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional for the first time in program history* Five Pacer teams concluded their year nationally-ranked (three teams were ranked in top-10 at one point during season)* Six Pacer teams were regionally-ranked at one point during year

GOOD LUCK AUGUSTA STATE FROM YOUR FRIENDS IN BUSINESS

GOOD LUCK COLUMBUS STATE FROM YOUR FRIENDS IN BUSINESS

Goff Electric, Inc.Commercial * Industrial

P.O. Box 15046Augusta, GA 30919

Phone: 706-738-0420Fax: 706-738-0430

[email protected]

Keith Goff | President

Quality of Daily Life Solutions

Sodexo EducationMotivation Solutions#1 Vine StreetMontevallo, AL 35115 USATel.: 205 665 6468Cell: 205 260 8519Fax: 205 665 6467E-mail: [email protected]

MARTIN DIAZUniversity of MontevalloGeneral Manager

REVOLUTIONIZING THE ONLINE MARKETPLACE

James BuslerJIB Business Systems

866.334.9188 | www.jib-business-systems.net | [email protected]

ServiceMaster

Recovery Management

8301 Fortson Rd.

Fortson, GA 31808

toll free: 888-786-3542

cell: 706-527-0094

[email protected]

Providing Large Loss

Disaster Recovery

Jeff Wilson

Managing Director

Lawn & Landscaping Co.

John T. Phillips

5901 A Warm Springs Rd.Columbus, GA 31909(706) 561-2566

4167 Milgen RoadColumbus, GA 31907

(706) 568-0463

incinc

(cell) 706.681.1416 (work) 334.298.5356434 Lee Rd 931 Smiths Station, AL 36877(email) [email protected]

All South ElectricalConstructors Inc.State Certified Electrical Contractor

150 Kelli Clark Court, Ste. ACartersville, GA [email protected]

Office: (770) 445-1443Fax: (770) 445-3860Cell: (678) 898-8369

NexTel: 154*22*2813

Chuck Koon

Commercial • Residential

ASHLEY LACKEY915-A INTERSTATE RIDGE DRIVEGAINESVILLE, GEORGIA 30501

770-297-1600 | EXT. 230 (OFFICE)770-297-9751 (FAX)

www.wellbeinghygiene.com

CONTRACTORS BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE OF FLAGLER COLLEGE

GOOD LUCK GEORGIA COLLEGE & STATE FROM YOUR FRIENDS IN BUSINESS

Brian Burchfield, Master State Certified Electrician

“Locally owned since 1988”inc.

2900 Pleasure LaneSt. Augustine, FL 32084

904-829-5735 - Office904-829-2823 - Fax

[email protected]

Brian Burchfield, local owner for 23 years, wishes to CONGRATULATE & THANK FLAGLER COLLEGE for the trust instilled in Burchfield Electric, Inc. over these years. From remodeling Dorm Rooms to Dining Rooms, repairing field lighting to landscape lighting, Burchfield Electric, Inc. has had the distinct pleasure of working closely with Administration

Personnel, Architects and General Contractors on-site to continue BUILDING THE FUTURE!

BEST Wishes to flagler college, building the future!

Your FutureIs Bright,

GO SAINTS!

(904) 829-5538 OFFICE(904) 824-5288 FAX(904) 669-4077 [email protected]

Scot KosterSales Representative

2360 U.S. 1 SouthSt. Augustine, FL 32086

www.sunbeltrentals.com

Congratulations

Graduates!Cong

GCC

Sodexo is a proud partner of Georgia College

EllisPower

Professional • Experienced • Reliable

ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS

(478) 742-7110www.ellispower.com


augusta state wIns fIRst PBC men’s CRoss CountRy ChamPIonshIP(10/22/11) AIKEN, SC - Only two years after estab-lishing a men’s program, the Augusta State Jaguars broke through on Saturday and won their first-ever PBC Men’s Cross Country Championship. The Jag-uars had two runners in the top 10 and four runners in the top 12 as they finished with 57 points, edging out UNC Pembroke in the tightest finish in the PBC since 2000. Clayton State finished third while Co-lumbus State was fourth and Georgia College fifth. UNCP’s Pardon Ndhlovu won the individual title with a time of 25:11. The race was held for the first time at the Pacer Path on the campus of USC Aiken.

Augusta State’s Dustin Ross was the first Jaguar to cross the line, coming in fourth with a time of 26:38. ASU was able to keep their top four runners within sight of one another over the entire hilly course as Jaiden Brandt was seventh in 26:58, Robert Black-welder 11th in 27:11 and Matt Johnson 12th with a time of 27:14.UNCP’s Pardon Ndhlovu won the men’s 8k race in a time of 25:11.

ASU’s grouping was just enough to edge out UNC Pembroke, who had the top two runners in the race. Ndhlovu and teammate Chris Schroll pulled away from the pack less than halfway through, with Ndhovu beating Schroll to the line by 25 seconds. A junior from Zimbabwe, Ndhlovu was not only the PBC Indi-vidual Champion, he was named the Runner of the Year, an award voted on prior to the championship recognizing outstanding achievement in the regular season. Ndhlovu was named All-Conference for the third time after finishing second in 2009 and third in 2010.

Clayton State’s Albert Mong’ony finished third in 26:20 as the Lakers finished third overall as a team. Flagler’s Michael Ross was fifth with UNCP’s Zach Bayless sixth.

Flagler’s Corey Mundy finished in eighth place and was the lowest finishing freshman in the field and was named the PBC Freshman of the Year. Mundy, who was also named second-team All-Conference, covered

the course in 27:07. Flagler finished sixth overall in the team standings with Montevallo seventh, Francis Marion in eighth and Armstrong Atlantic State ninth.

UNCP’s Gary Aycock was voted the PBC Coach of the Year by the league’s head coaches.

The top seven men to finish the race were named first-team All-Conference while the 8-14

runners were named second team.

RESULTS

PHOTO GALLERY

31


2011 PBC MEN’S CROSS COUNTY CHAMPiONS AUGUSTA STATE UNiVERSiTY JAGUARS

UNC PEMBROKE’SPARDON NDHLOVU

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mxc/2011-12/files/11pbcmxc.htm

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mxc/2011-12/photos/11mxcgallery/index



32

unCP’s nDhlovu, sChRoll aDvanCe to natIonal ChamPIonshIPs(11/5/11) CHARLOTTE - The UNCP men’s cross country team matched the same finish as the last two seasons at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championships with the exception of Pardon Ndhlovu becoming race champion and Chris Schroll finishing fourth to lead UNCP to a fifth place finish in the meet Saturday morning at McAlpine Park hosted by Queens University of Charlotte.

Ndhlovu collected his fourth first place finish this season, and first ever region title as he was 14 seconds faster than the second place fin-isher from Queens with a time of 30:55.5, while Schroll set a new personal-best in by more than a minute with a time of 31:19.7 as he finished behind two runners from Queens. With Ndhlovu and Schroll being the top two finishers not on either of the top two teams, they advance to the national championship race in two weeks.

Zach Bayless cracked the top-20 with a 19th place finish after posting a personal-best time of 32:48.4 as he was the third finisher for the Braves. Senior Kevin Clancy was the fourth runner to finish for the Braves and 37th finisher overall as he clipped less than a second off his previous personal-best time to register a new one with a time of 33:11.1.

Freshman Jeremy Judd and Andrew Nguyen finished with time of 33:51.4 and 34:31.1, re-spectively. Judd was the fifth finisher for UNCP and 65th overall, while Nguyen finished 85th as both ran in their first career 10k race. Cedric Wilson rounded out the finishers for the Black and Gold with a time of 35:32.7 to set a new personal-best for the sophomore.

The 10k race was primarily run on limestone with the Black and Gold finishing fifth out of 24 teams. UNCP collected 123 points and was the first PBC team to finish the race. The Black and Gold finished 84 points in front of PBC Champi-on Augusta State who finished seventh overall.

Queens (N.C.) and Mount Olive advance to the 2011 NCAA Division II Cross Country Na-tional Championship race after finishing first

UNCP’S NDHLOVU, FLAGLER’S BONUS NAMED CROSS COUNTRY ACADEMiC ALL-AMERiCANSUNC Pembroke’s Pardon Ndhlovu and Flagler’s Alex Bonus were both named Capitol One Academic All-Americans as the men’s cross country and track team was announced on Wednes-day. The award is widely regarded as the highest individual honor a student-athlete can achieve, as it measures success in the classroom and success on the course. Bonus was placed on the second team while Ndhlovu was named third team. Clayton State track standout Robert Spezzacatena was also selected to the third team. The team is administered and selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Ndhlovu, a Zimbabwe native, is the most recent all-American in track & field athlete after clinching a fourth place finish in the 10000m run at the 2012 NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships with a time of 31:26.45 in the event. This season he collected 10 top-5 finishes including five first place finishes with two at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships. He led the Braves in four different events including the 800m, 1500m, 5000m and 10000m runs which grabbed him USTFCCCA all-region honors.

During the cross country season, he was named to the USTFCCCA All-Region Team, USTFCCCA All-Academic Team, Peach Belt Conference All-Conference Team, PBC All-Academic Team, USTFCCCA Male Athlete of the Year for the South-east Region and PBC Runner of the Week for three consecutive weeks (Sept. 6, Sept. 12, Oct. 3). The business administration major garnered PBC Runner of the Year with his first PBC Individual Champion honor at the PBC Championships with a time of 25:11.93 to post the 10th fastest 8K time in school history and lead the Braves to a second place finish in the league.

He also set the school record in the 8K by four seconds at the Charlotte Invitational with a time of 24:24.20 for an overall third place finish out of 260 athletes and first among all NCAA Division II athletes. While maintaining a 3.31 grade point aver-age, he finished the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championship as region champion (marking his fourth first-place finish this season) for the first time in his career with the second fastest 10K time in school history (30:55.5) to lead UNCP to a fifth place finish in the region.

Bonus is the first men’s cross country runner from Flagler College to earn Capital One Academic All-America® honors and the first runner to earn the award since the school became a full-fledged member of Division II in 2009.

The senior posted a perfect 4.00 grade point average this year and graduated last April with a degree in communications. He is a three-time Academic All-Peach Belt Conference honoree and is a three-time PBC President’s Honor Roll Gold Scholar. Bonus also earned the Flagler College Athletics Director Award for having the high-est GPA among his fellow male student-athletes. He competed in all six meets last fall and posted a season-best 8K time of 27:40.15 at the PBC Championships.


(62 points) and second (82 points), respectively. The 2011 NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships takes place on November 19 in Spokane, Wash., at Plantes Ferry Athletic Complex.

Augusta State finished seventh in the regional, just ahead of Columbus State in eighth and Clay-ton State in ninth. ASU’s Dustin Ross ran the 10k in 32:44 while Clayton State’s Albert Mong’ony as 21st in 32:50. Columbus State’s John Neill cracked the top 20 with a time of 32:34 for 18th.

Georgia College’s Tyler Mattix finished 17th overall in 32:41. The Bobcats as a team finished 14th, one behind Flagler in 13th. Corey Mundy was the first Flagler Saint to cross the line in a time of

33:09. Montevallo finished 21st and Francis Marion 23rd.RESULTS

unCP’s sChRoll, nDhlovu ComPete at nCaa ChamPIonshIPs(11/19/11) SPOKANE, Wash. - Sophomore Chris Schroll and Pardon Ndhlovu were the two runners from the UNCP men’s cross country team to compete on the snow covered course at the 2011 NCAA II National Cham-pionship on Saturday afternoon at Plante’s Ferry Athletic Complex.

Schroll, a Puyallup, Wash., native, competed in his first national championship race after being named to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) all-region team due to his fourth place finish at the regional race which qualified him for the national race. He was less than two minutes slower, with a time 33:02.5, than his personal-best time set two weeks prior at the regional race.

He finished 77th overall, while Ndhlovu crossed the finish line with a time of 33:53.7 as the 125th finisher. This was the third appearance for the junior as he grabbed all-American honors his freshman year.

Ndhlovu, a Zimbabwe native, was named USTFCCCA Male Athlete of the Year for the Southeast Region as well as an all-region runner as he was the top finisher in regional meet. Besides collecting his first ever region title, he has posted three other first place finishes this season including the Peach Belt Conference Championship.

Western State finished first as a team with 27 points followed by Adams State and Grand Valley State with 69 and 100 points, respectively. Ryan Haebe of Western State won the race by finishing with a time of 30:45.1.

RUNNERS OF THE WEEKSeptember 6, 2011 Pardon Ndhlovu, UNCP

September 12, 2011 Pardon Ndhlovu, UNCP

September 19, 2011 Dustin Ross, ASU

September 26, 2011 ian Edwards, CSU

October 3, 2011 Pardon Ndhlovu, UNCP

October 10, 2011 Dustin Ross, ASU

October 17, 2011 Zackery Walsh, Montevallo

33

Capital one academic all-america second teamAlex Bonus, Flagler

Capital one academic all-america third teamPardon Ndhlovu, UNC Pembroke

Capital one academic all-District teamAlex Bonus, Flagler

Kevin Clancy, UNC PembrokeRussell Lawless, Clayton StatePardon Ndhlovu, UNC Pembroke

ustfCCCa all-academic honoreesRobert Blackwelder, Augusta StateJaiden Brandt, Augusta StateKevin Clancy, UNC PembrokeAndrew Henderson, Columbus StateDaniel Horseman, Georgia CollegeRussell Lawless, Clayton StateTyler Mattix, Georgia College

Albert Mong’ony, Clayton StateCorey Mundy, FlaglerPardon Ndhlovu, UNC PembrokeJohn Neill, Columbus State

ustfCCCa all-academic teamsAugusta StateClayton StateColumbus StateFlaglerGeorgia CollegeMontevallo

AwArd winners

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mxc/2011-12/files/ncaamxcreg.htm

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mxc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110906mxcrotw








Peach Belt Conference all-academic teamRobert Blackwelder, Augusta StateAlex Bonus, FlaglerEvan Brock, MontevalloKevin Clancy, UNC PembrokeTucker Forbes, Georgia CollegeAndy Henderson, Columbus StateDaniel Horseman, Georgia CollegePhilip Laskey, Georgia CollegeRussell Lawless, Clayton StateAlbert Mong’ony, Clayton StatePardon Ndhlovu, UNC PembrokeJohn Neill, Columbus StateJosiah Siegel, Armstrong

ustfCCCa southeast Region athlete of the yearPardon Ndhlovu, UNC Pembroke

ustfCCCa all-southeast Region teamZach Bayless, UNC PembrokeRobert Blackwelder, Augusta State Tyler Mattix, Georgia College Albert Mong’ony, Clayton State Pardon Ndhlovu, UNC Pembroke John Neill, Columbus State Dustin Ross, Augusta StateChris Schroll, UNC Pembroke

PBC all-Conference first teamZach Bayless, UNC PembrokeJaiden Brandt, Augusta StateMichael Lambert, FlaglerPardon Ndhlovu, UNC PembrokeAlbery Mong’ony, Clayton StateDustin Ross, Augusta State

Chris Schroll, UNC PembrokePBC all-Conference second teamCharles Anderson, Clayton StateRobert Blackwelder, Augusta StateAndrew Henderson, Columbus StateDaniel Horseman, Georgia CollegeMatt Johnson, Augusta StateTyler Mattix, Georgia CollegeCorey Mundy, Flagler

PBC freshman of the yearCorey Mundy, Flagler

PBC Runner of the yearPardon Ndhlovu, UNC Pembroke

PBC Coach of the yearGary Aycock, UNC Pembroke

Mercer Citadel Sand Shark Oglethorpe USC Beaufort Peach Belt Invitational Invitational Invitational I nvitational Dual Championship (Sept. 17 - 8k) (Sept. 24 - 8k) (Oct. 8 - 8k) (Oct. 15 - 8k) (Oct. 18 - 5k) (Oct 22 - 8k) Parker Gordon 29:47/62nd 32:21/26th 29:02/19th 30:44/12th 17:27/4th 31:22/53rdBrandon Lico 32:19/96th 35:34/33rd 31:25/29th 33:47/34th 18:24/7th 31:51/55thJosiah Siegel 33:27/102nd 36:08/35th 32:14/33rd 35:00/42nd 19:50/13th 33:53/60thScott Lawson 33:43/105th 36:37/36th 33:05/34th 36:06/50th 19:17/9th 35:12/63rdDustin Scott - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 34:38/40th 19:27/12th 33:41/59thMelissa Carder 34:00/108th - - - - - - - - - - 35:54/49th 19:59/14th 34:29/62nd Ryan Kozusko 35:52/115th 38:43/39th 32:05/31st 35:43/48th 19:01/8th 34:12/61stJoseph Pilz 40:39/124th 44:18/48th - - - - - - - - - - 24:53/17th - - - - - Team Finish/Points 13 of 15/455 6 of 7/148 4 of 4/140 7 of 9/159 2 of 2/40 9 of 9/288

App. State Pacer Charlotte Jaguar Peach Belt Invitational Invitational Invitational Invitational Championship (Sept. 2 - 8k) (Sept. 17 - 8k) (Sept. 30 - 8k) (Oct. 8 - 8k) (Oct. 22 - 8k) Dustin Ross 27:16/48th 26:33/1st 26:34/87th 25:53/2nd 26:38/4thRobert Blackwelder - - - - - 27:30/7th 26:38/93rd 26:16/3rd 27:11/11thJaiden Brandt 27:43/62nd 27:32/8th 26:57/120th 26:17/4th 26:58/7thMatthew Johnson 28:02/72nd 27:39/9th 27:13/135th 26:44/10th 27:14/12thClay Holton 28:08/75th - - - - - 28:06/178th 27:59/19th 27:53/23rdShane Huckeba 28:12/79th 28:06/14th 27:23/141st - - - - - - - - - -Adam Aldridge 29:00/91st 28:09/16th - - - - - 27:29/12th 28:14/28thJimmy Spencer 29:41/101st 28:29/23rd 29:05/207th - - - - - 36:42/34thSean Kramer 29:29/100th 29:18/29th - - - - - 28:10/22nd - - - - - Team Finish/Points 10 of 11/262 1 of 8/39 20 of 34/493 1 of 5/31 1 of 9/57

Jacksonville St. Georgia State Greater Louisville JSU Peach Belt Invitational Invitational Classic Invitational Championship (Sept. 2 - 5k) (Sept. 17 - 8k) (Oct. 1 - 8k) (Oct. 8 - 8k) (Oct. 22 - 8k) Albert Mong’ony 15:46/3rd 26:40/14th 25:38/5th 26:14/3rd 26:20/3rdAlex Foss 16:13/6th 27:53/30th 26:51/28th 27:28/23rd 27:30/16thCharles Anderson 16:16/7th 28:47/61st 26:47/26th 27:28/24th 27:24/13thAryton Azcue 16:59/13th 28:32/57th 27:24/52nd 28:28/47th 28:12/27thTanner Thomason 17:37/22nd 29:27/72nd 28:31/130th 28:59/61st 30:31/51stPreston Valencia 17:49/26th 30:16/84th 29:01/151st 29:55/74th 28:55/37thRussell Lawless - - - - - 28:53/62nd 27:32/66th 27:33/29th 28:04/25th Team Finish/Points 2 of 8/49 6 of 10/171 4 of 36/143 3 of 10/105 3 of 9/84

34

rACe results


GSW Remembrance Florida State Charlotte JSU Peach Belt Run Invitational Invitational Invitational Championship (Sept. 10 - 8k) (Sept. 23 - 8k) (Sept. 30 - 8k) (Oct. 8 - 8k) (Oct. 22 - 8k) Ian Edwards 26:26/1st 26:29/19th 25:59/58th 26:07/2nd 27:33/18thJohn Neill 26:57/2nd - - - - - 26:46/104th 27:37/31st 27:43/20thAndy Henderson 28:05/12th 27:55/64th 26:57/119th 26:54/11th 27:11/10thJacob Mobbs 27:25/5th 28:08/66th 27:27/142nd - - - - - 27:32/17thBrandon Skiles 27:36/8th 28:47/85th 27:44/157th 27:32/28th 28:57/39thNathan Prickett 27:44/9th 28:34/80th 29:13/214th 28:39/51st - - - - -Nathaniel Reeves 28:22/15th 29:11/93rd 27:34/149th 27:49/36th 29:14/41stSilas Rugut 30:14/32nd 30:16/112th - - - - - 28:49/58th 28:37/32nd Team Finish/Points 1 of 5/25 9 of 17/276 19 of 34/492 2 of 10/93 4 of 9/97

Tampa Pacer UF Disney Peach Belt Classic Invitational Invitational Classic Championship (Sept. 2 - 4mi.) (Sept. 17 - 8k) (Sept. 24 - 8k) (Oct. 8 - 8k) (Oct. 22 - 8k) Mike Lambert 21:02/23rd 27:12/3rd 27:21/52nd 26:53/25th 26:42/5thAlex Bonus 21:47/49th 28:23/21st 28:16/76th 27:47/57th 27:40/19thCorey Mundy 22:08/62nd 27:57/12th 29:50/108th 27:32/45th 27:07/8thDerek Casciano 22:51/78th 28:32/24th 29:13/97th 29:23/119th 29:54/49thJustin Talavera 23:03/81st 28:38/25th 29:18/98th 28:33/90th 28:56/38thZak Shave 23:05/82nd 28:27/22nd 30:14/114th 29:15/115th 29:36/44thChad Jones 23:24/92nd 29:20/30th 30:30/119th 29:27/123rd - - - - -Matt Goodman 23:52/99th 29:22/31st 29:31/101st 29:07/112th 29:37/46th Team Finish/Points 9 of 13/250 2 of 8/79 14 of 17/358 12 of 24/307 6 of 9/114

Gamecock Seahawk Pacer Charlotte Wingate Peach Belt Invitational Invitational Invitational Invitational Invitational Championship (Sept. 2 - 5k) (Sept. 9 - 5k) (Sept. 17 - 8k) (Sept. 30 - 8k) (Oct. 13 - 5k) (Oct. 22 - 8k) Ian Wallace 17:16/10th 17:00/34th 28:47/28th 29:01/206th 17:26/7th 29:14/42ndJustin Carter 18:29/17th 18:01/51st - - - - - 29:49/227th 18:31/14th 29:58/50thAlex McIntosh 18:49/18th 18:22/62nd 30:51/41st - - - - - 18:35/16th 29:53/48thRyan Woloszyn 19:02/20th 18:18/61st 30:28/37th 29:11/211th 18:42/17th 29:36/45thCody McDonald 19:09/22nd - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Justin Koehn 19:34/24th - - - - - 30:01/34th 29:38/221st 18:01/10th 29:15/43rdMichael Bigelow 19:40/25th 19:07/74th - - - - - 31:18/241st 19:18/21st 32:16/56thJustin Albertson - - - - - 18:23/63rd 31:25/43rd 29:52/229th 18:14/12th 29:41/47th Team Finish/Points 4 of 5/87 8 of 10/206 7 of 8/163 32 of 34/958 2 of 5/59 8 of 9/225 Bobcat Mercer Cod Fish Jaguar Peach Belt Invitational UC Irvine Invitational Bowl Invitational Championship (Sept. 2 - 8k) (Sept. 10 - 8k) (Sept. 17 - 8k) (Sept. 24 - 8k) (Oct. 8 - 8k) (Oct. 22 - 8k) Tyler Mattix 28:01/3rd - - - - - 26:38/12th 27:38/59th 26:30/7th 27:08/9thDaniel Horseman 28:26/4th 27:11/24th 26:48/15th 27:28/53rd 26:22/5th 27:25/14thColin Conroy 28:29/5th 27:45/47th 27:13/20th 29:30/134th 27:23/11th 27:47/21stPhilip Laskey 28:53/8th 28:30/54th 27:54/31st - - - - - 28:36/27th 28:42/33thRob Manning 30:25/14th - - - - - 28:01/34th 29:25/130th 27:49/17th 28:25/30thNick Widener 33:47/30th - - - - - - - - - - 31:58/214th 30:42/32nd - - - - -Tucker Forbes 31:14/23rd 28:53/94th 28:43/49th - - - - - 28:04/21st 28:52/36thTravis Knight 32:54/28th 29:22/105th 28:41/46th - - - - - 27:53/18th 31:07/52nd Team Finish/Points 2 of 3/42 9 of 10/244 4 of 15/105 12 of 26/396 3 of 5/58 5 of 9/107

35

36

Earl Jacoby Pacer Tiger Queens University Peach Belt Memorial Invitational Invitational Challenge Championship (Sept. 3 - 8k) (Sept. 17 - 8k) (Sept. 30 - 8k) (Oct. 14 - 8k) (Oct. 22 - 8k) Zackery Walsh 28:09/17th 27:42/10th 27:34/5th 26:59/71st 27:52/22ndAaron Bush 28:34/21st 27:57/11th 28:18/6th 27:15/77th 27:27/15thMark McDonald 29:17/27th 28:11/17th 28:24/7th 28:12/106th 28:08/26thNick Fasanello 29:32/29th 28:13/19th 28:27/8th 27:55/101st 28:32/31stJake Davidson 32:55/51st 31:52/46th 31:12/22nd - - - - - 32:17/57thBrian Smith 33:17/53rd - - - - - 31:19/24th 31:11/144th - - - - -Evan Brock 35:02/59th 34:32/49th 33:40/33rd - - - - - 33:35/58thAustin McIntosh - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 31:27/146th 31:38/54th Team Finish/Points 5th of 10/135 4th of 8/95 2nd of 5/33rd 13 of 19/395 7 of 9/148

Gamecock College of Charleston Charlotte Disney Peach Belt Invitational Invitational Invitational Classic Championship (Sept. 2 - 5k) (Sept. 10 - 8k) (Sept. 30 - 8k) (Oct. 8 - 8k) (Oct. 22 - 8k) Pardon Ndhlovu 15:07/1st 25:04/1st 24:24/3rd 25:23/3rd 25:11/1stChris Schroll 15:36/2nd 25:57/8th 25:27/42nd 25:59/8th 25:36/2ndZach Bayless 16:48/5th 26:58/8th 26:47/106th 27:45/54th 26:50/6thCedric Wilson 17:15/9th 27:49/26th 28:57/204th 30:18/151st 28:50/35th Andrew Nguyen 17:37/11th 28:47/42nd 29:11/212th 28:39/96th 29:06/40thKevin Clancy 17:48/12th - - - - - 27:00/124th 27:39/50th 27:54/24thAdriel Wynn 19:07/21st - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Jeremy Judd - - - - - - - - - - 28:19/182nd 28:54/100th 28:23/29th Team Finish/Points 1 of 5/28 3 of 6/81 11 of 34/394 7 of 24/200 2 of 9/62

montevallo ClaIms PBC women’s CRoss CountRy ChamPIonshIP(10/22/11) AIKEN, SC - The Montevallo women’s cross country team placed four runners in the top 10 as they surprised the field by winning the 2011 PBC Championship on Saturday morning in Aiken, S.C. Junior Haley Evans blazed through the 6k course in 23:16, setting a new school record and claiming the individual championship. The cross country title is the first for Montevallo as a part of the Peach Belt Confer-ence. Clayton State finished second while Augusta

State was third. The race was run for the first time in Aiken at the Pacer Path on the campus of USC Aiken.

Evans set a 5k school record in her last outing and did the same over a 6k distance with a time of 23:16 on the hilly course, the fourth-fastest 6k time in PBC Championship history. After running with the pack for half the race, she pulled away and finished 32 sec-onds ahead of Flagler’s Taylor Strekel, who was sec-ond. UM’s Kaley Glover finished fifth in 23:54 while In-Mi Matsunaga was seventh in 24:04 and Lauren Recchia 10th with a time of 24:16.Montevallo’s Haley Evans cross the line in first place at the 2011 PBC Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Aiken.

Clayton State finished second overall with 77 points, 30 behind the Falcons. Jessica Smith was the first Laker across the line with a time of 24:15 for ninth place. The Lakers scored high after keeping together throughout the course as Paige Galvin, Samantha Walling and Patricia Olleros finished 12th, 13th and 15th, respectively, separated by less than 20 seconds.

woMen’s Cross Country

2011 PBC WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTY CHAMPiONS UNiVERSiTY OF MONTEVALLO FALCONS


37

MONTEVALLO’SHALEY EVANS

Augusta State finished in third place with 82 points, just edging out UNC Pembroke who was fourth with 83. ASU’s Jessica Carpenter finished fourth with a time of 23:52 while UNC Pembroke’s Livia Mahaffie was third overall in 23:49 and Kendra Dorn sixth 24:03. Mahaffie was named the PBC Runner of the Year, an award voted on prior to the PBC Champion-ship meet based on regular-season results.

Columbus State saw their run of six straight PBC titles come to an end as they finished fifth overall. Moneque English led the Cougars with a time of 24:09, finishing eighth. Flagler finished sixth while Georgia College was seventh, USC Aiken eighth, Fran-cis Marion ninth and Georgia Southwestern 10th.

Flagler’s Taylor Strekel was named the PBC Freshman of the Year as the lowest finishing freshman. Strekel finished second overall with a time of 23:48.

UNC Pembroke’s Gary Aycock and Augusta State’s Adam Ward were voted the PBC co-Coaches of the Year by the league’s head coaches.

The top seven women to finish the race were named first-team All-

Conference while the 8-14 runners were named second team.

RESULTS

PHOTOGALLERY

falCons fInIsh seConD at nCaa RegIonals; aDvanCe to nCaa

ChamPIonshIP(11/5/11) CHARLOTTE, N.C. - For the first time in program history the University of Montevallo women’s cross country team will compete at the NCAA Championships. The

Falcons needed to finish in the top two

at the NCAA Southeast Region Championship and the Falcons did just that as they finished second among the field of 26 teams. UM edged out third-place Mount Olive by just five points. Juniors Haley Evans (Fairhope, Ala./Fairhope) and Kaley Glover (Opelika, Ala./Beauregard) led the Falcons as they finished 12th and 13th overall in the race, respectively. UM’s top three runners broke the school record for a 6k race including Evans, Glover and freshman Lauren Recchia (Suwanee, Ga./North Gwinnett) who also set the new freshman record for a 6k.

Evans completed the course in 22:28.9 which is 48 seconds faster then her previous school record. Glov-er finished with a time of 22:38.9 to best the record by 38 seconds while Recchia finished 23rd overall with a time of 23:11.4 which topped the school re-cord by five seconds and beat the freshman record by 34 seconds.

Sophomore In-Mi Matsunaga (Enterprise, Ala./Enter-prise) finished 36th overall with a time of 23:42.9 which ranks fifth in the UM record book. The final runner in UM’s top-five was senior Katherine Scho-field (Gainesville, Ga./Brookwood) who finished 62nd overall with a time of 24:11.4 which would have ranked seventh in the UM record book prior to today’s race but comes in at 11th after the top-four runners posted top times.

Senior Ginny Davis (Madison, Ala./Bob Jones) finished 93rd overall with a time of 24:50.4 while senior Whit-ney Adkins (Conyers, Ga./Heritage) finished 144th with a time of 26:18.3.

Augusta State was the next-highest PBC team to fin-ish, coming in sixth in the 26-team field. Alicia Con-nolly finished 22nd overall in 23:10 while Lyndsay Nichols was 37th in 23:42. Clayton State finished seventh and UNC Pembroke eighth. For the Lakers, Paige Galvin finished 25th in 23:14 while Patty Olle-ros was 26th with a time of 23:17.

Georgia College’s Allison Lones was the top non-Mon-tevallo PBC runner to cross the line. The sophomore finished 19th overall in 23:08. Georgia College as a team was 13th in the field.

RESULTS

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wxc/2011-12/files/11pbcwxc.htm

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wxc/2011-12/photos/11wxcgallery/index

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wxc/2011-12/photos/11wxcgallery/index

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wxc/2011-12/files/ncaawxcreg.htm

falCons wRaP uP hIstoRIC season at nCaa ChamPIonshIPs(11/19/11) SPOKANE, Wash. - The University of Montevallo women’s cross country team conclud-ed its historic 2011 season with a 24th-place fin-ish at the NCAA Championships. The cross country team became the first women’s program at UM to advance to the NCAA Finals after a second-place finish at the Southeast Region Championships. The women’s program has been in existence for just eight years but has already soared to the top of the Division II ranks. Junior Kaley Glover (Ope-lika, Ala./ Beauregard) led the team with a 154th overall finish in a time of 24:42.2.

The Falcons competed in the middle of a snow storm with temperatures in the low 20s. Fresh-

man Lauren Recchia (Suwanee, Ga./North Gwinnett) came in second for the Falcons with a 166th place finish. Recchia completed the course in 25:27.3. Junior Haley Evans (Fairhope, Ala./Fairhope), who won the PBC Championship, finished third for the Falcons and 173rd overall with a time of 25:58.7.

Senior Katherine Schofield (Gainesville, Ga./Brookwood) came in just two spots behind Evans in 175th with a time of 26:02.6. Senior Ginny Davis (Madison, Ala./Bob Jones) came in 183rd with a time of 27:07.5 while sophomore In-Mi Matsunaga (Enterprise, Ala./Enterprise) finished in 184th with a time of 27:15.1.

Senior Whitney Adkins (Conyers, Ga./Heritage) rounded out the Falcons performance with a 186th place finish and a time of 28:54.3.

The Falcons finished 20 points behind the University of West Florida who came in 23rd. Augustana won the event with a total team score of 75 while Western State came in second.

noRth geoRgIa to ReInstate women’s CRoss CountRy In 2012(10/27/11) DAHLONEGA, GA – North Georgia College & State University will reinstate the women’s cross coun-try team for NCAA competition in the 2012-2013 academic year.

“We are excited to bring the women’s cross country team back to North Georgia,” said Athletic Director Lindsay Reeves.

North Georgia discontinued its cross country program in 2010 due to funding reductions. The team’s coach, Tom Williams, is also an adjunct faculty member at North Georgia and will return to coach the women’s team.

Before coming to North Georgia to lead the cross country program, Williams was a legendary coach at Walton High School for 20 years and led his teams to 14 State Championship appearances.

With the addition of women’s cross country, North Georgia will have five men’s sports, six women’s sports and one mixed team.

“North Georgia College & State University has always been a leader in providing educational opportunities for women, and it’s important to us that our athletic program continues to expand competitive opportunities for women athletes,” Reeves said.

38

RUNNERS OF THE WEEKSeptember 6, 2011 Livia Mahaffie, UNCP

September 12, 2011 Livia Mahaffie, UNCP

September 19, 2011 Taylor Strekel, Flagler

September 26, 2011 Taylor Strekel, Flagler

October 3, 2011 Livia Mahaffie, UNCP

October 10, 2011 Samantha Walling, Clayton State

October 17, 2011 Haley Evans, Montevallo

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wxc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110906wxcrotw








39

North Georgia was the first public institution of higher education in Georgia to enroll and graduate a woman. It was also the first of the nation’s senior military colleges to include women.

The university’s athletic program is primarily funded through student fees and private contri-butions through the NGCSU Foundation, which supports scholarships and operation costs. Reeves expects that the athletic program can add women’s cross country with no increase to the student athletic fee at this point. North Georgia is considering the possibility of adding other programs in the future.

Capital one academic all-District teamAshlee Doughty, UNC PembrokeCassey Lloyd, USC AikenIn-Mi Matsunaga, MontevalloLaura McKnight, Flagler

ustfCCCa all-academic honoreesCarrie Blankenship, UNC Pembroke Jessica Carpenter, Augusta StateKendra Dorn, UNC Pembroke Ashlee Doughty, UNC Pembroke Haley Evans, Montevallo Paige Galvin, Clayton State Allison Lones, Georgia College Livia Mahaffie, UNC Pembroke In-Mi Matsunaga, Montevallo Jacquelyn Nagel, Augusta StateLyndsay Nichols, Augusta StateLauren Recchia, Montevallo Katherine Schofield, Montevallo Jessica Smith, Clayton StateTaylor Strekel, Flagler Samantha Walling, Clayton State

ustfCCCa all-academic teamsAugusta StateClayton StateColumbus StateFlaglerGeorgia College

MontevalloUNC Pembroke

Peach Belt Conference all-academic teamGinny Davis, MontevalloVictoria Dobson, Georgia CollegeHaley Evans, MontevalloPaige Galvin, Clayton StateCassey Lloyd, USC AikenBlair Long, UNC PembrokeLivia Mahaffie, UNC PembrokeIn-Mi Matsunaga, MontevalloMollie McGowan, Georgia SouthwesternLaura McKnight, FlaglerLyndsay Nichols, Augusta StateMadeleine Pinaire, FlagllerKatherine Schofield, MontevalloSamantha Walling, Clayton State

Peach Belt Conference all-academic honarable mention

London Barnhill, Francis MarionLauren Brown, Georgia SouthwesternMegan Carney, UNC PembrokeJamesha Cochran, Columbus StateLaQuita Daniel, Columbus StateAshlee Doughty, UNC PembrokeAllison Lones, Goergia CollegeMadeline McCane, Georgia CollegeAshton Passino, Georgia CollegeKayKay Shaffer, FlaglerSamantha Smith, Francis Marion

ustfCCCa all-southeast Region teamAlicia Connolly, Augusta StateHaley Evans, Montevallo

Paige Galvin, Clayton State Kaley Glover, Montevallo Allison Lones, Georgia College Lauren Recchia, Montevallo Taylor Strekel, Flagler

ustfCCCa all-southeast Region Coach of the year

Tommy Barksdale, MontevalloPBC all-Conference first team

Jessica Carpenter, Augusta StateKendra Dorn, UNC Pembroke Haley Evans, MontevalloKaley Glover, Montevallo Livia Mahaffie, UNC Pembroke In-Mi Matsunaga, Montevallo Taylor Strekel, Flagler

PBC all-Conference secondteamMoneque English, Columbus StatePaige Galvin, Clayton State Keely Gillespie, USC Aiken Allison Lones, Georgia College Lauren Recchia, MontevalloJessica Smith, Clayton StateSamantha Walling, Clayton State

PBC freshman of the yearTaylor Strekel, Flagler

PBC Runner of the yearLivia Mahaffie, UNC Pembroke

PBC Co-Coaches of the yearGary Aycock, UNC PembrokeAdam Ward, Augusta State

AwArd winners

rACe results App. State Pacer Charlotte Jaguar Peach Belt Invitational Invitational Invitational Invitational Championship (Sept. 2 - 5k) (Sept. 17 - 6k) (Sept. 30 - 5k) (Oct. 8 - 6k) (Oct. 22 - 6k) Lyndsay Nichols 20:25/60th 24:02/2nd 19:31/122nd 25:16/14th 24:45/18thJessica Carpenter 20:27/61st 24:16/3rd 19:28/120th 25:00/10th 23:52/4thAlicia Connolly 21:13/83rd 24:21/4th 19:51/139th 25:20/15th 24:40/16thSavannah Sutton 21:17/84th 24:56/9th 19:50/138th - - - - - 25:07/27thJacquelyn Nagel 21:29/91st 25:45/19th 20:19/138th 26:07/19th 24:41/17thAngela Woodward 21:34/95th 26:01/28th 20:43/194th 26:02/18th 25:57/37thStephanie Cipollone 22:03/103rd 25:59/26th - - - - - 27:31/30th 26:02/38thCamille Jackson 22:35/106th 26:38/39th - - - - - 31:12/40th - - - - - Team Finish/Points 11 of 12/303 1 of 10/37 18 of 36/548 2 of 4/61 3 of 10/82

GSW Georgia State Greater Louisville Foothills Peach Belt Remembrance Run Invitational Classic Invitational Championship (Sept. 10 - 5k) (Sept. 17 - 6k) (Oct. 1 - 5k) (Oct. 8 - 5k) (Oct. 22 - 6k) Jessica Smith 20:22/5th 25:44/43rd 20:00/25th 19:44/30th 24:15/9thSamantha Walling 20:37/10th - - - - - 20:07/31st 19:21/18th 24:21/13th Kourtney Aylor 20:38/12th - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Paige Galvin 20:53/13th 25:31/41st 20:14/35th 19:35/27th 24:19/12thMaia Kuhnen 21:44/21st 26:44/51st 20:35/55th 20:19/46th 25:01/25thHolly McNorton 22:32/30th 29:14/60th 22:25/151st 22:03/89th 28:44/56th FeLeshia Dyer 22:51/33rd - - - - - - - - - - 22:40/94th - - - - -Patricia Olleros - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 24:39/15th Gisele Javois - - - - - 26:46/52nd 20:54/73rd 21:29/79th 26:34/43rd Team Finish/Points 2 of 9/56 9 of 9/247 6 of 32/185 6 of 12/157 2 of 19/74

GSW Florida State Charlotte Foothills Peach Belt Remembrance Run Invitational Invitational Invitational Championships (Sept. 10 - 5k) (Sept. 23 - 5k) (Sept. 30 - 5k) (Oct. 8 - 5k) (Oct. 22 - 6k) Moneque English 20:12/4th 20:35/66th 19:54/143rd 19:28/23rd 24:09/8thMoneka English 20:36/9th 20:36/68th 20:13/158th 19:51/35th 24:56/22ndRenee Usher 20:31/7th 20:56/75th 20:17/164th 20:02/41st 24:59/24thCaroline Rotich 20:38/11th 22:00/100th 20:59/207th 20:26/52nd 25:49/35thShelby Nelson 22:02/23rd 22:38/116th 20:39/188th 20:58/66th 25:28/30thJamesha Cochran 22:09/24th 22:03/102nd 21:32/223rd 21:23/77th 26:58/48th LaQuita Daniel 25:12/54th 24:21/142nd - - - - - 24:31/101st - - - - -Lindsey Groenwald - - - - - 21:59.99th 21:39/225th 21:16/74th 26:44/46th Team Finish/Points 1 of 9/50 11 of 17/305 24 of 36/689 8 of 12/171 5 of 10/119

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR TAYLOR STREKEL

40


Tampa Pacer UF Disney Peach Belt Classic Invitational Invitational Classic Championship (Sept. 2 - 5k) (Sept. 17 - 6k) (Sept. 24 - 5k) (Oct. 8 - 5k) (Oct. 22 - 6k) Taylor Strekel 20:12/27th 23:55/1st 19:42/50th 20:07/49th 23:48/2ndLaura McKnight 20:48/40th 24:47/7th 20:23/78th 20:23/62nd 24:57/23rdKathleen Casagrande - - - - - 25:06/11th 20:32/83rd 20:01/47th 24:49/19thNicole Allen 22:18/76th 25:44/18th - - - - - 22:37/169th 27:03/49thErin Buning 22:49/88th 25:53/23rd 22:34/140th 22:06/153rd 26:36/44thKaitlyn Shaffer - - - - - 26:51/42nd 22:20/134th 22:11/156th 26:24/42ndMadeleine Pinaire 21:31/95th 27:15/46th 23:08/147th 23:14/188th 28:38/55thEmma Caird 24:53/110th - - - - - 24:23/169th - - - - - - - - - - Team Finish/Points 9 of 14/258 2 of 10/60 15 of 19/397 14 of 28/408 6 of 10/130

Gamecock Seahawk Pacer Charlotte Wingate Peach Belt Invitational Invitational Invitational Invitational Invitational Championship (Sept. 2 - 5k) (Sept. 9 - 5k) (Sept. 17 - 6k) (Sept. 30 - 5k) (Oct. 13 - 5k) (Oct. 22 - 6k) Whitney Wagner 20:39/6th 20:58/27th 25:28/13th 20:19/169th 22:08/10th 25:31/32ndSamantha Smith 22:56/14th 21:56/41st 26:00/27th 21:23/216th 21:55/9th 26:24/41stDiana Levy 24:58/20th 25:30/77th 30:01/61st 24:06/268th 25:39/24th 30:15/62ndAllyson Franklin 25:53/24th 25:53/81st 30:34/65th 24:45/274th 25:31/22nd 30:16/63rdLondon Barnhill 27:29/29th 27:08/90th 31:25/66th 25:52/277th 25:35/23rd 31:14/65thLaMeshia Jackson - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 23:08/253rd - - - - - 29:53/61st Team Finish/Points 3 of 4/66 8 of 11/226 8 of 10/202 34 of 36/971 3 of 4/76 9 of 10/259

Bobcat Pacer Cod Fish Jaguar Peach Belt Invitational UC Irvine Invitational Bowl Invitational Championship (Sept. 2 - 5k) (Sept. 10 - 5k) (Sept. 17 - 6k) (Sept. 24 - 5k) (Oct. 8 - 6k) (Oct. 22 - 6K) Allison Lones 21:27/5th 20:35/65th 24:38/6th 20:50/69th 24:44/9th 24:19/11thKarissa Ekstrom 21:48/6th 21:27/95th 25:49/22nd 23:05/183rd 26:47/25th 25:47/34thAshton Passino 21:55/7th 21:12/90th 25:49/21st 22:16/147th 26:11/21st 25:39/33rdRebecca Shane 21:58/8th 21:16/92nd 25:37/15th 22:04/133rd 26:00/17th 26:14/40thCourtney Timmerman 22:09/10th - - - - - 26:54/43rd - - - - - 28:50/35th - - - - -Victoria Dobson 22:23/12th - - - - - 25:48/20th 22:04/134th 26:29/24th 25:26/29thCatie Tinker 22:56/14th - - - - - 26:07/30th - - - - - 26:49/26th 26:40/45thMadeline McCane 23:09/15th 26:12/34th 26:13/17th 26:47/47th Andrea Byrnes - - - - - 22:09/105th 26:09/32nd - - - - - 27:25/29th - - - - - Team Finish/Points 2 of 4/36 10 of 11/273 4 of 10/84 16 of 23/425 3 of 4/73 7 of 10/147

Bobcat GSW Darton Foothills Peach Belt Invitational Remembrance Run Invitational Invitational Championship (Sept. 2 - 5k) (Sept. 10 - 5k) (Oct. 1 - 5k) (Oct. 8 - 5k) (Oct. 22 - 6k) Lisa Espino 24:26/21st 22:11/24th 22:10/3rd 22:06/90th 27:59/53rdMicah Bucher 25:49/24th 22:30/28th 23:18/11th 21:47/83rd 28:18/54thMillie McGowan 25:50/25th 24:13/46th 23:45/15th 22:46/96th 29:24/58thKelsey Baker 27:36/29th 23:29/39th 23:34/14th 23:39/97th 28:55/57thLeady Cuellar 27:46/31st 24:45/51st 24:52/19th 24:50/103rd 30:30/64thKaty York 28:06/32nd 27:06/61st 24:40/18th 23:50/99th 29:49/59thLauren Brown 28:31/33rd 24:46/52nd 24:58/20th 25:02/105th 31:40/67th Team Finish/Points 4 of 4/130 7 of 9/181 2 of 4/47 12 of 12/344 10 of 10/281

41

Earl Jacoby Pacer Tiger Queens University Peach Belt Memorial Invitational Invitational Challenge Championship (Sept. 10 - 5k) (Sept. 17 - 6k) (Sept. 30 - 6k) (Oct. 14 - 5k) (Oct. 22 - 6k) Haley Evans 20:22/9th 24:49/8th 24:17/4th 18:54/36th 23:16/1stIn-Mi Matsunaga 20:37/16th 24:27/5th 24:23/5th 19:16/52nd 24:04/7thGinny Davis 21:28/27th 25:55/25th 25:18/12th 20:35/104th 25:29/31stKatherine Schofield 21:35/30th 25:14/12th 24:41/7th 20:13/88th 24:54/21stKatie Vanover 21:54/36th 26:14/35th 26:05/22nd - - - - - 27:03/50thLauren Recchia 21:57/39th 25:40/16th 26:11/24th 19:40/67th 24:16/10thKaley Glover 22:14/41st - - - - - 24:35/6th 19:35/63rd 23:54/5thJessi Clark 22:20/42nd 26:46/41st - - - - - 22:16/143rd - - - - - Team Finish/Points 5 of 12/118 3 of 10/66 1 of 6/34 10 of 21/259 1 of 10/44

Gamecock College of Charleston Pacer Charlotte Disney Peach Belt Invitational Invitational Invitational Invitational Classic Championship (Sept. 2 - 5k) (Sept. 10 - 5k) (Sept. 17 - 6k) (Sept. 30 - 5k) (Oct. 8 - 5k) (Oct. 22 - 6k) LivIa Mahaffie 19:58/1st 19:30/16th - - - - - 19:39/27th 19:39/27th 23:49/3rdAnnette Sem 20:16/2nd 20:11/32nd - - - - - 20:12/154th 20:36/76th 25:21/28thJulie Sem 20:29/5th 21:00/44th - - - - - 20:53/200th 21:37/133rd 25:51/36thAshlee Doughty 20:48/7th 20:05/30th - - - - - 19:56/146th 20:31/69th 25:03/26thCarrie Blankenship 20:52/8th 20:34/39th - - - - - 19:34/126th 20:47/84th 24:53/20thKendra Dorn 21:12/9th 20:52/42nd - - - - - 20:18/166th 20:58/94th 24:03/6thRebecca Roman 21:29/10th - - - - - 26:08/31st - - - - - 21:31/127th - - - - -Megan Carney 21:43/11th - - - - - 24:58/10th 20:35/185th 20:55/88th 26:10/39th Team Finish/Points 1 of 4/20 4 of 8/122 5 of 10/164 18 of 36/548 9 of 28/313 4 of 10/83

Gamecock Erskine Pacer Charlotte Jaguar Peach Belt Invitational Invitational Invitational Invitational Invitational Championship (Sept. 2 - 5k) (Sept. 9 - 4k) (Sept. 17 - 6k) (Sept. 30 - 5k) (Oct. 8 - 6k) (Oct. 22 - 6k) Keely Gillespie 20:22/4th 16:13/2nd 25:31/14th 19:44/134th 25:02/11th 24:37/14thBrittany May 23:38/16th 19:31/22nd 27:57/50th 23:11/254th 30:09/39th 29:51/60thKayla Millholland 24:42/19th 18:04/13th 26:55/44th 22:10/236th 27:44/32nd 27:29/51stAlexis Harvin 25:09/21st 19:18/18th 26:57/45th 23:59/266th 29:22/37th 27:53/52ndCassey Lloyd 27:16/27th 20:59/26th 26:13/34th 26:20/279th 32:38/42nd 31:24/66thLauren Hodge - - - - - 21:19/27th 31:44/69th 26:22/280th 33:18/43rd - - - - - Team Finish/Points 2nd of 4/61 4th of 5/78 7th of 10/169 33 of 36/962 4th of 4/108 8 of 10/243

PBC QuaRteRfInal: no. 19 flagleR aDvanCes to semIs wIth 4-0 oveR usCa(11/1/11) ST. AUGUSTINE – After a scoreless first half, Eammon Murphy booted in a lofted pass from Johan Bergfeld in the 50th minute to help lead No. 19 (NSCAA Division II Top 25) Flagler College to a 4-0 win over USC Aiken in a Peach Belt Conference Men’s Soccer Tournament Quarterfinal Match Tuesday night at Saints Field.

Flagler, the No. 1 seed, advances to the semifinals where it will take on the No. 5 seed Clayton State Uni-versity on Friday (Nov. 4) at 7:30 p.m. Clayton State upset No. 4 seed North Georgia 1-0 tonight in

Men’ssoCCer

CONFERENCE OVERALL Pts GP Record Win % GP Record Win % Last 101. Flagler 19 8 6-1-1 0.812 23 17-3-3 0.804 8-0-22. Montevallo 17 8 5-1-2 0.750 21 12-5-4 0.667 5-3-23. Lander 16 8 5-2-1 0.688 17 8-7-2 0.529 4-5-14. North Georgia 15 8 5-3 0.625 17 9-7-1 0.559 5-55. Clayton State 12 8 4-4 0.500 18 10-8 0.556 4-66. UNC Pembroke 11 8 3-3-2 0.500 18 11-5-2 0.667 5-3-27. Francis Marion 7 8 2-5-1 0.312 18 4-13-1 0.250 3-6-18. USC Aiken 5 8 1-5-2 0.250 17 3-10-4 0.294 1-5-49. Ga. Southwestern 1 8 0-7-1 0.062 16 3-11-2 0.250 1-8-1

FiNAL STANDiNGS

42

Men’s Soccer

43

Dahlonega, Ga.Flagler extended its unbeaten streak to nine matches and im-proved its record to 13-3-2 over-all. The Saints are a perfect 3-0 in PBC Tournament quarterfinals since joining the league in 2009. USC Aiken wraps up its season at 3-10-4 and were winless in its last six matches.

The Pacers lost forward Steven Campbell in the 58th minute when he was booked with his second yellow card and had to sit the rest of the match.

Pol Berenguer scored the insur-ance goal in the

75th minute after receiving a through ball from

Zach Shanahan. Bergenguer broke in on the keeper and lobbed

a shot over his head.

Mack Hough tacked on his team-leading 10th goal of the season in the 84th minute as he knocked in a saved shot.

Marco Padilla finished the scoring after collecting a

loose ball at the top of the penalty box and beat the keeper to the lower left corner.

Camp Bissell recorded his eighth shutout of the

season and tallied two saves. Robert Bolender played the first 81:43 and recorded three saves for

the Pacers. Corey Pitts finished the

game in goal for USC Aiken

and saved one shot.

Flagler out-shot USC Aiken 21-7, including an 8-2 advantage in shots on goal. The Saints also held a 7-6 advantage in corner kicks.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInal: Pugh DelIveRs as Clayton state men aDvanCe In PeaCh Belt ConfeRenCe touRnament(11/1/11) DAHLONEGA, Ga. – Throughout this 2011 men’s soccer season, Ryan Pugh has struggled offen-sively for the Clayton State Lakers. However, he deliv-ered when the Lakers needed it the most on Tuesday.

Pugh scored the game-winner late in the second half as Clayton State prevailed in a 1-0 thriller at North Georgia in the first round of the 2011 Peach Belt Conference Tournament. The victory improves Clayton State to 10-7 overall, and the Lakers will play either Flagler or USC Aiken in Friday’s 7 p.m. PBC semifinal in Augusta.

North Georgia’s season ends at 9-7-1.

Pugh came through for the Lakers in the 83rd minute when he took a right cross from senior forward Matty Phillips and scored on a header in front of the goal. It was the break the Lakers needed after constantly

FLAGLER’SJOSEPH TOBY

#1 FlaglerFlagler 4-0

Flagler 3-2 (ot)

Flagler 3-1

#8 USC Aiken

#4 N. Georgia

#5 Clayton St.Clayton St. 1-0

#3 Lander

#6 UNCP

UNCP 2-1

#2 Montevallo

#7 FMUMontevallo 2-1

Montevallo1-0

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111101_g213.xml

attacking North Georgia with 23 shots to only 10 for the Saints.

Clayton State goalkeeper Brian Garcia re-corded the shutout with one save, while North Georgia goalkeeper Rade Tanas-kovic recorded seven saves. Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInal:BRaves vICtoRIous oveR lanDeR(11/1/11) GREENWOOD, S.C. – Transfer Sean Hoek scored the game winning goal in the 78th minute to snap an eight-game losing streak in the series with Lander, and push the UNCP men’s soccer team to the semi-final round of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament on Tuesday eve-ning at the Jeff May Complex, 2-1.

Hoek registered both goals for the Braves (11-4-2) as he entered the second half with his focus on attacking the Bearcats’ (8-7-2) goal. At the 59:26 mark, he tied the game up at one goal apiece and headed in his second goal of the game from the middle of the box.The victory marks the first time since 2005 the Braves defeated Lander along with snapping a six-game losing streak in the conference tournament play for UNCP, giving the Braves their first win in the postsea-son since defeating USC Upstate in 2004 to become conference champions.

The Braves rushed the Lander goal in the early minutes of the first half but fell victim to a strategic Bearcat offense. Sophomore Brett Jankouskas started the momentum for the Bearcats in the fifth minute as he knocked in the first goal of the game. Jankouskas lined up for the free kick slightly in front of the box, but the ball ricocheted off the UNCP’s defenders until he rebounded the block shot and sent the ball soaring through the center of the net.

UNCP strikers Hoek, Adam Smith and Sam Miles continued the push on Lander’s goal as the Braves registered four shots at the half while Lander tallied three. The match proved to be an aggressive battle from the starting whistle as teams collected nine fouls along with a yellow card on Clement Dauchy with four seconds remaining in the first half.

Goalkeeper Ryan Hanson played tactical defense as

he pushed a free kick by Jankouskas above the goal to keep the score tied with less than 30 minutes re-maining in regulation play. Hanson grabbed five saves in his 90 minutes between the pipes, while Hoek tal-lied a game-high seven shots. Miles and Payne Clark collected assists on Hoek’s two goals.

The Black and Gold outshot the Bearcats 13-9 as the teams combined for 18 fouls. Janakouskas led Lander with four shots while Matthew Atkinson collected five saves in goal.

“The win feels good especially after the loss on Satur-day to Lander,” said UNCP head coach Phil Hindson. “The guys deserve the win because they played hard and fought for the victory.”

The Braves head to Evans, Ga., to finish out the PBC Tournament as they face Montevallo (11-3-4) in the semifinals on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The winners of both Friday contests will meet in Sunday’s championship game at 3:30 p.m.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInal: falCons soaR Past PatRIots In PBC touRnament, 2-0(11/1/11)MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The University of Montevallo men’s soccer team (11-3-4) took control of possession early in its Peach Belt Conference Tourna-ment First Round match against Francis Marion Uni-versity (4-13-1) and never looked back as the Falcons won 2-0 while dominating possession and out-shoot-ing the Patriots 22-2.

Sophomore goalkeeper Brendan Ledgeway (York, England/All Saints) picked up his 10th shutout of the season without having to make a save.

UNC PEMBROKE’S SEAN HOEK

44

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111101_r056.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111101_rk6k.xml

Men’s Soccer

Despite the dominance of possession the Falcons found goals hard to come by as they were held score-less in the first half. UM out-shot the Patriots 7-1 in the first period but came away empty.

Just under 22 minutes into the second half the Fal-cons persistence paid off as freshman Giuliano Frano (Mississauga, Ontario/St. Marcellinus) used a per-fectly placed pass to put junior Shane Howard (County Carlow, Ireland/Old Dominion University) behind the FMU defense. Howard delivered with a strike off the post and past the FMU keeper to give UM a 1-0 lead.

Just 13 minutes later Frano again used a perfect pace to put classmate Alex Morton (Hoover, Ala./Hoover) behind the FMU defense. Morton dribbled the ball to the middle of the box and beat the keeper to give UM a 2-0 lead.

Frano had a tremendous game using his speed to beat defenders and his passing skills to free up team-mates. He led the team with nine shots including four on goal. Howard and junior Mike Rinzema (Brampton, Ontario/Humber College) each had three shots with one on goal. UM out-shot the Patriots 15-1 in the second half.

The Falcons will now travel to Evans, Georgia for the PBC Tournament Semifinals where they will battle No. 6 seed UNC Pembroke who upset the No. 3 seed Lander 2-1 on the road. The Braves gave the Falcons a tough match in their only meeting this season as both teams scored one goal in a double-overtime tie.Box Score

PBC semIfInal: flagleR esCaPes Clayton state 3-2 In oveRtIme(11/4/11) EVANS, Ga. – Flagler’s Marco Padilla scored the golden goal in the 92nd minute Friday night to lead the top-seeded Saints to a 3-2 overtime victory over fifth-seeded Clayton State in the semifinal round of the Peach Belt Conference Men’s Soccer

Tournament at Blanchard Woods Park.

Flagler will face second-seeded Montevallo, a 1-0 winner over sixth-seeded UNC Pembroke, at 3:30 p.m. Sunday in the championship game at Blanchard Woods Park. The tournament champion earns an au-tomatic berth into the national championship tourna-ment.

Flagler improves to 14-3-2 overall, while Clayton State drops to 10-8.

Kevin Keenan gave Flagler a 1-0 lead at 17:22 when he nailed a penalty kick to the upper left corner.

Clayton State came back and tied the game at 1-1 when Ryan Pugh headed in a deflected free kick at 42:51. Janny Rivera was credited with the assist.

The Lakers took their first lead of the game at 52:21 when Matty Phillips found the back of the net on an assist from Pugh.

Flagler’s Joseph Toby tied the game at 2-all at 75:14 when he headed in his own missed shot.

Padilla’s game winner came at 92:16 on an assist from Pol Berenguer.Box Score

PBC touRnament: montevallo aDvanCes to tItle game 1-0 (11/4/11) EVANS, Ga. – For the second-straight season the University of Montevallo men’s soccer team (12-3-4) will take on Flagler College (14-3-2) in the Peach Belt Confer-ence Championship. The Falcons advanced to the title match with a 1-0 vic-tory over UNC Pembroke (11-5-2) in the Semifinal Round.

UM’s lone goal came off a penalty kick in the 47th minute of action from senior Phil Jackson (Lincoln-

45

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111101_087p.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111104_ooyn.xml

shire, England/Queen Elizabeth’s). The tally was Jack-son’s fourth game-winner of the season and second in the past three matches.

The match was a very physical affair with 28 total fouls called including the infraction that led to the penalty kick.UNCP looked to be in control in the first half as they held the Falcons without a shot while taking three of their own. First Team All-Conference performer Bren-dan Ledgeway (York, England/All Saints) made one save in the first period and four more in the second to pick up his 11th shutout of the season and drop his goals against average to a staggering 0.63.

The second half began with a flash as UM immediately put the pressure on the Pembroke defense. Just over a minute into the period junior Shane Howard (County Carlow, Ireland/Old Dominion University) broke into the box for a point blank shot that was saved by UNCP goalkeeper Ryan Hanson. The rebound came loose and Howard went for the ball but was speared by Han-son which caused the Braves to be called for a foul. Jackson stepped up to the penalty spot and buried the ball into the corner to give UM the 1-0 advantage.

The Falcons and Braves would battle back-and-forth the rest of the way as both teams took nine shots a piece. UM would have a few more scoring chances as senior Tyson Eyo (Liverpool, England/Florida Tech) clanked a ball off the post and freshman Alex Morton (Hoover, Ala./Hoover) sailed a ball over the crossbar from point blank range.

Howard led the Falcons with five shots including three on goal while Sean Hoek led the Braves with four shots and two on goal.

The Falcons will return to action this Sunday at 3:30 (EST) as they take on the No.1 seed Flagler College in the PBC Championship match. The two teams tied during the regular season and UM bested the Saints last season in the Championship match.Box Score

flagleR RallIes to ClaIm PBC men’s soCCeR touRnament tItle(11/6/11) EVANS, GA – After reaching the PBC Tour-nament title game twice in the past two years and not coming away with the crown, the top-seeded Flagler Saints made the third time the charm as they rallied to beat second-seeded Montevallo 3-1 for their first tournament championship. The Saints, who improve to 15-3-2 overall with the win, were down 1-0 at halftime to the Falcons, but scored three second-half goals, two from Will Fransden, to win. Montevallo falls to 12-4-4 with the loss, the Falcons were the defend-ing tournament champions after beating Flagler last year.

With daylight turning to dusk at Blanchard Woods Park, Montevallo went on the attack early but left themselves open to counterattack and were outshot 4-1 in the opening 20 minutes of the game. That changed with a corner kick 30:25 into play as Ricky Davey headed the corner attempt from Phil Jackson

2011 PBC MEN’S SOCCER CHAMPiONSFLAGLER COLLEGE SAiNTS

46

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111104_zgue.xml

Men’s Soccer

47

into the crossbar. Gu-liano Frano was there for the rebound and buried it into the net for a 1-0 lead.

That lead would hold up for the rest of the half as Flagler had problems maintain-ing possession, but were still able to take shots, outshooting the Falcons 6-8 in the first half.

Both teams had op-portunities to begin the second half as a header from Flagler’s

Joseph Toby sailed high, followed minutes later by a pair of Falcon shots; one that went wide and another saved by Saints keeper Camp Bissel.

Flagler tied the game at the 55:36 mark as Joseph Toby found himself inside the 18-yard-box with all kinds of space and sent a perfect ball to Will Frans-den, who headed it home.

Flagler struck again 12 minutes later as Fransden did the honors again, this time with his feet. Johan Berg-feld broke free on the right side, sent a ball into Toby who flicked it with his chest over to Fransden.

Montevallo was further hampered by foul trouble as midfielder Ricky Davey picked up his second yellow card of the game at the 72:17 mark, forcing Monte-vallo to play with only 10. Flagler struck for the third time just 13 seconds later as Pol Berenguer headed a free kick from Kevin Keenan just under the crossbar. Falcon players played the ball out, but officials ruled that it had crossed the line for a 3-1 lead.

Montevallo pulled out all the stops in the last 20 min-utes, but were unable to come away with the win. UM took nine corners to Flagler’s seven but were outshot by the Saints 15-13. UM collected seven yellow cards in the physical game with three more handed to Flagler.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: falCons fall In nCaa oPenIng RounD, 3-0(11/89/11) MARS HILL, N.C. – The University of Mon-tevallo men’s soccer team’s (12-5-4) season came to an end in the Opening Round of the NCAA Tourna-ment. The Falcons fell on the road to Mars Hill College (12-5-1), 3-0. UM gave up a pair of first half goals and were never able to recover as the Lions’ defense held strong. The Falcons took nine shots on goal which was one more then the Lions but they were unable to get any past the MHC keeper who had eight saves on the night.

Stephen Bivens got the scoring started for MHC in the 19th minute as Alex Mullen fed Bivens the ball in the box where Bivens was able to beat the UM keeper for the early lead. Bivens added another first half goal at the 31:13 mark when he scored off a rebound sent in again by Mullen. Mars Hill outshot Montevallo, 11-6 in the opening frame. Six of the Lions’ shots were on goal. The Falcons edged the Lions in corner kicks in the first half, 4-1.

Brandon Tardioli recorded an insurance goal at the 87:38 mark to make the final tally, 3-0 in favor of the Lions. Tardioli found the back of the net from nine yards out on a pass from Giovanni Malnati.

MHC outshot the Falcons, 18-16. Montevallo had eight more corner kicks (9-1) than the Lions.

The Falcons were led in shots by a trio of players including senior Tyson Eyo (Liverpool, England/Florida Tech), junior Shane Howard (County Carlow, Ireland/Old Dominion University) and freshman Giuliano Frano (Mississauga, Ontario/St. Marcellinus) who all had four shots. Eyo led in shots on goal with four.

Sophomore goalkeeper Brendan Ledgeway (York, Eng-land/All Saints) made five saves in the loss.

The loss ends the Falcons season and the program will bid farewell to three seniors including Eyo, Phil Jackson (Lincolnshire, England/Queen Elizabeth’s) and Vance Curro (Hoover, Ala./Spain Park).Box Score

PBC All-TournAmenT TeAmChris Bishop, North Georgia

Brett Jankouskas, LanderTroy Watson, USC Aiken

Adrian Williams, Francis MarionStuart Rodgers, UNC Pembroke

Shawn Hoek, UNC PembrokeChris Klute, Clayton State

Janny Rivera, Clayton StateBrendan Ledgeway, Montevallo

Guiliano Frano, MontevalloTyson Eyo, Montevallo

Johan Bergfeld, FlaglerJoseph Toby, Flagler

Will Frandsen, Flagler

TournAmenT mVPPol Berenguer, Flagler

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111106_5ujf.xml

http://www.montevallofalcons.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111109_qm36.xml

nCaa touRnament: flagleR’s PaDIlla sCoRes In ot; flagleR Defeats lees-mCRae 2-1(11/11/11) HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Marco Padilla is Flagler College’s “Mr. November” as he scored his second overtime goal in a week as No. 10 (NSCAA Di-vision II Top 25) Flagler College advances to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional final with a 2-1 double-overtime win over Lees-McRae College Friday evening at the Coker Soccer Field. Flagler will play the winner of Mars Hill and Coker at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Flagler, the No. 2 seed in the regional, breaks the school record with its 12th consecutive match without a loss (11-0-1) and improved to 16-3-2. Lees-McRae, the No. 6-seed, ended its season at 16-6-1.

Padilla’s heroics first came a week ago when he scored the golden goal in the 93rd minute in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament semifinal match against Clayton State University.

This evening, he one-touched a ball from Will Frand-sen (Orange Park, Fla., Orange Park HS) into the back of the net, just 16 seconds into the second overtime period, for the victory.

The Saints got on the board first, just before halftime. Branden Langenberg (Jacksonville, Fla., Providence School) scored his first collegiate goal when he blast-ed a shot, from inside the 18 in the 44th minute, to give Flagler a 1-0 lead.

James Smith, who scored the equalizer in the two teams match earlier in the year, did so again early in the second half. He knocked in a free kick in the 54th minute to tie the score 1-all.

Camp Bissell (Orlando, Fla., Timber Creek HS) came up big in goal for the Saints with three saves following the goal to keep the game knotted up. His counter-part, Thomas Rusling, made a pair of saves in the last 10 minutes of regulation to also keep the match tied.

The only shot in the first overtime session was a header by Lees-McRae’s Scott Alford, but was wide of the goal.

Bissell finished the match with three saves for the Saints while Rusling recorded seven for the Bobcats.

Flagler out-shot Lees-McRae 16-10 and held a 9-4 advantage in shots on goal. The Saints also held a 9-6 edge in corner kicks.Flagler avenged its loss at Lees-McRae, a 2-1 set-back on Sept. 3 at Banner Elk. The win today is Flagler’s first NCAA Tournament win. The Saints had lost its previous two matches.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: flagleR Rolls to elIte eIght wIth 3-0 wIn(11/13/11) HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Mack Hough’s goal in the third minute proved to be all the offense No. 10 (NSCAA Division II Top 25) Flagler College needed in a 3-0 win over Mars Hill College in the NCAA Division II South-east Regional men’s soccer final Sunday afternoon at the Coker Soccer Field.

Flagler will take on the winner of the South Regional between Barry University and Lynn University in a national quarterfinal on either Saturday or Sunday at a site and time to be determined.

Flagler extended its unbeaten streak to 13 matches, the longest in the program’s history. The Saints im-proved to 17-3-2 and tied a school record for wins in a season in the modern era. Flagler won 17 matches back in 2002. Mars Hill ends its season with a 13-6-1 record.

Hough tapped in a re-directed pass from Pol Beren-guer for his 11th goal of the season.

In the 22nd minute, Joseph Toby scored his 11th goal of the season when his diving header, off

a Berenguer pass, found the back of the

net.

The Saints nearly took a 3-0 lead when Zach Shanahan’s shot in the 37th minute hit the post.

The score would remain 2-0 in favor of the Saints at the half.

Shanahan would get FLAGLER’S

JOHAN BERGFELD48

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111111_q2dc.xml

Men’s Soccer

49

redemption in the waning seconds of the match when he scored on a breakaway with just 22 second left.

Flagler played the last 19 minutes of the match with a man-advantage due to a Mars Hill player receiving a straight red card.

Camp Bissell recorded his ninth shutout of the season and recorded three saves. Zac Scott was active be-tween the pipes for the Lions as he made 15 saves.Flagler out-shot Mars Hill 21-6, including an 18-3 ad-

vantage in shots on frame. Each team took six corner kicks.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: flagleR falls to lynn In shootout In nCaa QuaRteRfInal(11/19/11) ST. AUGUSTINE – Martin Wehlert’s con-verted the fourth penalty kick sent No. 20 (NSCAA Division II Top 25) Lynn University to the NCAA Divi-sion II Men’s Soccer Tournament Semifinals on Dec. 1 at Pensacola, Fla. Lynn and No. 10 Flagler played to a 1-1 double overtime draw, but Lynn held the ad-vantage in corner kicks 4-2 in a national quarterfinal match Saturday night at Saints Field.

Lynn moves to 13-4-3 overall while Flagler ends its season at 17-3-3. Lynn will take on No. 2 Franklin Pierce University of Rindge, N.H., in a national semi-final. Franklin Pierce defeated Southern New Hamp-shire University 1-0 this evening.

In the shootout round, leading scorer Harald Gracholski’a shot was saved by goalkeeper Camp Bis-sell. Flagler’s Will Frandsen converted on his attempt to give the edge to the Saints. Julian Halder stepped up and put the ball into the back of the net on the sec-ond attempt for the Fighting Knights. Kevin Keenan’s shot went high to put the shootout square a 1-all.

Sam Shorrocks scored on the third attempt by Lynn and then Pol Berenguer’s shot went high for Flagler. With Lynn leading 2-1, Johnny Mertl found the back of the net forcing a Flagler conversion. Zach Shanahan scored to keep Flagler’s hopes alive. But that is when Wehlert found the bottom right corner to end the shootout.

Gracholski got Lynn on the board first when he took a cross from Stefan Wolf in the middle of the penalty box and booted the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal in the 4th minute.

Frandsen scored the equalizer in the 53rd minute off a Berenguer cross.

Both keepers were excellent with DiCerbo recording five saves and Bissell a season-high 14 saves. Bissell made several spectacular saves late in the match to preserve the tie. Lynn out-shot Flagler 27-17, including 15-6 on goal. Both teams took six corner kicks apiece.Box Score

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKSEPTEMBER 7, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperMack Hough Chris Klute Brian GarciaFlagler Clayton State Clayton State

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperJoseph Toby Mike RInzema Joe CullipFlagler Montevallo UNC Pembroke

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperChris Hobbs Zachry Samples Camp BissellLander North Georgia Flagler

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperPhil Jackson Dan Reid Camp BissellMontevallo Flagler Flagler

OCTOBER 4, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperKenny Mena Matthew Osmond Brendan LedgewayClayton State Lander Montevallo

OCTOBER 11, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperJohan Bergfeld Gary O’Neill Brendan LedgewayFlagler Montevallo Montevallo

OCTOBER 18, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperSam Miles Adrian Williams Ryan HansonUNC Pembroke Francis Marion UNC Pembroke

OCTOBER 25, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperJoseph Toby Michael Davis Ryan HansonFlagler UNC Pembroke UNC Pembroke

NOVEMBER 1, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperManuel Hernandez Stuart Rodgers Brendan LedgewayNorth Georgia UNC Pembroke Montevallo

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111113_fq2h.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111119_o14m.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110907msocpotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110907msocdotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110907msocgkotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110913mspotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110913msdotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110913msgkotw








http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20111004msdotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20111004msgkotw













Capital one academic all-america first team

Johan Bergfeld, FlaglerCapital one academic all-america third team

Alex Antonescu, UNC PembrokeCapital one academic all-District team

Scott Berry, USC AikenPaul Freeman, UNC PembrokeDan Reid, FlaglerEthan Vick, Georgia Southwestern

nsCaa scholar all-america second teamJohan Bergfeld, Flagler

nsCaa scholar all-Region second teamJesy Phelps, North Georgia

nsCaa scholar all-Region hon. mentionMilorad Bozickovic, North GeorgiaJesus Cruz, Francis MarionGray Phelps, North GeorgiaEthan Vick, Georgia Southwestern

Peach Belt Conference all-academic teamAlex Antonescu, UNC PembrokeChinedu Arinze, USC AikenStephen Beatty, MontevalloJohan Bergfeld, FlaglerScott Berry, USC AikenDaniel Bougt, UNC PembrokeChuy Cruz, Francis MarionVance Curro, MontevalloPaul Freeman, UNC PembrokeKevin Huet, Georgia SouthwesternCade Jones, Georgia SouthwesternBrett Luccia, UNC PembrokeGray Phelps, North GeorgiaJesy Phelps, North GeorgiaMichael Poole, USC AikenDan Reid, FlaglerJack Reynolds, USC AikenJames Romaniw, Georgia SouthwesternKofi Trim, USC AikenJackson Tolleson, MontevalloEthan Vick, Georgia Southwestern

Peach Belt Conference all-academic honorable mention

Schevon Joseph, USC AikenRyuhei Nose, Montevallo

nsCaa all-southeast Region first teamChris Klute, Clayton StateJohan Bergfeld, FlaglerJoseph Toby, Flagler

nsCaa all-southeast Region second teamBrendan Ledgeway, MontevalloTyson Eyo, MontevalloSam Miles, UNC Pembroke

nsCaa all-southeast Region third teamClement Simonin, LanderMatthew Phillips, Clayton State

nsCaa southeast Region Coach of the yearJohn Lynch, Flagler

Daktronics all-america first teamJoseph Toby, Flagler

Daktronics all-america second teamJohan Bergfeld, Flagler

Daktronics all-southeast Region first team

Pol Berenguer, FlaglerJanny Rivera, Clayton StateKevin Keenan, FlaglerChris Klute, Clayton State

Daktronics all-southeast Region second team

Sam Miles, UNC PembrokeMack Hough, FlaglerChinedu Arinze, USC Aiken

PBC all-Conference first teamChinedu Arinze, USC AikenJohan Bergfeld, FlaglerAlex Blandin, Francis MarionMack Hough, FlaglerKevin Keenan, FlaglerChris Klute, Clayton StateBrendan Ledgeway, MontevalloSam Miles, UNC Pembroke

AwArd winners

FLAGLER’S BERGFELD, UNCP’S ANTONESCU NAMED ACADEMiC ALL-AMERiCANS Flagler senior midfielder Jo-han Bergfeld and UNC Pem-broke sophomore midfielder Alex Antonescu were named Capitol One/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans on Monday. The two players become only the second and third men's soccer players in PBC history to be named to the team and the first since USC Aiken's Plamen Peev in 2004. Bergfeld was named a first-team Aca-demic All-American, the first in PBC history, while Antonescu was named to the third team. The award is largely recognized as the highest individual honor a student-athlete can receive.

Bergfeld was named the Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year and earned first-team all-conference honors as well being selected to Academic All-District and Academic All-Conference teams. He has started in all 22 matches this season and has scored six goals, with four being game-winners, to go along with five assists for 17 points. In the classroom, the native of Akers Styckebruk, Sweden, is studying business at Flagler with a 3.96 cumulative GPA.

Antonescu held the second-highest grade point average among the individuals honored on the PBC All-Academic team with a cumulative 3.97 GPA. The exercise and sports science major played in 17 games with 12 starts to combine for 853 minutes on the field. He registered his first goal of the season in the shutout victory over Brevard before tallying his second goal and first assist of the season in the win over Barton. The midfielder has taken 18 shots, seven of which (.389) were on goal. Last season, the Charlotte native, garnered a spot on the Peach Belt Conference Presidential Honor Roll.

50

Men’s Soccer

51

Matty Phillips, Clayton StateJanny Rivera, Clayton StateClement Simonin, LanderJoseph Toby, FlaglerAdrian Williams, Francis Marion

PBC all-Conference second teamShane Howard, MontevalloTyson Eyo, MontevalloWill Frandsen, FlaglerShane McKay, Georgia SouthwesternJesy Phelps, North GeorgiaChevy Augustine, USC AikenMike Davis, UNC PembrokeGary O’Neill, MontevalloMike Rinzema, MontevalloRyan Hanson, UNC PembrokeRade Tanaskovic, North Georgia

PBC Player of the yearJohan Bergfeld, Flagler

PBC freshman of the yearSam Miles, UNC Pembroke

PBC Coach of the yearJohn Lynch, Flagler

(L-R) BERGFELD, LYNCH AND MiLES

IndIvIdualPoIntsJoseph Toby, Flagler 30Sam Miles, UNC Pembroke 29Mack Hough, Flagler 24Brett Jankouskas, Lander 21Kenny Mena, Clayton State 20Alex Blandin, Francis Marion 19Pol Berenguer, Flagler 19Chris Hobbs, Lander 19Ryan Pugh, Clayton State 19Shane Howard, Montevallo 18 goalsS am Miles, UNC Pembroke 12Joseph Toby, Flagler 11Mack Hough, Flagler 11Brett Jankouskas, Lander 10Alex Blandin, Francis Marion 9Chris Hobbs, Lander 9Kenny Mena, Clayton State 8Shane Howard, Montevallo 8Ryan Pugh, Clayton State 8Manuel Hernandez, North Georgia 7assIstsPol Berenguer, Flagler 11Joseph Toby, Flagler 8Matty Phillips, Clayton State 6Zach Acree, Lander 5Sam Miles, UNC Pembroke 5Matthew Osmond, Lander 5Shaun Herselman, UNC Pembroke 5

Phil Jackson, Montevallo 5Adam Smith, UNC Pembroke 5Johan Bergfeld, Flagler 5goals-agaInst aveRageB rendanLedgeway, Montevallo 0.85Ryan Hanson, UNC Pembroke 0.86Camp Bissell, Flagler 0.91Brian Garcia, Clayton State 1.17Matthew Atkinson, Lander 1.45Scott Playle, Lander 1.48Rade Tanaskovic, North Georgia 1.57Cade Jones, Ga. Southwestern 1.95Rober Bolender, USC Aiken 1.95Garret Blamire, Ga. Southwestern 2.17save PeRCentageCamp Bissell, Flagler .811Brendan Ledgeway, Montevallo .798Ryan Hanson, UNC Pembroke .797Scott Playle, Lander .746Brian Garcia, Clayton State .736Rade Tanaskovic, North Georgia .722Matthew Atkinson, Lander .711Robert Bolender, USC Aiken .682Cade Jones, Ga. Southwestern .661Nick Lucido, Francis Marion .651

Teamgoals PeR gameFlagler 2.57UNC Pembroke 2.39Lander 2.06Clayton State 1.83Montevallo 1.71North Georgia 1.59Francis Marion 0.89USC Aiken 0.88Georgia Southwestern 0.88team goals-agaInst aveRageUNC Pembroke 0.80Flagler 0.92Montevallo 0.94Clayton State 1.28North Georgia 1.45Lander 1.47Georgia Southwestern 2.05USC Aiken 2.29Francis Marion 2.30shutout PeRCentageMontevallo 0.52Flagler 0.48UNC Pembroke 0.39Lander 0.24Clayton State 0.22North Georgia 0.18Francis Marion 0.17Georgia Southwestern 0.13USC Aiken 0.06

stAtistiCs

PBC QuaRteRfInal: PIRates suRvIve, aDvanCe wIth 1-0 wIn(11/1/11) SAVANNAH, Ga. - Junior Kristina Pascutti took advantage of a misplay by the Georgia College defense, scor-ing the match’s only goal as the top-seeded and No. 19-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State Uni-versity soccer squad knocked off the eighth-seeded Bobcats, 1-0, to advance to the 2011 Peach Belt Conference tournament semifinals.

The Pirates (13-2-3) have now advanced to the PBC Semifinals in all seven seasons that Armstrong has sponsored the sport, the longest such streak in league history. Georgia College’s season ends at 5-14, suffering its 11th loss this season by just one goal.

The match was eerily simi-lar to the regular season meeting between the two

teams on Oct. 19, also a 1-0 win by the Pi-rates. Armstrong

outshot the Bobcats, 15-2, in the first half, and had

a golden chance late in the first half as

freshman Brianne Matarazzo’s shot from the right was cleared

off the line by a

GC defender, although the ball appeared to cross the goal line. Play continued and the Bobcats were able to head into halftime with the match still tied 0-0.

In the second half, each team had clear scoring chances early in an attempt to break the draw. Andye Dawson’s shot from the right side was pushed aside by the Bobcats’ Taylor Cornelius in the 53rd minute, while Georgia College’s Brittaney Borror’s rocket shot in the 65th minute forced Armstrong keeper Meghan Mayville to make a one-handed push save over the bar.

Armstrong finally got on the board in the 74th min-ute when a misplay by the Georgia College back line resulted in a one-on-one chance for Pascutti against Cornelius. Pascutti dribbled the ball to the left, got Cornelius to commit, then poked the ball past for her 12th goal of the season.

Georgia College’s Tatum O’Keefe had a pair of shots in the last six minutes for the Bobcats, trying to equal-ize, forcing one save by Mayville in the 85th minute and missing wide right off of a free kick in the 88th minute.

“Nothing’s easy in the postseason, and we knew it was going to be a tough game,” Armstrong head coach Eric Faulconer said. “It was a very tough game when we were over there [two weeks] ago. We just have to finish a little bit better. We created a lot of chances in the first half, but Kristina Pascutti did what she’s been doing all year long, getting us big goals and hers today gave us the opportunity to get into the next round.”

woMen’s soCCer CONFERENCE OVERALL Pts GP Record Win % GP Record Win % Last 101. Armstrong 28 10 9-0-1 0.950 24 18-3-3 0.812 7-1-2 2. North Georgia 25 10 8-1-1 0.850 20 16-3-1 0.825 6-3-1 3. Columbus State 22 10 7-2-1 0.750 23 16-4-3 0.761 8-1-14. Lander 16 10 5-4-1 0.550 19 13-5-1 0.711 6-45. Flagler 16 10 5-4-1 0.550 18 9-8-1 0.528 3-6-1 6. UNC Pembroke 14 10 4-4-2 0.500 18 9-6-3 0.583 4-4-2 7. Clayton State 14 10 4-4-2 0.500 18 9-7-2 0.556 6-2-2 8. Georgia College 12 10 4-6 0.400 19 5-14 0.263 2-89. Montevallo 10 10 3-6-1 0.350 18 6-11-1 0.361 4-5-110. USC Aiken 3 10 1-9 0.100 16 4-12 0.250 1-911. Ga. Southwestern 0 10 0-10 0.000 18 3-15 0.167 0-10

FiNAL STANDiNGS

ARMSTRONG’S NADiMA SKEFF

52

Women’s Soccer

53

#1 ArmstrongArmstrong 1-0

Armstrong 3-2 (ot)

Armstrong 1-0

#8 Georgia College

#4 Lander

#5 FlaglerLander 1-0

#3 Columbus St.

#6 UNCP

Columbus St. 1-0

#2 N. Georgia

#7 Clayton St.N. Georgia 4-0

Columbus St. 3-0

The Pirates finished the match by outshooting the Bobcats, 25-7, while Cornelius made a tremendous 14 saves in net for Georgia College and Mayville made four saves in net for the Pirates. Armstrong held an 8-2 edge in corner kicks while the Pirates were whis-tled for seven fouls, compared to four for the Bobcats. Each team was whistled offsides twice.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInal: ColumBus state Defeats unC PemBRoke 1-0, aDvanCes(11/1/11) Columbus – The third-seeded Columbus State women’s soccer team took down UNC Pembroke by a score of 1-0 Tuesday afternoon in a Peach Belt Conference Tournament Quarterfinals matchup at the Walden Soccer Complex. CSU improves to 14-3-2 on the year and advances to take on North Georgia, the No. 2 seed, after their 4-0 win versus Clayton State. UNC Pembroke ends its season at 9-6-3.

“I am very proud of the way our team played today to advance in the PBC Tournament,” said head coach Jay Entlich. “At this point in the season, every game can end your season which our young team is realizing. “We just need to bring our energy and play a full 90 minutes every game and let the rest play out.”

Both teams eased into the flow of the game through the early minutes of the match before CSU was finally

able to break through in the 18th minute of action. Jaci Carthers played a ball to Stephanie Lowery, who got the ball on her right foot and fired a perfect shot from 25 yards out that was just out of the reach of the leaping Brittney Bennett.

That would prove to be all that Columbus State need-ed as they limited the Lady Braves to just four shots only one of which was on target.

The Lady Cougars came out firing in the second half taking five shots in the first six minutes. Kiana Nich-olson had the best look hitting a left-footed ball just wide of the far right post. Josefin de Broen, Kelsey Pelletier and Lowery also put dangerous balls into the box but a teammate was unable to get on the other end of it.

Mary Mancin picked up the win between the pipes upping her mark to 14-3-2 making the one save she needed to. Britney Bennett suffered the loss falling to 8-5-3 despite making 10 saves in the match.

Columbus State outshot UNCP 21-4 and held a 9-1 edge in corner kicks in the contest. CSU improves to 9-2-1 all-time and 4-0 in PBC Tournament matchups versus the Lady Braves.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInal: lanDeR women’s soCCeR Downs flagleR, aDvanCes(11/1/11) GREENWOOD – Ja-mie Shaw headed in a corner kick in the 75th minute Tuesday afternoon to lead fourth-seeded Lander to a 1-0 victory over fifth-seeded Flagler in the quarterfinal round of the Peach Belt Confer-ence Tournament at the Jeff May Complex.

Lander now advances to Fri-day’s semifinals where the Lady Bearcats will be face either No. 1 Armstrong Atlantic or No. 8 Geor-gia College at 5 p.m.,Friday Nov. 4 at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans, Ga. The champion-

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111101_uojy.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111101_k9bu.xml

ship game is scheduled for 1 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 6 at Blanchard Woods Park.

With the win, Lander improves to 13-4-1 and ties the school record for wins in a season. The shutout is Lander’s 11th of the season, which is a new school record.

Shaw scored the winning goal off a corner kick by Sarah Piechocki at 75:44.

Lander outshot Flagler, 13-3, and led in corner kicks, 8-3.

Flagler goalkeeper Cristina Coca had five saves and Lander’s Chelsea Beetch recorded one.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInal: laDy saInts Blast Clayton state 4-0 In PBC touRnament oPeneR(11/1/11) DAHLONEGA, Ga. – The 2nd-seeded and 13th-ranked North Georgia women’s soccer team picked up just their second postseason win in school history on Tuesday evening, using a trio of first-half goals on their way to a 4-0 victory over Clayton State in the opening round of the PBC Tournament. It was a milestone win for the Lady Saints (15-1-1), who set a school record for wins in a season and advance to the PBC Tournament Final Four for the second consecutive season. North Georgia will now have a showdown with 3rd-seeded Columbus State in the semifinals after the Cougars defeated UNC Pembroke 1-0 in the open-ing Tuesday afternoon. Columbus State handed the Lady Saints their only loss of the 2011 season and snatched the 2010 PBC Tournament Championship from North Georgia with a 4-2 victory in the title game. The senior duo of Natalie Douglass and Emily Dover paced the North Georgia scoring attack, as two goals from both players propelled the Lady Saints to a 4-0 victory. Natalie Douglass’ strike in the 26th minute was the game-winner, but the Lawrenceville, Georgia, native was not done there, as she added another score in the 42nd minute off a corner for her fourth goal of the season.

Dover continued to add to her stellar season, scoring a goal in each half to run her total to 16 for the year, a mark that continues to lead the Peach Belt Con-ference as the Canton, Georgia, native extends her school record with every goal she records. Kirsten Ross was perfect in goal once again for North Georgia, playing 73 minutes and not allowing a goal while tallying four saves in the win. Alex Dunlap came on in relief and was not tested over the final 17 min-utes. Laoise O’Driscoll suffered the loss for the Lakers in goal, giving up all four North Georgia goals and adding three saves in 65 minutes of action. The Lady Saints held a 15-5 advantage in shots, and tallied four corner kicks to just a pair for Clayton State. The Lakers end the 2011 season at 9-7-2, with two of those losses coming to North Georgia.Box Score

PBC semIfInal: aRmstRong RallIes to Beat lanDeR 3-2 In oveRtIme(11/4/11) EVANS, Ga. - Junior forward Nadima Skeff netted the “golden goal” in overtime to send the No. 19-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University wom-en’s soccer squad to a 3-2 victory over Lander in the 2011 Peach Belt Conference tournament semifinals and a berth in the championship match on Sunday.

The top-seeded Pirates (14-2-3) will now face third-seeded Columbus State - four-time PBC tournament champions - in the championship at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday at Blanchard Woods Park. Columbus State ad-vanced to the finals with a 3-0 win over No. 13 North Georgia on Friday. Fourth-seeded Lander (13-5-1) sees its season come to a close with the loss.

Armstrong had to battle back from an early deficit as the Bearcats scored twice in a two-minute span midway through the first half. Lander’s Christina Bar-bour chipped the ball over the head of Pirate keeper Meghan Mayville in the 25th minute, then two min-utes later, Kimberly Kesler’s shot from 10 yards out beat Mayville for a 2-0 lead. It was only the third time this season that the Pirates have stared down a two-goal deficit, and the first time since September 14.

The Pirates started the comeback late in the second half. Senior Kelli Bahr rammed home a rebound off of

54

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111101_8pvc.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111101_s3c8.xml

Women’s Soccer

55

an Erin O’Rourke shot in the 44th minute to make the score 2-1, then the Pirates capitalized on an own goal by the Bearcats with just four seconds before halftime that equalized things at 2-2.

In overtime, each team had one shot, testing the other’s goalkeeper. Danielle Fey’s shot in the 95th minute was stopped by Lander keeper Chelsea Beetch, while Lander’s Christina Barbour was stopped by Mayville in the 96th minute. Only 65 seconds away from a second overtime period, Skeff delivered a shot from 15 yards out that beat Beetch and sent the Pirates into the finals.

“What a tremendous battle between two great teams,” Armstrong head coach Eric Faulconer said. “Lander dominated the game in the first half and we quickly found ourselves down 2-0. We made mass substitutions midway through the half and the players off the bench brought tremendous energy and pulled the game even before halftime.

“Skeff’s game-winner was a moment of brilliance. She is a special player and that goal will go down as one of the best in the history of our program. This team is so resilient. They have been battle tested and that is why we play the schedule we do. They have seen it all year and I think that experience paid off tonight.”

Armstrong outshot the Bearcats, 17-7, for the match, while Beetch made 10 saves for Lander and Mayville came up with five stops for the Pirates. Armstrong enjoyed a 7-3 edge in corner kicks, while Lander was whistled for 15 fouls, compared to 11 for the Pirates.

The matchup on Sunday features the previous five Peach Belt Conference tournament winners, and pits the Pirates and the Cougars in the final for the third time in tournament history. In 2006, the Cougars won the title on penalty kicks, 4-2, after a 1-1 draw. In 2007, Columbus State netted the winner in overtime for a 2-1 victory.Box Score

PBC semIfInal: ColumBus state Downs noRth geoRgIa 3-0(11/4/11) Evans, GA – The Columbus State women’s soccer team had a dominating performance in the Peach Belt Conference semifinals and defeated 13th ranked North Georgia 3-0 Friday evening at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans, Georgia. CSU improves to 15-3-

2 on the season while the Lady Saints fall to 15-2-1.

North Georgia got off to a quick start playing in the Columbus State defensive third but the Lady Cougars quickly got it together and got on the offensive. In the seventh minute, Jackie Ellis played a ball to Stephanie Lowery who took a shot just outside the penalty box which deflected off a Lady Saint and into the goal for an early 1-0 lead.

CSU extended their lead less than three minutes later when Kelsey Pelletier beat her defender up the right wing and served a ball low into the box which Ellis one-timed to make a 2-0 contest.

The Lady Cougars came out of the break continuing with their attacking mentality and had several op-portunities to widen their lead. Ellis nearly got on the end of another goal identical to her first, this time it was Kiana Nicholson who played it across but it was re-directed just wide of the net. The senior also nearly put away a header in the second half as well.

Ashley Miller finally put the game away in the 63rd minute when she was able to chip the NG goalkeeper for her third goal of the season.

With the win, Mary Mancin improved to 15-3-2 on the season posting her ninth shutout of the season. Mancin kept the blank sheet by making six saves in the contest. Kirsten Ross played the full 90 minutes for North Georgia allowing three goals while register-ing two saves.

The Lady Cougars outshot North Georgia 16-11 in the match firing eight shots in each half. CSU also held a

(L-R) COLUMBUS STATE’S JACKiE ELLiS, KiANA NiCHOLSON, ASHTON ZiADiE & KANSAS BAYLY

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111104_7aq2.xml

slight 8-6 edge in corner kicks.

Columbus State will now take on Armstrong Atlantic State University on Sunday, November 6 in the PBC Tour-nament Finals after they defeated Lander 3-2 in overtime in their semifinal contest. The winner of the match will claim the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Tournament. CSU will be looking to win their

fifth PBC Tournament championship in the past six yearsBox Score

PIRates wIn PBC touRnament tItle, 1-0, on skeff’s late tally(11/6/11) EVANS, Ga. - Junior Nadima Skeff’s goal with 12 seconds left propelled the No. 19-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University women’s soccer team to a 1-0 Peach Belt Conference tournament championship victory over Columbus State on Sunday afternoon at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans, Ga.

Skeff’s goal capped a frenetic final two minutes of ac-tion that began with a corner kick for Armstrong (15-2-3),

spanned to the other end of the field, then proceeded back to the other end where a long ball bounced twice, then found the PBC Tournament MVP between two defenders at the top of the box. Skeff dribbled into the box, pulled Columbus State (15-4-2) keeper Mary Mancin offher line, then slotted the ball inside the right post for her second straight match-winning tally.

On Friday, Skeff put the Pirates into the final with an overtime goal in Armstrong’s 3-2 semifinal win over Lander. This one effectively ended the match as Columbus State was unable to get a shot off in the remaining regulation time.

“Our kids are so resilient this year, they just fight and fight and we were able to come up with the goal,” Arm-strong head coach Eric Faulconer said. “Columbus State is an outstanding team, we have the ultimate respect

for them. It always is close with our two programs, two of the best programs in the Southeast, and today was another example.

“Skeff scored two brilliant goalsthis week, we talk about her being a special player and she was special again today,” Faulconer said.

The match began with the Pirates getting the first two shots on goal, but Co-lumbus State assumed control of the match midway through the first half, earning an 8-4 edge in shots at halftime.

Each goalkeeper made a tremendous save in the second half to keep the match scoreless - Armstrong keeper Meghan Mayville on a long-range shot from co-PBC Player of the Year Kansas Bayly in hte 75th minute and Colum-bus State’s Mary Mancin on a driving shot from co-PBC Player of the Year Kristina Pascutti in the 83rd minute.

Columbus State finished the match with a 14-12 edge in shots, with Mancin making five saves in net for the Cougars and Mayville making three saves in net for the Pirates. Columbus State had six corner kicks, compared to three for the Pirates, and each team was whistled for offsides once.

PBC All-TournAmenT TeAmFanny Forsman, UNC Pembroke

Rebekah Stockowski, FlaglerLorna O’Connell, Clayton State

Taylor Cornelius, Georgia CollegeJamie Shaw, Lander

Christina Barbour, LanderTaylor Lee, North Georgia

Melanie Thompson, North GeorgiaStephanie Lowery, Columbus State

Ashton Ziadie, Columbus StateKiana Nicholson, Columbus State

Meghan Mayville, ArmstrongKristina Pascutti, ArmstrongAndye Dawson, Armstrong

TournAmenT mVPNadima Skeff, Armstrong

56

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111104_dxfl.xml

Women’s Soccer

57

The win was the second PBC Tournament Championship for Armstrong, who also won the 2009 title. It was the third meeting between the two teams in the PBC Final and the first win for the Pirates after dropping the 2006 title match in penalty kicks and the 2007 match in overtime.

Skeff, the tournament MVP, was joined on the PBC All-Tournament Team by Meghan Mayville, Kristina Pascutti and Andye Dawson.

2011 PBC WOMEN’S SOCCER CHAMPiONSARMSTRONG PiRATES

nCaa touRnament: noRth geoRgIa Downs wIngate 3-1(11/11/11) SAVANNAH, GA – The 25th-ranked and 4th-seeded North Georgia women's soccer team used timely defense and a pair of second-half goals on Friday afternoon to soar past 5th-seeded Wingate Uni-versity 3-1 in the opening round of the NCAA Division II National Tournament.

North Georgia (16-2-1) refused to have the final chap-ter written on their already storied season, as they proved resilient in the second half and buried Wing-ate (16-4) to put a lid on the 2011 campaign for the Bulldogs.

A two-minute span early in the second half was the difference in the game, as Wingate used a goal from Miranda Izabella in the 46th minute to knot the score, but just 60 seconds later Bulldog goalkeeper Miriam Boucher was awarded a red card to swing the tide right back to North Georgia.

Playing up a man the rest of the game, North Georgia pelted the Wingate defense over the final 43 minutes

and finally broke the tie in the 69th minute when Taylor Lee sent a corner kick in the box and Natalie Douglass fought her way to the ball and headed home her fifth goal of the year to give the Lady Saints a 2-1 advantage. The senior tallied her 2nd game-winner in the last three contests with the score.

North Georgia added some breathing room in the 77th minute when Caroline Wallace sent a cross in from the corner and Cicely Taliaferro was waiting at the far post and fired a header past Wingate keeper Ashlyn Hardie to give the Lady Saints a 3-1 lead.

While Wallace assisted on the final goal of the game, she was on the receiving end early when Abby Trevino and Melanie Thompson connected on back-to-back headers in the box in the 9th minute and Wallace finished with a bouncing header over the line to give North Georgia the early lead. The goal was the first-ever score for the Lady Saints in the NCAA Tourna-ment and propelled North Georgia to a 1-0 halftime advantage.

Kirsten Ross picked up the win for the Lady Saints in

goal, allowing just the one Wingate goal and tallying eight saves on the game with six of those coming in the second half. Hardie allowed both North Georgia goals in the final 45 minutes and suffered the loss while recording four saves.

The Lady Saints made the most of their five corner kicks, scoring on two of them with one coming in each half. North Georgia held an 18-15 edge in shots, while the Lady Saints were whistled for 11 fouls to five for the Bulldogs.

North Georgia now advances to the round of 32 and will take 7th-ranked and top-seeded Armstrong At-lantic on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. In the only meeting between the two teams this season, the Lady Saints scored a late goal and forced a 1-1 tie in the final game of the regular season.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: loweRy, nICholson lIft no. 20 laDy CougaRs to 3-1 wIn veRsus lees-mCRae(11/11/11) Hickory, NC – Despite allowing a goal in the opening two minutes of play, the third-seeded Columbus State women’s soccer team rebounded to defeat sixth-seeded Lees-McRae 3-1 in the first round of the NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Tournament. CSU improves to 16-4-2 on the season and advance to play second-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne in the second round. L-M ends its season with a 13-5-3 mark.

Lees-McRae took the opening kickoff and quickly put the Columbus State backline under pressure. Mary-Beth Sullivan took a shot from about 20 yard which CSU goalkeeper Mary Mancin knocked over the goal giving the Bobcats a corner kick. On the ensuing play, Mary Dorn again hit a long range shot this one hitting the crossbar and ricocheting to Sullivan who easily tapped in the goal for the early 1-0 lead for the sixth seed.

From that point forward, Columbus State flexed its muscles and controlled the play of the game. Over the final 88 minutes of play, the Lady Cougars outshot L-M 28-4 including an 18-2 edge in the second half.

A minute and a half after the Bobcats went ahead, Ki-ana Nicholson took on a host of L-M defenders getting by two before the third defender took the PBC Fresh-man of the Year down in the box setting up a penalty

kick. Stephanie Lowery calmly stepped up and placed the ball to the bottom right corner knotting the game at 1-1 just 3:23 into the match.

Columbus State had several opportunities to get the go-ahead goal in the first half, but was unable to crack through. Jaci Carithers had a pair of shots that were headed to the back of the net but an L-M defender made the save keeping the score tied. Ashton Ziadie then ripped a shot from 25-yards out to the upper-left ninety, but Kaitlyn Briggs was in perfect position for

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKSEPTEMBER 7, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperBrittany D’Addio Fanny Forsman Alli EdensFlagler UNC Pembroke USC Aiken

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperAndrea Collèn Fanny Forsman Britney BennettUNC Pembroke UNC Pembroke UNC Pembroke

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperKiana Nicholson Megan Morrow Kirsten RossColumbus State North Goergia North Georgia

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperLindsay Zullo Jamie Colcord Taylor CorneliusFlagler Georgia College Georgia College

OCTOBER 4, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperEmily Dover Kelli Bahr Chelsea BeetchNorth Goergia Armstrong Lander

OCTOBER 11, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperEmily Dover Kansas Bayly Laoise O’DriscollNorth Georgia Columbus State Clayton State

OCTOBER 18, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperKristina Pascutti Kansas Bayly Laoise O’DriscollArmstrong Columbus State Clayton State

OCTOBER 25, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperMorgan Mitchell Kansas Bayly Meghan MayvilleArmstrong Columbus State Armstrong

NOVEMBER 1, 2011:Player Defender GoalkeeperLoren Cate Silvia Espelt Cristina CocaFlagler Clayton State Flagler

58

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111111_7ss3.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110907wsocpotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110907wsocdotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110907wsocgkotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110913wspotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110913wsdotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110913wsgkotw







http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20111004wspotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20111004wsdotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20111004wsgkotw













Women’s Soccer

the stop.

Although the Lady Cougars didn’t play their best first half, they were able to dictate the play and headed into the break square at one. An even more aggres-sive push by Columbus State in the final 45 minutes of action ensued from the break as they fired off seven shots in the opening five minutes. The final shot of that flurry came off the foot of Nicholson who was denied by a diving save by Brigs.

Later in the half, Kansas Bayly, the PBC Co-Player of the Year, had back-to-back chances within a minute but came up on the short end of the stick.

Finally in the 67th minute, Lowery struck again with a beautiful free kick that went into the right upper-ninety putting CSU ahead 2-1. Nearly 18 minutes, Nicholson iced the game ripping a shot from just inside the pen-alty box that went over an outstretched Briggs.

For the match, Columbus State held a decisive 28-8 advantage in shots and a 10-2 edge in corner kicks. Lees-McRae was called for 12 fouls while CSU was whistled for six.

Mary Mancin earned the win improving to 16-4-2 mak-ing four saves in the contest. Briggs did her best to keep Lees-McRae in the match making seven saves despite allowing three goals.

The win sets up a rematch with Lenoir-Rhyen who bested Columbus State 1-0 earlier this season. The Lady Cougars held a 16-9 edge in the match including a 14-2 edge in the second half but were unable to net a goal. Since that game, CSU has won 10 of their last 11 matches allowing just six goals during that span. The two sides also squared off last season in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as the Bears upset Columbus State 1-0 in Columbus.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: no. 7 PIRates PunCh BeRth In southeast RegIon fInal!(11/13/11) SAVANNAH, Ga. - The No. 7-ranked Arm-strong Atlantic State University women’s soccer squad tallied goals in each half to notch a 2-0 victory over No. 25-ranked North Georgia in the second round of the NCAA DII Women’s Soccer Championships on Sun-day afternoon at the Armstrong Soccer Field.

With the win, the Pirates (16-2-3) advance to the Southeast Region final for a second straight year and will face the winner of Columbus State and Lenoir-Rhyne in the final on Friday, November 18, at a time to be determined. North Georgia (15-3-3) sees its sea-son come to a close after a first-ever appearance in the NCAA Championships.

One of the early storylines in the contest would be the performance of Armstrong keeperMaggie Carson, the true freshman making her first start in net for the Pirates after starting keeper Meghan Mayville was injured in the PBC Championship match.

It didn’t take long for Carson to face pressure from the Saints as Abby Trevino had a shot hit the crossbar and carom out in the fifth minute, then she made a save on a shot from long range by Kelly Penston in the eighth minute.

Armstrong would take a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute as sophomore Andye Dawsondelivered a free kick through traffic in the box and just inside the far post for her fourth goal of the season.

North Georgia held an 8-5 advantage in shots at halftime, but the Pirates kept the one-goal edge into halftime.

In the second half, the Saints kept up pressure, gen-erating four corner kicks in the first 10 minutes of the period. A header from Kelly Penston in the 64th min-ute to the far post was cleared off the line by the head of forward Kristina Pascutti, and less than 10 minutes later, Armstrong pushed the lead to 2-0 when junior Morgan Mitchell headed home a corner kick from

Dawson - the Pirates’ only corner kick of the match.

North Georgia pressured late and looked to have pulled to within one goal in the 89th minute, but Sara Kate Rogers tapped in a ball that was head-

ing into the goal from an offsides position, nullifying the tally.

Armstrong outshot the Saints,

ARMSTRONG’S ERiN HOLT

59

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111111_w95t.xml

7-6, in the second half but North Georgia finished the match with a 14-12 tally. North Georgia held a 10-1 advantage in corner kicks, but was offsides three times compared to none for the Pirates. Carson made two saves in net for her first career win as a Pirate, while Ross made one save in net for the Saints.

“All credit to North Georgia, who has had a fantastic season and gave us everything we could handle to-day,” Armstrong head coach Eric Faulconer said. “I’m extremely proud of the effort our players gave today. We defended well and we were opportunistic with our scoring chances.”

“Our players showed a lot of resolve today in defend-ing our home field and advancing in the tournament. We are looking forward to the opportunity to play for a region championship.”

The win was also the 100th win in the seven-year his-tory of Armstrong soccer. The Pirates are 100-32-13 in program history, all directed by Faulconer.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: no. 20 ColumBus state falls on Penalty kICks(11/13/11) Hickory, NC – The 20th ranked and third seeded Columbus State women’s soccer team had a heartbreaking end to their season as they fell to No. 13 and second seeded Lenoir-Rhyne 5-3 in a penalty kick shootout in the NCAA Southeast Region semifi-nals. The contest is officially recorded as a tie as the teams played to a scoreless 0-0 draw through double overtime.

CSU ends its season with a 16-4-3 record while the Bears now stand at 17-2-1. L-R will now travel to Savannah, Georgia to take on No. 1 seed Armstrong Atlantic State University in the Southeast Region Championship game next weekend.

It was a game that saw very limited scoring opportuni-ties with the first shot of the game not registered until the 21st minute of action. After just eight total shots in the first half, the second half saw the play of the game start to open up.

Stephanie Lowery had the best look either side would have the entire match. A foul by Lenoir-Rhyne setup a free kick for Lowery, who broke open a 1-1 tie Friday night off a free kick goal, just outside the penalty box.

The midfielder struck it great, but an outstanding save by Caitlin Scruggs kept the game scoreless. Later in the half, Kansas Bayly played a ball into the box which went just over the head of a jumping Kiana Nicholson who was streaking into the box alone.

In extra time, CSU kept on the attack outshooting L-R 6-1, but was unable to crack the defense. The best opportunity came when Bayly again served a ball into the box, this time Jackie Ellis was just inches away from connecting as she was wide open in the box.

That setup the all decisive penalty kick shootout. After Laura Linehan made the first attempt for L-R, Scruggs once again made a play for the hosts denying CSU’s first shot attempt. Each side would bury their next two attempts keeping the Bears ahead 3-2 in the PK shootout heading into the fourth round. Mary Mancin appeared to make the save for Columbus State, but the referee ruled she moved off her line to early and issued another penalty kick for L-R. Hanna Kiebel knocked home her second attempt and Eliza-beth Hawes clinched the shootout in the fifth round.

Columbus State outshot Lenoir-Rhyne 23-12 in the game including a 19-8 edge after the opening 45 min-utes of play. They also held a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks. The physical contest was whistled for 27 fouls with 12 of them being called on CSU.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: southeast RegIon ChamPs! skeff’s tally holDs In no. 7 aRmstRong’s 1-0 wIn(11/18/11) SAVANNAH, Ga. - Junior forward Nadima Skeff’s goal in the 16th minute sent the No. 7-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University women’s soccer team to its first NCAA Southeast Region title in a 1-0 win over No. 13 Lenoir-Rhyne on Friday at the Arm-strong Soccer Field.

The Pirates (17-2-3) advance to the 4th round where they will meet the winner of the South Region final between Lynn and Tampa on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at the Armstrong Soccer Field. Lenoir-Rhyne, who were the defending Southeast Region champions, falls to 17-3-1.

Skeff provided her third match-winning goal in the Pirates’ last four contests in the 16th minute as Courtney Cawley played a ball to the right side of the

60

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111113_in09.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111113_k0tz.xml

Women’s Soccer

61

box. Armstrong forward Kristina Pascutti ran it down then reversed direction and sent the ball to the center of the box, where Skeff tucked it inside the left post for her eighth goal of the season.

Armstrong outshot the Bears, 10-3, in the first half.

The Pirates had a couple of golden chances to push the lead to 2-0 early in the second half, as Kristina Pascutti forced a save by Lenoir-Rhyne’s Cait-lin Scruggs in the 48th minute, and then Pascutti got behind the defense in the 60th minute, but her shot was wide of the mark.

Lenoir-Rhyne looked to tie things up on a long-range shot by Mariel Mena in the 67th minute. Mena’s drive from nearly 35 yards out hit the crossbar and bounced straight down, but then kicked out into the goal box where Armstrong was able to clear.

Another shot from the Bears’ Catherine Hauck off of a corner kick was saved off the line by Emily Cattanach in the 76th minute.

Armstrong withstood a 12-3 shot advantage by Lenoir-Rhyne in the second half, however, to come away with the victory and the region title, gaining a measure of revenge for last season’s 1-0 loss to the Bears in the 2010 Southeast Region final.

“It wasn’t pretty at times, but we got the result,” Armstrong head coach Eric Faulconer said. “We made some tactical changes at the start from what we normally do and it paid off with the goal. We absorbed a lot of pressure from an outstanding Lenoir-Rhyne team in the second half to advance.”

Lenoir-Rhyne finished the match with a 15-13 edge in shots while Armstrong keeper Maggie Carson re-corded her second consecutive shutout in her second start with two saves. scruggs made five saves for the Bears.

The Bears had three corner kicks, compared to one for the Pirates, and Lenoir-Rhyne was whistled for 13 fouls, compared to 10 for the Pirates.Box Score

heaDIng to the fInal fouR!

moRgan mItChell’s two

goals senD aRmstRong to

PensaCola(11/20/11) SAVANNAH, Ga. - Junior midfielder Mor-gan Mitchell’s two goals - the second coming in the 63rd minute to snap a 1-1 tie - have the No. 7-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University women’s soccer team heading to the NCAA Division II Women’s Soc-cer Final Four with a 2-1 victory over No. 21 Tampa on Sunday afternoon at the Armstrong Soccer Field.

Mitchell’s header off of a Kristina Pascutti cross beat Tampa keeper Emelie Karstrom, snapping the tie and Armstrong (18-2-3) withstood held off Tampa (16-6-2) to keep the Pirates advancing in its deepest-ever run into the NCAA DII Women’s Soccer Championships.

The match began with Mitchell connecting on a cross from Emily Cattanach with a diving header in the fourth minute to put the Pirates up, 1-0.

Tampa equalized in the 34th minute when Amanda Pennybaker drew a penalty kick for the Spartans, and Brittan Spence - the OT game-winner for Tampa on Friday - calmly drove the ball to the right to beat Arm-strong keeper Maggie Carson and draw things even at 1-1.

It was a tough defensive first half as both teams totalled just seven shots together. With the match still even, the second half saw both teams start to pick up the offensive tempo. Mitchell had another header in the 52nd minute that Karstrom saved, and after a corner kick by Tampa, Charlotte White’s shot from the Spartans missed wide to the left by five feet.

A throw-in deep in Tampa’s half generated the game-

ARMSTRONG’S MORGAN MiTCHELL WiNS A HEADER

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111118_sjik.xml

winning chance for Armstrong in the 63rd minute. Pascutti sent the left-footed cross into the box and Mitchell’s glancing header trickled across the line for the goal. Tampa cleared the ball but the assistant linesman signalled the goal immediately.

The Spartans had a pair of shots in the next two min-utes, but Armstrong held Tampa without a shot over the final 25 minutes to earn the Quarterfinal victory.

“I have a ton of respect for coach Lucey and the Tam-pa program,” Armstrong head coach Eric Faulconer said. “When we started the program in 2005, Tampa was one of the preeminent DII programs, playing at a level we have aspired to reach.”

The Pirates tied their season-record for wins with 18, matching the 2006 squad, and Armstrong soccer is now the fourth sport in the athletic department’s history to reach the national semifinal or final status, joining men’s and women’s tennis and men’s golf.

“From the beginning of the season, we made it a goal to reach the Final Four, and this team believed it could,” Faulconer said. “Today was a tremendous ef-fort from our back line to our midfield to our front run-ners. Morgan Mitchell has a knack for big goals and today she scored the two biggest goals of her career.”

“I couldn’t be more proud of our program than I am to-day,” Faulconer said. “It’s a great day to be a Pirate!”

Armstrong outshot the Spartans, 13-3 in the sec-ond half and finished the match with a 16-7 edge in shots. Karstrom made six saves in net for Tampa. Both teams were whistled for 10 fouls each and Arm-strong enjoyed a 5-2 edge in corner kicks. Tampa was whistled for offsides three times while Armstrong was offsides twice.

Armstrong is only the second Peach Belt Conference school to reach the Final Four, joining Kennesaw State, who won the NCAA DII National Championship in 2003.Box Score

nCaa fInal fouR: mIsseD oPPoRtunItIes In no. 7 PIRates’ 2-0 loss to st. Rose(12/1/11) PENSACOLA, Fla. - A shaky first half and two early goals by No. 10-ranked College of St. Rose doomed the No. 7-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State

University Pirates to a 2-0 defeat in the NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Final Four on Thursday afternoon at Ashton Brosnaham Park in Pensacola, Fla.

The loss ends the Pirates’ season at 18-3-3, while St. Rose improves to 23-1-1, winning its first semifinal match in four tries and advancing to the NCAA Cham-pionship match on Saturday against Grand Valley State. GVSU advanced on PKs, 3-2, after drawing 1-1 with Cal State Chico in the other semifinal.

St. Rose struck first in the contest in the seventh minute as Carmelina Puopolo’s corner kick bent di-rectly into the goal on the near post to put the Golden Knights up, 1-0.

The Golden Knights kept the pressure on, forcing a clearance off the line by Courtney Cawley in the 14th minute, then breaking through for an all-important second goal in the 31st minute on Gianna D’Errico’s goal off of a through ball from Brittany Barry.

Armstrong dodged another bullet late in the first half as a handball in the box resulted in a penalty kick for St. Rose’s Christina Cuffari in the 45th minute, but Cuffari’s shot was wide.

St. Rose outshot the Pirates, 8-4, in the first half and owned all four corner kicks before intermission.

The Pirates answered the bell in the second half, getting the first two shots after intermission, includ-ing Andye Dawson’s rocket from the left side that was saved by St. Rose keeper Jessica Gerski.

Gerski made another save on Kristina Pascutti’s shot in the 62nd minute, then she turned away another shot by Pascutti in the 80th minute. But Gerski’s four saves in the second half kept Armstrong scoreless and sent St. Rose to the championship match.

“It was a tale of two halves,” Armstrong head coach Eric Faulconer said. “In the first half, we were a little jittery, being our first time here. We settled down in the second half and I thought we had the run of play. But all credit to St. Rose, their experience paid off for them.

“I told our kids not to let one game define the season. We started this program in 2005 and to get here in only seven years is a tremendous accompllishment.

62

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111120_o9o2.xml

Women’s Soccer

I’m very proud of our kids for all they have done this season.”

Armstrong outshot the Golden Knights, 9-7, in the second half as St. Rose finished the match with a 15-13 edge overall in shots. Gerski made five saves in net total for St. Rose while Maggie Carson tallied three saves in net for the Pirates.

Pascutti led the Pirates with five shots, including three on goal, while Emily Cattanach added two shots and Morgan Mitchell had one. Cuffari led the Golden Knights with six shots, including two on goal.

St. Rose enjoyed a 10-3 edge in corner kicks and the Golden Knights were whistled for six fouls, compared to four for the Pirates. St. Rose was offsides twice.Box Score

THREE PBC WOMEN’S SOCCER PLAYERS NAMED ACADEMiC ALL-AMERiCANSArmstrong Atlantic State University senior defender Kelli Bahr and junior forward Kristina Pascutti and Columbus State junior defender Kayla Brown have each been named to the Capital One/CoSIDA Division II Academic All-America Women’s Soccer team, released today. Bahr was placed on the first team while Pascutti was second team and Brown third team. The three are the first Capitol One/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in the Peach Belt since 2008. It is also only the second time in PBC history three players have received the award, largely acknowledged as the highest individual honor a student-athlete can receive.

Bahr is just the second Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America first team hon-oree in Armstrong women’s soccer history, joining Kristin Burton (2009), while Pas-cutti is the first second-team honoree in program history. Burton was a third-team honoree in 2007 and 2008 and Ashley Elam was a third-team honoree in 2007.

A fifth-year senior who anchors Armstrong’s defense this season, Bahr carried a 3.88 GPA in receiving her undergraduate degree in early childhood education in May and currently has a 4.00 GPA in her graduate school courses. A two-time Dak-tronics All-American honoree on the field as well, Bahr has helped the No. 7-ranked Pirates to the NCAA DII Final Four while scoring two goals and one assist and help-ing Armstrong recod a team 0.83 GAA. The Middleton, Wisc., native is playing this week in Pensacola where she played youth soccer as a child, helping Pensacola Futbol Club to a U-13 state title.

Pascutti, meanwhile, was the co-Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year in 2011 for leading the Pirates in goals (12) and points (27). The Lilburn, Ga., native carries a 3.78 GPA in biology and also earned All-Region honors, collecting five game-winning goals this season.

Brown becomes the first women’s soccer Academic All-American in Columbus State history. A first-team All-Conference player and named to the PBC’s All-Academic team, she is currently studying communications at CSU with a 3.90 GPA. Brown started all 23 games for the Cougars on defense, contributing three assists during the season. She was a key part of a CSU back line that led the Peach Belt with a 0.59 goals against average and allowed only 14 goals to be scored against them in 23 games.

63


Kelli Bahr, ArmstrongCapital one academic all-america secondteam

Kristina Pascutti, ArmstrongCapital one academic all-america third team

Kayla Brown, Columbus StateCapital one academic all-District team

Loren Cate, Flagler Catherine Lovin, Columbus StateKaitlin Thomas, Montevallo

nsCaa scholar all-america second teamEmily Dover, North GeorgiaKristina Pascutti, Armstrong

nsCaa scholar all-Region first teamStephanie Lowery, Columbus State

nsCaa scholar all-Region second teamKelli Bahr, ArmstrongKayla Brown, Columbus StateNatalie Douglass, North GeorgiaMary Mancin, Columbus State

nsCaa scholar all-Region third teamLoren Cate, FlaglerCatherine Lovin, Columbus State

AwArd winners

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wsoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111201_wgzj.xml

Peach Belt Conference all-academic teamKelli Bahr, ArmstrongDanielle Brennan, North GeorgiaKayla Brown, Columbus StateAlly Canganelli, Georgia SouthwesternLoren Cate, FlaglerEmily Cattanach, ArmstrongAndrea Coll èn, UNC PembrokeAndye Dawson, ArmstrongEmily Dodd, USC AikenNatalie Douglass, North GeorgiaEmily Dover, North GeorgiaFanny Forsman, UNC PembrokeElke Groothuis, UNC PembrokeTaylor Kerr, MontevalloRafaela Faria, FlaglerTaylor Lee, North GeorgiaCatherine Lovin, Columbus StateStephanie Lowery, Columbus StateMary Mancin, Columbus StateKristina Pascutti, ArmstrongKaitlin Thomas, MontevalloTara Whitaker, Flagler


Luisa Alvarez, Clayton State Anna Barrow, Georgia College Frankie Berscak, UNC Pembroke Brittany Borror, Georgia College Paige Busby, USC Aiken Kendall Couch, Lander Emily Davis, North Georgia Jennifer Dreasler, Clayton State Alli Edens, USC Aiken Katie Finkle, Lander Britney Hill, Georgia Southwestern Jessica Jagielski, Flagler Alex Knight, Georgia College Lauren MacDonald, Lander Kyle Maguire, USC Aiken Kelsey Martin, North Georgia Michaela Moertzsch, Montevallo Erin O’Rourke, Armstrong Jordan Otto, Armstrong Asgergur Palsdottir, MontevalloGracie Preston, Georgia Southwestern Haley Powers, Flagler Leanne South, North GeorgiaJennifer Starvetsky, Georgia Southwestern Krystal Taylor, Flagler Samantha Vickers, LanderTaylor Yee, Georgia College

Jordan Ziegler, USC AikennsCaa all-america first team

Kansas Bayly, Columbus StatensCaa all-america second team

Emily Dover, North GeorgiaStephanie Lowery, Columbus StateKristina Pascutti, Armstrong

nsCaa all-southeast Region first teamKelli Bahr, ArmstrongEmily Dover, NorthMorgan Mitchell, ArmstrongJamie Shaw, Lander

nsCaa all-southeast Region second teamBritney Bennett, UNC PembrokeKayla Brown, Columbus StateAndye Dawson, ArmstrongNatalie Douglass, North GeorgiaFanny Forsman, UNC PembrokeKiana Nicholson, Columbus StateKelly Penston, North GeorgiaLindsey Zullo, Flagler

nsCaa all-southeast Region third teamChristina Barbour, LanderMary Mancin, Columbus StateCatherine Lovin, Columbus StateKristen Rosato, MontevalloDanielle Shaw, LanderNadima Skeff, Armstrong

nsCaa southeast Region Coach of the yearEric Faulconer, Armstrong

Daktronics all-america second teamKelli Bahr, Armstrong

Daktronics all-america honorable mentionKansas Bayly, Columbus State

Stephanie Lowery, Columbus StateDaktronics all-southeast Region first team

Britney Bennett, UNC PembrokeMorgan Mitchell, ArmstrongKristina Pascutti, Armstrong

Daktronics all-southeast Region second teamFanny Forsman, UNC PembrokeMary Macin, Columbus State

PBC all-Conference first teamKelli Bahr, ArmstrongKansas Bayly, Columbus StateBritney Bennett, UNC PembrokeKayla Brown, Columbus StateAndrea Collen, UNC PembrokeEmily Dover, North GeorgiaFanny Forsman, UNC PembrokeStephanie Lowery, Columbus StateMorgan Mitchell, ArmstrongKristina Pascutti, ArmstrongKelly Penston, North GeorgiaJamie Shaw, LanderLindsay Zullo, Flagler

PBC all-Conference second teamChristina Barbour, LanderKaren Bonilla, Georgia CollegeLoren Cate, FlaglerAndye Dawson, ArmstrongNatalie Douglass, North GeorgiaSilvia Espelt, Clayton StateJosefina Holsten, Clayton StateMegan Morrow, North GeorgiaKiana Nicholson, Columbus StateLaoise O’Driscoll, Clayton StateKristin Rosato, Montevallo

64

Women’s Soccer

65

Danielle Shaw, LanderNatalia Valentine, Clayton State

PBC Co-Players of the yearKansas Bayly, Columbus StateEmily Dover, North GeorgiaKristina Pascutti, Armstrong

PBC freshman of the yearKiana Nicholson, Columbus State

PBC Coach of the yearEric Faulconer, Armstrong

(L-R) FAULCONER, PASCUTTi, BAYLY, DOVER & NiCHOLSON

IndIvIdualPoIntsEmily Dover, North Georgia 37Loren Cate, Flagler 30Stephanie Lowery, Columbus State 29Christina Barbour, Lander 27Kristina Pascutti, Armstrong 27Kiana Nicholson, Columbus State 25Morgan Mitchell, Armstrong 25Natalia Valentine, Clayton State 24Jamie Shaw, Lander 23Amalia Arvidsson, UNC Pembroke 19 goalsEmily Dover, North Georgia 16Loren Cate, Flagler 13Kristina Pascutti, Armstrong 12Stephanie Lowery, Columbus State 12Natalia Valentine, Clayton State 11Morgan Mitchell, Armstrong 11Jamie Shaw, Lander 10Kiana Nicholson, Columbus State 10Christina Barbour, Lander 9Nadima Skeff, Armstrong 8assIstsC hristina Barbour, Lander 9Andye Dawson, Armstrong 8Kelsey Martin, North Georgia 7Abby Trevino, North Georgia 7Taylor Lee, North Georgia 7Stephanie Lowery, Columbus State 5Dior McGruder, Clayton State 5Andrea Coll èn, UNC Pembroke 5Kiana Nicholson, Columbus State 5Emily Dover, North Georgia 5

goals-agaInst aveRageMary Mancin, Columbus State 0.57Britney Bennett, UNC Pembroke 0.71Meghan Mayville, Armstrong 0.79Kirsten Ross, North Georgia 0.84Chelsea Beetch, Lander 1.00Laoise O’Driscoll, Clayton State 1.04Cristina Coca, Flagler 1.26Kaitlin Thomas, Montevallo 1.34Taylor Cornelius, Georgia College 1.35Annie Stephens, Georgia College 1.50save PeRCentageBritney Bennett, UNC Pembroke .887Mary Mancin, Columbus State .838Taylor Cornelius, Georgia College .833Laoise O’Driscoll, Clayton State .822Kirsten Ross, North Georgia .813Annie Stephens, Georgia College .812Meghan Mayville, Armstrong .805Alli Edens, USC Aiken .768Chelsea Beetch, Lander .768Cristina Coca, Flagler .743

Teamgoals PeR gameNorth Georgia 2.35Columbus State 2.26Armstrong 2.21UNC Pembroke 2.17Lander 2.05Flagler 1.78Clayton State 1.33Montevallo 1.17Georgia College 1.05Georgia Southwestern 0.78USC Aiken 0.56team goals-agaInst aveRageColumbus State 0.59UNC Pembroke 0.68North Georgia 0.83Armstrong 0.87Lander 0.97Clayton State 1.02Georgia College 1.41Flagler 1.59Montevallo 1.68USC Aiken 2.05Georgia Southwestern 2.53shutout PeRCentageLander 0.58Clayton State 0.56Columbus State 0.52UNC Pembroke 0.44North Georgia 0.40Armstrong 0.38Georgia College 0.26Flagler 0.22USC Aiken 0.19Georgia Southwestern 0.11Montevallo 0.11

stAtistiCs

VolleybAllPBC QuaRteRfInals: flagleR sweePs Into semIfInals 3-0(11/11/11) AUGUSTA, GA – The second-seeded Flagler Saints used big runs in all three sets to sweep #7 Montevallo in the opening match of the 2011 PBC Volleyball Tourna-ment in Augusta. The Saints, who have not lost a PBC Tournament match in their three years as a part of the conference, advance to Saturday’s semifinals against either Francis Marion or UNC Pembroke. Match scores were 25-18, 26-24, 25-21. Flagler (26-6) hit .316 in the match with only 12 er-rors in their 136 total attacks. Dianna Craine led the charge with 16 kills with only two errors in 40 attacks. Crystal Niederriter and Sophie Meyer each added 11 kills while Rachel Stacy had nine. Olivia Snipes set a single-season school record for assists as she had 47 in the match and also led the team with 12 digs. Michelle Walker led the Falcons (13-18) with 11 kills while Manyi Ati and Michelle Carle had 10 each. Mon-tevallo hit .212 as a team with Anna Garrison generat-ing 34 assists. Rachel Wotitzky led UM with 19 digs. Montevallo held the lead in all three sets including a 10-8 lead in the opener following a kill from Carle. But Flagler answered with six of the next eight points, including four in a row with kills from Craine and Nie-derriter. Montevallo rallied to tie the set at 16 before a service error and kills from Craine, Stacy and Emilee Taylor along with a UM attack error gave the Saints five straight points and a 21-16 lead on the way to a seven-point set win. UM’s best chance to get back into the match came in the second set. Neither team led by more than two points until Stacy and Craine combined for back-to-back kills to give Flagler a 21-17 lead. Down 22-19, Montevallo fought back with five straight points be-hind the serve of Garrison. Following an attack error, Walker had back-to-back kills followed by another Fla-gler error and a Carle kill for a 24-22 lead. But Flagler fought off two straight set points with kills from Stacy

and Taylor as part of a 4-0 run to take the second set 26-24. Montevallo once again held tough in the third set and the score was tied at 15 before Flagler went on a 6-2 run to open a 21-17 lead. Craine had two kills during the run, both on short sets from Snipes that found the middle of the UM defense. Taylor provided the match-sealing kill to advance the Saints.

Montevallo out-blocked Flagler five to four but the Saints had the edge in digs 64-56. The Saints hit .368 in the first set and .375 in the final set.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInals: unC PemBRoke moves Into semIfInals(11/11/11) AUGUSTA, Ga. – The third-seeded UNC Pembroke volleyball team advanced to the semifinals of the 2011 Peach Belt Conference Volleyball Champi-onships with a dominating 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-10) win over sixth-seeded Francis Marion at the Christen-berry Fieldhouse.

UNC Pembroke has now won five straight matches.

UNC Pembroke (16-15) looked to be racing towards an easy victory in the first set, leading by five at 22-17. UNC Pembroke would capture six of the next seven points to tie the game at 23-23. The Braves would not budge though, scoring the next two points to take a 25-23 win. Both teams hit well in the set with UNC Pembroke hitting .229 and Francis Marion hitting .205.

In the second set, things were tight once again with the score tied at 14-14 in the early going. UNC Pem-broke would take over from there, going on an 11-5

CONFERENCE OVERALL GP Record Win % GP Record Win % Last 10t1. Armstrong 14 13-1 0.929 39 36-3 0.923 7-3t1. Flagler 14 13-1 0.929 38 31-7 0.816 9-1t3. UNC Pembroke 14 7-7 0.500 32 16-16 0.500 6-4t.3 USC Aiken 14 7-7 0.500 31 15-16 0.484 6-45. Augusta State 14 5-9 0.357 35 17-18 0.486 5-5t6. Montevallo 14 4-10 0.286 31 13-18 0.419 4-6t6. Francis Marion 14 4-10 0.286 30 12-18 0.400 5-58. Lander 14 3-11 0.214 32 13-19 0.406 3-7

FiNAL STANDiNGS

66

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/vball/2011-12/boxscores/20111111_uq1r.xml

VolleyballVolleyball

#1 ArmstrongArmstrong 3-0

Armstrong 3-0

Flagler 3-1

#8 Lander

#4 USC Aiken

#5 Augusta St.Augusta St. 3-2

#3 UNC Pembroke

#6 Francis Marion

UNCP 3-0

#2 Flagler

#7 MontevalloFlagler 3-0

Flagler 3-0

run to close out the game. The Braves’ defense allowed Francis Marion to hit just -.044 in the sec-ond set.

The third set was all UNC Pem-broke. The Braves hit .429 in the set en route to a 25-10 win.

Buoyed by the strong perfor-mance in the third set, UNC Pembroke finished the match hitting .209 as a team. Francis Marion (12-18) concluded the match hitting .041 as a team. Francis Marion out-blocked UNC Pembroke, 9-6.

Ashlyn Rebok guided the Braves’ attack in the match, finishing with a match-high 34 assists.

Two UNC Pembroke players were able to secure double-digit kills with Rebecca Morgan leading the way with 12. Heather Bolwerk added 10 of her own.

UNC Pembroke’s Marissa Baker led all in the match with 25 digs. Rebok chipped in with 22 digs of her own to claim a double-double.

No Francis Marion player was able to acquire double-digit kills with Amanda Mitchell leading the Patriots with eight kills. Hallie Legg led Francis Marion with 17 digs.Box Score

FLAGLER’SDiANNA CRAiNE

67

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/vball/2011-12/boxscores/20111111_qhr5.xml

PBC QuaRteRfInals: aRmstRong sweePs lanDeR; aDvanCes to semIs(11/11/11) AUGUSTA, GA – The Armstrong Atlantic State Pirates hit .361 as a team and cruised into the PBC Tournament semifinals with a 3-0 sweep of eighth-seeded Lander on Friday in Augusta. The Pirates (34-1) will face the winner of the USC Aiken/Augusta State match on Saturday at 6:00 pm. Lander sees their season come to a close with a 13-19 over-all mark. Match scores were 25-11, 25-18 and 25-17.

The Pirates wasted little time in establishing the pat-tern of the match, jumping out to an 11-5 advantage in the first set. Armstrong was nearly unstoppable in the opener, hitting .519 with only two errors in their 27 attacks with 15 kills. The Pirates were up only two at 7-5 before going on a 10-2 run that included a stretch of five straight points behind the serve of Jessica Santa-niello.

The second set was nearly identical as the two teams were close with Armstrong leading 12-10 before go-ing on a 7-2 run with five straight points on the serve of Stacy Davis. Brendyce Budd had two kills in those five points and was a part of the block along with San-taniello that ended the set 25-18.

Lander responded in the third set with their best ef-fort, collecting three of their five blocks and holding Armstrong to a .231 hitting percentage. Lander’s Jor-dan Rix drove home a kill that made the score 20-17, but that would be as close as the Bearcats would get as Armstrong scored the last five points of the match, getting two kills from Amanda Jones and the match-clincher from Brittany Wolf.

Santaniello and Jones each led the Pirates with 11 kills while Wolf and Budd added eight each. Leia Pit-

tman led the defensive effort at the net for Armstrong with two solo blocks and three block assists as the Pirates as a team had 10 blocks in the match. Davis led with 15 digs while Ashley Seal had 33 assists and 14 digs. The Pirates committed only seven attack er-rors in the match.

Lander was led by Magi Nottingham’s nine kills, followed by Kiki Hennessey with eight and Hannah Dedrick with seven. Madison Kubal had 15 digs while Jessica Register led with 26 assists and 10 digs.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInals: asu wIns 3-2 thRIlleR oveR usC aIken(11/11/11) AUGUSTA, GA – Down 12-8 in the fifth set, the fifth-seeded Augusta State Jaguars scored eight of the final 10 points in the match to take the set 15-13 and defeat fourth-seeded USC Aiken 3-2 in the quar-terfinals of the PBC Tourna-ment on Friday. With that win, the Jaguars (15-18) ad-vance to the PBC semifinals on Saturday where they will face top-seeded Armstrong Atlantic State. USC Aiken (15-15) sees their season come to a close following their third loss to the Jag-uars this year. Match scores were 18-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-21 and 16-14.

USC Aiken took the first and third sets and were in po-sition to win the match outright in the fourth. The Pac-ers led 13-12 before going on a 6-1 run to lead 19-13. Hannah Tierney had two kills during the run, but a kill from ASU’s Kristen Koch put an end to that and began a string of five straight Jaguar points. Jessica Hanson had back-to-back kills and three of the five points during the run. Down by one a 20-19, the Jaguars got some help from USCA errors as the Pacers recorded three straight attack errors and a service error to give ASU a 23-21 lead. Another attack error and a kill from

ARMSTRONG’S ASHLEY SEAL

68

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/vball/2011-12/boxscores/20111111_vp5q.xml

Volleyball

69

Alex Rohlfing iced the set for ASU.

With the crowd of 243 filling the Christenberry Field-house with noise, the fifth set was a back-and-forth affair throughout. The Pacers led 12-8 before back-to-back attack errors and a kill from Mandy Irizarry brought the Jaguars to within one. Rohlfing again came through with a big hit that tied the score at 13, but the Pacers had a match point at 14-13 following an ASU error. Koch again provided the big hits with back-to-back kills for the 15th and 16th points as ASU scored three in a row to win the match.

Rohlfing had a career-high 23 kills to lead the Jaguars. The freshman had her 11th double-double as she added 10 digs and hit .380. Koch added 13 kills while Hanson had 10. Andria Tagarelli led Augusta State with 18 digs while Krystin Wahlig had 48 assists and 12 digs. Augusta State hit .200 as a team and col-lected six blocks.

Emily Maasen and Endea Ellison led the Pacers with 13 kills each while Susan MacClary added 12 and Shannon Byers 10 with 18 digs. Samantha Lukralle led the Pacers with 29 digs as USCA as a team out-dug Augusta State 86-78. The Pacers hit .209 as a team and had nine team blocks. Alex Petcok and Sheila Walsh each had 21 assists.Box Score

PBC semIfInals: flagleR eaRns BeRth In ChamPIonshIP matCh wIth sweeP of unC PemBRoke(11/12/11) AUGUSTA, GA – The Flagler Saints will play for their third consecutive PBC Tournament title after defeating UNC Pembroke 3-0 in the semifinal round at the Christenberry Fieldhouse in Augusta on Saturday. The Saints dominated the first and third sets and rallied late in the second, match scores were 25-16, 27-25 and 25-12.

With the win, Flagler improves to 27-6 overall while UNC Pembroke sees their season come to a close with a 16-16 mark. Flagler has now won all eight PBC Tournament matches they have played in since joining the PBC in 2009.

The Saints started the match with a nearly flawless first set, hitting .576 as a team with only one attack error in 33 attempts. Flagler led 7-2 in the first before UNC Pembroke was able to put two on the board, but

Flagler answered with a 9-1 run and led 17-5. Dianna Craine had four kills in a 13-point stretch as Flagler increased the lead to as much as 22-10.

UNC Pembroke rallied back and came out swinging in the second set, leading 7-3 in the early going. The Braves led 9-5 before Flagler put five straight points on the board, four coming on the serve of Emilee Tay-lor. The Braves did not help themselves much, hitting .080 in the second with eight attack errors. Never-theless, UNCP got a Heather Bolwerk kill following a Flagler attack error and led 13-10 and again 14-17 after a Rebecca Morgan kill.

The Braves maintained that three-point cushion until they were two points away from taking the second set 23-20, but Flagler answered with kills from Craine, Taylor and Rachel Stacy to tie the score at 23. The two teams traded points and were tied at 25 when Flagler took the set with kills from Craine and Sophie Meyer.

The second-set loss seemed to deflate the Braves, who hit -.027 in the third set as Flagler took the match. UNCP led 5-4 in the third when Flagler went on an epic run, scoring 12 of the next 14 points for a commanding 16-8 lead. Six of those points were given to Flagler from UNCP errors. The Braves had only six kills on 37 attacks in third as Meyer had three kills for Flagler in the final five points to win the set and the match.

Meyer led the Saints with 15 kills with only one error in 27 attacks for a .519 hitting percentage. Craine added 13 kills and 13 digs while Taylor had nine kills and 12 digs. Casey Gnann led the Saints with 22 digs while Olivia Snipes had 46 assists and 10 digs.

Shay Peterson led UNCP with seven kills while Tricia Varno added six and Rebecca Morgan five. Marissa Baker had 17 digs for the Braves while Ashlyn Rebok added 25 assists and nine digs.Box Score

http://www.jaguarsroar.com/sports/wvball/2011-12/files/asuvb34.htm

http://www.peachbeltconference.org/sports/vball/2011-12/boxscores/20111112_rxq2.xml

PBC semIfInals: aRmstRong CRuIses Past augusta state Into ChamPIonshIP matCh(11/12/11) AUGUSTA, GA – The top-seeded Arm-strong Atlantic State Pirates were efficient and effec-tive on Saturday as they swept fifth-seeded Augusta State 3-0 to earn a spot in the tournament Champion-ship Match. With the win, the Pirates will play in the tournament final for the fourth consecutive year and face second-seeded Flagler for the third straight year. Flagler has won the last two tournament titles.

The Pirates (35-1) hit .282 in the match while holding Augusta State to 26 total kills and a .112 percent-age. ASU never had 10 double-digit kills in any one set, including the first as they were held to eight while Armstrong hit .343. The Pirates jumped out to an early 9-2 lead thanks to Casey Howett, who had three straight service aces. ASU cut that lead down to five at 13-9 following a Jessica Hanson kill and Armstrong ball handling error, but the Pirates scored four of the next six points to maintain a five-point cushion that ballooned to 10 at the end of the set.

The second set was the most competitive as Augusta State (16-19) maintained a narrow lead until the halfway point. Armstrong led by two at 17-15 before breaking the set open with four out of five points. Kills from Brittany Wolf and Brendyce Budd were part of the final stretch that gave the Pirates the win.

The third set was nearly a mirror-copy of the first as the Pirates broke open an early tie with a 6-2 run. With Budd serving, Armstrong got consecutive kills from Budd, Jessica Santaniello and Leia Pittman. Amanda Jones was the most consistent performer for the Pirates with five kills in the third set including the 24th and 25th points.

Jones led all players with 13 kills in the match while Budd added 10. Santaniello had nine kills and 10 digs while Stacey Davis led Armstrong with 16 digs. Ashley Seal had 37 assists and eight digs.

Kristen Koch had a team-high nine kill sfor Augusta State while Alex Rohlfing added eight. Krystin Wahlig had 19 assists and was tied for the team lead with Andria Tangarelli with nine digs.

Armstrong Atlantic State and Flagler shared the 2011 PBC Regular-Season Championship, each with a 13-1

league mark, their only losses coming against one another. Flagler defeated Armstrong, handing the Pi-rates their only loss of the season, on their home floor while Armstrong defeated Flagler in Savannah. The two are both nationally ranked with Armstrong enter-ing the championship #19 and Flagler #24.Box Score

flagleR wIns thIRD stRaIght PBC volleyBall touRnament tItle(11/13/11) AUGUSTA, GA – After dropping the open-ing set, the Flagler Saints roared back to win the next three and their third consecutive PBC Tournament Championship 3-1 over Armstrong Atlantic State on Sunday in Augusta.

Flagler becomes the first volleyball team since 2001 to win three straight tournament titles, set scores were 15-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-21. With the win, Flagler (28-6) earns the Peach Belt’s automatic bid to next week’s NCAA Tournament. Armstrong falls in the tournament final for the third year in a row and to 35-2 on the year, both losses coming to Flagler.

It was Armstrong who looked to be in control early on, playing a nearly flawless opening set and cruising to a 10-point win. The Pirates hit .450 in the opening stanza with only one attack error and 19 kills. The big blow came midway through the set. Armstrong led 12-10 before going on a 6-0 run capped by a kill from Brendyce Budd. Armstrong answered with back-to-back kills from Jessica Santaniello and won five of the final seven points to take the set.

Things changed in set two as the two teams were

ARMSTRONG’S BRiTTANY WOLF

70

http://www.peachbeltconference.org/sports/vball/2011-12/boxscores/20111112_5acs.xml

Volleyball

71

evenly matched and played a back-and-forth affair throughout. The score was tied at 21 when Flagler rattled off three points in a row with kills from Emilee Taylor and Rachel Stacy combined with a Pirate attack error. Taylor finished the set with a kill.

The third set belonged to Flagler early with a 16-12 lead following one of the six Armstrong attack errors of the set. But the Pirates fought back with six of the next nine points and tailed 19-18 with a block from Budd and Brittany Wolf. The score was tied at 21 when Dianna Craine had back-to-back kills to open a small gap. Flagler setter Olivia Snipes finished the set with a sneak-attack kill as she faked a set attempt.

Flagler’s defense held strong in the fourth set as Arm-strong hit .102, their worst percentage of the match. Flagler led 17-13 when Armstrong went on a 5-1 run to tie things at 18. Amanda Jones had two kills dur-ing that run. The score was tied and 19 and again at 20 before Flagler got two kills from Taylor and an ace from Sophie Meyer. Taylor had the kill on the champi-onship point.

Craine led the Saints with 17 kills while Meyer had 13 and Taylor 12. Tournament Most Valuable Player Ol-ivia Snipes had 41 assists and 19 digs; Casey Gnann led the Saints with 30 digs overall. Flagler out-dug Armstrong 91-79 in the match, but the Pirates held

the edge in blocks nine to six.

Brittany Wolf and Amanda Jones each had 13 kills for Armstrong while Santaniello, Budd and Leia Pittman had nine each. Ashley Seal had 45 assists while Sta-cey Davis led the team with 24 digs.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: aRmstRong Routs tusCulum 3-0(11/18/11) WINGATE, N.C. - The third-seeded Pirates of Armstrong Atlantic State University swept the num-ber six seed Tusculum College Pioneers in the quar-terfinals of the NCAA Southeast region quarterfinals Friday afternoon in Cuddy Arena. The Pirates won by scores of 25-15, 26-24 and 25-22 to improve to 36-2 overall.

Armstrong advances to the region semifinals Saturday afternoon. Tusculum ends its season at 18-13.

Senior outside hitter Brendyce Budd (Page, Ariz.) led the Armstrong attack with 13 kills and 16 digs, hitting .391 on the afternoon. Junior middle hitter Brittany Wolf (Bethlehem, Ga.) added 12 kills with a .556 hit-ting percentage, while junior outside hitter Amanda Jones(Marietta, Ga.) collected 10 kills.

Junior setter Ashley Seal (Orlando, Fla.) handed out 41 assists to go along with 11 digs.

The Pioneers had four players with at least seven kills. Junior outside hitter Sam Underwood (Muncie, Ind.) had eight kills, six digs and four blocks to lead the Tusculum attack. Freshman outside hitter Brianna An-derson (Fort Wayne, Ind.) added eight kills with a .400 hitting percentage for the Pioneers.

Freshman setter Georgia Paturalski (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) handed out 15 assists, while sophomore libero Caitlyn Dean (Fort Wayne, Ind.) piled up 16 digs.

The Pirates were in control throughout the opening set, hitting .407 while holding Tuscu-lum to .030. A kill and a block from Wolf put Armstrong on top 11-4. The Pioneers trimmed the lead to four on an ace from Price and kill from freshman middle blocker Taylor Boone (Burnsville, N.C.). Armstrong scored the next four points to push the lead back to eight. A

PBC All-TournAmenT TeAmMarissa Baker, UNC Pembroke

Dianna Craine, FlaglerAmanda Jones, Armstrong

Alex Rohlfing, Augusta StateBrittany Wolf, Armstrong

TournAmenT mVPOlivia Snipes, Flagler

2011 PBC VOLLEYBALL CHAMPiONS FLAGLER SAiNTS

http://www.peachbeltconference.org/sports/vball/2011-12/boxscores/20111113_anu7.xml

Budd kill and Tusculum ace capped the flurry. The Pio-neers would get no closer than seven the rest of the way. Senior libero Casey Howett (Brooks, Ga.) finished the opening frame with an ace.

A pair of blocks from junior middle hitter Leia Pittman (Carthage, Mo.) gave the Pirates a 17-12 lead in the second set. Tusculum used a 6-1 run to cut the lead to two at 21-19 on a kill from Price. A Pittman kill put Armstrong on top 24-21. The Pioneers responded with three straight points to tie it at 24, taking advantage of three Armstrong errors. The Pirates responded with the final two points of the frame, capping the set on a kill from Budd.

Kills from Underwood and sophomore middle blocker Kassie Voelker (Morristown, Tenn.) gave the Pioneers a 20-16 lead in the third set. A Wolf kill helped Arm-strong trim the lead to two, but Anderson answered with a kill for Tusculum to make it 21-18. The Pirates scored four of the next five points to tie it at 22. Jones had two kills in the key spurt for Armstrong. The Pirates would go on to score the final three points of the set to claim the match, taking advantage of three consecutive Tusculum errors.

Armstrong hit .287 on the afternoon, with 47 kills and 14 errors in 115 attacks. The Pioneers had 37 kills and 18 errors in 115 attacks, hitting .165 for the match.

The Pirates advance to the regional semifinals for the first time since 2009. Armstrong will look to advance to its first regional final since 2008, when the Pirates won the region and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: flagleR Blanks newBeRRy 3-0(11/18/11) WINGATE, N.C. – Emilee Taylor and Di-anna Craine each recorded double-doubles as No. 24 (AVCA Division II Top 25) Flagler College made quick work of Newberry College 3-0 (25-11, 25-9, 25-15) in a NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Quarterfinal Match Friday afternoon at Cuddy Arena.

Flagler, the No. 2 seed, advances to take on the No. 3 seed and 21st-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State Univer-sity in what will be the fourth meeting this year be-tween the two schools, tomorrow (Nov. 19) at 4 p.m., in a semifinal match. Armstrong won its quarterfinal match 3-0 over Tusculum. Flagler has won the last two meetings in a row.

Flagler extended its winning streak to 13 matches and improved to 29-6 overall. Newberry wrapped up its season with a 16-16 record.

Taylor recorded 12 kills and had just one error on 23 swings for a .478 hitting percentage. She added 11 digs to complete her 12th double-double of the sea-son. Craine added 10 kills and 12 digs for her 13th double-double of the year, and her fifth in as many matches. Sophie Meyer added 12 kills and had just one error on 25 swings for an efficient .440 hitting percentage. Olivia Snipes added 37 assists and seven digs while Casey Gnann recorded a match-high 18 digs.

Flagler held Newberry to a .051 hitting percentage. The match lasted just eight minutes shy of one hour.

Jessica King led Newberry with seven kills and a .294 hitting percentage. Elayni Stokes collected 11 digs and Blair Browning tallied 17 assists and added seven digs for the Wolves.

The Saints started off by scoring the first five points in the first set. Three different Flagler players recorded kills and two Newberry players recorded errors (one attacking and the other setting). The Wolves rallied to 5-3, but the Saints went on a 9-1 run and coasted to a 25-11 win. Taylor had six kills and six digs in the set. She hit .625 with one error on eight swings. Newberry hit -.091 as a team.

After an Amanda Soper kill tied the second set at 1-all, Craine followed with a kill for the Saints which

(L-R) ASHLEY SEAL, JESSiCA SANTANiELLO & BRENDYCE BUDD

72

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/vball/2011-12/boxscores/20111118_v5ix.xml

Volleyball

73

started a 5-0 run and Flagler was never threatened in a 25-9 win. The Saints recorded a .447 hitting per-centage in the match with 19 kills and only two errors on 38 swings.

Flagler jumped out to a 6-0 lead on Newberry in the third set and never looked back in a 25-15 win. Meyer recorded three kills in the opening run and finished with five kills and a .500 hitting percentage.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: flagleR aDvanCes to RegIon fInal oveR aRmstRong 3-0(11/19/11) WINGATE, N.C. - The second-seeded and 24th-ranked Flagler College Saints swept number 21 Armstrong Atlantic in semifinal action of the 2011 NCAA Southeast regionals Saturday afternoon in Cuddy Arena. Flagler won by scores of 25-19, 29-27 and 25-14 to improve to 30-6 overall, winning its 14th consecutive match while reaching the regional title match for the third consecutive year. Armstrong ends its season at 36-3 overall, the best overall record in program history.

Junior outside hitter Dianna Craine (Oshawa, Ontario) had 11 kills, 10 digs and five blocks, hitting .435 on the afternoon to lead the Flagler attack. Sophomore right-side hitter Sophie Meyer (Orlando, Fla.) added 11 kills with a .450 hitting percentage, while sophomore outside hitter Emilee Taylor (Temple Terrace, Fla.) had nine kills and seven digs for the Saints. Senior setter Olivia Snipes (Easley, S.C.) had 38 assists, while junior libero Casey Gnann (Boca Raton, Fla.) collected 19 digs.

Junior outside hitter Amanda Jones (Marietta, Ga.) had 13 kills to lead the Armstrong Atlantic attack. Sophomore outside hitter Jessica Santaniello (Boca Raton, Fla.) added 10 kills and 10 digs for the Pirates, while senior outside hitter Brendyce Budd (Page, Ariz.) had eight kills and a team-best 12 digs. Junior setter Ashley Seal (Orlando, Fla.) handed out 34 assists for the Pirates.

Flagler used a 7-0 run to take a 12-4 lead in the opening frame, getting two kills each from Taylor and Craine in the spurt. Three consecutive Flagler errors trimmed the lead to three at 15-12. A pair of Armstrong errors, along with a kill from junior middle blocker Crystal Niederriter (Merritt Island, Fla.) pushed the advantage back to seven at 21-14. The Pirates

would get no closer than five the rest of the way, with a Taylor kill capping the set. Flagler hit .382 in the opening frame.

The second set was tight throughout, featuring 14 ties and seven lead changes. A kill from Jones gave Armstrong a 16-13 advantage. The Saints answered by scoring the next four points, getting two aces from Meyer along with an Armstrong error to take a 17-16 lead. The Pirates answered, using a 3-0 run to take a 24-22 lead. Jones started the flurry with a kill, while two Flagler errors capped it. A Meyer kill and Arm-

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKSEPTEMBER 6, 2011:

Player Specialist Michelle Walker, Montevallo Ashley Seal, Armstrong

SEPTEMBER 12, 2011:Player Specialist Brendyce Budd, Armstrong Olivia Snipes, Flagler

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011:Player Specialist Alex Rohlfing, Augusta State Casey Gnann, Flagler

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011:Player Specialist Emily Taylor, Flagler Marissa Baker, UNCP

OCTOBER 3, 2011:Player Specialist Ashlee Crook, Francis Marion Olivia Snipes, Flagler

OCTOBER 10, 2011:Player Specialist Leia Pittman, Armstrong Anna Garrison, Montevallo

OCTOBER 17, 2011:Player Specialist Manyi Ati, Montevallo Hallie Legg, Francis Marion

OCTOBER 24, 2011:Player Specialist Brittany Wolf, Armstrong Rachel Wotitzky, Montevallo

OCTOBER 31, 2011:Player Specialist Ashlee Crook, Francis Marion Ashley Seal, Armstrong

NOVEMBER 7, 2011:Player Specialist Rebecca Morgan, UNCP Olivia Snipes, Flagler

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/vball/2011-12/boxscores/20111118_5h0v.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/vball/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110906vbpotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/vball/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110906vbsotw



















strong error tied it at 24. The teams would then trade points, with the Pirates taking a 27-26 lead to serve for the set once again. A Craine kill tied the set at 27, while a block from Craine put Flagler up by one. The Saints went to Craine again, who capped the second frame with a kill to give Flagler a 2-0 lead.

A 7-0 run helped the Saints jump out to a 14-6 lead in the third set, capped by back-to-back Craine blocks. The Pirates would never get closer than seven the rest of the way. A Meyer kill, along with two kills from junior middle blocker Rachel Stacy (Orlando, Fla.) made it 22-10. Niederriter capped the match with a kill, send-ing Flagler to their third straight regional champion-ship match. Flagler hit .423 in the final set, with 15 kills in 26 swings.

The Saints hit .303 on the match, with 46 kills and 13 errors in 109 attacks. The Pirates had 40 kills and 21 errors in 121 attacks, hitting .157 for the match. Taylor had three of Flagler’s seven aces on the day. Flagler advances to the regional championship match for the third time in as many years. The Saints defeat-ed Wingate 3-1 in 2009 to win the regional title, ad-vancing all the way to the NCAA Final Four. The Saints lost 3-0 in the championship match in 2010 to Wing-ate. The Saints will take on Wingate once again as the Bulldogs advanced with a 3-0 win over Catawba.Box Score

flagleR wIns volleyBall RegIonal tItle!(11/20/11) WINGATE, N.C. – Sophie Meyer had a career-high 18 kills while Olivia Snipes tallied 52 as-sists and 21 digs for her 18th double-double of the season as No. 24 (AVCA Division II Top 25) Flagler won its second NCAA Division II Southeast Region title in three years with a 3-2 (26-28, 21-25, 27-25, 25-23, 15-13) win over No. 14 Wingate University Sunday afternoon at Cuddy Arena.

Flagler extended its winning streak to 15 matches and improved to 31-6 overall. Wingate had its 32-match undefeated streak snapped and finished the season 32-1.

Up next for the Saints will be a trip to the NCAA Divi-sion II National Quarterfinals where they will meet the only undefeated team left in the country, top-ranked Cal State San Bernardino (30-0) on Dec. 1.

Meyer, an all-tournament selection added nine digs and recorded a .245 hitting percentage for the Saints. Dianna Craine, also an all-tournament selection, recorded her 15th double-double of the season with 14 kills and 13 digs. It was her seventh consecutive double-double. Emilee Taylor added her 13th double-double with 14 kills and 11 digs. Snipes, who earned all-tournament honors, eclipsed the 50-assist plateau for the 12th time this season and her 21 digs were the second-most she has recorded this season. For the fifth time this year, Casey Gnann, has surpassed the 30-dig mark with a match-high 31. She was also named to the all-tournament team. Rachel Stacy chipped in with eight kills, five assists and five total blocks.

Cory McGowan led Wingate with 17 kills and 15 digs. Lexi Potter added 16 kills and seven blocks assists. She hit .412 with just two errors on 34 swings. Susie Murach chipped in with 13 kills, 12 digs and six block assists. Anna Hilton recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 12 digs while Grace Krauser finished with 12 kills and four block assists. Maggie Malone collected 20 digs and Liz Willis tallied a match-high 60 as-sists and added 13 digs. McGowan, Hilton, Willis and Krauser were named to the all-tournament team.

The first set featured nine ties and four lead changes. Flagler opened a 22-17 lead after an attack error by McGowan. The Bulldogs followed by going on a 6-1 run to tie the set at 23-all. The Saints had set point after an attack error by Murach, but a serving error tied the score at 24. Flagler jumped ahead 25-24 and had set point again, but a Krauser kill knotted the set at 25. After a kill by Murach, Wingate served set point. Flagler broke it with a kill by Meyer, but a kill by Mu-rach and an attack error by Crystal Niederriter ended the set in favor of Wingate, 28-26. Both teams hit under .100. Craine and Meyer led Flagler with five kills apiece. Muraach and Hilton each recorded four.

Wingate broke open a 7-all tie in the second set with an 11-5 run. The Saints were able to close the deficit to three points (21-18) after a double-block by Meyer and Stacy, but that was as close as they could get. Meyer recorded five kills for the Saints while Potter tal-lied four kills and three blocks for the Bulldogs.

Wingate held a 20-13 lead in the third set and seemed primed to sweep Flagler. The Saints went on a 5-1 run to close to within three (21-18) and eventu-

74

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/vball/2011-12/boxscores/20111119_pgdj.xml

Volleyball

ally rallied all the way back to tie the set at 23 on an ace by Stacy. After a kill by Krauser, Taylor broke Wingate’s first match point with a kill. Krauser added another kill to give Wing-ate a 25-24 lead, but Taylor again broke up match point. A kill by Craine brought up set point for the Saints and Nieder-riter pounded home the final kill to give Flagler a hard-fought 27-25 win. Potter recorded six kills for the Bulldogs while the Saints had three players with three kills.

In the fourth set, Wingate jumped out to a 9-4 lead, but Flagler rallied to tie the set at 20-all on the first of two suc-cessive kills by Meyer, the latter giving the Saints a 21-20 advantage. Flagler grabbed a 24-22 lead on a set error by Willis, but an attack error by Taylor broke the first set point. Meyer finished the set off with a kill and tied the match at 2-all with a 25-23 win. Stacy, Taylor and Meyer all recorded five kills for Flagler as the team hit .389 with 18 kills and four errors on 36 swings. McGowan led Wingate with six kills.

Wingate sprinted out to a 7-1 lead in the fifth and de-ciding set, but Flagler responded with six consecutive points of its own to tie the score at 7-all after a kill by Meyer. With the score tied at 12, Taylor recorded a kill to give the Saints a lead and caused the Bulldogs to call a timeout and re-group. Out of the timeout, Craine blasted a kill across the court to set up match point. After a McGowan kill brought Wingate back to within a point (14-13), Krauser’s serve went long and Flagler took the match with a 15-13 win in the final set.

Joining Flagler’s and Wingate’s players on the all-tour-nament team were: Ashley Seal and Brendyce Budd of Armstrong; and, Jenny Young and Jordan Raye of Catawba.Box Score

flagleR falls to toP-RankeD Cal state san BeRnaRDIno 3-0(12/1/11) SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Priscilla Collin-gs came off the bench to record a match-high 11 kills

and help lead top-ranked (AVCA Division II Top 25) Cal State San Bernardino to a 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-12) win over No. 24 Flagler College in a NCAA Division II Women’s Volleyball National Quarterfinal Thursday night at Coussoulis Arena.

CSUSB improved to 31-0 on the season and extended its home court winning streak to 65 matches. The Coyotes will take on Hillsdale College in the second semifinal tomorrow (Dec. 2). Flagler ended its sea-son with a 31-7 record and had its 15-match winning streak snapped.

“We just didn’t get into a rhythm,” said Flagler head volleyball coach Taylor Mott. “They made it difficult for us to do anything.”

Mott completed her 13th year at the helm of the Fla-gler volleyball program with a record of 304-158 (.659 winning percentage). She is a three-time Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year and a three-time Florida Sun Conference Coach of the Year. Mott’s teams have recorded 20 or more wins in each of the last 11 seasons. She and her husband, Brian, and their two children, will relocate to Tennessee at the end of the month.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” said Mott. “I am really proud of the girls.”

Collings hit .357 in a reserve role as she only had one error on 28 swings. Megan Johnson added 10 kills

(L-R) LAURA LANCASTER, OLiViA SNiPES & JiLLiAN UNiTAS

75

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/vball/2011-12/boxscores/20111120_blpr.xml

with one error on 19 swings for a .474 hitting percentage. Two-time AVCA Division II Player of the Year Saman-tha Middleborn recorded eight kills and added four total blocks. Two-time AVCA Division II All-America Camille Smith recorded a double-double with 33 assists and 12 digs.

The Coyotes hit .346 for the match and recorded 7.0 total team blocks.

AVCA Division II Third Team All-America Olivia Snipes led the Saints with her 19th double-double of the season with 25 assists and 10 digs. Peach Belt Conference Libero of the Year winner Casey Gnann collected a match-high 21 digs. Emy Taylor, Dianna Craine, and Sophie Meyer each recorded six kills.

Flagler was held to a .088 hitting percentage.

The Coyotes raced out to a 7-2 lead in the first set and never trailed. The Saints closed the gap to 13-10 after a kill by Meyer, but CSUSB countered with a 6-3 run to take control back. The Coyotes held set point (24-17), but the Saints fought off three set points before a Middleborn kill ended the set 25-20. Johnson led CSUSB with six kills and recorded a .600 hitting percentage. Collings added five kills.

Flagler jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set after a pair of kills by Meyer and others from Taylor and Ra-chel Stacy. A double-block by Middleborn and Smith tied the set up at 7-all, but Flagler went on a 4-1, capped by a Craine kill to give the Saints an 11-8 lead. The Coyotes closed to 11-10 after a hitting error by the Saints, but Smith followed with a service error to give Flagler a 12-10 lead. A Johnson spike started a 9-1 run by the Coyotes to swing the momentum back to CSUSB. The coyotes went on to take the set 25-16. Taylor recorded four kills for the Saints.

Cal State San Bernardino raced out to a 12-4 lead in the third set and never looked back. Flagler rallied to close the deficit with its own 6-1 run as an Abby Meyers kill induced a CSUSB timeout with the score 13-10. But the Coyotes closed the set, and the match, by recording the last eight points in a row.Box Score


Anna Garrison, MontevalloCapital one academic all-District team

Samantha Lukralle, USC AikenDanielle Parker, Francis Marion

Peach Belt Conference all-academic teamMarissa Baker, UNC PembrokeBrendyce Budd, ArmstrongAshley Farwell, USC AikenAnna Garrison, MontevalloCasey Howett, ArmstrongChelsey Kight, USC AikenHallie Legg, Francis MarionSamantha Lukralle, USC AikenAmanda Mitchell, Francis MarionDanielle Parker, Francis Marion

Claire Patten, USC AikenLeia Pittman, ArmstrongJessica Santaniello, ArmstrongOlivia Snipes, Flagler


Michelle Carle, MontevalloLiz Drewry, Francis MarionEndea Ellison, USC AikenJessica Guidry, MontevalloEmily Maassen, USC AikenMegan Mooney, Francis MarionPaige Perreault, Francis Marion

avCa all-america third teamOlivia Snipes, FlaglerBrittany Wolf, Armstrong

avCa all-southeast Region teamBrendyce Budd, ArmstrongDianna Craine, FlaglerCasey Gnann, FlaglerCrystal Niederriter, Flagler

AwArd winners

76

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/vball/2011-12/boxscores/20111201_xjnj.xml

Volleyball

77

Jessica Santaniello, ArmstrongOlivia Snipes, FlaglerEmilee Taylor, FlaglerBrittany Wolf, Armstrong

avCa all-southeast Regionhonorable mention

Leia Pittman, ArmstrongAshley Seal, Armstrong

avCa southeast Region Coach of the yearWill Condon, Armstrong

Daktronics all-southeast Region first teamBrendyce Budd, ArmstrongDianna Craine, FlaglerCrystal Niederriter, FlaglerBrittany Wolf, Armstrong

Daktronics all-southeast Region second teamManyi Ati, MontevalloCasey Gnann, FlaglerJessica Santaniello, ArmstrongOlivia Snipes, Flagler

PBC all-Conference first teamManyi Ati, MontevalloBrendyce Budd, ArmstrongCrystal Niederriter, FlaglerLeia Pittman, ArmstrongAshley Seal, ArmstrongOlivia Snipes, FlaglerBrittany Wolf, Armstrong

PBC all-Conference second teamShannon Byers, USC AikenDianna Craine, FlaglerCasey Gnann, FlaglerSamantha Lukralle, USC AikenRebecca Morgan, UNC PembrokeJessica Santaniello, ArmstrongEmilee Taylor, Flagler

PBC Player of the yearBrittany Wolf, Armstrong

PBC freshman of the yearAlex Rohlfing, Augusta State

PBC libero/Defensive specialist of the year

Casey Gnann, FlaglerPBC setter of the year

Olivia Snipes, FlaglerCo-Coaches of the year

Will Condon, ArmstrongTaylor Mott, Flagler

MONTEVALLO’S GARRiSON NAMED FiRST TEAM ACADEMiC ALL-AMERiCANSenior setter Anna Garrison of the University of Montevallo volleyball team was named to the Cap-ital One Academic All-America® Division II Vol-leyball First Team by the College Sports Informa-tion Directors of America. Garrison becomes the first female student-athlete from the University of Montevallo to be named a First Team Academic All-American and just the second student-athlete in school history to receive the honor. Garrison joins UM Hall of Fame member and former base-ball player Tony Cappola (1997-00) as the only First Team CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in school history.

Garrison has a 4.00 GPA in communication stud-ies. She led the Falcons in assists and had 14 double-doubles this past season. Last season she was named AVCA All-Southeast Region, PBC All-Conference First Team, PBC Co-Setter of the Year, First Team Academic All-District, PBC All-Academic Team and PBC Specialist of the Week five times. She was also awarded an academic achievement award by the Division II Athletic Directors Association and named a Gold Scholar on the PBC Honor Roll. Her sophomore year she was named Second Team Academic All-District, First Team All-Academic by the PBC, Second-Team All-PBC and was PBC Specialist of the Week three times. She was also named a Gold Scholar on the PBC Presidential Honor Roll.

Garrison becomes just the fourth student-athlete at UM to be named CoSIDA Academic All-Ameri-can. Cappola was named First Team in 2000, UM Hall of Famer and women’s soccer star Adrianne Peters (1999-02) was named Second Team in 2001 and Third Team in 2002 while women’s soc-cer goalkeeper Corey Gros (2005-08) was named Third Team in 2008.

PBC FiRST TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE(L-R) WOLF, ATi, BUDD, PiTTMAN, SEAL, NiEDERRiTER & SNiPES

stAtistiCsIndIvIdual

kIlls PeR setAlex Rohlfing, Augusta State 3.38Manyi Ati, Montevallo 3.11Michelle Walker, Montevallo 3.08Rebecca Morgan, UNC Pembroke 3.07Emily Taylor, Flagler 2.98Amanda Jones, Armstrong 2.96Brendyce Budd, Armstrong 2.87Dianna Craine, Flagler 2.81AshleeCrook, Francis Marion 2.68Jessica Santaniello, Armstrong 2.67hIttIng PeRCentageBrittany Wolf, Armstrong .406Crystal Niederriter, Flagler .359Manyi Ati, Montevallo .343J essicaHanson, Augusta State .338Rachel Stacy, Flagler .297Sophie Meyer, Flagler .288Abby Meyers, Flagler .256Brendyce Budd, Armstrong .233Katie Best, Montevallo .223Amanda Mitchell, Francis Marion .221seRvICe aCes PeR setAshley Seal, Armstrong 0.49Hannah Hill, UNC Pembroke 0.40Jessica Register, Lander 0.39Rebecca Morgan, UNC Pembroke 0.34Madison Kubal, Lander 0.33Nicole Bennett, Francis Marion 0.30Dianna Craine, Flagler 0.29Chelsea Phillips, UNC Pembroke 0.29

Emily Taylor, Flagler 0.28Claire Patten, USC Aiken 0.26BloCks PeR setLeia Pittman, Armstrong 1.16Brittany Wolf, Armstrong 1.04Jessica Loper, USC Aiken 0.96Danielle Parker, Francis Marion 0.93Hannah Tierney, USC Aiken 0.80Katie Best, Montevallo 0.78Rachel Stacy, Flagler 0.78Crystal Niederriter, Flagler 0.77P aigeTuttle, Augusta State 0.73Endea Ellison, USC Aiken 0.70

Teamteam kIlls PeR set Flagler 14.21Armstrong 13.17Montevallo 13.07USC Aiken 12.20Augusta State 12.09UNC Pembroke 11.81Francis Marion 11.21Lander 10.52team hIttIng PeRCentageFlagler .254Armstrong .249Augusta State .205Montevallo .202Francis Marion .165USC Aiken .158

UNC Pembroke .154Lander .114assIsts PeR setFlagler 13.34Armstrong 12.20Montevallo 12.17UNC Pembroke 11.04USC Aiken 10.99Augusta State 10.93Francis Marion 10.19Lander 9.90DIgs PeR setMontevallo 17.36Flagler 17.31UNC Pembroke 16.99Lander 16.54USC Aiken 15.75Francis Marion 15.55Armstrong 15.38Augusta State 15.30BloCks PeR setArmstrong 2.33Francis Marion 1.97USC Aiken 1.95Flagler 1.80Montevallo 1.75UNC Pembroke 1.68Augusta State 1.50Lander 1.17

PBC QuaRteRfInals: montevallo Pulls away fRom unCP(3/2/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – Montevallo pulled away in the late stages for a 74-62 victory over UNC Pembroke Friday af-ternoon in the first quarterfinal of the Peach Belt Conference Championships at Frank G. Lumpkin Center.

The victory was the sixth in the last seven games for the

Men’s bAsketbAll CONFERENCE OVERALL GP Record Win % GP Record Win % Last 10

eaST dIvISIOn1. USC Aiken 18 14-4 0.778 29 21-8 0.724 6-4 2. Augusta State 18 12-6 0.667 28 17-11 0.607 6-43. Lander 18 11-7 0.611 27 18-9 0.667 6-44. UNC Pembroke 18 11-7 0.611 29 17-12 0.586 5-55. Francis Marion 18 9-9 0.500 28 16-12 0.571 5-56. Armstrong 18 6-12 0.333 26 10-16 0.385 3-77. Flagler 18 2-16 0.111 26 9-17 0.346 3-7

WeST dIvISIOn1. Montevallo 17 12-5 0.706 37 29-8 0.784 9-12. Columbus State 17 11-6 0.647 30 18-12 0.600 6-43. Georgia College 17 10-7 0.588 27 17-10 0.630 7-34. Clayton State 17 8-9 0.471 27 16-11 0.593 5-55. North Georgia 17 5-12 0.294 28 10-18 0.357 3-76. Ga. Southwestern 17 3-14 0.176 26 12-14 0.462 1-9

FiNAL STANDiNGS

78

Men’s Basketball

79

Falcons, who improved to 22-7 and advance to face the Augusta State-Georgia College winner on Saturday, March 3 at 6:00 p.m. With the loss, the Braves slipped to 17-12 on the season.

D.J. Rivera led four Falcons in double figures. Drico Hightower tallied 17 points and six rebounds, Ryan May booked 14 points and Antoine Davis, the PBC Defen-sive Player of the Year, netted 11 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and two steals.

UNCP freshman Griffin Pittman paced the Braves with 14 points, second-team all-conference mem-ber Shahmel Brackett pitched in 13 and three steals and K.J. Coo-per chipped in 10 points.

Montevallo jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first 2:02 of the game on an Davis 3-play, a Davis deflection and steal that led to a Rivera layup and a Hightower layup.

Brackett got the Braves on the board with a running jumper before Pittman swished a 3-pointer and keyed a 25-3 run that Brackett capped when he hit a trey from the left base-line for a 30-15 Braves’ lead, their largest of the half.

The Falcons answered, closing the final 5:15 of the half on a 14-3 spurt as UNCP misfired on six of its last seven field goal attempts and three free throw attempts.

UM used a 14-2 run in the first six minutes of the second half to move back ahead 43-35. May swished a three from the right corner and Hightower’s tip in put the West Division’s top seed up by 10 at 45-35 with 13:57 remaining.

After Mike Robinson hit a jumper for the Braves, May swished back-to-back 3-pointers – his third and fourth of the second half -- to give the Falcons some breathing room at 54-40.

The Braves wouldn’t go away, however, and when Brackett nailed a trey from the top of the key, UNCP trailed just 64-58 with 2:33 to play. After a Marvin Fitzgerald free throw put the Falcons up seven, UNCP freshman Ben Jacobs answered with a free throw of his own for a 65-59 deficit.

Hightower answered with two free throws and an uncontested layup from May put Montevallo in

W1. MontevalloMontevallo 74-62

Montevallo 63-59

Montevallo 70-57

E4. UNCP

E2. Augusta St.

W3. Georgia CollegeAugusta St. 71-49

E1. USC Aiken

W4. Clayton St.

USC Aiken 48-40

W2. Columbus St.

E3. LanderColumbus St. 84-81 (ot)

Columbus St. 75-74 (2ot)

MONTEVALLO’SANTOiNE DAViS

control 69-60 with less than a minute remaining. Rivera drained three free throws for a 72-60 Falcons’ advantage and Hightower added a pair from the char-ity stripe before the Braves’ Cooper hit a layup for the final margin.

Montevallo shot 53.5 percent overall, including 63.6 in the second half, and hit 50.0 percent of its 3-point attempts (7-of-14).

The Braves shot 46.2 percent for the game, but con-nected on just 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) from long dis-tance.

UNCP edged the Falcons on the boards, 30-28.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInals: DomInatIng fIRst half PRoPels JaguaRs to PBC semIfInals(3/2/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – Augusta State University (17-10) used a dominating first half performance to push past Georgia College (17-10) 71-49 Friday afternoon in the second quarterfinal of the Peach Belt Conference Championships at Frank G. Lumpkin Center. With the win the Jaguars advance to face the University of Montevallo in the first semifinal on Satur-day beginning at 6:00 p.m.

ASU was led by PBC Freshman of the Year Devon Wright-Nelson who led all scorers with 22 points and also grabbed 16 rebounds which was also a game-high. Harold Doby chipped in 15 points and six

boards while O’Neal Armstrong had 11 points and six as-sists.

Georgia College had a trio of double-digit scorers including PBC First Team se-lection Ryan Aquino who led the team with 14 points and seven rebounds. Jared Holmes add-ed 12 points while Tarrence Chatman had 11.

Both teams struggled shooting the ball early as they combined for 10 points over the opening five minutes of the game. After going 2-for-8 from the field in the opening five minutes of the first half, the Jaguars went 14-for-21 the rest of the way to pull away from the Bobcats.

With the score tied 6-6 with 14:02 to play in the half the Jaguars began 7-0 run capped off by a Wright-Nelson three-point play. A three-pointer by Quin Bivins with 11:28 to play ended the run and cut the Bobcats deficit to just four points. Just five minutes later with the Jags up by six, ASU began a 10-0 run to take a 28-13 with 3:41 to play in the half. ASU would grow its lead over the final minutes to 19 as the half expired, 38-19.

Georgia College shot just 29.2 percent from the field in the first half while Augusta hit 55.2 percent of its shots. GC struggled from deep as they hit just 1-of-7 attempts from beyond the three-point line while ASU did not convert a single three-pointer in the half.

The Bobcats came out in the second half and played even with the Jaguars but it would not be enough as the 19-point halftime deficit proved too much to over come. ASU opened the second half with a 14-4 run to increase its lead to 29 but that would be the Jags largest lead of the contest as the Bobcats began to find their rhythm. An Aquino three-pointer with 4:48 left in the half cut the deficit to 15 but that would be as close as the Bobcats would come as the bas-ket sparked a 10-0 run by the Jaguars to retake a 25-point lead. Georgia College was able to knock three-points off the lead over the final minute as Au-gusta won 71-49.

ASU will now battle Montevallo in the PBC semifinals for the third-straight season. UM won the first meeting during the 2010 PBC Tournament while ASU took the 2011 meeting, 61-52.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInals: usC aIken suRvIves Clayton state; aDvanCes to semIs(3/2/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – Maurice Hubbard scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds Friday evening to lead the USC Aiken men’s basketball team to a 48-40 victory over Clayton State in the quarterfinal round of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament hosted by Columbus State University at the Frank G. Lumpkin AUGUSTA STATE’S DiP METRESS

DRAWS UP A PLAY80

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120302_277v.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120302_cqbk.xml

Men’s Basketball

Center.USCA, the top seed in the East, improves to 21-6 overall and ad-vances to Saturday’s 8 p.m. semifinal where it will play the Colum-bus State/Lander winner. Clayton State, the fourth seed in the West, drops to 16-11. The tournament cham-pionship game is set for 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

Hubbard connected on 4-of-5 field goals and 3-of-9 free throws, while Sterling Council

added eight points. The Pacers connected on 23-

of-36 free throws in the game for 63.9 percent.

Clayton State’s Anthony Salter scored a game-high 18 points as he made 6-of-14 field goals and 6-of-7 free throws. Andrew Bachanov added seven points and 11 rebounds in the loss.

The first half was a low-scoring affair that featured four ties and seven lead changes, but the Pacers eased out to a 22-15 lead on a Maurice Hubbard dunk with 56.7 seconds left and two free throws by Re’mon Nelson at 12.2 seconds.

The Lakers cut the lead to 22-17 with 4.8 seconds remaining on a Tim Budd basket.

Neither team shot well in the first half with USCA going 7-for-29 from the field for 24.1 percent and Clayton State connecting on 6-of-21 shots for 28.6 percent.

The Lakers opened the second half with a 5-0 run on a Teondre Williams dunk, a Bachanov field goal and a Salter free throw to tie the game at 22-22 with 17:22 left in the game.

After one more tie and seven lead changes, the Pac-ers took the lead for good at 32-31 with 9:57 left in the game on a pair of Jesse Seilern free throws.

The Lakers stayed with striking range until the final

minutes when they were forced to foul to get posses-sion. USCA connected on 5-of-8 free throws to end the game.

For the game, USCA was 12-of-46 from the field for 26.1 percent, including 1-of-16 threes.

Clayton State connected on 15-of-46 floor shots for 32.6 percent and missed on all nine of its three-point attempts. The Lakers were 10-of-20 from the free throw line for 50 percent.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInals: ColumBus state Downs lanDeR In ot thRIlleR(3/2/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – Columbus State outlasted Lander for a thrilling 84-81 overtime victory Friday night in the fourth and final quarterfinal of the Peach Belt Conference Championships at Frank G. Lumpkin Center.

With the win, the Cougars (17-10) move on to Satur-day’s 8:00 p.m., semifinal contest against USC Aiken (21-6), the PBC East Division’s top seed and the league’s regular season champion.

CSU extended its winning streak in overtime to 12 in a row behind a career-high 25 points and 14 rebounds from Darius Mcknight, who notched his fifth double-double of the season. Steve Peterson registered 19 points, five steals, four rebounds and four assists, while Idell Bell tallied 16 points and Jarmarquis Ste-verson managed 12.

Lander’s Corey Wright booked 24 points and seven as-sists to pace the Bearcats (18-9). David Pruett canned five 3-pointers for 15 points, including a trey with two seconds left to force the extra session. Dwight Tolbert had 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Jermel Kennedy notched a double-double of his own with 11 points and 13 boards.

Mcknight hit 1-of-2 free throws on CSU’s first overtime possession for a 72-71 lead and Peterson rattled home a 3-pointer for a 75-71 Cougar advantage. After Wright went 1-of-2 at the free throw line, Peterson slashed to the basket for a layup to put CSU up 77-72 before a perfect pass from Bell to McKnight led to an-other uncontested layup and a 79-72 Columbus lead.

Pruett again connected from long range to pull Lander

81

USC AiKEN’S MAURiCE HUBBARD

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120302_u1wp.xml

within 79-75. Kennedy made one of two free throws and Wright drilled a 3-pointer for an 81-79 Columbus lead. Steverson put the Cougars up four with a pair from the charity stripe before Kennedy got free under-neath for a layup and the Bearcats fouled Ivey, who missed his first attempt and hit the second for the final margin. Lander rushed the ball up the floor but lost control as the clock expired.

The Cougars shot a blistering 54.8 percent in the first half en route to a 43-31 halftime lead. They drained seven 3-pointers and connected on 17-of-31 field-goal attempts. Mcknight nearly had a double-double in the opening 20 minutes alone, posting 11 points and nine rebounds. Peterson booked 10 points and hit a pair of treys, as did Steverson and Idell Bell.

The Cougars pushed their lead out to as much as 17 just 2:31 into the second half before a Corey Wright trey and layup pulled the Bearcats to within 50-38. Lander twice cut its deficit down to 10 on a pair of Cody Waterworth jumpers, only to have CSU answer with two driving layups from McKnight.

Tolbert, named the league’s Player of the Year on Tuesday, drilled consecu-tive 3-pointers -- one from the right wing and one from the left -- to cut the margin to 56-52 at the 10:59 mark. The Cougars responded with a trey from Peterson and a Mcknight layup to put CSU up 62-54 with 6:08 remaining.

Wright hit a pair of free throws but another Mcknight basket in the lane kept the Cougar advan-tage at eight (64-56). Wright answered with a banked-in 3-pointer that nar-rowly beat the shot clock and then hit a driving layup to get the Bearcats within four at 64-60 with 4:08 remaining.

Kennedy’s left-handed layup cut the deficit to 65-62 and Darion Canty put back Kennedy’s miss to pull within 66-64. Bell sank two from the charity stripe for a

67-64 CSU advantage and Steverson added a pair from the charity stripe for a five-point Cougar lead with 2:01 left.

But the Bearcats again had an answer. After a CSU turnover, Wright found Pruett in transition on the right wing for a 3-pointer to pull within 69-67. After Peter-son missed a 3-point attempt from the left baseline, Wright was fouled and made the first of two free throws. CSU’s Winford Ivey rebounded the miss but stepped on the baseline to give the back to Lander.

The Bearcats gave the ball right back when Tolbert slipped while making a cut to the basket and was called for traveling. Forced to foul, Lander sent Ivey to the line and he made both attempts for a 71-68 CSU lead.

Wright raced the ball up the left side of the floor and found Pruett, who’s leaning 3-pointer – his fourth of the game -- forced overtime at 71-all.Box Score

PBC semIfInals: montevallo PunChes tICket to tItle game 63-59

(3/3/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – The Montevallo men’s basketball team used a 12-0 run early in the second half to punch its ticket to the Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship game Sat-urday evening when it posted a 63-59 victory over

Augusta State in the first semifinal game in Colum-bus State University’s Frank G. Lumpkin Center.

Montevallo, the top seed in the West, improves to 23-7 overall and will face the USC Aiken/Columbus State winner in the title game at 4:30 p.m., Sunday. The winner earns the PBC’s automatic berth into the NCAA Division II National Championship Tourna-ment. Augusta State, the second seed in the East, drops to 17-11.

Antoine Davis led Montevallo with a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Drico Hightower had 11 points and nine rebounds and DJ Rivera 11 points.

The Jaguars placed four players in double figures led by Tye Beal’s 15 points. O’Neal Armstrong netted 12 points, while Travis Keels and D’Angelo Boyce had 10 each. Harold Doby led ASU in rebounds with eight.

COLUMBUS STATE’S JAMARqUiS STEVERSON82

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120302_ng2o.xml

Men’s Basketball

After tying for the third time in the game at 16-16 with 7:37 left in the first half, Augusta State used a 15-0 run to take a 31-16 advantage with 4:08 remaining. During the scoring spree, Beal netted three treys, including one four-point play, while Armstrong drilled a three and Keels made a two-pointer.

Montevallo followed its four-minute scoring drought with a three from Rivera and a fast break layup by Davis to cut the lead to 31-21 at the 3:13 mark.

The Jaguars’ Devon Wright-Nelson came back with a three- and two-pointer to make it 36-21 at 2:18, but the Falcons concluded the half (36-25) with a basket underneath by Davis and a Jonas Brown layup.

Montevallo made its move following the intermission when it cut the Augusta State lead under double fig-ures at 38-29 when Hightower scored with 18:38 left in the game.

Augusta made it 45-34 on a D’Angelo Boyce three at 16:07, but Montevallo responded with a 12-0 run to take a 46-45 lead at 11:11 on Brown’s three pointer. The Falcons started the run with Marvin Fitzgerald’s two free throws, Davis added a three-point play and Hightower and DeMarcus Catchings each had a bas-ket.

After two more ties and two lead changes, Montevallo eased out to a five-point lead at 58-53 on a Hightower

putback.

The Jags cut it to 58-55 on Armstrong’s two free throws at 1:39, but Rivera went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 25.5 seconds to secure the win.

For the game, Montevallo connected on 24-of-59 field goals for 40.7 percent, including 2-of-15 threes for 13.3 percent. The Falcons sank 13-of-26 free throws for 50 percent.

ASU was 21-of-46 from the field for 45.7 percent, in-cluding 8-of-14 threes for 57.1 percent. The Jags sank 9-of-14 foul shots for 64.3 percent.Box Score

PBC semIfInals: PeteRson DouBle ot JumPeR senDs CougaRs to PBC ChamPIonshIP(3/3/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – Columbus State Universi-ty (18-10) upset the regular season Peach Belt Con-ference Champions USC Aiken (21-7) in double over-time in the PBC Semifinals Saturday evening in the Frank G. Lumpkin Center. A baseline jumper by CSU’s Steve Peterson with three seconds left on the clock in double overtime proved to be the difference.

The Cougars will now take on the University of Mon-tevallo in the PBC Championship on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.

CSU was led by Idell Bell who scored 16 points while Peterson added 14. Jamarquis Steverson scored 13 points and Darius Mcknight had a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds.

USCA was led by Re’Mon Nelson who scored 18 while Sterling Council added 17. Chase Holmes came in third with 13.

Both teams came out of the gate cold as they com-bined for five points over the opening five minutes. With 10:50 left to play in the first half and the Pac-ers ahead 7-6, USCA began an 8-2 run capped off by a Nelson layup to take a seven-point lead. CSU answered with four-straight points all coming from the free throw line to cut the lead to just three.

A 5-0 run by Bell beginning at the 5:54 mark tied the game for the Cougars as he hit a three and a pair of free throws to tie the game at 17. CSU took its first

83

AUGUSTA STATE’S O’NEAL ARMSTRONG DRiVES AGAiNST MONTEVALLO’S DEMARCUS CATCHiNGS

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120303_twx4.xml

lead since the 17:54 mark of the half on a layup by Dimitri Davis but a quick jumper by the Pacers knot-ted the game back up.

The Pacers and Cougars then traded three-point baskets to keep the game tied. A 4-0 run by McKnight gave the Cougars a four-point lead with just 38 sec-onds left on the clock but a layup as timed expired by Nelson cut the lead to just two as both teams headed into the half.

USCA shot 30.3 percent in the first half while the Cougars connected on 28.6 percent. USCA went just 1-of-9 from three-point range and CSU made one bet-ter going 2-of-9. Both teams struggled from the free throw line as CSU was 12-of-20 good for 60 percent and USCA was 3-of-7 good for 42.9 percent.

Nelson opened the second half with a three to give USCA a one-point lead but the Cougars responded with six-straight points including back-to-back jumpers from Steve Peterson. With 15:55 left the Pacers used a 5-0 run to take a one point lead with 14:35 to play. The teams would trade baskets on the next few possessions but with 11:27 to play CSU used a 5-0 run to take a seven-point lead which would be the biggest of the half.

The Pacers slowly worked their way back into the game and a three-pointer by Nelson tied the game with 2:23 to play. A jumper by the Pacers and a pair of free throws by the Cougars would be all either team could produce over the final two minutes as missed shots and turnovers produced a 57-57 score at the end of regulation.

CSU shot 58.8 percent from the field in the second half while the Cougars hit 54.5 percent. CSU improved its three-point shooting in the second half hitting 2-of-

5 while the Pacers found their range going 6-of-10 from beyond the arc.

The Cougars jumped out to the early lead in the first overtime period as Steverson and McKnight combined for four points in the opening minute while the Pacers scored just one point on a free throw. Four-straight free throws and a jumper by Council gave the Pac-ers a three-point lead with 1:26 to play. Both teams struggled to find the bucket over the next minute but a leaning three by Peterson tied the game with 16 seconds left. Nelson attempted a three as the buzzer sounded but it missed the mark to send the game into a second overtime.

USCA was just 1-of-6 from the field in the overtime pe-riod but converted on 5-of-8 free throw attempts. The Cougars were not much better as they hit 2-of-4 from

the field and 2-of-4 from the free throw line.

CSU and USCA traded baskets on the open-ing few possessions of the second over-time but an old-fashioned three-point play by Rick Alder-man gave the Pacers a three-point lead. Peterson answered with a three-pointer of his own to tie the game and Jonathan Murphy hit a layup to put the Cougars up by two. USCA answered

with five-straight points to take a 74-71 lead with 35 seconds left on the clock.

McKnight was fouled on the next possession and hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to just one with 17 seconds left. The Pacers struggled to inbound the ball and had it knocked out of bounds three times before a misplaced dribble turned the ball back over to the Cougars. Peterson hit a baseline jumper with three seconds left to put the Cougars up by one and a half court heave fell short for the Pacers as the Cougars won, 75-74.Box Score

COLUMBUS STATE’S STEVE PETERSON DRiVES BY USC AiKEN’S STERLiNG COUNCiL. TO SEE PETERSON’S GAME-WiNNiNG SHOT

CLiCK here.

84

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120303_iwed.xml

http://youtu.be/1D-poI3kHd8

Men’s Basketball

montevallo Runs Past ColumBus state to fIRst PBC touRnament tItle!(3/4/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – Montevallo stormed back from an early deficit Sunday afternoon to capture the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Cham-pionship with a 70-57 victory over host Columbus State in Frank G. Lumpkin Center.

With the victory, the Falcons improved to 24-7 and earned the PBC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tourna-ment. The Cougars (18-11) will likely earn an at-large bid to the Big Dance. The official announcement of the full tournament field will be made at 10:30 p.m., Sunday night from the association’s headquarters in Indianapolis, Ind.

The tournament title was the first for Montevallo, which was making its second championship game ap-pearance in its three seasons as members of the PBC.

Falcons’ senior guard D.J. Rivera, the league’s scor-ing leader in the regular-season, tallied a team-high 22 points, including three 3-pointers, along with six rebounds. Backcourt mate Antoine Davis booked 15 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

CSU senior guard Steve Peterson booked a game-high 24 points, six boards and three steals. Darius Mck-night and Paul Darkwa managed 10 points each and combined for 17 rebounds.

Peterson helped the Cougars roar out to a blazing start, draining a pair of 3-pointers around a Darkwa jumper in the first three minutes as CSU built an 8-2 lead.

The top seed in the PBC’s West Division, the Falcons answered with six straight points to knot the game at 8-all on a Marvin Fitzgerald put-back and Davis’ reverse layup gave UM its first lead at the 14:21 mark and sparked a 9-0 spurt.

A DeMarcus Catch-ings’ layup at the 6:40 mark put Montevallo up by 11 at 26-15 and a

Travis DeShazior 3-pointer pushed the advantage to 29-15. Fitzgerald’s offensive rebound and layup after a Davis miss made for a 36-19 Fal-cons’ lead – their largest of the half -- at the 2:15 mark. The Cougars got baskets from Johnathan Murphy and Jarmarquis Steverson to close the gap to 36-23 at the half.

Rivera’s trey just 39 seconds into the second half put the Falcons up 13 and a Hightower free throw made it a 53-39 UM lead with 8:58 to play. After UM missed two free throws, Hightower came up with the loose ball and his putback gave the Falcons a 57-42. A Fitzgerald three-point play with 4:01 left gave Monte-vallo it’s largest of the game at 62-44.

Rivera canned six free throws in the final 2:14 and the Cougars never got within 10 the rest of the way.

The Falcons shot 51.0 percent for the game and hit 6-of-12 3-pointers and won the rebounding edge, 37-35.

CSU was held to 35.8 percent from the field (19-of-53), including just 3-of-16 from long range.Box Score

85

PBC All-TournAmenT TeAmRe’Mon Nelson, USC Aiken

Devon Wright-Nelson, Augusta StateDarius McKnight, Columbus StateSteve Peterson, Columbus State

D.J. Rivera, Montevallo

TournAmenT mVPAntoine Davis, Monteveallo

2012 PBC MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPiONS MONTEVALLO FALCONS

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120304_cyay.xml

nCaa touRnament: anDeRson ousts ColumBus state 77-64(3/10/12) MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The 14th-ranked Trojans of Anderson University pulled away late in quarterfinal #1 of the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Southeast Regional in Montevallo, Ala. The Trojans led by just one against Columbus State University at halftime but used a 45-33 second-half advantage to capture the victory, 77-64.

The Trojans improved to 25-5 on the season while the Cougars concluded their season with a 18-12 record.

AU was led by Denzail Jones and Stephen Cobb who each scored 17 points. Jones added five assists and four rebounds while Cobb had five boards. Taylor Shugart had a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards while Tyrell McDowell chipped in 12 points.

CSU was led by Idell Bell who had 17 points while Dim-itri Davis had 16 points and seven rebounds. Steve Peterson also added 12 points and seven boards.

The Trojans shot 46.3 percent from the field in the game while holding the Cougars to just 36.5 percent. AU was on fire from long-range hitting 13-of-26 shots from beyond the three-point line while the Cougars hit just 6-of-22. Both teams were solid from the free throw line as AU hit 73.7 percent and CSU hit 75.0 percent.

CSU jumped out to the early lead in the first half as the Cougars scored six of the opening eight points. Anderson responded with a 10-1 run to take a 12-7 lead with 13:35 to play. After a Jonathan Murphy jumper that cut the Trojans lead to just three, Jones answered with a three to give AU their largest lead up to that point, 15-9. The three sparked an 8-0 run by the Trojans to increase their lead to 11 with just under 12 minutes to play. The Cougars then scored six-straight points to cut it back to five and a jumper by Darius Mcknight cut it down to four just a minute later. Mcknight then connected on a free throw to trim the lead to just three points but once again a Trojan three-pointer put the lead back to six.

With 3:22 to play Davis hit a layup to make it a two-point game but again the Trojans answered with a three to put themselves back up by five. After both teams traded free throws, Davis went on his own three-point run to close out the half and cut the lead to just one, 32-31.

The Trojans shot 40.0 percent from the field in the first half and 46.7 percent from three-point range. The Cougars connected on 39.3 percent of their shots and 30.0 percent from three-point range. AU was 5-of-7 from the charity stripe while CSU hit 6-of-10. CSU won the rebounding battle 20-15 while AU edged CSU in turnovers as the Cougars had seven while the Trojans had just six.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKNOVEMBER 21, 2011:

Clarence Tillman, North Georgia

NOVEMBER 28, 2011:Teondre Williams, Clayton State

DECEMBER 5, 2011Dwight Tolbert, Lander

DECEMBER 12, 2011D.J. Rivera, Montevallo

DECEMBER 19, 2011Liki Turner, Francis Marion

JANUARY 3, 2012Phillip Brown, Georgia Southwestern

JANUARY 9, 2012Corey Wright, Lander

JANUARY 16, 2012Evrik Gary, Francis Marion

JANUARY 23, 2012Dwight Tolbert, Lander

JANUARY 30, 2012Liki Turner, Francis Marion

FEBRUARY 6, 2012Devon Wright-Nelson, Augusta State

FEBRUARY 13, 2012Ryan Aquino, Georgia College

FEBRUARY 20, 2012Dwight Tolbert, Lander

FEBRUARY 27, 2012D.J. Rivera, Montevallo

86

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20111121mbbpotw





Phillip Brown, Georgia Southwestern









Men’s Basketball

After a free throw put the Trojans up by two, a jumper by Paul Darkwa tied the game at 33. The two teams traded baskets on the next few possessions until a Jones three-pointer put the Trojans up by five. CSU answered with a small 5-0 run to tie the game but just minutes later the Trojans again stretched their lead to five. The lead would remain around the five-point mark until the Trojans started a 10-2 run with 6:08 to play to take a 68-56 lead. The run lasted just under three minutes as the Trojans drained a pair of three-pointers and a pair of jumpers.

With 1:16 left in the game a jumper by Nick Trull gave the Trojans their largest lead of the game at 17. A layup with 48 seconds by the Cougars ended the scor-ing as the Trojans won, 77-62.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: wIngate esCaPes usC aIken 73-70(3/10/12) MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The seventh-seeded Bulldogs of Wingate University shot 95.5 percent from the free throw line to upset the second-seeded Pacers of USC Aiken in the quarterfinals of the 2012 NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Southeast Regional. The Bulldogs missed just one free throw the entire game as they were a near perfect 21-of-22 from the charity stripe.

The Bulldogs improve their record to 21-11 and ad-vance to the semifinals to face Anderson University. The Pacers record fell to 21-8.

Wingate was led by Jaime Vaughn who poured in 22 points while Odell Turner produced a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Chase Smith chipped in 13 points as well.

USCA was led by Re’Mon Nelson who had 20 points off the bench while Rick Alderman added 18. Joel Gi-erbolini also had double-digits off the bench with 16.

The Bulldogs shot 54.8 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from three-point range. The Pacers shot 50.0 percent from both the field and three-point range and a dismal 55.0 percent from the free throw line.

The Pacer bench out-scored the Bulldogs 50-10 but it was not enough.

Both teams traded baskets for the opening few pos-

sessions until a jumper by Jaime Vaughn and a three by Chase Smith put the Bulldogs ahead by six. The Bulldogs would push their lead to eight but a 6-0 run by the Pacers cut that lead to just two with 11:03 left in the period. The Bulldogs would answer with a 6-0 run of their own to push their lead back to eight. The Pacers would mount another comeback with 6:48 to play as they out-scored the Bulldogs 18-4 to close out the half up 35-29. Terrance Dent helped spark the run with back-to-back three-pointers with just over four minutes to play

The Pacers shot 52.2 percent from the field and nailed 4-of-6 from downtown. They struggled from the free throw line in the half hitting just 7-of-15. The Bull-dogs hit 46.2 percent from the field but only hit 1-of-5 from three-point range. WU was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the half.

The Bulldogs began to chip away at the lead in the second half and they were able to cut it to just four, five minutes into the period. USCA was able to in-crease its lead to seven with 14:35 to play but a 7-2 run by the Bulldogs made it a one possession game with 12:01 left. WU was able to take its first lead of the half at the 9:32 to play on a three-pointer by Jaime Vaughn that put the Bulldogs up 56-55. The two teams traded the lead on the next few possessions but a Odell Turner three put the Bulldogs ahead for good at the 5:50 mark. The Pacers were able to get to within one point with 16 seconds to play but a pair of clutch free throws by Vaughn kept the Bulldogs ahead. A last second three-point shot fell short for the Pacers as the Bulldogs won, 73-70Box Score

nCaa touRnament: falCons holD off BullDogs to aDvanCe 96-87(3/10/12) Montevallo, Ala. – The 22nd-ranked and top seeded Falcons of the University of Montevallo held off a surging Bulldogs squad from Barton Col-lege in the quarterfinals of the 2012 NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Southeast Regional. The Bulldogs hit 27-of-30 from the free throw line in the second half while the Falcons knocked down just 24-of-40 in a very physical contest.

The Falcons improved their record to 25-7 while the Bulldogs fell to 20-10. UM now advances to the semi-finals tomorrow night in BankTrust Arena at 7:30 p.m. to face the winner of #24 Lincoln Memorial University

87

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120310_d2kv.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120310_siwv.xml

and King College.

UM was led by senior D.J. Rivera (Philadelphia, Pa./Binghamton University) who poured in 33 points and grabbed a team high seven rebounds. He was 11-of-17 from the field while hitting just 8-of-18 from the free throw line. He also led the team in steals with three. Senior Antoine Davis (Washington, D.C./College of the Desert) added 21 points, six boards and six as-sists while hitting 5-of-10 from the field and 11-of-17 from the charity stripe.

Junior Drico Hightower (Augusta, Ga./Angelina Col-lege) added 10 points while going perfect from the floor hitting 3-of-3 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Senior DeMarcus Catchings(Arlington, Texas/Cedar Valley College) added nine points and seven rebounds.

BC was led by a quintet of players including leading scorer Gerald Boston who scored 21 while hitting 13-of-14 from the free throw line. Jaren Suggs added 19 points while Joseph Velez had 17 while going 5-of-5 from the field and 7-of-12 from the free throw line. Aaron Suggs added 12 points while hitting 6-of-7 from the free throw line and Keith Manley had 10 points.

The Falcons hit 61.9 percent of their shots from the field and 42.9 percent from three-point range. UM struggled from the free throw line hitting just 64.4 percent of its attempts.

The Bulldogs hit 42.9 percent from the field and just 21.4 percent from three-point range. The Bulldogs excelled at the free throw line hitting 78.3 percent including 90.0 percent in the second half.

The Falcons won the rebounding battle 35-30 but lost in turnovers as they had 18 and the Bulldogs had just 12. UM capitalized in the paint out-scoring the Bull-dogs, 36-24 on the inside.

For the opening seven minutes of the first half both teams played even basketball but with 12:32 left in the period and the Falcons up 17-14, UM went on a 17-0 run powered by six points from Rivera, six from Davis and four from Catchings. The Falcons would maintain a large lead for the remainder of the first half but a 7-2 run by the Bulldogs to close the half cut the Falcons lead to 12, 42-30.

The Bulldogs opened the second half with a jumper to cut the Falcons lead to 10 and just a few posses-sions later a jumper by Haley made it just a nine-point advantage. The Falcons would hold onto a five to nine point lead the rest of the half as the Bulldogs were un-able to get any closer to the Falcons despite knocking down 27-of-30 from the free throw line in the second half.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: montevallo RallIes Past lInColn memoRIal Into ChamPIonshIP game(3/11/12) MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The 22nd-ranked and top seeded Falcons of the University of Montevallo trailed by 14 points with 8:37 left in the second half but a late 10-0 run and a clutch drive and lay-up by senior Antoine Davis (Washington, D.C./College of the Desert) gave the Falcons a 61-60 victory over #24 Lin-coln Memorial University in the semifinals of the 2012 NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Southeast Regional. The Falcons will now take on #14 Anderson Univer-sity in the Regional Championship game on Tuesday, March 13 at 7:00 p.m.

The Falcons improved their record to 26-7 while the Railsplitters fell to 26-6.

UM was led by senior D.J. Rivera (Philadelphia, Pa./Binghamton University) who scored 16 points and dished out five assists. Davis scored 14 points includ-ing the game-winning layup with six seconds left on the clock. He also tied for the team lead with five as-sists.

Junior Drico Hightower (Augusta, Ga./Angelina Col-lege) added 14 points while senior DeMarcus Catch-ings (Arlington, Texas/Cedar Valley College) added four points and a team-high 12 rebounds.

The Railsplitters were led by Vincent Bailey and Cam Carden who each scored 13 points. Bailey added seven boards to tie for the team lead. Desmond John-son also added seven rebounds and seven points. Brandon Armstrong had nine points as well.

The Falcons shot 39.0 percent from the field and 23.1 percent from three-point range. UM knocked down 12-of-17 from the free throw line including 7-of-10 in the second half.

88

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120310_p5br.xml

Men’s Basketball

The Railsplitters shot 43.5 percent from the field in-cluding 40.0 percent from three-point range. LMU hit 16-of-22 free throws in the game.

The Falcons won the rebounding battle 37-32 and made the Railsplitters turn the ball over 15 times which led to 18 Falcon points.

The Falcons came out on fire taking an early 15-6 lead but the Railsplitters answered with a 10-3 run to cut the lead to just three points with 10:05 to play. A jumper by Jonas Brown ended the run but the Rail-splitters answered with a jumper from Bailey Vincent and a three-pointer from Cam Carden to tie the game at 21. Another jumper by Carden gave the Railsplitters their first lead of the game with 7:46 left.

The two teams then traded baskets on the next few possessions until a Carden three and a pair of Vincent free throws put LMU ahead by three. UM answered with a 7-0 run to take a four-point lead with 1:10 re-maing but the railsplitters had the answer in a pair of free throws by Jake Troyli and a Carden three-pointer as time expired which gave the Railsplitters a 35-34 halftime lead.

The Railsplitters shot 44.0 percent from the field including 50.0 percent from three-point range. LMU nailed 10-of-13 from the free throw line as well. The Falcons shot 46.4 percent from the field including

42.9 percent from three-point range. UM hit 5-of-7 from the free throw line.

The second half saw the Railsplit-ters slowly pull away. With 12:48 left and the Railsplitters up by four, LMU began a 10-0 run to take a 57-43 lead with just 8:37 left on the clock. An old-fash-ioned three-point play by Davis ended the run and gave the Falcons back the mo-mentum. With a near sellout crowd rocking the Falcons began a

10-0 run with 5:09 left powered by Rivera who scored five. The run gave the Falcons a one-point lead with 32 seconds left on the clock.

Rather than waiting for the final shot the Railsplitters drove to the basket with 19 seconds left and drew a foul. Brandon Armstrong hit a pair of free throws to put the Railsplitters up by one. On the final possession Davis found himself at the top of the key with nine seconds left on the clock. He used his dribble to get by the defender and worked his way into the paint. His layup found the mark giving the Falcons a one-point lead with six seconds left. The UM defense smothered the Railsplitters and LMU was unable to get off a shot as time expired.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: montevallo aDvanCes to elIte eIght!(3/13/12) MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The 22nd-ranked and top seeded Falcons of the University of Montevallo trailed just once in the 2012 NCAA Southeast Region-al Championship game as they coasted to a 86-73 victory over #14 Anderson University. With the win the Falcons advance to their third Elite Eight in school history and captured their third Region Championship. The Falcons will take on the winner of the Central Region, #13 Metropolitan State College.

89

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120311_y29a.xml

UM was led by Tournament Most Outstanding Player, D.J. Rivera (Philadelphia, Pa./Binghamton University) who scored 19 points, dished out seven assists and grabbed six boards. With the 19 points, Rivera broke the UM single-season record for points in a season with 698 which broke the previous record held by Greg Brown (2005-2007) who scored 694 during the 2006-07 season. Junior Jonas Brown (Tifton, Ga./Tift County) chipped in 17 points while hitting five three-pointers.

All-Tournament team member Antoine Davis (Wash-ington, D.C./College of the Desert) chipped in 12 points and eight assists while juniors Drico Hightower (Augusta, Ga./Angelina College) and Marvin Fitzger-ald (Milwaukee, Wisc./North Carolina Central) each scored 10 points. Fitzgerald added a team-high seven rebounds while Hightower had five.

Anderson was led by All-Tournament player Denzail Jones who scored a game-high 26 points. Fellow All-Tournament team member Nick Trull added 12 points and Taylor Shugart had 10. Shugart led the Trojans in rebounds with seven.

UM shot 48.5 percent from the field includ-ing 35.0 percent from the three-point line. The Falcons nailed 15-of-20 from the free throw line. The Trojans shot 43.1 percent from the field including 36.8 per-cent from three-point range. AU hit 16-of-22 free throws.

The Falcons jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead by the Trojans re-sponded with an 8-0 run to take their only lead of the game on a three-pointer by Tyrell McDowell. UM then went on a 12-0 run to take an 18-8 lead that was capped off by a dunk by Rivera. The lead would remain around the ten to eight-point mark most of the first half by with 6:34 to play and the Falcons up 33-22 the Trojans mounted a small 5-0 run to cut the lead to just six but

once again the Falcons responded by closing out the half on a 11-3 run to go up, 44-30.

UM shot 54.3 percent from the field in the first half but hit just 1-of-8 from three-point range. They were a near-perfect 5-of-6 from the free throw line. The Tro-jans shot 36.7 percent from the field including 33.3 percent from three-point range. AU hit 5-of-8 from the free throw line.

The Falcons and Trojans traded baskets over the first five minutes of the second half but with 14:42 left and UM up by just 11, the Falcons began a 10-1 run that included a pair of threes by Brown. Just minutes later Brown and Rivera would combine to hit back-to-back-to-back three pointers to put the Falcons up by 24. With 3:18 left in the game and the Falcons up 80-62 the Trojans began to mount a comeback and went on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to just eight with 1:50 left in the game,. A free throw by Rivera ended the drought and the Falcons hit 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to win, 86-73.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: montevallo Downs metRo state; aDvanCes to fInal fouR!(3/21/12) Highland Heights, Ky. - Antoine Davis scored a team-high 18 points, including five of Mon-tevallo’s final seven, as the Falcons rallied to beat Metropolitan State 67-65 in the first round of the

2012 NCAA SOUTHEAST REGiONAL CHAMPiONS MONTEVALLO FALCONS

90

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120313_d4gp.xml

Men’s Basketball

91

NCAA Elite Eight in Highland Heights, Ky., on Wednes-day night. The Falcons trailed by as many as eight with under six minutes to play and by six sith 2:40 to go before ending the game on an 11-3 run.

With that win, Montevallo advances to the Final Four where they will meet defending national champion Bellarmine on Thursday at 9:30 pm. Bellarmine advanced to the semifinals after beating Alabama-Huntsville 82-73.

Metro State led 62-56 with 2:40 on the clock follow-ing two free throws from Demetrius Miller. Montevallo answered with a layup from Drico Hightower followed by a Davis steal, one of 10 UM steals in the game. D.J. Rivera was then fouled and sank both free throws to cut the lead to two with 1:54 to play.

Following a missed three from Metro, Montevallo took the lead for the first time since the 19:04 mark of the second half as Davis connected on a wild running layup and was fouled. He sank the free throw to com-plete the three-point play and put UM up 63-62.

Metro State, the top seed in the central division, tied it again on a free throw, but Hightower again found success down low for another two-point lead. Metro answered again as Jonathan Morse connected on a layup with 13 seconds left to tie the game at 65.

On UM’s next possession, Davis drew the whistle driv-ing down the right side of the lane. He calmly sank both free throws with three seconds on the clock. Metro had one last chance but Rivera had a steal to end the game.

“It’s what I’d been waiting for, man,” Davis said. “I had been struggling the whole game at the free throw line. I was trying to concentrate and make sure I made these for my team. They were looking for me to step up. I’m a senior, so I’m glad they fell my way.”

Davis finished the contest with 18 points, hitting seven of 11 from the field. He came close to triple-double town as he added 11 assists and seven re-bounds. Rivera added 14 points and tied with Davis for the team lead with seven rebounds. Hightower scored 11 while Ryan May added 10.

“It still was a struggle because we couldn’t get over that hump,” Davis said. “We’d get it to one point or

two points and they’d come down and make a 3. That hurts you a little bit, but we stuck together as a team and played hard.”

Reggie Evans led Metro State with 20 points while Miller added 16 and Paul Brotherson came off the bench to score 13 and grab a game-high 12 boards. The Roadrunners struggled with their shot, hitting 23 of 62 (.371) for the game and only seven of 24 (.292) from long range. Montevallo hit 47% (26-55) from the field and six of 15 three-pointers, but struggled at the free throw line with only nine makes in 16 attempts.

“Our guys played good,” Montevallo head coach Danny Young said. “I thought we battled hard all night long. It just seemed to be 1-5 points and we couldn’t get over the hump it seemed until the very end right there.”

Metro State held the rebounding edge 38-35 but dom-inated with 21 offensive rebounds, leading to a 26-11 edge in second-chance points. Montevallo answered with a 38-28 margin in points in the paint.

The Roadrunners started the game down 5-0 after two quick field goals by the Falcons, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Miller tied the game at 8-8 just under three minutes into the game.

Trailing 14-13, Brotherson started an 11-0 run with a putback tip-in and a free throw for a 3-point play, and finished the run with a 3-pointer from the top of the key as Metro led 22-14 with 11:24 left in the half.

The Roadrunners stretched that lead to nine points with 8:06 to go on a layup from Morse off an inbounds pass, but Montevallo closed the half with six straight points to close the gap to 34-33. UM shot 53.8 per-cent in the first half, including 5-of-10 from the out-side, while the Roadrunners made just 5-of-15 from 3-point range.

Montevallo is making their third Elite Eight appear-ance and face Bellarmine.

“They’re smart and have a lot of returning players,” Young said. “Obviously, they’ve been here before. They played with a lot of poise tonight, knowing what they were going to do down the stretch. They made some big defensive plays tonight down the stretch. So, hope-fully, we’re going to have to try to spread them out and

try to get them on the move a little bit and try to get after them.”

You can see video highlights of the game through NCAA.com right here.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: montevallo to Play foR the natIonal ChamPIonshIP! (3/22/12) Highland Heights, Ky. - The University of Montevallo took one more step towards realizing their ultimate dream on Thursday night as they upended defending national champions Bellarmine 79-72 in the national semfinals at the Bank of Kentucky Cen-ter in Highland Heights, Ky. The Falcons, who won their first game in three Elite Eight appearances on Wednesday, will now play for the Division II National Championship on Saturday at 1:00 against Western Washington.

The Knights, ranked #4 in the NABC poll, came up short in their quest to become the first back-to-back champions since 1994, but started the game off strong, holding a six-point lead with under nine minutes to play in the first half. UM responded with eight straight points to take their first lead of the game 21-19 as Jonas Brown hit two three-pointers on either side of a D.J. Rivera fast-break layup.

With the score tied at 24, Bellarmine went on a run, as Chris Dowe hit a three, stole the ball on the next possession and converted a layup in less than 40 seconds. Another Brown three from the Falcons tied the game again at 31, but Bellarmine had another answer as Corbin Maynard drained a three and Jeremy Kendle, named the NABC Player of the Year ear-lier in the day, had a layup. Montevallo’s Drico Hightower had two layups in the final 1:19 to trim Bellarmine’s lead to 36-35 at the half.

The Knights opened the second half the way they opened the game: by establishing an early lead. Dowe’s three to open the period was followed by his layup as Kendle also connected to give Bellarmine a 46-39 lead with 17:13 to play.

Montevallo put on a shooting clinic in the second half, connecting on 58.6% (17-29) of their shots. Antone

Davis began the comeback with a running layup in the paint which was followed by two straight buckets from Rivera. A pair of Hightower free throws tied the game at 51 with 13:24 to play and Rivera’s layup on UM’s next possession gave them a lead they would not relinquish.

UM led by six following a free throw from Marvin Fitzgerald, but Bellarmine answered with another Dowe three-pointer to cut the lead to three. The Knights would trim the lead down to two on a three-pointer by Braydon Hobbs with 8:32 to go.

They would not score again for seven minutes.

Montevallo put the game away with an 11-0 run, turning to their defense to lead the way. Bellarmine missed 13 consecutive shots from the field, 10 of those three-point attempts, as Montevallo opened up a 73-60 lead with 1:04 to play, quieting the Bellarm-

ine-heavy crowd of 4,213.

“When you take a quick shot or have a quick turnover against a team like that, there’s no defense for that,” Bellarmine coach Scott Davenport said.

The Knights broke the drought with 43 sec-onds to play as Jelani Johnson hit a jumper and Bellarmine closed the gap to within five with 11 seconds left. Montevallo was saved by their free throw shooting, which had been their Achilles heel to that point of the game. The Falcons made six of eight free throws in the final 37 seconds; they had only hit

eight of their first 21 attempts prior to that stretch.

Rivera exploded for 23 points to lead all scorers. The senior All-

American hit 11 of 15 shots from the floor and added nine rebounds. Davis again came close to triple-doubledom with

12 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Hightower and Brown

added 13 each while Fitzgerald led the team with 10 rebounds.

MONTEVALLO’SDEMARCUS CATCHiNGS

92

http://www.ncaa.com/video/basketball-men/2012-03-21/dii-mbb-quarterfinals-montevallo-metrost-highlights

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120321_3dsz.xml

Men’s Basketball

“You can’t compare this,” said Rivera, a nephew of the late Hank Gathers from Loyola Marymount. “This is the best time of my life right now, no matter where I am.”

Montevallo shot 54% (30-55) in the game and hit half of their three-point attempts. The Falcons also dominated the glass, outrebounding Bellarmine 43-28 and owning a 13-4 advantage in second-chance points. UM once again owned the block, outscoring the Knights 44-16 in the paint.

“We changed the way we were running our offense, and these guys ran it to perfection and we got a lot of easy baskets,” Montevallo head coach Danny Young said. “I think it finally wore on them down the stretch.”

Dowe finished with 18 points and nine rebounds for Bellarmine before fouling out with eight seconds to play. Kendle added 16 and five assists while Braydon Hobbs scored 13.

Montevallo becomes the third Peach Belt Confer-ence team to reach the NCAA National Championship Game. Kennesaw State won the league’s only men’s basketball title in 2004. Augusta State reached the final in the first of their three straight Elite Eight ap-pearances in 2008.

Montevallo will face Western Washington, the west region champion, in the final. Western Washington defeated Stonehill 71-66 in Thursday’s first semifinal. The game will be televised nationally on CBS at 1:00 eastern time. An average of 3.1 million viewers have seen this game in recent years.

You can see video highlights of the game through NCAA.com right here.Box Score

montevallo DenIeD tItle In natIonal ChamPIonshIP BIDHighland Heights, Ky. – Western Washington shot 54% from the field and survived several Montevallo comeback attempts to beat the Falcons 72-65 in the Division II National Championship game on Saturday. Montevallo, making their first appearance in the title game, finishes a remarkable season with a 29-8 over-all record. Western Washington takes their first title and improves to 31-5.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair that featured four ties and 12 lead changes. Montevallo struggled with their shot, but dominated the glass, grabbing five offensive rebounds in the first five minutes of the game. Those second-chance opportunities led to an 11-5 lead, but Western Washington came back with three-pointers from Chris Mitchell and John Allen to take a 12-11 lead.

The two teams traded one- and two-point margins for the next 10 minutes until the Vikings strung together back-to-back field goals to go up by three and led at the half 30-26.

That lead grew to seven coming out of the gate in the second half as Chris Mitchell hit a three on WWU’s first possession, but would grow no more as Monteval-lo answered with a 14-2 run over the next five minutes that gave them a five-point lead. Antoine Davis and D.J. Rivera were the architects of the run, scoring 10 of the 14 points between them while DeMarcus Catch-ings added the other four.

Western Washington came back and took the lead 41-40 on a three by Mitchell and, following buckets from Rivera and Catchings, tied it up again a 44 on a three by Paul Jones with 12:21 left.

Rivera’s layup at 13:10 would begin a three-minute scoring draught for the Falcons, allowing the Vikings to open up a three-point lead. UM cut the lead back to one at 9:14 on a remarkable Davis up-and-under layup. But the Falcons would get no closer.

Western Washington put the game away with a 12-1 run over the next three minutes that featured three-pointers from Mitchell and Jones. In fact, the Vikings hit seven straight from the field and eight of their final nine field goal attempts of the game. The lead hit 12 on two occasions, the last on a Rory Blanche jumper with 5:04 to play.

Montevallo, who trailed in the second half of their previous two games of the Elite Eight, came back with a Rivera breakaway dunk and layup surrounding a bucket from Drico Hightower to cut the lead to six with 3:46 to play.

The lead was down to four with 58 seconds left after Davis hit a free throw for the Falcons, but John Allen hit four straight free throws for the Vikings to keep

93

http://www.ncaa.com/video/basketball-men/2012-03-22/mbb-dii-montevallo-bellarmine-recap

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120322_d27s.xml

Montevallo at bay. UM missed three three-point attempts in the final 23 seconds.

Western Washington shot an incredible 54% (27-50) from the field including nine of their 19 three-point at-tempts (.474). Montevallo struggled with their shot, hitting at a 37% rate (24-64) and 4-for-15 from three-point range, including 1-for-9 in the second half. The Falcons also had problems at the free throw line, hitting 56% (13-23).

D.J. Rivera once again led the Falcons as he was the highest scorer on the floor with 20 points. Davis added 16 while Hightower had nine points and nine rebounds. Catchings came off the bench to lead the Falcons with 11 boards and added eight points. Montevallo outrebounded the Vikings 39-35 but held a commanding 20-9 edge on offensive rebounds.

John Allen led the five Vikings who scored in double figures with 14 points. Mitchell added 13 while Zach Henifin had 12 and Richard Woodworth 10 points and nine rebounds. Western Washington did not fare much better at the free throw line, hitting only half of their 18 attempts.Box Score

AwArd winners

Peach Belt Conference all-academic teamElijah Hayes, FlaglerDavid Pruett, LanderJesse Seilern, USC AikenAndrew Smith, Francis Marion

naBC Division II all-america teamD.J. Rivera, MontevalloDwight Tolbert, Lander

naBC southeast Region all-District first teamRyan Aquino, Georgia CollegeSterling Council, USC AikenSteve Peterson, Columbus StateLiki Turner, Francis Marion

naBC southeast Region all-District second teamAntoine Davis, MontevalloTeondre Williams, Clayton State

Daktronics all-america third teamD.J. Rivera, Montevallo

Daktronics southeast Region Player of the yearDwight Tolbert, Lander

Daktronics all-southeast Region first teamRyan Aquino, Georgia CollegeDwight Tolbert, Lander

Daktronics all-southeast Region second teamSterling Council, USC AikenLiki Turner, Francis Marion

PBC all-Conference first teamRyan Aquino, Georgia CollegeSterling Council, USC AikenD.J. Rivera, MontevalloLiki Turner, Francis MarionDwight Tolbert, Lander

PBC all-Conference second teamShahmel Brackett, UNC PembrokeSteve Peterson, Columbus StateAnthony Salter, Clayton StateTeondre Williams, Clayton StateDevon Wright-Nelson, Augusta State

PBC all-Conference third teamEvan Mobley, Georgia SouthwesternRe’Mon Nelson, USC AikenChris Vanlandingham, ArmstrongScott Windom, North GeorgiaCorey Wright, Lander

PBC Player of the yearDwight Tolbert, Lander

PBC Defensive Player of the yearAntoine Davis, Montevallo

PBC freshman of the yearDevon Wright-Nelson, Augusta State

PBC Coach of the yearVince Alexander, USC Aiken

94

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120324_ap6a.xml

Men’s Basketball

LANDER’SDWiGHT TOLBERT

stAtistiCsIndIvIdual

PoInts PeR gameDwight Tolbert, Lander 21.8D.J. Rivera, Montevallo 21.6Liki Turner, Francis Marion 18.0Teondre Williams, Clayton State 17.9Ryan Aquino, Georgia College 17.6Scott Windom, North Georgia 17.3Chris Vanlandingham, Armstrong 17.2Anthony Salter, Clayton State 17.1Clarence Tillman, North Georgia 16.4Phillip Brown, Ga. Southwestern 16.2ReBounDs PeR gameRyan Aquino, Georgia College 10.4Phillip Brown, Ga. Southwestern 9.3Liki Turner, Francis Marion 8.9Chad July, Flagler 8.5Keyshore Williams, Armstrong 8.0Devon Wright-Nelson, Augusta State 7.8Darius Mcknight, Columbus State 7.7Paul Darkwa, Columbus State 7.6Joel Gierbolini, USC Aiken 7.1Jermel Kennedy, Lander 7.0fIelD goal %Milos Kleut, Ga. Southwestern 66.2Jermel Kennedy, Lander 66.1Phillip Brown, Ga. Southwestern 62.2George Blakeney, UNC Pembroke 59.0Ben Jacobs, UNC Pembroke 58.1DeVon Jones, Armstrong 56.1Darius Mcknight, Columbus State 54.5Chris Vanlandingham, Armstrong 53.6Zamarius McLendon, Francis Marion 52.9Drico Hightower, Montevallo 51.13-PoInt fIelD goal %Scott Windom, North Georgia 43.1Ronald Zimmerman, USC Aiken 42.8Dwight Tolbert, Lander 42.7Marcus Wright, Francis Marion 42.6Mychal Horn, Armstrong 42.1Terrance Dent, USC Aiken 42.0Jarrod Branco, Flagler 41.5Matt Clark, Flagler 41.4Evrik Gary, Francis Marion 40.1Ryan Lively, Georgia College 39.2

assIsts PeR gameChris Wright, Lander 8.1Antoine Davis, Montevallo 5.2Marlon Rivera, Ga. Southwestern 5.0Mychal Horn, Armstrong 4.8O’neal Armstrong, Augusta State 4.1Chris Vanlandingham, Armstrong 4.0Addison Smith, Flagler 4.0Winford Ivey, Columbus State 3.8Marcus Wright, Francis Marion 3.7Re’mon Nelson, USC Aiken 3.7

BloCks PeR gameDarius McKnight, Columbus State 2.0Keyshore Williams, Armstrong 1.8Travis Keels, Augusta State 1.8Nathan Priest, UNC Pembroke 1.5Joel Gierbolini, USC Aiken 1.5Phillip Brown, Ga. Southwestern 1.4Elijah Smith, North Georgia 1.3Andrew Smith, Francis Marion 1.2Dwight TOlbert, Lander 1.1Demarcus Catchings, Montevallo 1.1steals PeR gameD.J. Rivera, Montevallo 2.4Chaun Tinney, North Georgia 2.2Re’mon Nelson, USC Aiken 2.2Antoine Davis, Montevallo 2.1Dwight Tolbert, Lander 1.9Marlon Rivera, Ga. Southwestern 1.8Mychal Horn, Armstrong 1.8Steve Peterson, Columbus State 1.7Chris Wright, Lander 1.6Keyshore Williams, Armstrong 1.6

TeamPoInts PeR gameFrancis Marion 81.6Armstrong 81.0Lander 78.9UNC Pembroke 77.0USC Aiken 76.7Montevallo 74.8North Georgia 74.1Flagler 71.0Clayton State 69.6Columbus State 69.4Ga. Southwestern 68.2Augusta State 68.1Georgia College 66.9fIelD goal %UNC Pembroke 47.4Lander 46.6Armstrong 46.3USC Aiken 45.5Ga. Southwestern 45.4Montevallo 45.2Francis Marion 44.5Augusta State 43.2Clayton State 42.4North Georgia 42.0Flagler 41.9Columbus State 41.6Georgia College 41.1

3-PoInt fIelD goal %Armstrong 36.4Augusta State 36.2USC Aiken 36.2Francis Marion 36.2UNC Pembroke 35.7Lander 35.7Flagler 35.0North Georgia 34.4Clayton State 33.1Columbus State 32.9Montevallo 31.0Georgia College 30.9Ga. Southwestern 30.2PoInts alloweD PeR gameAugusta State 63.1Georgia College 63.8Ga. Southwestern 64.4Montevallo 64.7Clayton State 66.5Columbus State 67.3USC Aiken 67.8UNC Pembroke 71.2Lander 74.5North Georgia 75.5Francis Marion 76.9Flagler 79.7Armstrong 82.8oPPonents fIelD goal %Montevallo 40.0Clayton State 40.6Augusta State 41.2Ga. Southwestern 41.4Columbus State 42.1Francis Marion 42.3UNC Pembroke 42.4Georgia College 42.4Armstrong 43.2

Lander 43.9USC Aiken 44.8North Georgia 45.1Flagler 45.2

95

woMen’s bAsketbAll

CONFERENCE OVERALL GP Record Win % GP Record Win % Last 10

eaST dIvISIOn1. USC Aiken 18 16-2 0.889 31 27-4 0.871 9-12. Lander 18 15-3 0.833 32 24-8 0.750 6-43. UNC Pembroke 18 12-6 0.667 28 16-12 0.571 8-24. Armstrong 18 7-11 0.389 26 13-13 0.500 3-75. Augusta State 18 7-11 0.389 27 12-15 0.444 4-66. Francis Marion 18 4-14 0.222 26 9-17 0.346 3-77. Flagler 18 2-16 0.111 26 4-22 0.154 2-8

WeST dIvISIOn1. Clayton State 17 16-1 0.941 33 29-4 0.879 8-22. Columbus State 17 11-6 0.647 27 16-11 0.593 6-43. Ga. Southwestern 17 10-7 0.588 27 18-9 0.667 6-44. North Georgia 17 6-11 0.353 26 12-14 0.462 3-75. Montevallo 17 6-11 0.353 27 11-16 0.407 4-66. Georgia College 17 2-15 0.118 26 4-22 0.154 0-10

FiNAL STANDiNGS

PBC QuaRteRfInals: unCP ousts hosts ColumBus state 66-48(3/1/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – The UNC Pembroke women’s basketball team shot 56.7 percent from the field in the first half en route to a 66-48 upset victory over host Columbus State University in the quarterfinal round of the Peach Belt Confer-ence Tournament at the Frank G. Lumpkin Center.

UNC Pembroke, the fourth seed in the East, improves to 16-11 overall, while Columbus State, the second seed in the West, drops to 16-10. The Lady Braves advance to play No. 9 USC Aiken, a 63-55 winner over Montevallo, in Satur-day’s 4 p.m. semifinal. The championship game is set for 2 p.m. Sunday.

The victory also marks the first time UNCP has won a PBC tournament game since 2003 when the Braves defeated North Florida 95-88 in dou-ble overtime in the Lumpkin Center.

UNCP was led by Jazmine Kemp and Taylor Gallentine, who scored 14 and 11 points respectively, while Domonique Washington grabbed a team best nine rebounds.

The Lady Cougars were led by Dominique Gilbert’s game-high 15 points and nine rebounds.

After taking a 3-2 lead in the first minutes of the game, the Lady Braves went on a 9-0 run to go up 12-2 on an Anya Know-er bucket. Columbus State inter-rupted the scoring spree with a Lauren Grisham free throw, then UNCP rattled off 11 more straight points – fueled by two threes from DeDe Cotten and one by Amelia Partin – to take a 23-3 lead at 12:20.

Chatil Bradford got the Lady Cougars back on the scoreboard with a jumper at 10:35 to make it 23-5, only to have UNCP go up by 23 points at 29-6 on a Jasmine Hairston bucket.

Columbus cut the lead to 31-15 on a Letiecia Davenport bucket at 3:58, but the Lady Braves again came right back to up their lead to 37-19 when Kierra Haney struck underneath the basket and then dealt the final blow of the half on Hairston’s buzzer-beater for a 41-22 lead.

The Braves connected on 17-of-30 field goals in the first half for 56.7 percent, while Columbus was 8-for-31 for 25.8 percent.The Cougars opened the second half with a 7-0 run on a three by Bradford and a pair of two pointers by Shan Basley and Gilbert to trim the lead to 41-29. The Braves then netted their first basket of the half at 15:48 to

USC AiKEN’SHANNAH DEGRAFFiNREED

96


97

make it 43-29 on a Kemp jumper.A three by Washington pushed the UNCP lead back over 20 points at 53-32 with 10:35 left in the game.

Columbus rallied with back-to-back threes from Bradford and Lauren Matheney to cut the lead

to 56-40 at 8:55, but Kemp answered from underneath

the basket with 7:30 remaining. The Cougars didn’t get closer than 16 points the remainder of

the game.

UNCP connected on 28-of-54 field goals for 51.9 percent, including 6-of-14 threes for 42.9 percent. The Lady Braves sank 4-of-5 free throws for 80 percent.

CSU was 19-of-62 from the floor for 30.6 percent, including 5-of-22 threes for 22.7 percent. The Lady Cougars connected on 5-of-12 free throws for 41.7 percent.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInals: lanDeR esCaPes geoRgIa southwesteRn 74-66(3/1/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. –Peach Belt Conference east division second-seeded Lander downed west division No. 3 Georgia Southwestern, 74-66, in the second Peach Belt Conference Tournament quarterfi-nal of the day at the Frank G. Lumpkin Center on the campus of Columbus State University.

Lander (21-6) had two players finish in double figures in the game with Brittni Johnson leading the way with 26 points. She scored 18 in the second half.

Johnson was 9-for-18 from the field in the game. She hit six 3-pointers. Mukia Myrick was the other Bearcat in double figures with 21 points. She was 6-for-11 from the floor in the game.

Georgia Southwestern (18-9) was led by Terra Branch and Jessica Bivins in its loss to the nationally 23rd-ranked Bearcats. Branch ended her day with 19 points and five rebounds, while Bivins chipped in with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Lander concluded its win over the Hurricanes shooting 40 percent (24-for-60) as a team. Georgia Southwest-ern hit 35.1 percent (27-for-77) of its shot attempts as a team in the game. Lander hit 12 3-pointers in the game, connecting on 41.4 percent (12-for-29) of the long-range attempts.

The Bearcats led from start-to-finish in the game.

Myrick opened the game for Lander by banking in a 3-pointer from the left side. The trey helped lead Lander to an 11-4 lead through the opening three minutes of the contest. Myrick had eight of the 11 points in the opening stretch for Lander.

Lander would go ahead by as many as 12 in the first half, but with 4:30 left in the first stanza the Bearcats were up by just five at 29-24. Georgia Southwestern would outscore Lander, 6-5, the rest of the first half to enter intermission down by four at 34-30.

Myrick finished the first half with 14 for the Bearcats. Bivins led the way for Georgia Southwestern in the first half with 12 points.

Lander shot 44.4 percent (12-for-27) in the first half, while Georgia Southwestern shot 33.3 percent (13-for-39) in the first half.

W1. Clayton StateClayton St. 69-41

Clayton St. 71-63

USC Aiken 52-47

E4. Augusta State

E2. Lander

W3. GSWLander 74-66

E1. USC Aiken

W4. Montevallo

USC Aiken 63-55

W2. Columbus State

E3. UNC PembrokeUNC Pembroke 66-48

USC Aiken 54-41

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120301_6o4t.xml

The Bearcats began the second half on a 10-0 run over the first almost three and a half minutes to own a 14-point 44-30 lead with 16:38 remaining in the game.

The 14-point lead would not last long with Georgia Southwestern going on a quick 8-0 spurt over the next two minutes to pull back within six points at 44-38 with a little over 14 minutes to play in the game.

Georgia Southwestern would get as close as four over the course of the rest of the contest, but Lander would be able to hold on for the eight-point victory.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInals: Clayton state aDvanCes to semIs; Downs augusta state(3/1/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. -- The No. 3-ranked Clayton State women’s basketball team placed four players in double figures Thursday afternoon to defeat Augusta State, 69-41, in the quarterfinal round of the Peach Belt Conference Tourna-ment hosted by Columbus State University at the Frank G. Lump-kin Center.

Clayton State, the top seed in the West Division, improves to 26-2, while Augusta State, the fourth seed in the East, drops to 12-15.

The Lakers advance to Saturday’s 2 p.m. semifinal against the Lander/Georgia Southwestern winner.

Brittany Hall led the Lakers with a game-high 15 points, while Drameka Griggs added 14 points, Tani-sha Woodard 11 points, eight rebounds and six steals, and Kayla Mobley 11 points and seven rebounds.

Augusta State was led by Amber Peterson’s 14 points. Laci Schreiber had a team best seven rebounds.

After a 2-2 start, Clayton went on a 9-0 run to make it 11-2 at the 12-minute mark on a three-pointer by Hall, a steal and layup by Griggs, a Shannon Smith three-point play and a Mobley free throw.

Schreiber scored Augusta State’s second basket at 10:14 to cut it to 11-4, then the Lady Jags trimmed the margin to 16-11 after a three by Peterson and a Schreiber layup at 7:57.

Hall nailed a three at 5:54 to put Clayton up 19-11, but ASU’s Becky Newhouse answered with two free throws at 4:23 to cut the margin to 19-13.

Clayton State stretched its lead to double figures at 23-13 with 2:40 left on a basket by Mobley and a fast break layup by Griggs.

Tiffany Jaecks scored the half’s final basket to pull Augusta to 25-18.

The Lakers posted their first double-digit lead of the second half at 33-23 with 15:02 left in the game on a layup by Wood-ard. Clayton State then used an 8-0 run to extend the margin to 41-26 on a Hall three-point play with 12:42 remaining to play.

The Lady Jags got it back to 10 points at 41-31 with 11:04 left to play on a Brittany White layup, but Keona Dixon’s layup at 7:07 extended Clayton’s lead to 17 points at 52-35.

The Lakers ended the game with a 13-0 run.

Clayton State connected on 29-of-63 field goals for 46 percent, including 5-of-17 threes for 29.4 percent. The Lakers sank 6-of-10 free throws for 60 percent.

Augusta State was 16-of-51 from the floor for 31.4 percent, including 5-of-14 threes for 35.7 percent. The Lady Jags made 4-of-11 foul shots for 36.4 percent.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInals: PaCeRs suRvIve anD aDvanCe; Down montevallo 63-55(3/1/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – USC Aiken pulled away down the stretch Thursday for a 63-55 quarterfinal victory over Montevallo in the Peach Belt Conference Championships hosted by Columbus State University at the Frank G. Lumpkin Center.

CLAYTON STATE’SDRAMEKA GRiGGS

98

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120301_hjnk.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120301_r3rm.xml


The victory was the eighth straight for the ninth-ranked Pacers, who improved to 24-3 on the season.

USC Aiken sophomore Kayla Harris, a first-team All-PBC selection, booked a game-high 25 points and eight rebounds. Fellow first-team selection Hannah DeGraffinreed turned in 12 points and Brittany Hill added 10 points and five assists.

Freshman Taylor Beverly led Montevallo (11-16) with a career-high 24 points and pulled down seven boards. Tiffany McClure chipped in 13 points and handed out seven assists.

Beverly kept the Falcons close in the first half with 11 points, connecting on 5-of-7 field-goal attempts. Mon-tevallo jumped out in front early at 4-0 and the Pacers led by as many seven midway through the period en route to a 26-23 halftime lead.

Beverly’s jumper pulled UM within 32-30 six minutes into the second half. A McClure free throw just 46 sec-onds later cut the Falcons’ deficit to one only to have the Pacers respond with a 6-0 spurt.

Lindsey Sundberg’s trey from the left wing gave the Pacers a 45-36 lead before McClure’s driving layup stemmed the tide. Beverly got free inside for consecu-tive layups to bring UM within 45-42 before DeGraffin-reed’s answered with a layup of her own for a five-point USCA lead with 6:28 left.

Harris connected on a mid-range jumper and DeGraf-finreed added four more points as the Pacers once again pushed their advantage back to nine before a Harris free throw put Aiken up 52-42 with 4:31 re-maining.

The Falcons, who shot 66.7 percent in the second half, continued to claw back when Beverly hit a layup and Taylor Welch drained a 3-pointer at the 3:36 mark to cut their deficit in half.

Harris hit a short jumper from the left elbow for a 54-49 Aiken lead, and after the Pacers missed on three chances around the basket, McClure’s slashing layup pulled the Falcons to within 54-49 with 1:44 left. But Hill canned a pair of free throws and Harris added one from the charity stripe for a 57-49 Aiken lead.

Montevallo, which wrapped up its first season under

former Pacers’ assistant coach Cindy Hilbrich, shot 52.2 percent for the game and edged Aiken on the boards, 30-29.

USCA didn’t attempt a free throw in the first half but went 15-of-22 from the charity stripe in the second half. The Pacers improved to 20-0 when leading at the half and USCA head coach Mike Brandt improved to 5-0 vs. Montevallo.Box Score

PBC semIfInals: Clayton state holDs off lanDeR; aDvanCes to ChamPIonshIP(3/3/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – Peach Belt Conference west top-seed Clayton State was able to pick up a 71-63 victory over PBC East No. 2 Lander in the first women’s semifinal of the day at the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Basketball Tournament at the Frank G. Lumpkin Center on the campus of Columbus State.

Clayton State advances to the championship game with the win. They will face the winner of the PBC East No. 1 USC Aiken and PBC East No. 2 UNC Pembroke game at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 4. The Lakers will be looking for their fourth PBC Tournament title.

Clayton State (28-2) opened the game by racing out to a 9-3 lead over the first two and a half minutes of the contest. The Clayton State lead had ballooned to 11 with 10:21 remaining in the first half. The Lakers be-gan the opening nine and a half minutes of the game shooting 47 percent (9-for-19) from the field, while Lander shot 22 percent (4-for-18) from the floor over the course of the same stretch.

Clayton State kept adding to its lead over the next seven minutes with the Lakers owning a 38-22 lead with 3:04 left in the first half of action. The Lakers would eventually go on to hold the Bearcats scoreless for the final 4:32 of the first half to take a 21-point 43-22 lead into intermission.

Clayton State concluded the first half shooting 48.6 percent (17-for-35) as a team. Lander (21-7) shot 23.7 per-cent (9-for-38) as a team in the first stanza.

CLAYTON STATE’STANiSHA WOODARD

99

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120301_ihry.xml

Lander would open the second half by going on a 17-5 run to cut the Bearcat lead to just nine points at 48-39 with 14:22 to go in the game. After a Brittni John-son 3-pointer from the right corner for Lander with seven minutes remaining in the contest the Bearcats had whittled Clayton State’s lead all the way down to five points at 61-56.

The Bearcats would get as close as three the rest of the way, but the Lakers would be able to withstand their valiant second half charge.

Clayton State ended its victory shooting 46.6 percent (27-for-58) as a team. Lander shot 33.3 percent (24-for-72) as a team in the game. The Bearcats shot 44.1 percent (15-for-34) in the second half.

Four Lakers finished in double figures with Keona Dix-on leading the way with 18 points and six rebounds. Tanisha Woodard almost picked up her second triple-double in the last three games in the contest with 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

Kayla Mobley had 13 points in the contest for Clayton State, while Shannon Smith was the final Laker in double figures with 10 points.

Ciara Lyons led a trio of Bearcats in double figures with 15 points. Mukia Myrick added 14, while Johnson posted 12 in the Lander loss.Box Score

PBC semIfInals: no. 9 PaCeRs oust unCP; aDvanCe to tItle game(3/3/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – USC Aiken advanced to the Peach Belt Conference Championships title game Saturday afternoon with a 54-41 victory over UNC Pembroke in Frank G. Lumpkin Center.

The win was the ninth straight for the No. 9 Pacers, who advanced to the PBC Championship title game for the second consecutive season and for the third time in the last four years.

USCA’s first-team, all-conference performer Hannah DeGraffinreed scored a game-high 20 points and Lind-say Sundberg netted 11 points and team-high seven rebounds off the bench.

Senior guard Domonique Washington paced the Braves with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while DeDe

Cotton managed nine points and six rebounds.

USC Aiken, which never trailed, opened the game with the first six points and closed the first half on a 7-0 run that DeGraffinreed capped with a layup with just 0.4 seconds left.

Both teams struggled from the field in the opening 20 minutes. The Pacers shot just 27.3 percent but hit 5-of-11 3-point attempts. The Lady Braves fared slightly better, shooting at a 30.4 clip but connected on only 2-of-10 from long range.

Sundberg gave USCA its first double-digit lead when she banked in a trey from the left wing at the 13:19 mark of the second half. DeGraffinreed followed with a jumper for a 38-24 lead and after a Pembroke basket, DeGraffinreed took a perfect feed from Kayla Harris for a layup and a 40-26 advantage with 12:02 remaining.

The Braves countered with treys from Washington and Cotton to pull within 40-32, but that’s as close as UNCP would get.

Aiken shot 32.8 percent for the game, compared to 34.0 for Pembroke. The Pacers won the rebounding battle, 39-35.Box Score

PaCeRs CaPtuRe fIRst PBC touRnament ChamPIonshIP!(3/4/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – USC Aiken (26-3) trailed just once during the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Championship Game against Clayton State University (28-3) as the Pacers captured their first Tournament Championship in program history. The Pacers have been in the PBC Championship game in three of the last four seasons but used a 57.9 percent shooting first half to take a 10-point lead into halftime and never looked back as they lead the rest of the way.

USCA was led by tournament MVP Hannah DeGraffin-reed who scored a game-high 18 points. Kayla Harris also added a huge double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Clayton State was led by Keona Dixon who had 15 points while Tanisha Woodard chipped in 11. Kayla Mobley led the Lakers on the glass with eight re-bounds.

100

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120303_yi0k.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120303_qbv6.xml


Kayla Harris hit a layup to open the game to give USCA the early lead but Woodard answered with a three to give Clayton their only lead of the game at the 19:27 mark of the first half. The

Pacers responded with 11-straight to take a 13-3 lead with 14:30 left in the half. Clayton cut the lead to four on a Mobley jumper with 13:14 to play but USCA had the answer in a Lindsay Sundberg three-pointer on the very next possession. The Pacers would increase their lead to as much as 11 at the 6:52 mark as Daniela Tarailo hit a jumper to give USCA a 24-13 lead.

The Lakers once again cut the lead to four with 3:56 left but the Pacers again responded to increase their lead to 10 as the half expired, 30-20.

The Pacers shot 57.9 percent from the field in the first half and connected on 50 percent of their three-point attempts. The Lakers shot just 24.2 percent from the field and a dismal 12.5 percent from the three-point arc.

USCA opened the second half with a small run to increase its lead to 16 points but the Lakers were able to whittle it down to just four with 9:18 to play. Just minutes late a layup by Shannon Smith cut the lead to just one but the Pacers once again responded with a small 4-0 run to build a cushion. The Lakers pulled

within two with 1:16 left on the clock but three free throws down the stretch ended the Lakers hopes of a championship as the Pacers won 52-47.

The Pacers shot 36.4 percent from the field in the sec-ond half and just 16.7 percent from three-point land. The Lakers increased their shooting to 40 percent but it was not enough to dig out of the first half hole.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: lanDeR, elkIns outlast lImestone 77-68(3/9/12) AIKEN, S.C. – Precious Elkins picked a great time to have the best game of her Lander career. The junior forward posted a double-double with 29 points and 12 rebounds as the fourth-seeded Lady Bearcats outlasted No. 5 seed Limestone College 77-68 in the first round of the NCAA Southeast Regional Women’s Basketball Tournament Friday night at USC Aiken’s Convocation Center.

No. 23 ranked Lander improved 22-7 on the season and will face top seed USC Aiken Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the regional semifinals at the Convocation Center. USC Aiken (27-3) is unbeaten at home this year and defeated the Lady Bearcats twice during the regular season.

Clayton State and Wingate will meet in the other semifinal at 5 o’clock. Saturday’s winners will play in the Southeast Regional final at 7 p.m. Monday for the right to advance to the Elite Eight, March 20-21, and 23 in San Antonio, Texas.

Limestone finished its season 25-7.

The Lady Bearcats are making their fifth straight appearance in the NCAA tournament, and eighth overall. Lander will try to advance to the Sweet Six-teen for the third straight year Saturday night.

Elkins, a transfer from Lenoir-Rhyne University, made an astounding 14 of 19 shots from the floor and hit several big shots down the stretch, carrying

PBC All-TournAmenT TeAmBrittni Johnson, Lander

Domonique Washington, UNCPTanisha Woodard, Clayton State

Kayla Mobley, Clayton StateKayla Harris, USC Aiken

TournAmenT mVPHannah DeGraffinreed, USC Aiken

101

2012 PBC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPiONS USC AiKEN PACERS

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120304_8l2p.xml

Lander to victory. She was making just her eighth start of the season and her 29 points are a career high.

Jasmine Judge added 15 points for the Lady Bearcats, including five of eight from 3-point range. Brittni John-son added a double-double with 11 points and 10 assists.

“We knew that Limestone was a fantastic team,” Lander coach Kevin Pederson said. “I thought both teams matched up really well. We have four good guards and they have really good guards. We thought we had an advantage in the post. We thought that the combination of Kaylyn Small, Keondra Barnes and Precious Elkins was going to be an advantage for us.

“At this point of the season, you are just fortunate to get the win and be able to move on,” Pederson added. “We are very thankful to have another chance to play USC Aiken.”

Stephanie Hayes paced the Saints with 21 points and added nine rebounds while Kayleigh West posted a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Lau-ren Pace added 12 points for Limestone.

Lander made 31 of 70 shots from the floor (44 per-cent), six of 13 free throws (46 percent) and nine of 26 from 3-point range (35 percent).

Limestone hit 28 of 59 shots (47 percent), seven of 14 free throws (50 percent) and five of 17 from behind the arc (29 percent). Each team had 39 rebounds.

The Saints were on a 21-7 run, wiping out a 14-point deficit, when Lander’s Judge hit her fifth 3-pointer of the night to break a 55-all tie with 6:46 left. The Lady Bearcats would never trail again.

Ciara Lyons scored on a long pass from Johnson, and Elkins scored two of Lander’s next three baskets to extend the Lady Bearcat lead to 66-58 inside the four-minute mark.

After Hayes hit a 3 for the Saints, Elkins made an-other huge basket for Lander. She rebounded Mukia Myrick’s desperation 3-point attempt as the shot clock was expiring, converting a layup to extend the Lady Bearcat lead to 68-61 with 2:40 to go.

But Hayes scored twice more including a transition

layup off a steal to close Limestone within 68-65 with 1:20 left.

But Lyons got a pass inside to Johnson for a layup, extending Lander’s lead back to five at the one-minute mark.

After West scored for the Saints, Elkins took a long pass from Johnson, almost lost the ball under the basket, but gathered it in and made a layup, falling

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKNOVEMBER 21, 2011:

Mauri Wells, Armstrong

NOVEMBER 28, 2011:Jaymee Carnes, North Georgia

DECEMBER 5, 2011Adrian Randall, Georgia Southwestern

DECEMBER 12, 2011Jasmine Judge, Lander

DECEMBER 19, 2011Brittany Hill, USC Aiken

JANUARY 3, 2012Jaymee Carnes, North Georgia

JANUARY 9, 2012Ciara Lyons, Lander

JANUARY 16, 2012Dominique Gilbert, Columbus State

JANUARY 23, 2012Tanisha Woodard, Clayton State

JANUARY 30, 2012Dominique Gilbert, Columbus State

FEBRUARY 6, 2012Jaymee Carnes, North Georgia

FEBRUARY 13, 2012Kayla Harris, UCS Aiken

FEBRUARY 20, 2012Jazmine Kemp, UNC Pembroke

FEBRUARY 27, 2012Tanisha Woodard, Cayton State

102

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20111121wbbpotw



















to the floor as she was fouled. Elkins converted the three-point play for a 73-67 advantage with 40 sec-onds to go. Johnson and Lyons each added a pair of free throws to clinch the victory.

Limestone dominated the game’s first five minutes, building a 13-4 lead when Maria Young capped a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer. But Lander responded with 12 unanswered points, holding the Saints scoreless for six minutes. Judge’s long 3-pointer gave the Lady Bearcats their first lead at 14-13 with 10:44 left, and Small scored in the paint to com-plete the 12-0 run.

Young ended Limestone’s scoring drought with a 3-pointer, tying the game at 16-all at the 9:01 mark.

After Barnes scored to put Lander back on top, Limestone ran off the game’s next 10 points. Young’s 3-pointer and a three-point play by Hayes keyed the run, and Ashley Robinson’s layup gave the Saints a 26-18 ad-vantage with 6:33 to go.

The Lady Bearcats pulled back within a possession on Judge’s second 3 of the night, closing them within 28-25 just inside the four-minute mark. Myrick’s 3 cut it to 30-28 and an Elkins put-back tied it at 30-all with 2:35 to go.

Judge’s third trey of the game put Lander in front, 33-30, at the 1:55 mark, capping an 8-0 run. Small’s rebound basket with three seconds left gave the Lady Bearcats a 37-32 halftime lead as they closed the first half on a 19-6 run.

Elkins opened the second half by driving the base-line for a layup and added a put-back basket in the paint, expanding Lander’s lead to 41-34 with 17:10 left. Lyons stole an inbounds pass, leading to another Judge 3.

Judge collected another Lady Bearcat steal, lead-ing to Johnson’s open 3 to extend Lander’s lead to 48-34 with 15:30 left. It was their largest lead of the game as the Lady Bearcats had runs of 11-2 in the second half and 30-8 overall.

While Lander went scoreless over the next two min-utes, the Saints made only a small dent in their deficit as they pulled within 48-27. Then Elkins scored on yet another put-back, extending the Lady Bearcat lead to 50-37 with 13:48 left.

Limestone then pulled off a rare five-point sequence, closing within 50-42 when West scored inside, was

fouled, but missed the free throw. Tia Williams grabbed the offensive rebound and got the

ball out to Hayes for a 3-pointer.

After Johnson hit a 3 to push Lander’s lead back to 11, the Saints got within 53-51 near the nine-minute mark on a three-point

play by Williams, a pair of layups by Hayes, and Danielle Dixon’s short

jumper in the paint. The Saints had an opportunity to tie, but turned it over.

Elkins ended Limestone’s 9-0 run with another basket in the paint, giving Lander a 55-51 lead at the eight-minute mark. But Pace’s free throws

pulled the Saints back within two, and Pace’s layup tied it at

55 with 7:13 left to complete a 13-2 run.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: lakeRs shut Down

tusCulum 51-26(3/9/12) AIKEN, S.C. – To say the Clayton State Laker women’s bas-ketball team turned up the defensive

intensity on Friday against Tusculum was a huge understatement. It was

more along the lines of a defensive clinic as Clayton State rolled past Tusculum 51-26 in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional at the Convocation.

Clayton State, ranked sixth in the nation in Division II, improves to 29-3 overall and advances to the second round of the NCAA Division II National Tournament. The

Lakers will battle South Atlantic Conference LANDER’S

JASMiNE JUDGE103

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120309_7eyc.xml

champion Wingate on Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Con-vocation Center.

The 26 points allowed by the Lakers was the fewest in game against a Clayton State team in program history. The previous mark was 27 against Spelman in 2003. The Lakers also held the Lady Pioneers (17-11) to only eight points in the second half

“That might be the best half of basketball we’ve played all season – we really hunkered down defen-sively in the half court,” said Clayton State head coach Dennis Cox. “That was the difference in the game on a day when we did not play particularly well offensively. We really did the job defensively, especially in the half court.”

Like last Sunday in the Peach Belt Conference Tourna-ment championship game against USC Aiken, Clayton State again had a sluggish first half offensively. The Lakers shot only 20 percent from the field with six field goals. However, Clayton State remained in strik-ing range against Tusculum, trailing only 18-16 at halftime.

But the Lakers came out with renewed energy in the second half. Clayton State opened the half on a 10-3 run to lead by five points as Brittany Hall drained a 3-point basket and Kayla Mobley’s jumper in the lane gave Clayton State a 26-21 lead at the 17:02 mark.

Tusculum never got closer than three points from that moment on, shooting only 3-for-16 (19 percent) from the field in the second half. The Lady Pioneers cut the Laker lead to 10 points on a free throw by Staci Hills at the 6:31 mark, but Clayton State held Tusculum scoreless for the remainder of the game.

The Lakers finished the game on a 15-0 run. Keona Dixon started the rally with a 3-point basket, followed by two straight baskets in the lane by Mobley. Tanisha Woodard pushed the Clayton State lead to 20 points on a 3-point play at the 4:53 mark.

Mobley and Hall paced a balanced Clayton State at-tack with 12 points apiece, while Mobley also grabbed nine rebounds. Woodard and Dixon each scored 10 points, with Woodard adding seven rebounds and seven assists.

For Tusculum, Hicks scored nine points, and Linda

Aughburns grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: PaCeRs aDvanCe wIth wIn oveR CatawBa(3/9/12) AIKEN, S.C. – Kayla Harris posted a career-high 28 points and the regionally top-seeded and nationally seventh-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken women’s basketball team picked up a 71-69 NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Southeast Regional quarterfinal victory over Catawba on Friday evening at the Convocation Center.

The Pacers with the win claimed their second NCAA Tournament victory in as many years. Winners of its last 11, USC Aiken (27-3) also ties the school record for most wins in a season with its 27th victory of the 2011-12 season. The Pacers also won 27 games last season.

USC Aiken with its quarterfinal win over Catawba (19-11) advances to the regional semifinal round where they will face off against the winner of the fourth-seed-ed Catawba-fifth-seeded Limestone game at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Mar. 10 at the Convocation Center.

Kayla Harris (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield HS) and Hannah DeGraffinreed combined to score 48 of USC Aiken’s 71 points on Friday evening. The First-Team All-Peach Belt Conference performers have now scored 20 or more in the same game twice this season.

Harris was 10-for-15 from the floor en route to her career-high 28 points. She was a perfect 8-for-8 at the charity stripe.

DeGraffinreed (Raleigh, N.C./Merrimack College) ended her efforts with 20 points on Friday night. She was 6-of-12 from the floor and 8-for-10 from the free throw line. She also had seven rebounds.

Daniela Tarailo (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point HS) was the final Pacer in double figures. She chipped in with 10 points in the Pacer victory.

Brittany Hill (Mechanicsville, Va./Quinnipiac) did not score in double figures in the game, but she did man-age seven points, five assists, five steals and four rebounds. The Pacer floor general had no turnovers in the contest.Chloe Bully hit five 3-pointers to lead Catawba in its

104

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120309_v388.xml


loss. She concluded the game with 19 points in total. She was one of two Catawba players with 19 points as Nisha Long also scored 19 in the Catawba loss.

USC Aiken ended its win shooting 45.5 percent (25-for-55) as a team. Catawba shot 50 percent (27-for-54) as a team in the Pacer win.

The two teams entered intermission even at 31-all.

USC Aiken had led by as many as nine in the first half at 31-22 with just over four minutest remaining, but the Indians closed the opening half of play on a 9-0 run to even the game at the halftime break.

Harris led the Pacers in the first half with 12 points.

The Pacers shot 41.4 percent (12-for-29) from the field in the first half as a team. Catawba connected upon 46.4 percent (13-for-28) of its field goal at-tempts in the first stanza.The two teams would still be tied with less than 10

minutes remaining at 52-52, but a 7-0 run by the Pacers would garner USC Aiken a 59-52 lead with six minutes left in the contest.

The seven-point lead would not last with the Pacers down by one at 67-66 with 1:34 to go in the game.

Four straight Pacer free throws over the next 30 sec-onds then pulled USC Aiken ahead 70-67 with under a minute to play.

Long would score for Catawba on its next possession, but strong Pacer defense and a Hill free throw with four seconds left would preserve the two-point win for USC Aiken.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: wIngate eDges Clayton state 64-63(3/10/12) AIKEN, S.C. - A Nikki Burton layup with four seconds to go pulled the Wingate University Bulldogs to a one-point 64-63 win over defending national champion Clayton State in the first semifinal of the day at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional at the University of South Carolina Aiken’s Convocation Center.

A three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining by Drame-ka Griggs of the Clayton State Lakers looked like the game-winning shot, but Wingate’s Burton drove down court in the next six seconds to deliver the final two points of the game.

Burton led the Bulldog shooting with 16 points, fol-lowed closely by Simone Rutledge with 15. Kurie Washington also hit double digits in the game, with 13 points.

Defense was the name of the game at the start, with only one foul shot on the boards for the first six min-utes of the game. Once scoring got underway, the lead changed six times and the score tied five times. The two teams were equal in offensive rebounds, with 14 each.

Wingate pulled ahead with 33 defensive rebounds to Clayton State’s 22.

“Clayton State is a great team. Their defensive pres-sure is relentless,” said Wingate Head Coach Barbara Nelson. “Our key was not feeding their defense with

USC AiKEN’SBRiTTANY HiLL

105

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120309_ntwv.xml

our offense.”

Drameka Griggs led Clayton State in double-digit scoring, with a total of 18 points. Tanisha Woodward contributed 14 points, Keona Dixon had 13 and Brit-tany Hall scored 11.

Clayton State led in steals with 17 to Wingate’s seven, but the effort wasn’t enough to overpower the Lakers, which led 31-25 at the half.

The Lakers now take a rest day before facing the winner of the Lander- USC Aiken matchup that began immediately after their win.

The two winning teams from tonight’s games will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, March 12 at the USCA Convocation Center to determine the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional champion, which will become part of the Elite Eight in San Antonio.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: lanDeR uPenDs usC aIken to aDvanCe to RegIonal fInals(3/10/12) AIKEN, S.C. - Brittni Johnson scored 24 points, including a game-clinching three-pointer with 21.4 seconds left in the game as fourth-seeded Lander upended top-seeded host USC Aiken 61-55 in the 2012 NCAA Southeast Regional semifinal on Saturday. With that win, the Bearcats advance to the regional championship game on Monday night against third-seeded Wingate, who took out second-seed and defending national champion Clayton State in the other semifinal.

With the game tied at 53 with 1:28 to go, Lander’s Jasmine Judge hit a long three-pointer, standing three feet behind the arc, that gave the Bearcats a 56-53 edge. USCA answered with a pair of free throws from Hannah DeGraffinreed with 1:13 to play. Neither team was able to do anything on their ensuing posses-sions, a USCA foul from Brittany Hill giving Lander the ball back with 45 seconds to play.

Leading by one, Johnson, a senior from Athens, Ga., received a pass on the right elbow and launched a three-pointer that hit nothing but net to boost the lead to four. USCA sprinted back but Hill’s layup would not fall. Johnson got the rebound and was nearly at the other end of the floor before USCA’s Daniela Tarailo caught her for a foul. Johnson drained both free

throws to give Lander a six-point lead and a spot in the championship game.

The Bearcats relied heavily on their perimeter shoot-ing in the second half as six of their nine made field goals came from behind the arc. Lander shot 44% (23-52) for the game and 43% (10-23) from long range. Judge and Johnson made four three-pointers each with Muke Myrick adding two more.

USC Aiken faltered in the second half, shooting only 6-24 (.250) over the final 20 minutes. The Pacers made only one second-half three pointer, but made up for that at the free throw line, where they were 11 for 12 in the contest.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair with seven ties and seven lead changes. Lander began the game with a 15-6 run sparked by Johnson, who converted three steals into three layups in the first four min-utes. USC Aiken responded with a three from Daniela Tarailo that began a 9-1 run that left the Pacers trail-ing by only one with 12:14 to go. From there, the two teams traded blows with neither team able to open up more than a three-point advantage. Brittany Hill’s free throws with 46 seconds to go provided USC Aiken with their 37-35 halftime lead. Both teams shot over 50% from the field in the first period.

Johnson led all scorers and added six steals, four as-sists and two rebounds. Judge finished with 12 points while Kayln Small led all players with 13 rebounds, six of those on the offensive glass. Precious Elkins, who had a double-double in Lander’s quarterfinal win over Limestone, had six points and nine rebounds before fouling out.

Kayla Harris scored 20 to lead the Pacers, keeping

LANDER’S BRiTTNi JOHNSON

106

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120310_0v99.xml


her team in the game singlehandedly in some places. She added six rebounds and two assists. Hill was the only other Pacer to reach double figures with 10 points while Lindsay Sundberg came off the bench with seven points and a team-high 10 rebounds. De-Graffinreed was denied the ball all night and finished with four points and five rebounds.

Lander advances to the regional championship game for the third consecutive year but will be looking for their first championship and Elite Eight appearance. Wingate has reached the Elite Eight three times be-fore and will be going for their fourth on Monday.Box Score

lanDeR aDvanCes to elIte eIght In DouBle oveRtIme!(3/12/12) AIKEN, S.C. – It’s official – the Lander women’s basketball team is among the nation’s elite.

The Lady Bearcats earned their first-ever trip to the Elite Eight, outlasting Wingate University 72-67 in double overtime Monday night in the Southeast Re-gional championship game at USC Aiken’s Convoca-tion Center.

Lander (24-7) advances to play in the national quar-terfinals to be played March 20-21, and 23 in San Antonio, Texas.

Regional MVP Brittni Johnson played the entire 50 minutes, including 40 minutes of regulation and two five-minute overtime periods, and led the Lady Bearcats with 20 points. She had two huge 3-pointers in the second overtime.

Kaylyn Small also had a huge game for Lander, post-ing a double-double with 19 points and a career-high 22 rebounds. She also had four blocked shots in 35 minutes of action.

Jasmine Judge also played the entire 50 minutes, scoring 13 points for the Lady Bearcats. Ciara Lyons added 12 points.

Nikki Burton led Wingate (24-8) with 21 points, Simone Rutledge added 12 points, and Tish Logan grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.

Lander had a 13-point lead midway through the sec-ond half of regulation and twice built four-point leads

in the first overtime only to see the Lady Bulldogs rally each time.

Tied at 60 going into double overtime, Johnson hit a 3-pointer to give the Lady Bearcats the lead in the first minute. But Burton scored twice, giving Wingate a 64-63 lead with three minutes to go, their first lead since the opening half.

Small scored inside for Lander, but the Lady Bulldogs tied it at 65 with one of two free throws.

Johnson hit another huge 3, this one from the left wing to give the Lady Bearcats the lead for good at 68-65 at the 1:25 mark.

Burton would make a layup to pull Wingate within one. But with the shot clock winding down, Lyons made an acrobatic shot in the lane to restore Lander’s three-point lead with 20 seconds left.

Burton tried to rally the Bulldogs again, but she missed a shot and Judge was fouled with six-tenths of a second left and added two free throws.

As the final buzzer went off, the exhausted Lady Bearcats were able to celebrate their first Elite Eight appearance.

Lander was certainly relieved after blowing a 13-point lead in the second half. Sarah Wollett’s 3-pointer pulled Wingate within 50-47 with 4:22 to go in regula-tion.

The Lady Bearcats pushed their lead back to five when Mukia Myrick found Small inside for a basket and a 52-47 lead just under the four-minute mark.

But Lander committed two offensive fouls and Wing-ate one offensive foul in the next three possessions. Then the Lady Bearcats built a seemingly safer lead when Small rebounded Wingate’s second missed shot, was fouled, and made two free throws for a 54-47 lead.

But Williams scored to pull the Bulldogs within 54-49 with 1:36 left and Lander committed two turnovers, each resulting in a foul as Burton made three of four free throws to cut it to 54-52 at the one-minute mark.

Johnson missed a jumper with 30 seconds left, giving

107

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120310_ia0q.xml

Wingate an opportunity to tie or win. Burton missed a shot in the lane, but the rebound went out of bounds off a Lander player. Then, with 10 second left, Wil-liams made a game-tying shot to make it 54-all. Lander had a chance to win in regulation but turned the ball over.

The first overtime was just as wild. The Lady Bearcats scored six of the first eight points on a Small basket, Johnson free throws, and a Lyons bucket to lead 60-56. But Rutledge scored and Burton made two free throws for a 60-all tie.

Small had a steal, giving Lander a chance to retake the lead. But after a wild scramble for a loose ball, the Lady Bearcats turned it over, and Wingate had a chance to win it with 19 seconds left. But Burton dribbled the ball outside the circle and drove inside the arc and took a shot as time was expiring and missed to the left of the rim, sending the game into double overtime.

Both teams started slowly as Lander was 2-for-11 from the floor and 0-for-6 from 3-point range over the game’s first six minutes, and trailed 6-4. But the Lady Bearcats ran off 10 unanswered points to take a 14-6 lead. A Lyons back-court steal and layup tied it at 6-all at the 13:44 mark, Small scored inside, Myrick made a driving layup, Lyons hit a mid-range jumper, and Ly-ons scored again on a fast-break layup off one-touch passes from Johnson and Myrick for a 14-6 lead at the 11-minute mark. Wingate also started slowly and was 3-for-19 from the floor before finally ending the 10-0 run on Chantal Dunbar’s basket.

Judge hit Lander’s first and only 3-pointer of the first half, extending the lead to 19-8. Small’s basket gave the Lady Bearcats the larg-est lead of the first half at 12 points, 25-13, with 7:40 to go.

But Lander went 0-for-5 and commit-ted two turnovers over their next several possessions. Wingate took advantage, rallying within 25-19 with four minutes left when Rutledge scored three baskets in a row.

Myrick ended the Lady Bearcat scoring drought with a stop-and-go move to the basket for a layup, and Small rebounded

a Lander 3-point attempt air ball, converting a layup for a double-figure lead again at 29-19 with 1:24 to go.

The Lady Bearcats led 31-21 at halftime despite going 1-for-13 from 3-point range. But Lander was much more effective than the Bulldogs inside the arc, mak-ing 13 of 21 shots while Wingate was 9-for-27. The Bulldogs were 10-for-33 overall before halftime.

Wingate rallied early in the second half, using a 10-2 run to pull within 33-31 with 16:31 left. Tiffany Brown, who missed about 14 minutes of the first half due to injury, hit two 3s during the run. But Judge and Johnson hit 3s, pushing Lander’s lead to 39-31 with 15 minutes left. After Wollett scored off the glass for Wingate, Johnson provided an answer with a 3 from the left wing and a base-line jumper for a 44-35 lead at the 11:30 mark.

The Lady Bearcats got a huge possession when Pre-cious Elkins missed two free throws, but rebounded her second miss, passed the ball out to Judge for a 3-pointer and a 48-37 lead at the midway point of the second half. Elkins hit one of two free throws to match Lander’s largest lead of the game at 12 points, 49-37, at the 9:13 mark.

Small made one of two free throws to give the Lady Bearcats their largest lead of the game at 50-37 with 8:23 left. But Kelli Bonner’s quick 3 pulled Wingate within 50-40 with 8:09 remaining.

Burton’s steal and fast-break layup closed the Bull-dogs within single digits at 50-42 at the 6:40 mark. After a Lander turnover, Wingate had a chance to cut

2012 NCAA SOUTHEAST REGiONAL CHAMPiONS LANDER BEARCATS

108


into its deficit even more but missed a layup. But after the Bulldogs blocked a shot, Burton scored in the paint to cut it to 50-44 with 5:24 to go.

After another Lady Bearcats turnover, Wingate pulled within a possession on Wollet’s first 3-pointer of the game, capping a 7-0 run and setting the stage for a wild finish.Box Score

lanDeR women’s BasketBall falls to RollIns, 66-62 In elIte eIght(3/20/12) SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Lander Uni-versity women’s basketball team’s remarkable NCAA Division II run came to an end Tuesday night when the Lady Bearcats lost to Rollins College 66-62 in the NCAA Division II quarterfinals at Bill Greehey Arena on the campus of St. Mary’s University.

The Tars (28-5) scored the final 10 points of the game, advancing to play Shaw University in the semi-finals Wednesday night at 9:30. Rollins ended the game with an 18-6 run.

No. 24 ranked Lander finished the season 24-8 after making the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time in pro-gram history. The Lady Bearcats went scoreless over the game’s final five minutes.

Lander’s four-year senior class of Brittni Johnson, Ciara Lyons, Jasmine Judge, Mukia Myrick, Kaylyn Small and Keondra Barnes finished their careers with a 100-27 record. They went to the NCAA Tournament all four years, reaching the Sweet 16 as sophomores and juniors, and the Elite Eight as seniors.

Lander transfers Kami Phillips and Rachelle Rasley, also seniors, saw their collegiate careers come to an end as well.

Judge led Lander with 15 points, making four 3-point-ers in the second half. She finished her career with over 403 made 3s. Small and Lyons scored 11 points apiece for the Lady Bearcats while Myrick and Judge shared team-high honors with seven rebounds apiece.

Paris Moore led a balanced Rollins attack with 13 points while Sarah Blackburn added 10 points for the 15th-ranked Tars of Winter Park, Fla.

Lander made 22 of 57 shots from the floor (39 per-cent), 11 of 15 free throws (70 percent) and seven of 21 from 3-point range (33 percent).

Rollins made 26 of 64 shots (41 percent), nine of 12 free throws (75 percent) and five of 24 from behind the arc (21 percent) while out-rebounding the Lady Bearcats 42-33.Box Score

Jaymee CaRnes nameD DaktRonICs DIvIsIon II natIonal PlayeR of the yeaR(3/21/12) DAHLONEGA, GA – Following the most im-pressive single-season performance in North Georgia women’s basketball history, Jaymee Carnes has been named the Daktronics Division II National Player of the Year. “What an incredible accomplishment for Jaymee, our program, and for the university,” head coach Buffie Burson said following the announcement. The highest honor in the country comes as no sur-prise for the sophomore sensation who was named the Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year and Southeast Region Player of the Year following her first season at the NCAA Division II level. “To be named the Daktronics National Player of the Year while playing in the grueling Peach Belt Confer-ence is remarkable,” Burson said. “She faced so many great players and defensive schemes this season. It was exciting to coach her and watch her work her magic.” A transfer from Wake Forest University, Carnes has

LANDER’S BRiTTNi JOHNSON CUTS DOWN THE NET

109

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120312_v8hx.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wbkb/2011-12/boxscores/20120320_y9u6.xml

made an immediate impact on North Georgia, the Peach Belt Conference, and the NCAA Division II level as a whole. North Georgia College & State University continues to be recognized at the highest level, as Carnes becomes the third athlete from the university to earn National Player of the Year over the last three years. Sarah Phillips and Jessica Coan received back-to-back National Pitcher of the Year honors in 2010 and 2011 and Carnes fol-lows in the footsteps of the softball legends with her own Player of the Year honor. The Peach Belt Conference is no stranger to the women’s basketball Na-tional Player of the Year either, as Lander’s Shannon McKever was the first-ever PBC Player to earn the award when she did so last season. McKever won the award as a senior, while Carnes will have two more chances to repeat as the best player in the nation. “With her strong work ethic and commitment, I look forward to seeing her continue to grow even more as a great player,” Burson said of the development of the nation’s best player. “To win this award as a sopho-more is simply amazing.” The native of nearby Gainesville, Georgia, Carnes set multiple Peach Belt Conference records and nearly rewrote the North Georgia record book during the 2011-12 season. Carnes is just the second player in PBC history to lead the nation in scoring, joining Kennesaw State’s Joanna Cuprys who averaged 26.0 points per game in 1996-97. She scored 30-plus points three times and had a career-high 40 points against Brenau. She finished second in the league and 15th in the nation in rebounds per game with 11.2 and recorded 20 double-doubles, which led all of NCAA Division II. She also led the league and was ranked eighth nationally in blocks. Carnes led the nation in scoring at 25.0 points per game and fin-ished with 624 points scored, which is the tenth highest scoring total in the history of the Peach Belt Conference. She also set North Georgia records for total points in a season, scoring aver-age in a season, and free throws made. The sharp-shooter holds North Georgia NCAA Division II single game records for points in a game with 40, blocks in a game with nine, and field goals made in a game with 16, a mark she accomplished twice in a span of 35 days. The team is sponsored by Daktronics, Inc., an acknowledged world leader in scoring, timing and programmable display systems for virtually every sport at every level of competi-tion. The team is voted on by the members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

NORTH GEORGiA’SJAYMEE CARNES

110


Capital one academic all-District teamCharlsea Owen, Flagler

Peach Belt Conference all-academic teamMia Antoine, USC AikenJessica Bivins, Georgia SouthwesternBrittany Bowen, USC AikenDeDe Cotton, UNC PembrokeKristen Dickerson, Francis MarionJen Knurek, FlaglerPorsha Martin, USC AikenBriana McFarland, ArmstrongCharlsea Owen, FlaglerDaniela Tarailo, USC Aiken


Marie Taylor, FlaglerTaylor Welch, Montevallo

wBCa Division II all-america teamJaymee Carnes, North GeorgiaTanisha Woodard, Clayton State

wBCa Division II all-america honorable mentionKayla Harris, USC AikenJasmine Judge, Lander

Daktronics national Player of the yearJaymee Carnes, North Georgia

Daktronics all-america first teamJaymee Carnes, North Georgia

Daktronics all-america honorable mentionTanisha Woodard, Clayton State

Daktronics southeast Region Player of the yearJaymee Carnes, North Georgia

Daktronics all-southeast Region first teamJaymee Carnes, North GeorgiaTanisha Woodard, Clayton StateHannah DeGraffinreed, USC Aiken

PBC all-Conference first teamJaymee Carnes, North GeorgiaHannah DeGraffinreed, USC AikenDominique Gilbert, Columbus State

Kayla Harris, USC AikenTanisha Woodard, Clayton State

PBC all-Conference second teamTerra Branch, GSWBrittany Hall, Clayton StateBrittni Johnson, LanderJasmine Judge, LanderCiara Lyons, Lander

PBC all-Conference third teamCourtney Bolton, UNC PembrokeDrameka Griggs, Clayton StateShanteona Keys, Georgia CollegeAdrian Randall, GSWMauri Wells, Armstrong

PBC Player of the yearJaymee Carnes, North Georgia

PBC Defensive Player of the yearTanisha Woodard, Clayton State

PBC freshman of the yearShanteona Keys, Georgia College

PBC Coach of the yearDennis Cox, Clayton State

111

AwArd winners

IndIvIdualPoInts PeR gameJaymee Carnes, North Georgia 25.0Shanteona Keys, Georgia College 16.6Kayla Harris, USC Aiken 15.8Terra Branch, Ga. Southwestern 15.7Dominique Gilbert, Columbus State 14.4Brittni Johnson, Lander 13.5Ciara Lyons, Lander 13.4Hannah DeGraffinreed, USC Aiken 13.2Brittany Christian, Francis Marion 12.4Jasmine Judge, Lander 12.3ReBounDs PeR gameMauri Wells, Armstrong 13.0Jaymee Carnes, North Georgia 11.2Adrian Randall, Ga. Southwestern 10.2Dominique Gilbert, Columbus State 9.3T.T. Belcher, Francis Marion 9.0Carmella Thompson, Francis Marion 8.2Kaylyn Small, Lander 8.1Treva Mason, Flagler 7.6Laci Schreiber, Augusta State 7.3Belinda Schaafsma, Georgia College 7.3fIelD goal %Kaylyn Small, Lander 58.5Hannah DeGraffinreed, USC Aiken 56.7Courtney Bolton, UNC Pembroke 53.3D.D. Gipson, Armstrong 49.5Kayla Mobley, Clayton State 48.6Kayla Harris, USC Aiken 48.3Brittany White, Augusta State 48.3Shavonne Seymore, Montevallo 48.3Ciara Lyons, Lander 48.1Jazmine Kemp, UNC Pembroke 47.9

3-PoInt fIelD goal %Amber Peterson, Augusta State 43.2Daniela Tarailo, USC Aiken 42.3Jasmine Judge, Lander 42.3Terra Branch, Ga. Southwestern 40.5Lindsay Sundberg, USC Aiken 37.6Emilee Dunton, Francis Marion 34.6Brittni Johnson, Lander 34.0DeDe Cotten, UNC Pembroke 33.2Brittany Christian, Francis Marion 33.1Shanteona Keys, Georgia College 32.6assIsts PeR gameTanisha Woodard, Clayton State 5.3Brittany Hill, USC Aiken 5.2Carmella Thompson, Francis Marion 5.0Brittany White, Augusta State 4.9Brittni Johnson, Lander 4.2Tania Walters, Ga. Southwestern 4.0Mukia Myrick, Lander 3.8Latesha Johnson, Flagler 3.4Domonique Washington, UNC Pembroke 3.3Brittany Hall, Clayton State 3.3BloCks PeR gameJaymee Carnes, North Georgia 3.1Adrian Randall, Ga. Southwestern 2.6Dominique Gilbert, Columbus State 2.5Rachel Brown, Flagler 2.0Tanisha Woodard, Clayton State 1.7Shacamra Jackson, Clayton State 1.5Shannon Smith, Clayton State 1.2Krysta Lewis, Georgia College 1.1Davia Harris, Montevallo 1.0Taylor Beverly, Montevallo 0.9steals PeR gameTanisha Woodard, Clayton State 3.4Brittany White, Augusta State 3.3Brittni Johnson, Lander 2.8Carmella Thompson, Francis Marion 2.7

Tania Walters, Ga. Southwestern 2.6Domonique Washington, UNC Pembroke 2.5Drameka Griggs, Clayton State 2.5Jasmine Judge, Lander 2.5Ciara Lyons, Lander 2.3Brittany Hall, Clayton State 2.3

TeamPoInts PeR gameGa. Southwestern 73.7Lander 73.0Clayton State 70.6USC Aiken 64.4Columbus State 63.4North Georgia 63.1Armstrong 63.0Francis Marion 59.7Augusta State 57.9UNC Pembroke 57.8Montevallo 56.6Georgia College 52.3Flagler 51.3fIelD goal %USC Aiken 43.8Clayton State 42.7Lander 41.5Augusta State 40.3Armstrong 40.2Ga. Southwestern 39.0UNC Pembroke 39.0Columbus State 38.9Montevallo 38.0North Georgia 37.8Francis Marion 36.5Georgia College 36.2Flagler 33.53-PoInt fIelD goal %Ga. Southwestern 34.5USC Aiken 34.0

Lander 33.4Augusta State 33.1Georgia College 30.2Francis Marion 29.7Columbus State 29.0UNC Pembroke 28.2Clayton State 28.0Armstrong 26.9Montevallo 25.3North Georgia 25.0Flagler 24.4PoInts alloweD PeR gameClayton State 51.8USC Aiken 53.1UNC Pembroke 55.0Augusta State 59.0Columbus State 59.1Lander 60.2Montevallo 60.6Francis Marion 61.5Georgia College 62.0North Georgia 62.8Ga. Southwestern 63.9Armstrong 66.0Flagler 71.0oPPonents fIelD goal %UNC Pembroke 35.0Clayton State 35.3Columbus State 35.8USC Aiken 36.9North Georgia 37.4Montevallo 38.1Georgia College 38.2Francis Marion 38.8Ga. Southwestern 38.9Augusta State 39.7Lander 39.7Armstrong 41.1Flagler 42.0

stAtistiCs

unC PemBRoke leaDs PBC men’s golf ChamPIonshIPs afteR oPenIng Day(4/9/12) PINE MOUNTAIN, GA – The UNC Pembroke Braves shot rounds of 288 and 291 to build a three-stroke lead after day one of the Peach Belt Confer-ence men’s golf championship at Callaway Gardens. The Braves are three strokes ahead of USC Aiken who fired the low team round of the day with a 287 in the second round and five ahead of Georgia College. Georgia Southwestern sits in fourth while host Colum-bus State is fifth and Armstrong and Flagler are tied for sixth.

The Braves carried a five-stroke lead into the second round after four players shot an even-par 72 en route to a combined 288. USC Aiken trimmed eight strokes off its first round total to trim a seven-stroke defi-cit down to just three. Georgia College was just five strokes off the lead in second place after the opening round.

PBC Player of the Year Jordan Walor (72-69/141) is just one stroke off the pace set by Flagler’s Joel Dahlen-burg who carded a tournament-best 67 in the second round to move atop the individual leaderboard. UNCP’s Jonathan Mc-Curry (72-73/145) is four strokes back in a tie for sixth, Michael Mullman (76-72/148) carded an even-par 72 in the second round and is tied for 14th, Scott Lambert (72-77/149) is tied for 17th and Carson Lanier (72-78/150) is in a tie for 23rd.

Three Pacers are currently tied for sixth indi-vidually with Matt Atkins (Owensboro, Ky./Hender-son State), Gaines Milliner (Aiken, S.C./Aiken) and Taylor Welborn (LaGrange, Ga./Darton) all posting a two-round score of 145.

A First-Team All-Peach Belt Conference selection, Atkins shot a 2-under 70 in round one before carding a 75 in the second round. Atkins finished his opening round on Monday with six birdies.

Milliner opened with a 73 before posting an even 72 in round two.

Welborn commenced his day with a 76 in round one. Buoyed by six birdies, Welborn then shot a 3-under 69 in the second round.

Georgia College shot rounds of 293 and 291 to sit five back. PBC Freshman of the Year Ryan Trocchio shot back-to-back rounds of one-under 71 to tie for third at 142. Patrick Garrett is tied for 14th after rounds of 76 and 72 while David Sullivan is tied for 17th at 149.

Georgia Southwestern’s Craig Gibson tied Dahlenburg for low round of the day as he posted a 67 in the sec-ond round. Gibson had six birdies in his round with only one bogey. Columbus State’s Stephen Swane-poel is in fifth at even-par 144 after a 71 in the sec-ond round. Teammate Daniel Glidewell is in a tie for 10th with Armstrong’s Cory Griffin at 146.

The 2012 PBC Men’s Golf Championships will con-clude with the third and final round on Tuesday at Cal-

laway Gardens. Tee times are set to begin at 8 a.m.

unC PemBRoke wIns PBC men’s golf tItle In

Playoff(4/10/12) PINE

MOUNTAIN, GA – UNC Pem-broke’s

Carson Lanier had a

birdie while

three other play-

ers turned in pars as the Braves beat USC Aiken

on the first playoff hole in the 2012 PBC Men’s Golf Champion-ships. The

UNC PEMBROKE’SJORDAN WALOR

Men’s Golf

112

FLAGLER’SJOEL DAHLENBURG

Men’s Golf

two teams finished three rounds tied at eight-over-par 872 on the 7,052-yard, par-72 Mountain View Course

at Callaway Gardens. It is the first time that a team has won the title in a playoff since Columbus State beat USC Aiken in the 1993 champion-

ships.

USC Aiken tied for the

low team round of the day as they erased UNCP’s

three-stroke lead with a 290. Georgia College finished third while host Columbus State was fourth and Armstrong Atlantic State fifth.

Lanier had the only birdie in the playoff as Scott Lambert, Jonathan Mc-Curry and Jordan Walor all had pars on the 427-

yard, par-4 18th hole for UNC Pembroke. J.P. Solis, Gaines Milliner and Taylor Welborn shot par for USC Aiken, but Matt Atkins and

Hayden Letien missed their par putts for bogeys, giv-ing UNCP at four-man score of 15 on the playoff while USC Aiken had 17.

Flagler’s Joel Dahlenburg was the individual medalist after he shot 73-67-73 to finish three-under-par 213. He becomes the first PBC golfer to win back-to-back PBC Championships since Columbus State’s Jaco Rall in 1998 and 99. The senior had two birdies and an eagle on the back nine on Tuesday to finish one stroke ahead of USC Aiken’s Matt Atkins. Atkins had the second-lowest round of the day with a three-under 69, collecting six birdies and an eagle in his round. Georgia Southwestern’s Craig Gibson and the UNCP tandem of Walor and McCurry were all tied for third.

For UNC Pembroke, the men’s golf Championship is the first in program history. The Braves had all five of their players shoot 75 or better with McCurry carding a team-best 71. Lambert, Lanier and Michael Mull-mann all shot 223 to finish in a tie for 16th.

Atkins led the charge for USC Aiken with his 69 as Milliner and Welborn both had 73 and Solis 75. USC Aiken trailed UNC Pembroke by three strokes heading into the final round and fell just short of claiming their

10th PBC Champion-ship.

Georgia College was three strokes behind as Victor Monte shot a team-best 71 on Tuesday followed by Patrick Garrett’s 72. PBC Freshman of the Year Ryan Trocchio

had back-to-back 71s on Monday but could not main-tain that consistency on Tuesday with a 77. He fin-ished in a tie for ninth while Garrett was tied for 11th.

Columbus State equaled USC Aiken’s team 290 on Tuesday. Justin Grice was tied for the low round of the tournament with a 67. Daniel Glidewell finished in a tie for sixth at two over par while Stephen Swanepoel was tied for 11th two strokes back and Grice tied for 13th.

Armstrong’s Cory Griffin finished in the top 10 after shooting three straight rounds of 73 to tie for ninth. Georgia Southwestern’s Craig Gibson tied Grice for

113

GOLFERS OF THE WEEKSeptember 8, 2011 Taylor Wellborn, USC AikenSeptember 15, 2011 Kyle Godsman, USC AikenSeptember 22, 2011 Jordan Walor, UNC PembrokeSeptember 29, 2011 Joel Dahlenburg, FlaglerOctober 6, 2011 Craig Gibson, Georgia SouthwesternOctober 14, 2011 Justin Grice, Columbus StateOctober 21, 2011 Howard Duffin, ArmstrongOctober 27, 2011 Jordan Walor, UNC PembrokeFebruary 9, 2012 Justin Grice, Columbus StateFebruary 16, 2012 Matt Motes, ArmstrongFebruary 23, 2012 J.P. Griffin, Georgia SouthwesternMarch 1, 2012 Patrick Garrett, Georgia CollegeMarch 8, 2012 Scott Lambert, UNC PembrokeMarch 15, 2012 Jonathan McCurry, UNC PembrokeMarch 22, 2012 Jordan Walor, UNC PembrokeMarch 29, 2012 Joel Dahlenburg, FlaglerApril 5, 2012 Jordan Walor, UNC Pembroke Jonathan McCurry, UNC Pembroke

FLAGLER’SJOEL DAHLENBURG

PBC All-TournAmenT TeAmMatt Atkins, USC Aiken

Craig Gibson, Ga. SouthwesternJonathan McCurry, UNCP

Jordan Walor, UNCP

medAlisTJoel Dahlenburg, Flagler

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mgolf/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110908mgotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mgolf/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110915















http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mgolf/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120405gotwa

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mgolf/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120404gotwb

the low round of the tournament with a 67 in Mon-day’s second round and finished in a tie for third.

RESULTS

PHOTO GALLERY

thRee PBC men’s golf teams QualIfy foR natIonal ChamPIonshIP!(5/9/12) CONOVER, NC – For the first time since 2008, three Peach Belt Conference men’s golf teams qualified for the NCAA National Championships as the South/Southeast Super Regional came to a close on Wednesday. Georgia College won the regional event with a three-round score of 869, one stroke ahead of Barry. UNC Pembroke finished fourth and USC Aiken in fifth to advance to the national finals. Georgia Southwestern’s J.P. Griffin also qualified to compete as an individual. USCA’s Matt Atkins took the medal-ist honors.

GC put up a 289 on the final day, added to rounds of 291 and 289 for five-over par on the par-72, 7,064-yard Rock Barn Golf & Spa Jones Course. No. 2 Barry University was just one stroke behind in second.

Junior Taylor Smith shot a team-best 70 today, and finished a team-best second at five-under par after previous rounds of 69 and 72. Smith missed a playoff for individual medalist honors by one stroke, carding five birdies in today’s action.

Classmate Patrick Garrett was one stroke later in seventh place at three-under par. Garrett shot 71-70-

72, birdying four straight from the seventh to the 10th hole today. Freshman Ryan Trocchio saved his best round for last, firing par today after a 74 and 75 for plus-five in 28th place. Trocchio birdied the 13th and 15th, both were holes he bogeyed yesterday.

Classmate David Sullivan comes next at plus-10 on rounds of 77, 74 and 75. Sullivan finally figured out the 18th, as after a triple and double-bogey the first two days, he recorded a birdie today, one of his two on the round. Sophomore Victor Monte was 12-over par with rounds of 80-73-75. He was one-over on the back nine today.

The Bobcats have won the Regional title just once before, in 2008. This will mark GC’s ninth appearance in the NCAA Finals, and the first since 2009.

UNC Pembroke’s Jordan Walor (70-71-71/212) offset a bogey on the

par-4 sixth with birdies on both the eighth and 18th holes en route to 1-under-par 71 and a tie for fifth on the final individual leaderboard – just two strokes off the pace set by USC Aiken’s Matt Atkins (-6). McCurry (74-76-70/220) booked 16 pars and a pair of bird-

2012 PBC MEN’S GOLF CHAMPiONS UNC PEMBROKE BRAVES

114

GEORGiA SOUTHWESTERN’S J.P. GRiFFiN

http://www.peachbeltconference.org/sports/mgolf/2011-12/files/ncaasse.htm

http://www.peachbeltconference.org/sports/mgolf/2011-12/photos/galleryindex

Men’s Golf

115

ies to jump 30 spots on the individual leaderboard and into a tie for 18th, while Carson Lanier (74-72-77/223) and Michael Mullman (78-69-76/223) both finished in a tie for 38th place. Scott Lambert (78-77-75/230) turned in his best round of the week with a 75 on Wednesday to climb five spots into a share of 82nd place.

USC Aiken closed out its three rounds in the regional with a team three-round tally of 880 (294-290-296).

Atkins (Owensboro, Ky./Henderson State) concluded the three rounds of the NCAA South/Southeast Re-gional with a 6-under score of 210. Atkins carded a 70 in all three rounds en route to his first career victory. A First-Team All-Peach Belt Conference selec-tion, Atkins has now obtained three top-5 finishes this season.

Atkins is the fourth Pacer to claim individual medalist honors in a regional, joining Scott Brown (2005 and 2006), Scott Usher (2003) and Jamie Stanley (1997).

Atkins was one of three Pacers to finish in the top-50 individually at the South/Southeast Regional. Taylor Welborn (LaGrange, Ga./Darton) closed out the re-gional in 28th at 221 (72-73-76), while JP Solis (Mo-relia, Mexico/Lico Morelia) ended the tournament in 44th at 224 (80-69-75).

Georgia Southwestern finished eighth as a team while Armstrong Atlantic State was tied for 12th and Colum-bus State 19th.

The top five teams and the top two student-athletes not with an advancing team earned a berth into the finals as part of the 2012 Division II Spring Champion-ships Festival. The Festival will be hosted by Bellarm-ine and the Louisville Sports Commission.The national championships will be held, May 15-19, at The Cardi-nal Club in Simpsonville, Ky.

geoRgIa College, usC aIken aDvanCe to men’s golf matCh Play(5/17/12) LOUISVILLE, KY – Both Georgia College and USC Aiken were among the top eight teams at the NCAA Division II National Championships after 54 holes of stroke play and will both move on to the match play national quarterfinals beginning on Fri-day. Georgia College finished stroke play in fifth place overall with a three-day score of 862 while USC Aiken

was seventh at 870. GC, will face fourth-seeded CSU-Stanislaus in the national quarterfinals while USCA will take on second-seeded Nova Southeastern.

The winners of the quarterfinal rounds will advance to the semifinals which will also be played on Friday in Louisville at the 7,092 Cardinal Club Golf Course. The final two teams will square off for the national champi-onship on Saturday.

Georgia College was tied for the second-lowest team round on Friday with a three-under par 285. Ryan Troccio was tied for the low round of the day with a five-under 67, which included a 31 on the front nine as he birdied the first four holes. Taylor Smith was one under par with a 71 in the third round while Pat-rick Garrett was one over with a 73.

Trocchio was the low PBC finisher in the individual standings as he tied for fifth with a three-round total of five-under 210 while Smith was tied for 15th at 215 having shot par or better in all four rounds.

For USC Aiken, all five Pacers finished the 54 holes of stroke play at the NCAA Championship in the top-75 individually.

Hayden Letien (Sumter, S.C./Sumter) claimed his first top-10 finish of the 2011-12 season by tying for ninth. The 2011 All-American, who now has four top-10 fin-ishes as an individual in his career, ended stroke play in the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Championship with a three-round tally of 4-under 212 (69-71-72).

All-Peach Belt Conference selection JP Solis (Morelia, Mexico/Lico Morelia) closed out stroke play by tying for 19th with a three-round score of 216 (74-68-74).

2012 NCAA SOUTH/SOUTHEAST REGiON CHAMPiONS GEORGiA COLLEGE BOBCATS

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mgolf/2011-12/files/NCAASSE.htm

First-Team All-Peach Belt Conference performer Matt Atkins (Owensboro, Ky./Henderson State) put together his best round of the championship on Thursday to move into a tie for 45th. Atkins posted a 1-under-par score of 71 on Thursday to finish with a three-round score of 222 (77-74-71).

Gaines Milliner (Aiken, S.C./Aiken) closed out the 54 holes of stroke play in a tie for 51st at 223 (72-78-73). Taylor Welborn (LaGrange, Ga./Darton) tied for 75th at 228 (77-75-76).

Georgia Southwestern’s J.P. Griffin, playing as an indi-vidual, finished the NCAA Tournament in a tie for ninth place at four-under-par 212. He fired a one-under 71 on Thursday.

Josh Creel of Central Oklahoma and Jim Knous of Colorado School of Mines both closed the 54 holes of stroke play tied for the top spot individually at 10-un-der 206. Creel downed Knous in a playoff to claim the 2012 NCAA Division II individual national cham-pionship. Creel posted a par on the 18th hole in the playoff to obtain the national championship.

Chico State finished stroke play as the #1 seed, finishing 13 under par for the three rounds with an 851. UNC Pembroke, the the third PBC team in the 20-team field, finished in 10th place. Senior Jordan Walor finished 14th with a 214 total.

usC aIken, geoRgIa College ousteD In nCaa QuaRteRfInal matCh PlayLOUISVILLE, KY – The 2012 golf season came to a close for the Peach Belt on Friday as both USC Aiken and Georgia College fell in their match play quarterfi-nals at the NCAA National Championships. USCA fell to Nova Southeastern 4-1 while Georgia College lost to CSU-Stanislaus 3-2.

The national quarterfinal team match between sev-enth-seeded USC Aiken and second-seeded Nova Southeastern consisted of five points with one point being awarded for each individual match.

Taylor Welborn picked up the only victory of the day for the Pacers, besting Nova Southeastern’s Mitch Farrer by four strokes.

Welborn (LaGrange, Ga./Darton), who carded a 74 to

Farrer’s 78, put together one of the highlights of his career during his round when he had a hole-in-one on hole No. 8. Welborn’s match would be the first one fin-ished in the quarterfinal. USC Aiken would then drop the next four matches to allow Nova Southeastern to secure the victory.

Gaines Milliner (Aiken, S.C./Aiken) fell by six strokes to Nova Southeastern’s Ben Vertz. Milliner posted a 78 in the quarterfinal, while Vertz ended the match with an even 72.

Ricardo Celia of Nova Southeastern was able to best Pacer 2012 First-Team All-American Matt Atkins (Owensboro, Ky./Henderson State). Celia ended the showdown with a 2-under 70. Atkins closed out his round with a 76.

NCAA Division II National Freshman of the Year Oscar Lengden of Nova Southeastern carded a 4-under 68 in the quarterfinal match to best 2009 All-American JP Solis (Morelia, Mexico/Lico Morelia), who ended his day with a 1-over 73.

USC Aiken’s Hayden Letien owned a five-stroke lead

116

Men’s Golf

117

through 11 holes, but in the end current national No. 1 Ben Taylor of Nova Southeastern would overtake the 2011 All-American selection.

Letien (Sumter, S.C./Sumter) was even through his first nine holes. He opened the back nine by claiming an eagle on hole No. 10. Letien then birdied No. 11. Unfortunately, Letien would then bogey five of the next seven holes to allow Taylor to come back for a three-stroke victory. Letien finished with a 74, while Taylor posted a 1-under 71.

Nova Southeastern moves on to the semifinal round where they will face off against Central Oklahoma.

The No. 5-seeded Bobcats took on the No. 4-seed Warriors, with GC picking up wins from Patrick Garrett (Ken-nesaw, Ga.) and Ryan Trocchio (Norcross, Ga.).

Trocchio out-did CSUS’s top player in Trevor Blair 71-74. Garrett did Trocchio one better with a 71-75 victory over Chris McCracken at No. 3.

At No. 5, David Sullivan (Woodstock, Ga.) fell by two 75-77 to Teddy Schrier, while both Taylor Smith (Mansfield, Ga.) and Victor Monte (Chantilly, Va.) took four-stroke losses. Smith was beaten by Rob Damschen 73-77 at the second spot, while Monte fell 75-79 to Paul Smith in the fourth.

Capital one academic all-american teamMatt Atkins, USC AikenJordan Walor, UNC Pembroke

Capital one academic all-DistrictMatt Atkins, USC AIkenTyler Erickson, ArmstrongJordan Walor, UNC Pembroke

Peach Belt Conference all-academic teamMatt Atkins, USC AIkenJoel Dahlenburg, FlaglerAaron Ebert, MontevalloTyler Erickson, ArmstrongPatrick Garrett, Georgia CollegeScott Lambert, UNC PembrokeVictor Monte, Georgia CollegeTanner Robb, LanderJacob Tilton, ArmstrongJordan Walor, UNC Pembroke

Peach Belt Conference all-academic honarable mention

Michael Mullman, UNC PembrokeMatt Motes, ArmstrongMatt Rochlin, North GeorgiaMariano Lepori, Montevallo

gCaa/PIng all-american first teamMatt Atkins, USC AikenJordan Walor, UNC Pembroke

gCaa/PIng all-american third team

Patrick Garrett, Georgia CollegeCraig Gibson, Georgia SouthwesternJ.P. Griffith, Georgia Southwestern

gCaa/PIng all-american honorable mention

Hayden Letian, USC AikenJonathan McCurry, UNC PembrokeGreg Mergel, FlaglerMatt Motes, ArmstrongTaylor Smith, Georgia CollegeRyan Trocchio, Georgia College

gCaa/PIng all-southeast teamMatt Atkins, USC AikenJordan Walor, UNC PembrokePatrick Garrett, Georgia CollegeCraig Gibson, Georgia SouthwesternJ.P. Griffith, Georgia SouthwesternJonathan McCurry, UNC PembrokeGreg Mergel, FlaglerMatt Motes, Armstrong

PBC all-Conference first teamMatt Atkins, USC AikenPatrick Garrett, Georgia CollegeCraig Gibson, Georgia SouthwesternScott Lambert, UNC PembrokeJonathan McCurry, UNC Pembroke

Matt Motes, ArmstrongRourke van der Spuy, Columbus StateJordan Walor, UNC Pembroke

PBC all-Conference secondteamJoel Dahlenburg, FlaglerJustin Grice, Columbus StateJ.P. Griffin, Georgia SouthwesternGreg Mergel, FlaglerJ.P. Solis, USC AikenTaylor Smith, Georgia CollegeJacob Tilton, ArmstrongRyan Trocchio, Georgia College

PBC freshman of the yearRyan Trocchio, Georgia College

PBC golfer of the yearJordan Walor, UNC Pembroke

PBC Coach of the yearAndrew Danna, Georgia Southwestern

AwArd winners

IndIvIdualsCoRIng aveRageJordan Walor, UNC Pembroke 71.4Matt Atkins, USC AIken 72.5Jonathan McCurry, UNC Pembroke 72.5Patrick Garrett, Georgia College 72.6Craig Gibson, Georgia Southwestern 72.7Matt Motes, Armstrong 72.9Taylor Smith, Georgia College 73.1Scott Lambert, UNC Pembroke 73.3Brad Hannah, Lander 73.3J.P. Solis, USC Aiken 73.4Greg Mergel, Flagler 73.4J.P. Griffin, Georgia Southwestern 73.4Ryan Trocchio, Georgia College 73.5Joel Dahlenburg, Flagler 73.5Rourke van dur Spuy, Columbus State 73.6 low RounDs1. 63 Jonathan McCurry, UNC Pembroke2. 65 Jacob Tilton, Armstrong 65 Craig Gibson, Georgia Southwestern4. 66 J.P. Griffin, Georgia Southwestern 66 Patrick Garrett, Georgia College 66 Joel Dahlenburg, Flagler 66 Joel Dahlenburg, Flagler 66 Jordan Walor, UNC Pembroke 66 Craig Gibson, Georgia Southwestern10. 67 Rourke Van der Spuy, Columbus State 67 Joel Dahlenburg, Flagler 67 Will Shenstone, Clayton State 67 Howard Duffin, North Georgia 67 Rourke Van der Spuy, Columbus State 67 Michael Mullmann, UNC Pembroke 67 Matt Atkins, USC Aiken 67 Jordan Walor, UNC Pembroke 67 Joel Dahlenburg, Flagler 67 Justin Grice, Columbus State 67 Joel Dahlenburg, Flagler 67 Craig Gibson, Georgia Southwestern 67 Ryan Trocchio, Georgia College 67 Craig Gibson, Georgia Southwestern24. 68 JP Griffin, Georgia Southwestern 68 Taylor Welborn, USC Aiken 68 Cory Griffin, Armstrong 68 Kyle Godsman, USC Aiken 68 Justin Grice, Columbus State 68 Craig Gibson, Georgia Southwestern 68 Christopher Hall, Georgia Southwestern 68 Howard Duffin, North Georgia 68 Jordan Walor, UNC Pembroke 68 Patrick Garrett, Georgia College 68 Jordan Walor, UNC Pembroke 68 Matt Atkins--USC Aiken 68 Jordan Walor--UNC Pembroke 68 Justin Grice--Columbus State 68 Jordan Walor--UNC Pembroke 68 Scott Lambert--UNC Pembroke 68 Ryan Trocchio--Georgia College

USCA’S ATKiNS, UNCP’S WALOR NAMED ACADEMiC ALL-AMERiCANSTOWSON, MD – Peach Belt Conference men’s golfers Matt Atkins of USC Aiken and Jordan Walor of UNC Pembroke were named Capitol One Academic All-Americans on Wednesday. The two were part of the spring At-Large team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), which does not cover golf specifically. The award is widely regarded as the highest individual honor a student-athlete can achieve, as it measures success in the classroom and success on the course. UNC Pembroke wrestler Shane Nolan was also included on the at-large team.

Atkins, who was a Second-Team selection, is USC Aiken’s 10th CoSIDA Academic All-American. He is now the 13th Pacer golfer to be honored nationally for his ef-forts in the classroom. The CoSIDA Academic All-America program does not cover golf specifically. Atkins is the first Pacer golfer to garner Academic All-America status on the Men’s At-Large Team.

Atkins put together one of the strongest campaigns in Pacer history in the 2011-12 season, leading the nationally-ranked Pacers with a 72.47 scoring average. The scoring average was the fifth-best single-season scoring average in Pacer history.

The First-Team All-Peach Belt Conference selection acquired three top-5 individ-ual finishes this past year. He claimed individual medalist honors with a 6-under score of 210 at the NCAA Division II South/Southeast Regional at the par-72, 7,064-yard Jones Course at the Rock Barn Golf and Spa in Conover, N.C. Atkins carded a 70 in all three rounds en route to his first career victory.

In the classroom, Atkins boasts a 3.733 grade point average as a Business Ad-ministration major.

The 2012 Peach Belt Conference Golfer of the Year, Walor put the lid on his colle-giate career on May 17 by finishing in a tie for 14th on the individual leaderboard at the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Championships at the Cardinal Club in Simp-sonville. He concluded the campaign with a school record and PBC-leading 71.38 stroke average – the third lowest average in the PBC and the best stroke average since Clayton State’s Will Wilcox posted a PBC record 71.06 stroke average dur-ing the 2008-09 season.

Walor, who ranks second in PBC history with eight career victories, won three tournaments this season, including the season-opening Honda of Columbia Fall Classic and the Magnolia Collegiate Invitational in March. He concluded his UNCP career with a 72.4 career stroke average, while posting 31 career top-20 finishes, including 18 tournaments in which he finished in the top-5 on the individual leaderboard.

stAtistiCs

118

Women’s Golf 68 Taylor Smith--Georgia College 68 Gaines Milliner--USC Aiken 68 J.P. Griffin--Georgia Southwestern 68 JP Solis--USC Aiken

TeamsCoRIng aveRageTeam Rounds Strokes Avg.UNC Pembroke 31 8954 288.8

Georgia College 34 9926 291.9USC Aiken 38 11120 292.6Armstrong 30 8826 294.2Columbus State 31 9147 295.1Georgia Southwestern 31 9160 295.5Flagler 27 8088 299.6Clayton State 25 7542 301.7Lander 28 8596 307.0Montevallo 26 7991 307.3North Georgia 27 8317 308.0

team low RounDs1. 279 Georgia Southwestern 279 USC Aiken 279 Armstrong 279 Georgia College5. 280 North Georgia 280 UNC Pembroke 280 Columbus State8. 281 USC Aiken9. 282 5 times

woMen’s Golf

119

unC PemBRoke leaDs PBC men’s golf ChamPIonshIPs afteR oPenIng Day(4/9/12) Armstrong Atlantic State University sopho-more Kristen Sammarco fired a league-record 65 to help the Pirate women’s golf team tie for the lead at the first round of the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Cham-pionships at the Calla-way Gardens Lake View Course on Monday.

Sammarco’s six-under-par 65 is the lowest women’s golf score in Peach Belt history, regardless of tournament, and she holds a com-manding seven stroke lead over Fla-gler’s Elin Karlsson (72) as the only player to break par on Monday. She holed out two eagles in the round, on the par-four 337-yard Hole No. 3 and the par-four, 376-yard Hole No. 17.

Thanks to her record-breaking round, the Pirates as a team shot a school-record 304 to tie with Flagler for the team lead after the first round of action. UNC Pembroke is just two strokes back at 306 with Lander (312) and Columbus State (314) rounding out the top five schools.

Junior Kelly Pearce is tied for eighth individu-ally after a first-round five-over-par 76, while sophomore Jenna Birch is tied for 15th after a first-round 79. Senior Victoria Bennett is in 27th place after a first-round 84, while senior Kim Knox is tied for 33rd after a first-round 87.

The 304 round by the Pirates eclipses the previous re-cord of 305, set at the Mercer Eat-A-Peach Collegiate on Sept. 19, 2011.

The 304 shot by the Saints today was the lowest round by a Flagler team in the two-year history of the

championships and broke the school record for a round (305 at Lady Moc Classic second round, Feb. 20, 2012). Only UNC Pembroke shot a bet-

ter number, 301 (final round of 2011), in the history of the championships.

Karlsson racked up four birdies, three of which came on the front nine. She was 1-under going into the back nine. Vic-toria Seenath (Toronto, Ontario, Semi-nole State College of Florida) is in a tie for sixth place with a 4-over 75. Leslie Choucard (Chessy, France, Mercer University) is part of a three-way tie for 10th place with a 6-over 77. Marie Santacroce (Mattituck, N.Y., Mattituck HS), the confer-

ence’s freshman of the year, is tied for 17th place with a 9-over 80. Nicole Keyser (Cary, N.C., Green Hope HS)

completes the Flagler contingent with an 11-over 82 and is tied for 22nd place.

Shauna Walor turned in her best round of the spring season to pace the UNCP women’s golf team.

Walor carded a first-round 74 – her lowest round since mid-

ARMSTRONG’S KRiSTEN SAMMARCO

October – and sits tied for third at the event, while PBC Player of the Year Meghan Moore is tied for sixth after booking a 75 on Monday. Kelly Sumner tallied her best round (77) of the spring as well and is tied for 10th heading into Tuesday, while Jenn Crow is tied for 17th after an opening-round 80 – her best 18-hole score since mid-September. Abby Shipley is tied for 33rd after an opening-round 87.

First team all-conference selection Dana Watkins was a late scratch from the tournament due to injury.

Columbus State’s Kristin Galek and Lander’s Marian Martins are tied for third in the individual standings after shooting 74. Galek played the back nine one-un-der with a birdie on 13 while Martins had four birdies on the day, but faltered at 18 with a triple bogey.

North Georgia’s Catalina Olarte is tied for eighth after shooting a 75 while Montevallo’s Ashlee Beck is 13th after a 78.aRmstRong wIns PBC women’s golf

ChamPIonshIP!(4/10/12) PINE MOUNTAIN, GA – The Armstrong Atlantic State women’s golf team won their first-ever PBC Women’s Golf Championship on Tuesday at Cal-laway Gardens as they fired a team score of 311 in the final round to win by 11 strokes. After sharing the day one lead with Flagler, three Pirates shot in the 70s led by Jenna Birch’s 73 to outdistance Flagler and UNC Pembroke, who finished in a tie for second. Lander was fourth with Columbus State fifth followed by Mon-tevallo and North Georgia.

The Championship was held at the 5,849-yard, par-71 Lake View Course at Callaway Gardens, the second time the event has been held there. Columbus State

served as tournament host.

Armstrong’s Kristen Sammarco claimed the individ-ual title, taking the lead generated by her opening-day record round of 65 to hold on despite shooting a 79 on Tuesday. Sammarco finished at two-over-par 144, five strokes ahead of Lander’s Mariana Martins. Flagler’s Elin Karlsson was third with UNC Pembroke’s Meghan Moore and North Georgia’s Catalina Olarte tied for fourth.

For Armstrong, the win is their second of the season and first conference title. Birch drove the team, shooting one-under on the front nine with a birdie at the third. She had four bogeys and another birdie on the back side for a final of 73, the second-lowest

round of the day. Kimberly Knox shot a 75, shaving 12 strokes off her opening-round total to finish in a tie for 18th. Sammarco, who set a record for the lowest round in the PBC women’s golf history with a 65 on Monday, was tripped up by a pair of double bogeys on the fifth and 16th, but kept her round to 79 to win the individual title, her second of the season.

Flagler came up just short in their attempt to repeat their 2010 championship run, which was also played on the Lake View

GOLFERS OF THE WEEKSeptember15, 2011 Kimesha Anthony, Columbus StateSeptember 22, 2011 Kelly Pearce, ArmstrongSeptember 29, 2011 Dana Watkins, UNC PembrokeOctober 6, 2011 Dana Watkins, UNC PembrokeOctober 14, 2011 Kimesha Anthony, Columbus StateOctober 21, 2011 Kimesha Anthony, Columbus StateOctober 27, 2011 Kimesha Anthony, Columbus StateFebruary 9, 2012 Kristen Sammarco, ArmstrongFebruary 16, 2012 Ashlee Beck, Montevallo

Catalina Olarte, North GeorgiaFebruary 23, 2012 Jenna Birch, ArmstrongMarch 1, 2012 Nikki Crowley, Columbus StateMarch 8, 2012 Meghan Moore, UNC PembrokeMarch 15, 2012 Kelly Pearce, ArmstrongMarch 22, 2012 Nikki Crowley, Columbus StateMarch 29, 2012 Meghan Moore, UNC PembrokeApril 5, 2012 Rachel Uremovich, Lander

2012 PBC WOMEN’S GOLF CHAMPiONS ARMSTRONG PiRATES

PBC All-TournAmenT TeAmMarian Martins, Lander

Elin Karlsson, FlaglerMeghan Moore, UNC PembrokeCatalina Olarte, North Georgia

medAlisTKristen Sammarco, Armstrong

120

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wgolf/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20110915wgotw








http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wgolf/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120216wgotwb

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wgolf/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120216wgotwa








Women’s Golf

Course at Callaway Gar-dens. The Saints strug-gled to find birdies on the course as Karlsson was the only Flagler player to break 80 as she had a pair of birdies to shoot a 78. Leslie Couchard and Victoria Seenath were tied for 10th at 158 while Nicole Keyser was tied for 18th.

UNC Pembroke made up the two strokes they trailed Flagler to finish in the tie for second. The Braves were led by Meghan Moore who shot a team-low 76 to finish in a tie for fourth. Moore had three birdies on the day, including a two on the par-3 10th. Shauna Walor shot 74-78 to finish in a tie for sixth while Kelly Sumner was tied for 14th at 159.

Lander finished their first PBC Championship only two strokes out of that tie for second. The Bearcats shot 316 as a team in the final round, led by Martins 75. Ashley Shinn and Dea Mahendra were tied for 10th at 158.

Columbus State’s Kimesha Anthony finished in ninth place after shooting a 76 in the final round. Monte-vallo was the only team in the field to lower their score from round one. Megan Clyne had the low round of the day with an even-par 72. North Georgia’s Cata-lina Olarte fired a 75 on Tuesday to finish in a tie for fourth.

RESULTS

PHOTO GALLERY

aRmstRong’s BIRCh, unCP’s mooRe QualIfy foR natIonal ChamPIonshIPs(5/8/12) PACE, FLA. - Armstrong Atlantic State’s Jenna Birch and UNC Pembroke’s Meghan Moore both qualified as individuals for the NCAA National Champi-onships in Louisville, Ky., as the South Regional came to a close on Tuesday. The two players will be the first Peach Belt women’s golfers from their schools to ever play in the national championships as both were among the top three individuals in the regional

not part of an advanc-ing team. Birch won her spot in a playoff, holing a chip from 18 feet away.

Birch and Moore will play in the NCAA National Championship from May 16-19 at Persimmon Ridge Golf Club in Louis-ville. The event is part of the NCAA Spring Sports festival.

After carding a final-round 76 to finish tied for seventh individually with a three-day seven-over-par 223 total, Birch went to a one-hole playoff against Rollins’ Kayla Sciupider for the third and final individual qualify-ing spot. Playing hole No. 1, Birch’s approach over a greenside bunker left her an 18-foot chip to the hole. Sciupider played her second shot out of the bunker right of the green, and her third shot left her short of the hole. Birch then chipped in for birdie to win the playoff hole and earn the berth.

Moore (77-70-69/216) offset a pair of bogies with five birdies in registering a career-best 3-under-par 69 that put her just four strokes off the pace set by tournament champion Lilliana Camisa (-6) of Nova Southeastern. Shauna Walor (82-77-77/236) booked a 5-over-par 77 for the second-straight round to jump up seven spots on the individual leaderboard into a tie for 26th place. Jenn Crow (82-82-82/246) and Kelly Sumner (85-77-84/246) both finished in a tie for 43rd place, while Lizzie Bundy (80-83-85/248) finished one spot back in 45th place.

The three-day run gives Moore the honor of the first women’s golfer from UNCP to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Moore, who now boasts the highest finish for a PBC golfer in the NCAA Super Regional round, will be joined at the NCAA Championships by Armstrong Atlantic’s Jenna Birch who grabbed the fi-nal individual qualifying spot by virtue of a playoff with Rollins’ Kayla Sciupider. Saint Leo’s Goeun Lee also qualified as an individual for the national champion-ship round.

Second-ranked Florida Southern blew away the rest of the field for the third-straight day and captured the team title by 12 strokes over the rest of the field. With

121

COLUMBUS STATE’S KiMESHA ANTHONY

http://www.peachbeltconference.org/sports/wgolf/2011-12/files/pbc.htm

http://www.peachbeltconference.org/sports/wgolf/2011-12/photos/galleryindex

the team title safely in hand, the Mocs advance to the NCAA National Championship round and will be joined by top-ranked Nova Southeastern and Barry who concluded the event in second and third place, respectively.

mooRe seConD, BIRCh 21st at natIonal ChamPIonshIPs!(5/19/12) LOUISVILLE, KY -- Meghan Moore used the strength of a below-par performance on the front nine to fire an even-par 72 that vaulted the junior into second place at the conclusion of the fourth and final round of the 2012 NCAA Division II Women’s Golf Championships on Saturday. Armstrong’s Jenna Birch fired a second consecutive 79 to finish in 21st in the 70-player field.

Moore (+12) finished two strokes off the pace of na-tional champion Abbey Gittings (+10) of Nova South-eastern who led the Sharks to their fourth-straight team national cham-pionship in the process. Gittings turned in a double bogey on the par-4 13th hole to fall into a first place tie with Moore, but the NSU junior birdied both the 15th and 16th holes, and then posted pars on the final two greens, to come away with individual medalist honors.

Moore’s finish is the best individual national finish by a Peach Belt Confer-ence women’s golfer in league annals and the best finish for a PBC golfer, male or female, since USC Aiken’s Jeff Goff captured the individual national championship in 2008. Moore also concluded her junior campaign with a

PBC-best and school record 76.03 stroke average – the second-lowest total in league history.

The Durham native negated a bogey on the par-4 second hole with birdies on the fourth, fifth and ninth holes. She bogeyed the par-3 12th hole and carded a double bogey on the par-4 17th hole, but capped her tournament by booking a birdie on the par-5 18th hole. It was the first time over the course of the 4-round tournament that she had registered par or better on the Persimmon Ridge Golf Course’s final hole.

Birch ended her tournament with a four-day 319 total and a +31 score. She carded rounds of 81-80-79-79 for her 21st place finish in the 90-player field over the par-72, 6,283-yard course.

The first Armstrong women’s golfer to compete in the NCAA Championships, Birch returns to an Armstrong team that will have four other returnees for 2012-13 after capturing the school’s first Peach Belt Confer-ence Championship in 2012.

ngCa Division II all-america - second teamMeghan Moore, UNC Pembroke

ngCa all-america honorable mentionJenna Birch, Armstrong

ngCa all-south Region Meghan Moore, UNC Pembroke

Peach Belt Conference all-academic teamJenna Birch, ArmstrongLeslie Choucard, FlaglerTracey Marshall, MontevalloKelly Pearce, ArmstrongCasey Truelove, North GeorgiaDana Watkins, UNC Pembroke

PBC all-Conference first teamKimesha Anthony, Columbus StateJenna Birch, ArmstrongNikki Crowley, Columbus StateMeghan Moore, UNC PembrokeDana Watkins, UNC Pembroke

AwArd winners

UNC PEMBROKE’S MEGHAN MOORE

122

Men’s Tennis

toP-RankeD PIRates ColleCt eIghth stRaIght PBC touRnament tItle(4/22/12) GREENWOOD, S.C. - The top-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University men’s tennis team blanked No. 8 Columbus State, 5-0, to notch the Pirates’ eighth straight Peach Belt Conference tournament title on Sunday at the Joe Cabri Tennis Center in Greenwood, S.C.

The Pirates (24-0) have won every league tournament men’s tennis title since 2005 after blanking the Cougars (22-3) on Sunday, halting Columbus State’s six-game win streak.

Armstrong collected three quick

PBC all-Conference secondteamMariana Martins, LanderCatalina Olarte, North GeorgiaKristen Sammarco, ArmstrongAshley Shinn, LanderShauna Walor, UNC Pembroke

PBC freshman of the yearMarie Santacroce, Flagler

PBC golfer of the yearMeghan Moore, UNC Pembroke

PBC Coach of the yearBrian Padgett, Columbus State

IndIvIdualsCoRIng aveRageMeghan Moore, UNC Pembroke 76.0Jenna Birch, Armstrong 76.5Kimesha Anthony, CSU 77.0Kristen Sammarco, Armstrong 77.6Dana Watkins, UNC Pembroke 77.7Nikki Crowley, CSU 77.8Mariana Martins, Lander 78.6Catalina Olarte, NGCSU 79.0Ashley Shinn, Lander 79.1Shauna Walor, UNC Pembroke 79.3Dea Mahendra, Lander 79.3

Marie Santacroce, Flagler 80.1Elin Karlsson, Flagler 80.6Leslie Choucard, Flagler 80.8Rachel Uremovich, Lander 80.9 low RounDs1. 65 Kristen Sammarco, Armstrong2. 68 Kimesha Anthony , Columbus State3. 69 Nikki Crowley, Columbus State 69 Marie Santacroce, Flagler 69 Rachel Uremovich, Lander 69 Meghan Moore, UNC Pembroke7. 70 Kelly Pearce, Armstrong 70 Kristen Sammarco, Armstrong 70 Jenna Birch, Armstrong 70 Meghan Moore, UNC Pembroke11. 71 Nikki Crowley, Columbus State 71 Dana Watkins, UNC Pembroke 71 Meghan Moore, UNC Pembroke 71 Lauren Benetti, Flagler15. 72 Rylie Wilson, Lander 72 Dana Watkins, UNC Pembroke 72 Shauna Walor, UNC Pembroke 72 Kimesha Anthony, Columbus State 72 Lauren Benetti, Flagler 72 Catalina Olarte, North Georgia 72 Dana Watkins, UNC Pembroke 72 Meghan Moore, UNC Pembroke 72 Nikki Crowley, Columbus State 72 Kimesha Anthony, Columbus State 72 Jenna Birch, Armstrong 72 Kimesha Anthony, Columbus State 72 Megan Clyne, Montevallo 72 Elin Karlsson, Flagler 72 Jenna Birch, Armstrong

72 Meghan Moore, UNC Pembroke31. 73 Kimesha Anthony, Columbus State 73 Nikki Crowley, Columbus State 73 Jennifer Brueshaber, Columbus State 73 Kimesha Anthony, Columbus State 73 Jenna Birch, Armstrong 73 Nikki Crowley, Columbus State 73 Ashley Shinn, Lander 73 Nikki Crowley, Columbus State 73 Catalina Olarte, North Georgia 73 Victoria Seenath, Flagler 73 Jenna Birch, Armstrong

TeamsCoRIng aveRageTeam Rounds Strokes Avg.UNC Pembroke 24 7580 315.8Lander 14 4434 316.7Columbus State 22 6975 317.0Flagler 22 7030 319.5Armstrong 18 5768 320.4Montevallo 20 6671 333.5North Georgia 22 7450 338.6

team low RounDs1. 289 Columbus State2. 295 UNC Pembroke3. 299 Columbus State4. 302 Lander5. 303 UNC Pembroke 303 Lander 303 Columbus State8. 304 5 times

123

stAtistiCs

Men’s tennis

CONFERENCE OVERALL GP Record Win % GP Record Win % Last 101. Armstrong 9 9-0 1.000 30 30-0 1.000 10-02. Columbus State 9 8-1 0.889 27 23-4 0.852 7-33. Lander 9 7-2 0.778 23 18-5 0.783 7-34. Francis Marion 9 6-3 0.667 17 10-7 0.588 4-6t5. Augusta State 9 4-5 0.444 29 19-10 0.655 5-5t5. Georgia College 9 4-5 0.444 21 12-9 0.571 7-37. North Georgia 9 3-6 0.333 23 14-9 0.609 3-7t8. USC Aiken 9 2-7 0.222 17 9-8 0.529 4-6t8. Flagler 9 2-7 0.222 18 5-13 0.278 1-910. Ga. Southwestern 9 0-9 0.000 19 5-14 0.263 2-6

FiNAL STANDiNGS

ARMSTRONG’SMiKK iRDOJA

doubles wins to take a 3-0 lead heading into singles play. PBC Doubles MVPs Georgi Rumenov and Mikk Irdoja defeated Gordan Divljak and Quentin Rayniere, 8-2, at No. 1 doubles, while No. 16-ranked Sven Lalic and Pedro Scocugliaavenged an earlier season loss to No. 6-ranked Martin Shishkov and Olivier Simonet with an 8-2 win at No. 2 doubles. Eudaldo Bonet and Matus Mydla then completed the doubles sweep with an 8-3 win over Adi Malicbegovic and Michael Trebuhov at No. 3 doubles.

The Pirates then won at the two top singles spots to clinch the match. PBC Singles MVP Rumenov beat No. 23-ranked Simonet, 6-0, 6-4, at No. 1 singles, while No. 3-ranked Bonet beat No. 48-ranked Divljak, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 2 singles.

nCaa touRnament: ColumBus state Downs noRth geoRgIa 5-1(4/28/12) COLUMBUS, GA – The eighth-ranked Co-lumbus State University men’s tennis team downed 25th ranked North Georgia 5-1 Saturday morning in the NCAA Southeast Region Bracket Two Semifinals. The match took place at the Mary V. Blackmon Tennis Center on the campus of CSU.

With the victory, the Cougars will advance to tomor-row’s finals and will take on the winner of the other semifinal match between Lander and Augusta State. The finals will begin at 3:00 p.m. at the Blackmon Ten-nis Center.

“North Georgia played really well today,” said CSU head coach Evan Isaacs. “I give them a lot of credit and I think we play decent but in order to advance

where we would like to go, we must play much better.”

CSU (23-3) got on the board first in doubles play as sixth-ranked Olivier Simonet and Martin Shishkov eas-ily defeated Mathew Guida and Rodrigo Magan 8-1 at the second position. First and third doubles were very competitive with each team exchanging blows. The Saints (14-9) recorded a victory at first doubles when Felipe Friedrich and Mateus Camasmie took down Quentin Rayniere and Gordan Divljak 8-6.

In the deciding doubles match, Adi Malicbegovic and Michael Trebuhov rallied from being down 5-2 at third doubles to defeat Giovani Santos and Brandon Sloan 8-6.

In singles action, Rayniere gave the Cou-gars their third victory of the day taking down Guida 6-2, 6-3 at third singles. Almost simultaneous, Shishkov and Trebuhov won at fourth and fifth singles, respectively to clinch the match for Colum-bus State.

Shishkov won his match 6-1, 6-3 against Magan while Trebuhov won 6-0, 6-3 over Santos.

Both Divljak and Danilo Sardelli were up a set in their matches when play was called while 23rd ranked Simonet lost the first set against Friedrich 6-2.

nCaa touRnament: augusta state uPenDs lanDeR 5-3(4/28/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. -- Augusta State regis-tered a 5-3 victory over ninth-ranked Lander Saturday afternoon in the second round of the NCAA Southeast Regional at the Mary V. Blackmon Tennis Center on the Columbus State University campus.

Eight days after the third-seeded Bearcats eliminated ASU from the Peach Belt Conference Championships in Greenwood, S.C., the sixth-seeded Jaguars exacted revenge to advance to Sunday’s regional final at 3:00 p.m., vs. No. 2 seed Columbus State.

The doubles teams of Victor Guimaraes-Victor Cabel-los and Jenner Stevenson-Jan Labas got the Jags (16-9) on the board when they netted wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, respectively, to put ASU in front 2-1

124

2012 PBC MEN’S TENNiS CHAMPiONS ARMSTRONG PiRATES

Men’s Tennis

125

headed into singles.

The Bearcats won at No. 6 singles to square the match at 2-all before Guimaraes won in straight sets (6-2, 6-2) at No. 5 singles to put the Jags back in front 3-2. Lander (18-5) posted a straight sets win at No. 2 singles to knot things up at 3-all before ASU closed

out the match with Victor Cabellos’ victory at No. 3 singles. Jaguar senior Bernardo Fernandes, at No. 1 singles, sealed the win when he bounced back from dropping the second set in a tiebreaker with a 6-1 win in the third set.

nCaa touRnament: augusta state stuns ColumBus 5-4; aDvanCes to festIval(4/29/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. -- Augusta State vaulted out to a big lead, gave it all back, and then rallied for a dramatic 5-4 victory over Columbus State in the third round of the NCAA Southeast Regional at the Mary V. Blackmon Tennis Center on the CSU campus.

With the victory, the sixth-seeded and 12th-ranked Jaguars (17-9) equaled their most wins in a season since 2007 and also earned a trip to the Round of 16 in Louisville, Ky. The Cougars, ranked No. 8 in the nation and seeded No. 2 in the regional, saw their season come to an end at 23-4.

ASU returns to action May 16-19 at the NCAA National Championships at the Top Gun Tennis Academy in Louisville, Ky., as a part of the 2012 NCAA DII Spring Championship Festival.

The Jags’ No. 1 doubles team of Bernardo Fernandes and Henrique Boturao put ASU on the board with an

8-5 victory. The Victors – Cabellos and Guimaraes – won 8-3 at No. 2 and when Jenner Stevenson and Jan Labas claimed an 8-3 win at No. 3 doubles, the Jags were staked to a 3-0 lead heading into singles.

The Cougars clawed back in the match, pulling even at 3-all with wins at No. 4, No. 3 and No. 6 singles. Fer-nandes put ASU back in front with a straight sets win (6-3, 6-2) at No. 1 singles before CSU’s Gordan Divljak knotted the match at 4-all with a win at No. 2 singles over the Jags’ Boturao.

Down to the final match, ASU’s Guimaraes battled back from a 6-0 loss in the first set to win 7-5, 6-3 and send the Jags to their first trip to the NCAA Champion-ships.

nCaa touRnament: geoRgIa College Beats fRanCIs maRIon 5-2(4/30/12) SAVANNAH, Ga. - The fourth-seeded and No. 29-ranked Georgia College men’s tennis team advanced to the final of the NCAA Southeast Regional with a 5-2 win over fifth-seeded and No. 10-ranked Francis Marion on Monday afternoon at Bacon Park in Savannah.

The Bobcats (12-8) advance to face top-ranked and top-seeded Armstrong in the regional final on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. The winner earns a berth in the NCAA Round of 16, to be played as a part of the NCAA’s Divi-

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKFebruary 7, 2012 Georgi Rumenov, Armstrong

February 14, 2012 Eudaldo Bonet, Armstrong

February 21, 2012 Georgi Rumenov, Armstrong

February 28, 2012 Alex Caspari, Francis Marion

March 6, 2012 Mikk irdoja, Armstrong

March 12, 2012 Alex Caspari, Francis Marion

March 19, 2012 Matus Mydla, Armstrong

March 26, 2012 Vincent Verpeaux, Lander

April 2, 2012 Georgi Rumenov, Armstrong

April 9, 2012 Georgi Rumenov, Armstrong

April 16, 2012 Johan Wadstein, Georgia College

AUGUSTA STATE’S ViCTOR GUiMARES AND ViCTOR CABELLOS

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/mten/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120207mtenpotw











sion II Spring Sports Festival on May 16-19 in Louis-ville, Ky. Francis Marion falls to 10-7 with the loss.

Georgia College took a 2-1 lead heading into singles play with a pair of doubles wins. Wictor Andersson and Leo Bernardes downed Jack Bishop and Jonathan Hain, 8-4, at No. 2 doubles, while Tyler Franks and Alex Schubert beat Dirk Bair and Tim Ruepke, 8-1, at No. 3 doubles. Francis Marion earned its doubles point at No. 1 doubles as the fifth-ranked duo of Alex Caspari and Gavin Davison bested the ninth-ranked duo of Jerome Leborgne and Johan Wadstein, 8-6.

The Bobcats claimed four of six first sets in singles play. The Bobcats earned a singles point at No. 5 singles with Andersson’s 6-3, 6-0 win over Ruepke, but Francis Marino got one back in six singles with Bair’s 6-4, 6-3 win over Franks. Wadstein knocked off Bishop for the Bobcats, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 2 singles, then the clincher came at No. 3 singles, when Bernardes downed Davison, 6-4, 6-3, to give Georgia College the berth in the final.

nCaa touRnament: PIRates Blank BullDogs(4/30/12) SAVANNAH, Ga. - The No. 1-ranked Arm-strong Atlantic State University men’s tennis team blanked Wingate, 5-0, to advance to the Southeast Region final of the 2012 NCAA Division II Men’s Tennis Championships at Bacon Park on Monday.

The Pirates (25-0) will take on the winner of fourth-seeded Georgia College - 5-2 winners over fifth-seeded Francis Marion - at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The winner advances to the Round of 16 as a part of the 2012 NCAA DII Spring Sports Festival in Louisville, Ky. Wingate, who picked up their first-ever NCAA regional win yesterday against Mount Olive, ends its season at 19-7.

Armstrong swept all three doubles matches for a quick 3-0 lead heading into singles play. The top-ranked duo of Mikk Irdoja and Georgi Rumenov defeated Flavio Rathsam and Neal Towlson, 8-1, at No. 1 doubles, then Eudaldo Bonet and Matus Mydla collected an 8-2 win over Ryan Forbes and Diego Martinez at No. 3 doubles. No. 16-ranked Sven Lalic andPedro Scocuglia fin-ished off the doubles sweep with an 8-4 win over Matt

Lichtenstein and Drew Owen at No. 2 doubles.

The Pirates took the first set in all six singles matches. No. 32-ranked Lalic closed out a 6-2, 6-1 win over Martinez at No. 4 singles, then Scocuglia clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Forbes at No. 5 singles.

nCaa touRnament: aRmstRong heaDs to louIsvIlle; Beats BoBCats 5-0(5/1/12) SAVANNAH, Ga. - The top-ranked and un-defeated Armstrong Atlantic State University men’s tennis team is headed to Louisville after a 5-0 blank-ing of No. 29-ranked Georgia College in the NCAA DII Southeast Regional on Tuesday afternoon at Bacon Park in Savannah.

The Pirates (26-0) will head to the Top Gun Tennis Academy for the NCAA’s Round of 16 as a part of the 2012 NCAA DII Spring Sports Festival in Louisville. Armstrong will take on Queens (NY) in a first-round match on May 16 at 2:00 p.m. The Pirates are making their eighth straight NCAA Round of 16 appearance and Armstrong is hoping to add its third NCAA DII Men’s Tennis National Championship after capturing the titles in 2008 and 2009. The Bobcats finish their 2012 season with a 12-9 record.

Armstrong notched wins in all three doubles matches to take a commanding 3-0 lead heading into singles

play. The duo of Eudaldo Bonet and Matus Mydla collected an 8-3 win over Tyler Franks and alex Schubert at No. 3 dou-bles, while the top-ranked duo of Mikk Irdoja and Georgi Rumenov best-

ed the No. 9-ranked duo of Jerome

Leborgne and Johan Wad-

stein, 8-2, at No. 1

doubles.

The No. 16-ranked duo of Sven Lalic and Pedro Scocug-lia rallied from a 6-3 deficit, win-ning five straight games to take the No. 2 dou-bles match,

126

ARMSTRONG’S GEORGi RUMENOV

Men’s Tennis

127

8-6, over Wictor Andersson and Leo Bernardes.

In singles play, the Pirates won two quick matches to clinch the victory. No. 3-ranked Bonet blanked Wad-stein, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 2 singles, then No. 32-ranked Lalic downed Andersson, 6-0, 6-2, at No. 5 singles.

nCaa touRnament: no. 1 PIRates suRvIve Queens (ny), 5-0, In nCaa RounD of 16(5/16/12) LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The top-ranked Arm-strong Atlantic State University men’s tennis team was tested in doubles against No. 25-ranked Queens (NY) on Wednesday, but prevailed with a 5-0 win over the Knights to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA DII Men’s Tennis Championships at the Top Gun Ten-nis Academy in Louisville.

The Pirates (27-0) advance to face No. 6 Hawaii Pacific - 5-0 winners over Shaw - in the Quarterfinals on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. at the EP Tom Sawyer State Park.

Armstrong found itself trailing in all three doubles matches against the Knights, but rallied to win all three to take a 3-0 lead. The duo of Eudaldo Bonet and Matus Mydla trailed Queens’ duo of Diego Me-drano and Jesse Smith, 5-2, before completing an 8-6 win at No. 3 doubles. The top-ranked doubles duo of Georgi Rumenov and Mikk Irdoja fought off a late break to beat the No. 16-ranked duo of Atilla Toth and Nikolaj Wulff in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (7-4).

At No. 2 doubles, No. 17-ranked Sven Lalic and Pedro Scocuglia also faced a late deficit but rallied to win, 9-7, over Claudio Andrade and Tyrone Ewels.

The Pirates then claimed a pair of straight-set singles wins to clinch the match. Daniel Regan defeated Wulff, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 6 singles, then No. 12-ranked Mydla bested Andre Pellegrino, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 3 singles.

nCaa touRnament: asu DRoPs DRuRy 5-2(5/16/12) LOUISVILLE, KY. -- The Augusta State Men’s Tennis squad extended its best season in school history Thursday when the Jaguars defeated Drury University 5-2 in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Championships at EP Tom Sawyer State Park in Louis-

ville, Ky.

With the victory, the Jaguars im-proved to 18-9 on the season and will take on the winner of Concordia-Grand Canyon this afternoon at 4:00 p.m., in the Elite 8.

The Jaguars, who entered the postsea-son ranked No. 21 in the nation, swept the three doubles matches and got victories in singles at No. 2 from Henrique Boturao and No. 4 from Jan Labas.

Boturao won the clinching point over Drury’s Roman Gonda. He took the first set 7-6 (7-0) and his 6-3 win in the second set sent the Jaguars into the Elite 8.

nCaa touRnament: PIRates heaD to semIfInals wIth wIn oveR hawaII PaCIfIC(5/17/12) LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The top-ranked Arm-strong Atlantic State University men’s tennis team advanced to the NCAA Semifinals with a 5-1 win over No. 6 Hawaii Pacific on Thursday afternoon at EP Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky.

The Pirates (28-0) return to the semifinals for the first time since winning back-to-back NCAA DII National Championships in 2008 and 2009 with today’s win over Hawaii Pacific, who falls to 15-5 on the season. Armstrong will face No. 3 Lynn at 1 p.m. on Friday in the semifinal match at the Top Gun Tennis Academy.

Armstrong took two of three doubles matches in a mirror of the regular season meeting between the two teams in March. Eudaldo Bonet and Matus Mydla collected a quick 8-0 win over Gerald Moretti and Stephan Weling at No. 3 doubles, while No. 17-ranked Sven Lalic and Pedro Scocuglia knocked off Adriana

AUGUSTA STATE’S HENRiqUE BOTURAO

Locorotonto and Georgi Yordanov, 8-1, at No. 2 dou-bles. No. 4-ranked Patric Guenther and Petr Michnev of HPU upset top-rankedGeorgi Rumenov and Mikk Irdoja, 8-5, at No. 1 doubles - handing the Pirates’ duo only their second loss of the season, with the first coming to the same team back in March.

Needing three singles wins, the Pirates got a quick 6-2, 6-2 win by No. 3-ranked Bonet over No. 37-ranked Yordanov at No. 2 singles, while No. 12 Mydla followed with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Moretti at No. 4 singles. No. 28-ranked Lalic finished off the match with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Locorotondo at No. 5 singles.

In the regular season, Armstrong won a 9-0 matchup with Lynn on March 2nd in Savannah.

nCaa touRnament: Jags ClaIm ePIC matCh oveR gRanD Canyon, 5-4(5/18/12) AUGUSTA, Ga. - Augusta State senior Henrique Boturao rallied for a three-set victory at No. 2 singles early Friday morning to clinch a 5-4 Jaguar victory and the send ASU to its first-ever Final Four appearance at the NCAA Championships at EP Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky.

With the victory, the Jaguars registered their school-record 19th victory of the season and advance to take on West Florida in the National Semifinals this after-noon at 2:00 p.m.

The Jaguars, who entered the postseason ranked No. 21 in the nation, claimed two of three doubles matches to grab a 2-1 lead. Team Victor (Cabellos and Guimaraes) won 8-4 at No. singles for ASU and the Jags’ No. 3 team of Jan Labas and Jenner Stevenson also claimed at 8-4 victory.

Guimaraes then gave the Jags a 3-1 lead with a straight-sets win at No. 5 singles (6-1, 6-2). Labas put ASU in position to clinch the match with a 7-5, 7-5 vic-tory at No. 4 singles.

Grand Canyon, ranked No. 9 the nation, countered with wins at No. 3 singles and No. 1 singles to force a 4-all tie before the match was suspended last night due to darkness.

Boturao won the first set, 7-6 (8-6), before GC’s Fred-eric Schoelzel took the second set 6-1. In the third set, Boturao actually trailed 4-3 before responding

with three straight games to take the set and seal the victory.

nCaa touRnament: PIRates Blank lynn, 5-0, to aDvanCe to ChamPIonshIP matCh(5/18/12) LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 1-ranked Arm-strong Atlantic State University men’s tennis team blanked No. 3 Lynn, 5-0, on Friday afternoon to ad-vance to the NCAA Division II Men’s Tennis Champion-ship Match at the Top Gun Tennis Academy in Louis-ville, Ky.

The Pirates (29-0) will play for their third NCAA Divi-sion II championship, taking on No. 2 West Florida - a 5-0 winner over Augusta State in the other semifinal match - at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Arm-strong captured back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009 and join the Pirate women in playing for a title tomor-row. Lynn ends its season 22-4.

Armstrong got off to a quick start in doubles for the first time in the Round of 16. Top-ranked Mikk Irdoja and Georgi Rumenov rebounded from just their sec-ond loss of the season with an 8-2 victory over No. 3-ranked Vlad Cirla and Willi Wolfer at No. 1 doubles. No. 17-ranked Sven Lalic and Pedro Scocuglia fol-lowed with an 8-4 victory over Max Kouyate and Am-aury Van Haelen at No. 2 singles, then Eudaldo Bonet and Matus Mydlafollowed with an 8-5 victory over Alessio Iannozzi and Luca Pavanelli at No. 3 doubles.

The Pirates then won the first set in all six singles matches to get a huge leg up in the match. Daniel Regan closed out No. 6 singles with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Van Haelen, then No. 4-ranked Irdoja - the only member of the Pirates who played in the 2009 title

128

ARMSTRONG’S MATUS MYDLA (L) AND EUDALDO BONET (R)

Men’s Tennis

129

match - followed with the clinching 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 40-ranked Pavanelli at No. 3 singles.

The two teams met during the regular season - a 9-0 win by the Pirates on Febru-ary 25th in Columbus, Ga., but head coach Simon Earnshaw expects Saturday’s match to be more tight.

“We played them so early in the season that it’s hard to know what the matchup will be like tomorrow,” Earnshaw said. “They’re having a great season and playing way bet-ter than when we played them. They will be fired up like crazy to play us tomorrow.”

nCaa touRnament: Jags fall In fInal fouR(5/18/12) AUGUSTA, Ga. – West Florida, the second-ranked team in the nation, blanked Augusta State 5-0 Friday afternoon in the Final Four of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships at EP Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky.

The loss brought the winningest season in school history to an end at 19-10. The Jaguars were making their first-ever trip to the NCAA Championships and their first-ever appearance in the National Semifinals.

The 21st-ranked Jaguars earned a berth in the Final Four earlier in the day with a thrilling 5-4, come-from behind victory over No. 9 Grand Canyon. ASU defeated Drury on Thursday, 5-4, to advance to the Elite Eight.

Senior Henrique Boturao won the clinching point in each of the first two matches vs. Drury and Grand Canyon.

The match marked the final career appearance in a Jaguar uniform for Boturao and fellow seniors Bernar-do Fernandes and Jenner Stevenson.

aRmstRong ClaIms men’s tennIs natIonal tItle!(5/19/12) LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The top-ranked and undefeated Armstrong Atlantic State University men’s tennis team captured its third NCAA Division II Men’s Tennis National Championship with a 5-0 win over No. 2 West Florida on Saturday afternoon at the Top Gun

Tennis Academy in Louisville, Ky.

The Pirates (30-0) returned to the top of DII men’s ten-nis after also capturing titles in 2008 and 2009, doing so in dominating fashion on the scoreboard - although the singles play was much tigher than the final score would indicate. West Florida ended its season at 28-3 after winning 19 in a row coming into the Champion-ship match.

Armstrong got out to a 3-0 lead after doubles on the Argos, picking up an 8-5 win at No. 1 doubles in a showdown of the top-ranked duo of Georgi Rumenov and Mikk Irdoja against the No. 2-ranked duo of Kevin Ducros and Bruno Savi. The Pirates won fairly easily at No. 2 doubles with No. 17-ranked Sven Lalic and Pedro Scocuglia defeating No. 18-ranked Leandro Ferreira and Andrey Pozhidaev and then collected an 8-6 win by Eudaldo Bonetand Matus Mydla at No. 3 doubles over Mike Lue and Domenico Sano.

In singles play, the Pirates won all six first sets, mak-ing it look like it would be an easy 5-0 win, but West Florida battled back in the second sets on all courts. No. 12-ranked Matus Mydla came up with the first point, getting a 6-2, 6-4 win over Leandro Ferreira at No. 4 singles. Top-ranked Georgi Rumenov then finished off the win, downing No. 7 Kevin Ducros, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 1 singles.

This is the third time that the Armstrong men and women have both won the NCAA DII National Champi-onship and this is also the first time that both teams have run the table, finishing undefeated for the 2012 season.

2012 NATiONAL CHAMPiONS!

Ita southeast Region arthur ashe leadership and sportsmanship award

Jerome Leborgne, Georgia CollegePBC all-academic team

Ross Armstrong, LanderOscar Axelsson, LanderRyan Bartz, Georgia SouthwesternChris Eastwood, Georgia SouthwesternPaul-Henri Arrigoni, LanderAdam Hunt, FlaglerJerome Leborgne, Georgia CollegeStephen Moore, Georgia SouthwesternJosh Rees, USC AikenGeorgi Rumenov, ArmstrongTim Ruepke, Francis MarionMatt Vansant, Georgia Southwestern

Ita all-americansGeorgi Rumenov, ArmstrongMikk Irdoja, ArmstrongEudaldo Bonet, ArmstrongMatus Mydla, ArmstrongAlex Caspari, Francis MarionGavin Davison, Francis Marion

Jerome Leborgne, Georgia CollegeJohan Wadstein, Georgia CollegePaul-Henri Arrigoni, LanderBernando Fernandes, Augusta State

Ita national Rookie to the yearSven Lalic, Armstrong

Ita national Player to watchGeorgi Rumenov, Armstrong

Ita national assistant Coach of the yearEva Huning, Columbus State

Ita southeast Region Rookie of the yearSven Lalic, Armstrong

Ita southeast Region Player to watchGeorgi Rumenov, Armstrong

Ita southeast Region Coach of the yearSimon Earnshaw, Armstrong

Ita southeast Region assistant Coach of the year

Eva Huning, Columbus StateIta southeast senior Player of the year

Mikk Irdoja, ArmstrongPBC all-Conference first team singles

Paul-Henri Arrigoni, LanderEudaldo Bonet, ArmstrongAlex Caspari, Francis MarionMikk Irdoja, ArmstrongGeorgi Rumenov, ArmstrongVincent Verpeaux, Lander

PBC all-Conference first team Doubles teams

Alex Caspari & Gavin Davison, Francis MarionMikk Irdoja & Georgi Rumenov, ArmstrongJerome Leborgne & Johan Wadstein, Georgia College

PBC all-Conference second team singlesBernardo Fernandes, Augusta StateSven Lalic, ArmstrongJerome Leborgne, Georgia CollegeJose Martinez, FlaglerMatus Mydla, ArmstrongOlivier Simonet, Columbus State

PBC all-Conference second team Doubles teams

Henrique Boturao & Bernardo Fernandes, Augusta StateSven Lalic & Pedro Scocuglia, ArmstrongMartin Shishkov & Olivier Simonet, Columbus State

PBC freshman of the yearSven Lalic, Armstrong

PBC Player of the yearGeorgi Rumenov, Armstrong

PBC Coach of the yearSimon Earnshaw, Armstrong

AwArd winners

SIngleS leaderSall sIngles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Sven Lalic ARMSTRNG 23 0 1.000Matus Mydla ARMSTRNG 21 0 1.000Mikk Irdoja ARMSTRNG 19 0 1.000Georgi Rumenov ARMSTRNG 21 1 .955Eudaldo Bonet ARMSTRNG 21 1 .955Pedro Scocuglia ARMSTRNG 17 1 .944Daniel Regan ARMSTRNG 15 1 .938Michael Trebuhov CSU 12 1 .923Quentin Rayniere CSU 23 2 .920Danilo Sardelli CSU 22 2 .917#1 sIngles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Georgi Rumenov ARMSTRNG 21 1 .955Alex Caspari FMU 14 2 .875Vincent Verpeaux LANDER 7 2 .778Paul-Henri Arrigoni LANDER 9 4 .692Bernardo Fernandes ASU 15 8 .652Felipe Friedrich NGCSU 10 6 .625Jerome Leborgne GC 10 9 .526

#2 sIngles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Eudaldo Bonet ARMSTRNG 18 1 .947Gordan Divljak CSU 12 5 .706Johan Wadstein GC 14 6 .700Jose Martinez FLAGLER 5 3 .625Patrick Stiebinger USCA 7 5 .583Henrique Boturao ASU 14 12 .538#3 sIngles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Mikk Irdoja ARMSTRNG 14 0 1.000Quentin Rayniere CSU 15 2 .882Leo Bernardes GC 12 5 .706Adam Jonsson LANDER 6 4 .600Victor Cabellos ASU 12 10 .545#4 sIngles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Matus Mydla ARMSTRNG 14 0 1.000Martin Shishkov CSU 10 1 .909Samuel Poutignat LANDER 8 2 .800Jan Labas ASU 16 6 .727Jonathan Hain FMU 9 5 .643

Oscar Axelsson LANDER 5 3 .625#5 sIngles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Sven Lalic ARMSTRNG 12 0 1.000Michael Trebuhov CSU 7 1 .875Victor Guimaraes ASU 17 4 .810Oussama Zoghlami CSU 7 2 .778Diego Zegarra LANDER 10 4 .714Alex Schubert GC 8 4 .667Adam Hunt FLAGLER 5 3 .625Tim Ruepke FMU 5 5 .500Lucas Gobbi USCA 4 4 .500#6 sIngles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Pedro Scocuglia ARMSTRNG 8 0 1.000Daniel Regan ARMSTRNG 8 0 1.000Danilo Sardelli CSU 16 2 .889Dirk Bair FMU 9 2 .818Oscar Axelsson LANDER 6 2 .750Jenner Stevenson ASU 11 11 .500Brandon Sloan NGCSU 7 7 .500Jake Koonce GSW 4 4 .500

stAtistiCs

130

Women’s Tennis

131

no. 3 PIRates notCh nInth stRaIght PBC women’s tennIs touRnament tItle(4/22/12) GREENWOOD, S.C. - The No. 3-ranked Armstrong At-

lantic State University women’s tennis team notched its ninth straight Peach Belt Conference tournament title with a 5-0 win over No. 7 Columbus State on Sunday afternoon at the Joe Cabri Tennis Center in Greenwood, S.C.

The Pirates (23-0) have now won 18 out of the 22 Peach Belt women’s tennis tour-naments sponsored by the league. Columbus State suf-fers just its second loss of the season, falling to 25-2 with both losses coming against the Pirates.

Armstrong swept all three doubles matches for a quick 3-0 lead heading into singles play. PBC Doubles MVPs Bar-bora Krtickova and Aleksandra Filipovski collected an 8-3 win

dOubleS leaderSall DouBles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Eudaldo Bonet/Matus Mydla ARMSTRNG 28 1 .966Mikk Irdoja/Georgi Rumenov ARMSTRNG 27 2 .931Victor Cabellos/Victor Guimaraes ASU 23 4 .852Gordan Divljak/Quentin Rayniere CSU 22 4 .846Sven Lalic/Pedro Scocuglia ARMSTRNG 22 4 .846Jan Labas/Jenner Stevenson ASU 8 2 .800Alex Caspari/Gavin Davison FMU 13 4 .765Oscar Axelsson/Adam Jonsson LANDER 6 2 .750Adi Malicbegovic/Michael Trebuhov CSU 19 8 .704Wictor Andersson/Leo Bernardes GC 14 7 .667#1 DouBles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Mikk Irdoja/Georgi Rumenov

ARMSTRNG 27 2 .931Alex Caspari/Gavin Davison FMU 13 4 .765Oscar Axelsson/Adam Jonsson LANDER 6 2 .750Adam Jonsson/Vincent Verpeaux LANDER 8 4 .667Gordan Divljak/Quentin Rayniere CSU 7 4 .636Martin Shishkov/Olivier Simonet CSU 10 6 .625Jerome Leborgne/Johan Wadstein GC 13 8 .619Henrique Boturao/Bernardo Fernandes ASU 15 11 .577Mateus Camasmie/Felipe Friedrich NGCSU 12 9 .571Jose Martinez/Gino Ramirez FLAGLER 4 4 .500#2 DouBles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Gordan Divljak/Quentin Rayniere CSU 15 0 1.000Sven Lalic/Pedro Scocuglia ARMSTRNG 22 4 .846Victor Cabellos/Victor Guimaraes ASU 21 4 .840

Martin Shishkov/Olivier Simonet CSU 5 3 .625Mathew Guida/Rodrigo Magan NGCSU 11 8 .579Tyler Franks/Kasper Konyves GC 9 7 .562Bruno Orlandini/Harrison Silvy USCA 5 4 .556#3 DouBles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Eudaldo Bonet/Matus Mydla ARMSTRNG 28 1 .966Jan Labas/Jenner Stevenson ASU 7 2 .778Adi Malicbegovic/Michael Trebuhov CSU 18 8 .692Giovani Santos/Brandon Sloan NGCSU 12 6 .667Maxime Coulomb/Jenner Stevenson ASU 10 5 .667Paul-Henri Arrigoni/Samuel Poutignat LANDER 7 4 .636Wictor Andersson/Leo Bernardes GC 10 6 .625Dirk Bair/Tim Ruepke FMU 9 8 .529

CONFERENCE OVERALL GP Record Win % GP Record Win % Last 101. Armstrong 12 12-0 1.000 29 29-0 1.000 10-02. Columbus State 12 11-1 .917 31 28-3 .903 8-23. Francis Marion 12 10-2 .833 22 18-4 .818 7-34. Flagler 12 8-4 .667 20 10-10 .500 6-45. Georgia College 12 7-5 .583 24 13-11 .542 6-4 USC Aiken 12 7-5 .583 21 13-8 .619 6-47. Clayton State 12 6-6 .500 20 7-13 .350 3-78. Augusta State 11 5-6 .455 23 11-12 .478 5-59. Lander 12 4-8 .333 20 9-11 .450 3-710. Ga. Southwestern 12 3-9 .333 21 8-13 .381 2-8 UNC Pembroke 12 3-9 .250 25 13-12 .520 5-512. North Georgia 11 1-10 .091 23 7-16 .304 2-813. Montevallo 12 0-12 .000 23 6-17 .261 0-10

FiNAL STANDiNGS

woMen’s tennisTHE PiRATES CELEBRATE THEiR NATiONAL TiTLE

over Paola Cigui and Milica Tomic at No. 1 doubles, while the No. 10-ranked duo of Marlen Hackeand Olga Kalodzitsa beat Carlin Weikard and Olivera Jokic, 8-6, at No. 2 doubles. No. 15-ranked Kathleen Henry and Clara Perez finished the doubles sweep with an 8-4 win over Andrea Redrado and Renata Paiva at No. 3 doubles.

The Pirates then clinched the title with PBC Singles MVP Filipovski’s 6-3, 6-1 win over Tomic at No. 2 singles and No. 30-ranked Clara Perez’ 6-3, 6-2 win over Sandra Jung at No. 6 singles.

nCaa touRnament: fRanCIs maRIon Passes wIngate 5-1(4/29/12) COLUMBUS, GA – Tenth-ranked and third-seeded Francis Marion University swept the three doubles matches en route to a 5-1 win over 29th-ranked and sixth-seeded Wingate University, Sunday afternoon (April 29) in the semifinals of the NCAA Divi-sion II Southeast Regional #2 women’s tennis tourna-ment at the Mary V. Blackmon Tennis Center.

The Patriots, now 18-3, advance to the regional title match on Monday at 2 p.m. against host Columbus State University. The seventh-ranked and second-seeded Cougars blanked 30th-ranked and seventh-seeded Georgia College 5-0 in Sunday’s other semifi-nal. The regional champion advances to the Division II Sweet Sixteen, May 16-19, in Louisville, Ky.

Senior Jitka Gavdunova and junior Mona Blauen earned FMU’s first point with an 8-1 win at No.1 dou-bles. The pair, ranked seventh nationally, improves to

19-2 on the season. Freshman Julia Graf and junior Tereza Baranova followed with an 8-2 victory at No.2 doubles, while junior Kerry Hall and sophomore Kim-berley Hurter completed the sweep with a hard-fought 8-5 decision at the third doubles position.

Gavdunova, ranked 11th among Division II singles players, quickly gained the Patriots’ fourth point with 6-0, 6-0 victory at the top singles spot. The two-time All-American is now 18-2 in singles competition this season and 71-8 for her career.

Wingate freshman Tiffany Williams defeated FMU sophomore Caitlin Siney 6-3, 6-1 at the No.6 singles flight to cut the deficit to 4-1. However, Graf then provided the decisive point with a 6-0, 6-2 victory at No.5 singles.

Wingate ends its season 18-5. The Patriots have beaten the Bulldogs 10 straight times dat-ing back to 1998.

nCaa touRnament: ColumBus state Blanks geoRgIa College 5-0(4/29/12) COLUMBUS, GA – The seventh-ranked Columbus State University women’s tennis team used three convincing doubles victories and two dominating singles matches to cruise past 30th ranked Georgia College 5-0

Sunday morning in the first round of the NCAA Tour-nament. The Southeast Region bracket two is being hosted by Columbus State at the Mary V. Blackmon Tennis Center on the campus of CSU.

“I felt like we set the tone in doubles today,” said CSU head coach Evan Isaacs. “Georgia College never gave up and kept coming at us to the very end. It was a good test for us to get ready for a tough match tomor-row.”

The Lady Cougars (26-2) were dominant all morning long especially in doubles play as no CSU pair lost more than three games. Olivera Jokic and Carolin Weikard got Columbus State on the board first taking down May Johnson and Leah Pridgeon 8-3. Just a min-ute later, Paola Cigui and Milica Tomic recorded the victory at first doubles defeating Kayla Barksdale and Lisa Setyon-Ortenzio 8-2.

Renata Paiva and Andrea Redrado completed the doubles sweep with an 8-3 win over Ivana Marevic

2012 PBC WOMEN’S TENNiS CHAMPiONSARMSTRONG PiRATES

132

Women’s Tennis

133

and Michelle Lingner.

In singles play, Sandra Jung was on top of her game wearing down Lingner at sixth singles. The freshman did not lose a game in the entire match as she defeat-ed Linger 6-0, 6-0. In the clinching match, Redrado took down Pridgeon 6-2, 6-0 at fifth singles.

Tenth-ranked Cigui, 49th ranked Weikard and Jokic all won the first set in their matches while Tomic was up 5-4 in the first set against Setyon-Ortenzio at second singles.

nCaa touRnament: flagleR knoCks off eRskIne, 5-1(4/30/12) SAVANNAH, Ga. - The No. 25-ranked Flagler College women’s tennis team advanced at the NCAA Southeast Regional with a 5-1 victory over No. 37 Ers-kine on Monday at Bacon Park in Savannah, Ga.

The fifth-seeded Saints (10-9) advance to Tuesday’s region final against No. 3-ranked and host Armstrong at 10:00 a.m. The match is a rematch of last year’s Southeast Region final and the winner advances to the Round of 16 in Louisville, Ky., as a part of the DII Spring Sports Festival on May 16-19.

Flagler notched wins at all three doubles matches to take a commanding 3-0 lead heading into singles play.The duo of Krista Ingrilli and Esther Santiago, 8-3, at No. 3 doubles, then the duo of Rachel Gould and Barbora Sebkova beat Mika Goyette and Tessa Rheault, 8-5, at No. 1 doubles. Veronica Figueroa and Jennifer Saviano finished off the doubles sweep with a 9-7 win over Corin Hallman and Victoria Stephens at No. 2 doubles.

Erskine got on the board in singles play as Hallman bested Figueroa, 6-2, 6-3, at No. 1 singles, but Fla-gler wrapped up the match with a 6-4, 6-0 win at No. 6 singles by Ingrilli over Miller and a 6-4, 6-2 win by Santiago over Stephens at No. 5 singles.

nCaa touRnament: ColumBus state PunChes tICket to louIsvIlle(4/30/12) COLUMBUS, GA – The seventh-ranked Columbus State University women’s tennis swept its way to the Round of 16 Monday afternoon as the Lady Cougars defeated 10th ranked Francis Marion 5-0 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The match

was the Southeast Region bracket two final and took place at the Mary V. Blackmon Tennis Center on the campus of CSU.

“I’m so proud of these girls today”, said CSU tennis coach Evan Isaacs. “They have been so focused on this goal this year and they have worked their tails off to achieve it.”

With the victory, the Lady Cougars improve to 27-2 setting a new school record for wins in a season. It will also be the fourth that CSU has advance to the Round of 16 with the last coming in 2006.

Columbus State was once again dominant in doubles play sweeping all three matches. Andrea Redrado and Renata Paiva got CSU on the board first at third dou-bles. The duo was in control the entire match as they defeated Kerry Hall and Kimberley Hurter 8-2. Just a few minutes later, Paola Cigui and Milica Tomic fin-ished off seventh-ranked Mona Blauen and Jitka Gavdunova 8-3 at first doubles.

After a tough few games at sec-ond doubles, Carolin Weikard and Olivera Jokic turned it on winning the final six games to defeat Tereza Ba-ranova and Julia Graf 8-3.

Freshman San-dra Jung was the first Lady Cougar to finish off her opponent by win-ning sixth singles 6-1, 6-0 over Caitlin Siney. In the clinch-ing match, Jokic finished off Hurter 6-0, 6-1 to send her teammates running on to the court to celebrate the victory.

Tenth-ranked Cigui was up a set against 11th ranked Gavdunova at first singles while Tomic and Weikard were both trailing in their respective matches when play was called. At fifth singles, Redrado

COLUMBUS STATE’SPAOLA CiGUi

was just two games away from a victory of her own.

nCaa touRnament: PIRates Blank augusta state(4/30/12) SAVANNAH, Ga. - The No. 3-ranked Arm-strong Atlantic State University women’s tennis squad took a step closer to Louisville with a 5-0 blanking of No. 40 Augusta State in the 2012 NCAA DII Women’s Tennis Southeast Regional on Monday morning at Bacon Park.

The Pirates (24-0) will now fifth-seeded Flagler - a 5-1 winner over fourth-seeded Erskine - at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday for a berth in the NCAA Round of 16 in Louis-ville, Ky., as a part of the 2012 NCAA DII Spring Sports Festival. Armstrong has made 17 straight NCAA Round of 16 appearances dating back to 1995 and the Pirates have captured six NCAA DII National Champi-onships. Augusta State ends its season at 11-12 after the loss.

Armstrong took a quick 3-0 lead after doubles play against the Jaguars. The No. 2-ranked duo of Aleksan-dra Filipovski and Barbora Krtickova defeated Victoria Lindqvist and Liv Pettersson, 8-0, at No. 1 doubles, while the No. 10-ranked duo of Marlen Hacke and Olga Kalodzitsa also notched an 8-0 win over Julie Fontaine and Roberta Oliviera at No. 2 doubles. No. 15-ranked Kathleen Henry and Clara Perez completed the doubles sweep with an 8-2 win over Marina Fer-reira and Lissa Murakami at No. 3 doubles.

A pair of 6-0, 6-0 singles wins then clinched the match for Armstrong. Filipovski blanked Lindqvist at No. 2 singles, then Hacke claimed the win over Murakami at No. 5 singles.

nCaa touRnament: aRmstRong aDvanCes Past flagleR 5-0(5/1/12) SAVANNAH, Ga. - The No. 3-ranked Arm-strong Atlantic State University women’s tennis team punched its ticket to Louisville with a 5-0 victory over No. 25 Flagler at the NCAA Division II Southeast Re-gional on Tuesday morning.

The Pirates (25-0) will be making their 18th consecu-tive trip to the NCAA’s Round of 16 when it travels to the Top Gun Tennis Academy in Louisville, Ky., for the NCAA’s DII Spring Sports Festival. Armstrong will face Drury University in a first-round match on May

16th at 11:00 a.m. Flagler, who lost to the Pirates in the Southeast Region final for a second straight year, finishes the 2012 season at 10-10.

Armstrong got off to a quick start in doubles play, dropping just four games in sweeping all three match-es. The No. 2-ranked duo of Aleksandra Filipovski and Barbora Krtickova beat Rachel Gould and Bar-bora Sebkova, 8-2, at No. 1 doubles, while the No. 10-ranked duo of Marlen Hacke and Olga Kalodzitsa downed Veronica Figueroa and Jennifer Saviano, 8-1, at No. 2 doubles. The No. 15-ranked duo of Kathleen Henry and Clara Perez completed the doubles sweep with an 8-1 win over Krista Ingrilli and Esther Santiago at No. 3 doubles.

The Pirates won the first set in all six singles matches, then quickly clinched the match with No. 30-ranked Perez’ 6-0, 6-0 win over Laura Ospina at No. 6 singles and No. 24-ranked Hacke’s 6-1, 6-1 win over Ingrilli at No. 5 singles.

nCaa touRnament: laDy CougaRs sweeP theIR way to natIonal QuaRteR-fInals(5/16/12) LOUISVILLE, KY – The seventh-ranked Columbus State University women’s tennis team knocked off 22nd ranked Lewis 5-0 Wednesday morn-ing in the NCAA Tournament Round of 16. The match took place at the EP Tom Sawyer State Park in Lousiv-ille, Kentucky.

134

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKFebruary 7, 2012 Jitka Gavdunova, Francis Marion

February 14, 2012 Mona Blauen, Francis Marion

February 21, 2012 May Johnson, Georgia College

February 28, 2012 Aleksandra Filipovski, Armstrong

March 6, 2012 Aleksandra Filipovski, Armstrong

March 12, 2012 Paola Cigui, Columbus State

March 19, 2012 Barbora Krtickova, Armstrong

March 26, 2012 Paola Cigui, Columbus State

April 2, 2012 Margot Simon, USC Aiken

April 9, 2012 Paola Cigui, Columbus State

April 16, 2012 Barbora Krtickova, Armstrong

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/wten/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120207wtenpotw











Women’s Tennis

135

With the victory, the Lady Cougars advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinal Round against top-ranked BYU Hawaii. It is only the second time in program history that CSU has reached the quarterfinals of the national tournament.

CSU (28-2) took a commanding 3-0 lead after sweep-ing all three doubles matches. Renata Paiva and An-drea Redrado put the first victory on the board for the Lady Cougars as they defeated Katie Hargrove and Kendra Mills 8-3. At first doubles, sixth-ranked Paola Cigui and Milica Tomic recorded a victory over 25th ranked Zsofia Kranczicki and Brianna Markgraf 8-2. In the most exciting match of the day, 13th ranked Oli-vera Jokic and Carolin Weikard outlasted 33rd ranked Bayley Brown and Zsofia Lanstiak 9-8. The Lady Cou-gar duo won the tiebreaker 7-3.

Columbus State continued to show their strength down in the singles lineup as Sandra Jung and Jokic notched victories at sixth and fourth singles, respec-tively. Jung didn’t drop a game versus Mills sweeping the Lewis player 6-0, 6-0. In the clinching match, Jokic downed Markgraf 6-0, 6-1.

In the other matches, fifth-ranked Cigui won the first set over 25th ranked Lanstiak 6-2 while the second set was tied at 3-3. Kranczicki won the only set of the day for Lewis (24-3) as she took the first set 6-3 over 43rd ranked Tomic at second singles. At third singles, Weikard was just two games away from recording a victory as she won the first set 6-0 and was leading the second 4-1. Redrado was also up a set at fifth singles.

nCaa touRnament: PIRates aDvanCe at nCaas wIth 5-0 wIn oveR DRuRy(5/16/12) LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 3-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University women’s tennis team advanced to the Quarterfinals of the 2012 NCAA DII Women’s Tennis Cham-pionships with a 5-0 win over No. 23 Drury on Wednesday morning at the Top Gun Tennis Academy in Louisville.

The Pirates (26-0) will now face No. 5 Hawaii Pacific - a 5-0 winner over Colorado Mesa on Wednes-

day - at 9:00 a.m. at the EP Tom Sawyer State Park on Thursday in the Quarterfinals. Drury finishes its sea-son with a 19-5 overall record.

The Pirates won all three doubles matches as the sec-ond-ranked doubles team of Aleksandra Filipovski and Barbora Krtickova downed Beatriz Juan and Stefanie Monsch, 8-5, at No. 1 doubles, while No. 11-ranked Marlen Hacke and Olga Kalodzitsa beat Pelagie Gamo and Jelena Schaeftlmeier, 8-4, at No. 2 doubles. No. 17-ranked Kathleen Henry and Clara Perez finished off the doubles sweep with an 8-2 win over Ellen Ben-nett and Abbey Sharpe at No. 3 doubles.

Armstrong picked up all six first sets in singles play, then No. 7-ranked Filipovski picked up the first singles win with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Gamo at No. 2 singles, then No. 30-ranked Clara

Perez finished off

the match with a 6-0, 6-1 win

over Ben-nett at No.

6 singles.

nCaa touR-nament: PIRates

aDvanCe to semI-fInals 5-1 oveR

hawaII PaCIfIC(5/17/12) LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No.

3-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State Univer-sity women’s tennis team collected a 5-1

win over No. 5 Hawaii Pacific to advance to the NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis Semi-finals on Friday at EP Tom Sawyer State

Park in Louisville.

The Pirates (27-0) move to face No. 2 Barry - a 5-2 winner over Cali-

fornia (Pa.) on Thursday - in the semifinals in a rematch of

the semifinal 5-3 win by the Bucs last season. The de-

ARMSTRONG’SBARBORA KRTiCKOVA

fending DII national champions, Barry and Armstrong did not meet this season and both come into the match unbeaten on the year. Hawaii Pacific finishes the season with a 16-7 record.

Armstrong had to wait nearly two hours past its scheduled start time due to a long-running Round of 16 men’s match between Concordia (NY) and Grand Canyon. When play finally began, the Pirates came out quickly, getting three doubles wins as the No. 2-ranked duo ofAleksandra Filipovski and Barbora Krtickova downed No. 22 Vivian Hansen and Magda-lena Smejova, 8-5, at No. 1 doubles. No. 17-ranked Kathleen Henry and Clara Perez defeated Lea Kruse-Utermann and Zora Vickova, 8-1, at No. 3 doubles, while No. 11-ranked Marlen Hacke and Olga Kalodz-itsa downed Celina Goetti and Ielyzaveta Rybakova, 8-5, at No. 2 doubles.

In singles, the Pirates got just one straight-set win - with No. 7 Filipovski downing No. 35 Goetti, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2 singles - when things got a little tight in the remaining matches. Three of the matches went to third sets, including Hawaii Pacific’s Rybakova coming up with a 1-6, 6-0, 6-2 win over No. 21 Hacke at No. 5 singles.

With No. 6 Krtickova in a second-set tiebreaker to win and both Kalodzitsa and Henry up in their respec-tive matches, No. 30-ranked Perez came up with the clincher with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over Shuler at No. 6 singles.

nCaa touRnament: ColumBus state falls to Byu-hawaII(5/17/12) Louisville, KY – Top-ranked BYU Hawaii won all five matches against seventh-ranked Columbus

State University Thursday afternoon as they eliminat-ed the Lady Cougars in the NCAA Tournament Quar-terfinal Round. The match took place at the Top Gun Tennis Academy in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Seasiders proved to be too much for the Lady Cougars in double action as they swept all three matches to take a commanding 3-0 lead. BYU Hawaii recorded their first victory of the day at second dou-bles as the fifth-ranked duo of Yuan Jia and Marietta Tuionetoa lost just one game to 13th ranked Olivera Jokic and Carolin Weikard winning the match 8-1. Sixth-ranked Paola Cigui and Milica Tomic managed to win two games from top-ranked Annie Hwang and Sherry Liu before falling 8-2 at first doubles. At third doubles, Marika Kobayashi and Tanja Rebholz defeat-ed Renata Paiva and Andrea Redrado 8-3.

In singles action, BYU Hawaii (28-0) notched a victory at second singles as fourth-ranked Liu defeated 43rd ranked Tomic 6-1, 6-0. In the clinching match, Rebholz took down Jokic 6-0, 6-1 at fourth singles.

In a top-five showdown, top-ranked Hwang was up a set against fifth-ranked Cigui when play was called. How-ever, Cigui was leading the second set of action 3-1. At third singles, eighth-ranked Jia was lead-ing Weikard 6-0, 5-2 while Kobayaashi was up 6-3, 2-1 against Redrado at fifth singles. At the sixth spot, Tuionetoa won the first set 6-3 over Sandra Jung and was leading the second 3-2.

BYU Hawaii has yet to lose more than two matches this season in dual action. The Seasiders have seven national championships in program history with the last coming in 2007.

The Lady Cougars finished the season with a 28-3

136

ARMSTRONG’S MARLEN HACKE

COLUMBUS STATE’S ANDREA REDRADO

Women’s Tennis

137

record with all three losses coming against teams that are currently ranked in the top-three in the nation. The 28 wins are also most in program history.

Paola Cigui also had a season to remember for Colum-bus State as she finished the year with a perfect 23-0 record. She becomes the first player (male or female) in CSU history to finish the season with a perfect record. The sophomore was 4-0 against nationally ranked foes and lost just four sets this season.

aRmstRong women’s tennIs aDvanCes to natIonal ChamPIonshIP matCh!(5/18/12) LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After a one-year absence, the No. 3-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University women’s tennis team is back into the NCAA DII Wom-en’s Tennis National Championship match after a 5-2 win over No. 2 Barry on Friday morning at the Top Gun Tennis Academy in Louisville.

The Pirates (28-0) won a battle of unbeatens in knock-ing off the defending champion Bucs (26-1) in a rematch of last year’s semifinal match won by Barry. Top-ranked and undefeated BYU-Hawaii awaits the Pirates after the Seasiders won, 5-0, over Abilene Christian in the other semifinal match.

Armstrong opened up quickly in doubles, jumping out to big leads in all three matches. No. 2-ranked Alek-sandra Filipovski and Barbora Krtickova knocked off No. 15-ranked Mona Mansour and Cristina Valladares, 8-4, at No. 1 doubles, then No. 11-ranked Mar-len Hackeand Olga Kalodzitsa closed out Olivia Matuszak and Julie Stas, 8-4, at No. 2 doubles.

No. 17-ranked Kath-leen Henry and Clara Perez closed out the doubles sweep with an 8-6 win over Linda Fritschken and Caro-line Wendling at No. 3 doubles.

In singles, Barry took

four of the first six first sets. Armstrong, however, put a quick fourth point on the board when No. 2-ranked Krtickova defeated No. 12-ranked Valladares, 6-2, 6-0, at No. 1 singles.

The key point in the match came at No. 6 singles when No. 30-ranked Perez found herself trailing, 5-4, in the first set but won six straight games, taking a 7-5, 3-0 lead in the second set.

Barry, meanwhile, closed out a couple of singles wins as Matuszak defeated No. 20-ranked Henry, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 4 singles and No. 46 Stas defeated No. 17-ranked Kalodzitsa, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 3 singles.

With the Pirates rallying in the other three matches, Perez closed out Wendling, 6-3, in the second set, clinching the match for a second straight day in the NCAA Championships for the PBC’s Freshman of the Year.

aRmstRong wIns women’s tennIs natIonal ChamPIonshIP!(5/19/12) LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Armstrong Atlantic State University senior Kathleen Henry captured a second-set tiebreaker to lift the No. 3-ranked Pirates to their seventh NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis National Championship in a 5-2 win over top-ranked BYU-Hawaii on Saturday morning at the Top Gun Tennis Academy in Louisville, Ky.

2012 NATiONAL CHAMPiONS!

The Pirates completed an undefeated season, going 29-0 in winning their fourth NCAA DII Women’s Tennis title in the last five seasons. BYU-Hawaii - gunning for their eighth title - suffered their first loss of the season and fell to 29-1. The two teams now are tied for the most DII women’s tennis titles in NCAA history with seven.

BYU-Hawaii got out to a very quick doubles lead and took No. 1 doubles behind the top-ranked doubles duo of Annie Hwang and Sherry Liu, 8-1, over second-ranked Barbora Krtickova and Aleksandra Filipovski. The Pirates got their first doubles point at No. 3 doubles as No. 17-ranked Kathleen Henry and Clara Perez notched an 8-5 win over Marika Kobayashi and Tanja Rebholz, then the No. 11-ranked duo of Marlen Hacke and Olga Kalodz-itsa convered a late break to come up with an 8-5 win over No. 5-ranked Yuan Jia and Marietta Tuionetoa at No. 2 doubles and give Armstrong the crucial 2-1 lead heading into singles play.

Armstrong got off to a fantastic start in singles play, winning five of six first sets in the singles matches. No. 30-ranked Clara Perez picked up the first point in singles with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Marietta Tuionetoa at No. 6 singles, then No. 21-ranked Marlen Hacke notched a 6-1, 7-6 (4) win at No. 5 singles put the Pirates just one singles match away from the title.

BYU-Hawaii did not go down quietly. Top-ranked Hwang prevailed in a Top 10 battle at No. 1 singles with a 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 6-ranked Barbora Krtickova, and the Seasiders rallied for a second set win at No. 2 and No. 3 singles.

That’s when Henry, down 5-3 at one point in the second set, battled back with a break to force a tiebreaker. Henry raced out to a 4-0 lead in the tiebreak, then watched a shot go long on match point from BYU-Hawaii’s Tanja Rebholz for a 7-2 victory in the tiebreaker and the national title for the Pirates.

The appearance in the national championship was the 15th for the Pirates and the other national champion-ship titles came in 1995, 1996, 2005 and 2008-10.

138

Ita southeast Region arthur ashe leadership and sportsmanship award

Kathleen Henry, ArmstrongPBC all-academic team

Eliza Adusumilli, LanderMona Blauen, Francis MarionAndrea Cediel, USC AikenMarie Cercelletti, Clayton StateAleksandra Filipovski, ArmstrongJitka Gavdunova, Francis MarionKerry Hall, Francis MarionKathleen Henry, ArmstrongMay Johnson, Georgia CollegeBarbora Krtickova, ArmstrongMollie McGowan, Ga. SouthwesternMia Winterbottom, UNC Pembroke

PBC all-academic team honorable mentionCharlotte Fabricius, Clayton State

Rachel Gould, FlaglerHelene Nordgreen, MontevalloYulia Shvetsova, MontevalloMichelle Lingner, Georgia CollegeMargot Simon, USC AikenMartina Dedaj, Clayton StateCayce Bradley, Lander

Ita all-americansBarbora Krtickova, ArmstrongAleksandra Filipovski, ArmstrongOlga Kalodzitsa, ArmstrongKathleen Henry, ArmstrongMarlen Hacke, ArmstrongPaola Cigui, Columbus StateMilica Tomic, Columbus StateJitka Gavdunova, Francis MarionMona Blauen, Francis Marion

wilson/Ita national Coach of the yearSimon Earnshaw, Armstrong

Ita national Player to watchPaola Cigui, Columbus State

Ita southeast Region Rookie of the yearClara Perez, Armstrong

Ita southeast Region Player to watchPaola Cigui, Columbus State

Ita southeast Region Coach of the yearSimon Earnshaw, Armstrong

Ita southeast senior Player of the yearJitka Gavdunova, Francis Marion

PBC all-Conference first team singlesMona Blauen, Francis MarionPaola Cigui, Columbus StateMarina Ferreira, Augusta StateAleksandra Filipovski, ArmstrongJitka Gavdunova, Francis MarionBarbora Krtickova, Armstrong

PBC all-Conference first team DoublesPaola Cigui & Milica Tomic, Columbus StateJitka Gavdunova & Mona Blauen, Francis MarionBarbora Krtickova & Aleksandra Filipovski, Armstrong

PBC all-Conference second team singlesMarie Cercelletti, Clayton StateVeronica Figueroa, FlaglerMarlen Hacke, ArmstrongKathleen Henry, Armstrong

AwArd winners

Women’s Tennis

139

Olga Kalodzitsa, ArmstrongLisa Setyon-Ortenzio, Georgia College

PBC all-Conference second team DoublesMarlen Hacke & Olga Kalodzitsa, ArmstrongKathleen Henry & Clara Perez, ArmstrongLisa Setyon-Ortenzio & Kayla Barksdale, Georgia College

PBC freshman of the yearClara Perez, Armstrong

PBC Player of the yearPaola Cigui, Columbus State

PBC Coach of the yearSimon Earnshaw, Armstrong

SIngleS leaderSall sIngles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Aleksndra Filipovski ARMSTRNG 24 0 1.000Paola Cigui CSU 23 0 1.000Clara Perez ARMSTRNG 23 0 1.000Marlen Hacke ARMSTRNG 22 1 .957Mona Blauen FMU 18 1 .947Tereza Baranova FMU 12 1 .923Olivera Jokic CSU 23 2 .920Andrea Redrado CSU 20 2 .909Kathleen Henry ARMSTRNG 20 2 .909Jessica Gardefjord ARMSTRNG 9 1 .900#1 sIngles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Paola Cigui CSU 23 0 1.000Jitka Gavdunova FMU 17 2 .895Barbora Krtickova ARMSTRNG 17 4 .810Marina Ferreria ASU 12 5 .706Niki Polcerova UM 8 4 .667May Johnson GC 7 4 .636Mia Winterbottom UNCP 15 9 .625Lisa Setyon-Ortenzio GC 6 4 .600Marie Cercelletti CLAYTON 7 5 .583Manon Hermens USCA 4 4 .500#2 sIngles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Aleksndra Filipovski ARMSTRNG 22 0 1.000Mona Blauen FMU 18 1 .947Margot Simon USCA 8 1 .889Marie Cercelletti CLAYTON 7 1 .875Lisa Setyon-Ortenzio GC 7 3 .700Brandi Cordell LANDER 5 3 .625Jennifer Saviano FLAGLER 8 6 .571Carolin Weikard CSU 8 8 .500Milica Tomic CSU 4 4 .500#3 sIngles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Tereza Baranova FMU 12 1 .923Olga Kalodzitsa ARMSTRNG 14 3 .824Milica Tomic CSU 12 3 .800Barbora Sebkova FLAGLER 8 5 .615Ivana Marevic GC 10 7 .588Eliza Adusumilli LANDER 6 5 .545Liv Pettersson ASU 8 7 .533

#4 sIngles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Marlen Hacke ARMSTRNG 8 0 1.000Julia Graf FMU 10 1 .909Kathleen Henry ARMSTRNG 14 2 .875Olivera Jokic CSU 11 2 .846Kayla Barksdale GC 14 4 .778Madeline Johnson CSU 8 4 .667Rachel Gould FLAGLER 9 5 .643Roberta Oliveira ASU 7 4 .636Shelby Bickel UNCP 13 11 .542Kimberley Hurter FMU 4 4 .500Andrea Cediel USCA 4 4 .500#5 sIngles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Olivera Jokic CSU 10 0 1.000Clara Perez ARMSTRNG 8 0 1.000Marlen Hacke ARMSTRNG 14 1 .933Andrea Redrado CSU 8 1 .889Julia Graf FMU 7 1 .875Esther Santiago FLAGLER 9 5 .643Roberta Oliveira ASU 6 4 .600Lissa Murakami ASU 5 4 .556Madeline DiNunzio UNCP 12 11 .522Charlotte Fabricius CLAYTON 4 4 .500#6 sIngles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Clara Perez ARMSTRNG 15 0 1.000Jessica Gardefjord ARMSTRNG 9 1 .900Andrea Redrado CSU 8 1 .889Kerry Hall FMU 7 1 .875Sandra Jung CSU 11 2 .846Alyze’ Pagal CLAYTON 7 4 .636Julie Maline USCA 7 4 .636Julie Fontaine ASU 10 7 .588Monica Espitia UNCP 11 9 .550

dOubleS leaderSall DouBles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Paola Cigui/Madeline Johnson CSU 13 0 1.000Kathleen Henry/Clara Perez ARMSTRNG 26 1 .963Aleksndra Filipovski/Barbora Krtickova ARMSTRNG 27 2 .931Marlen Hacke/Olga Kalodzitsa ARMSTRNG 25 3 .893Mona Blauen/Jitka Gavdunova FMU 19 3 .864Renata Paiva/Andrea Redrado CSU 23 4 .852Paola Cigui/Milica Tomic CSU 13 3 .812Kerry Hall/Caitlin Siney FMU 8 2 .800Olivera Jokic/Carolin Weikard CSU 11 3 .786Marina Ferreria/Lissa Murakami ASU 11 3 .786#1 DouBles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Aleksndra Filipovski/Barbora Krtickova ARMSTRNG 27 2 .931Mona Blauen/Jitka Gavdunova FMU 19 3 .864Paola Cigui/Milica Tomic CSU 13 3 .812Milica Tomic/Carolin Weikard CSU 9 3 .750Helene Nordgreen/Niki Polcerova UM 7 6 .538Victoria Lindqvist/Liv Pettersson ASU 8 7 .533Kayla Barksdale/Lisa Setyon-Ortenzio GC 9 8 .529Rachel Gould/Barbora Sebkova FLAGLER 10 9 .526Juliana Chiang/Natalia Escobar NGCSU 11 11 .500

stAtistiCsARMSTRONG COACH SiMON EARNSHAW

#2 DouBles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Paola Cigui/Madeline Johnson CSU 11 0 1.000Marlen Hacke/Olga Kalodzitsa ARMSTRNG 25 3 .893Olivera Jokic/Carolin Weikard CSU 11 3 .786Tereza Baranova/Julia Graf FMU 13 4 .765Veronica Figueroa/Jennifer Saviano FLAGLER 11 6 .647May Johnson/Leah Pridgeon GC 5 3 .625

Marie Cercelletti/Charlotte Fabricius CLAYTON 5 3 .625Cayce Bradley/Brandi Cordell LANDER 5 3 .625Shelby Bickel/Leigh-Anne McAfee UNCP 7 7 .500Hannah Herlocker/Leigh-Anne McAfee UNCP 5 5 .500#3 DouBles - mIn. 8 DeCIsIonsPlayer Team W L Pct.Kathleen Henry/Clara Perez ARMSTRNG 25 1 .962Renata Paiva/Andrea Redrado CSU 19 4 .826

Kerry Hall/Caitlin Siney FMU 8 2 .800Marina Ferreria/Lissa Murakami ASU 10 3 .769Kerry Hall/Kimberley Hurter FMU 6 3 .667Ivana Marevic/Leah Pridgeon GC 5 4 .556Krista Ingrilli/Esther Santiago FLAGLER 9 8 .529Andrea Cediel/Gina Kothari USCA 7 7 .500

PBC QuaRteRfInals: BuRns’ Blast keys saInts Rally(4/21/12) COLUMBUS, GA – Trailing 6-3 to the seventh-seeded Georgia College Bob-cats, North Georgia’s Tiffanie Burns launched a three-run home run to tie the game and key the Saint’s 7-6 comeback win in the first game of the PBC Tournament in Columbus. North Georgia (44-7) won the game in the bottom of the seventh on a bases-loaded walk to Katherine Martin to advance to the semifinal round on Saturday.

Georgia College (25-24) started the game off strong, getting a three-run home run from Haley Burnett, the first of her two hom-ers on the day, in the top of the first to open up a 3-0 lead. North Georgia responded with two in the bottom of the first on an RBI single from Hilary Cox and an RBI groundout from Karlie Gillam.

The Saints tied things at three apiece in the

bottom of the second as Burns doubled with one out and then scored one batter later as Callie Fernandez singled.

Georgia College came back with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. In the fourth, Mikayla Sparks bunted home Natalie Lampert while in the fifth Burnett sent her second homer over the center field fence.

In the sixth the Bobcats led off with a Shahlisa Shir-ley single, which was enough to chase NGCSU starter Jessica Coan, who was hit with all six earned runs in the game. The Saints brought in Melissa Dickie who got two outs while runners moved to second and third. Whitney Okvist brought home the run with a high chopper just in front of home plate.

North Georgia started the sixth with a walk and got another baserunner thanks to one of GC’s three er-rors, setting up Burns’ heroics.

In the seventh, the Saints led off with a single from

softbAll CONFERENCE OVERALL GP Record Win % GP Record Win % Last 101. Armstrong 20 19-1 0.950 56 45-11 0.804 7-32. North Georgia 20 17-3 0.850 59 49-10 0.831 7-33. Augusta State 20 12-8 0.600 51 33-18 0.647 4-6t4. Columbus State 20 11-9 0.550 60 40-20 0.667 8-2t4. Flagler 20 11-9 0.550 59 39-20 0.661 5-56. USC Aiken 20 10-10 0.500 43 26-17 0.605 3-77. Georgia College 20 9-11 0.450 49 25-24 0.510 4-68. Francis Marion 20 8-12 0.400 51 31-20 0.608 3-79. UNC Pembroke 20 5-15 0.250 47 16-31 0.340 2-8t10. Lander 20 4-16 0.200 52 26-26 0.500 5-5t10. Ga. Southwestern 20 4-16 0.200 52 22-30 0.423 5-5

FiNAL STANDiNGS

NORTH GEORGiA’STiFFANiE BURNS

140

Softball

141

Rochelle Shuman, who then moved to second on an error. Georgia College then chose to intentionally load the bases with no outs, bringing Martin to the plate. GC reliever Erica Bell (L, 8-4) got Martin to a 3-2 count but missed with the next pitch on the inside to bring in the winning run.

Dickie (W, 18-0) picked up the win with two innings of relief work, allowing two hits and a walk.

Burns was the only Saint to collect two hits in the game, going 2-for-3 with with two runs scored and three RBIs. Cox, Gillam, Martin and Fernandez had the other RBIs for the Saints.

Burnett drove in four runs all told for Georgia College, going 2-for-4. Okvist was 2-for-3 with an RBI and stole her 52nd base of the season, the third-highest single-season total in PBC history.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInals: koRnegay, PaCeRs uPset JaguaRs 3-0(4/21/12) COLUMBUS, GA – India Kornegay pitched a three-hit shutout as sixth-seeded USC Aiken upended third-seeded Augusta State 3-0 in the quarterfinals of the PBC Tournament on Saturday in Columbus. With the win the Pacers (26-16) advance to the PBC semi-finals on Sunday where they will meet second-seeded

North Georgia. Augusta State (31-16) will await the announcement of the NCAA Tournament field for an at-large selection.

The Pacers struck early, scor-ing all three of their runs in the first inning. Kaitlyn White led off the game with a double, but was gunned out trying to stretch it into a triple at third base. Follow-ing singles from Victoria Burkett and Whitney Clary, Kayla Denham bounced a double off the center field wall that scored both runners.

Lindsey Jones followed with an-other single to score Denham, giving the Pacers five hits in their first six at-bats. That was enough to chase ASU starter Emily Head-rick (L, 16-6) who pitched only

two-thirds of an inning, giving up all three earned runs. The Jaguars turned to Heather Hughes, who got a groundout to end the inning.

Augusta State threatened in the bottom of the first as Kacee Camp led off with a single and then to third on a double from Kristen Jones. But back-to-back strike-outs from Kornegay got out of the inning.

From then on, the game was a pitching duel as Ko-rnegay and Hughes put zeros on the scoreboard for the rest of the game. ASU had runners on first and second in the third, but another Kornegay strikeout ended the threat. USCA had a runner on second with one out in the fifth, but Hughes induced a pair of groundouts to end the inning.

Augusta State’s best chance came in the sixth as Hannah Vaughn led off with a double, followed by a walk and an error to load the bases with no outs. Lauren Yeargan then grounded to third and the Pacers got a force out at home plate. Kornegay

#2 North GeorgiaNorth Georgia 7-6

North Georgia 9-0

Columbus State 4-1

#7 Georgia College

#3 Augusta State

#6 USC AikenUSC Aiken 3-0

#1 Armstrong

#8 Francis Marion

Armstrong 7-5

#4 Flagler

#5 Columbus StateColumbus State 3-1

Columbus State 6-0

USC AiKEN’SiNDiA KORNEGAY

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120421_1anx.xml

then struck out the next two batters to get out of the jam.

In all, Korenegay (W, 20-11) struck out 10 in seven complete innings, becoming the school’s all-time leader in shutouts with 16. The sophomore also be-came the first Pacer pitcher to ever win 20 games in a season.

Hughes pitched 6.1 innings, allowing five hits and no runs with one strikeout.

White finished the game 4-for-4 for USCA, including a double. Jones was 2-for-3 with four other Pacers col-lecting one hit each. Denham led the team with two RBIs.

Camp, Vaughn and Jones collected the three hits for ASU, all in the top three spots in the order. The bot-tom six hitters for Augusta State went a combined 0-16 in the contest. ASU also left seven runners on base.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInals: no. 6 PIRates aDvanCe to PBC softBall semIfInals wIth 7-5 wIn oveR fmu(4/21/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. - The sixth-ranked and top-seeded Armstrong Atlantic State University softball squad advanced to the 2012 Peach Belt Conference

Tournament semifinals with a 7-5 win over eighth-seeded Francis Marion on Satur-day afternoon at Cougar Field in Colum-

bus.

The Pirates stretched

their win streak to 18 with the victory,

advancing to a 1:30

p.m. semifi-nal matchup

with either fourth-

seed-ed

Flagler or fifth-seeded Columbus State. Armstrong moves to 44-8 on the season while Francis Marion falls to 31-20.

Meeting the Patriots for the third time in five days and Francis Marion starter Taylor Luff for the second time, Saturday’s game started off much better for the Pirates. After squeaking out a 1-0 win with only one hit against Luff, the Pirates jumped on top with single runs in both the first and second innings. Heather Walker’s RBI single in the first staked Armstrong to a quick 1-0 lead, then a Shelby Duff RBI groundout in the second made the score 2-0.

Francis Marion got one back in the top of the third on Ashley Jaramillo’s RBI single, bringing the Patriots to within one.

Armstrong loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth inning on a walk to Ashley Buckett, a double by Ashley Schwab and a single by April Jowers - her 100th hit of the season - then Francis Marion left fielder Jazz Holliday dropped a routine fly ball to left, allowing all three runners to score and putting Arm-strong up, 5-1.

A home run by Octavia Ferguson in the top of the fifth made the score 5-2, but Duff followed in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run triple to center field and a 7-2 advantage.

A single run by the Patriots on a Destinea Schneider RBI single in the sixth made the score 7-3, and Hol-liday briefly atoned for her error with at two-run home run in the top of the seventh, but PBC Pitcher of the Year Megan Barnwell retired Kayla Ellingsen on a popup to second with a runner on to close out the 7-5 victory.

Barnwell improved to 21-3 on the year, scattering 11 hits and five runs in the complete-game victory, walk-ing two while striing out two.Luff (9-7) took the loss, giving up eight hits and seven runs - four earned - in 4 2/3 innings pitched, walking four and striking out four.

Duff went 2-for-4 with three RBIs to pace the Pirates offensively, while Schwab went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Jowers went 2-for-4 to notch her 330th career hit, tying her with Brantley Mack of Lander for the Peach Belt Conference’s all-time hits lead.

ARMSTRONG’S BAiLLiE

TEMPLES

142

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120421_z8p4.xml

Softball

143

Jaramillo went 3-for-3 with an RBI to lead the Patriots, while Schneider went 2-for-3 and Holliday drove in two with her home run.Box Score

PBC QuaRteRfInals: long Ball lIfts ColumBus Past flagleR to PBC semIs(4/21/12) COLUMBUS, GA – Casey Googe hit a two-run homer and Taylor Turner added a solo shot as fifth-seeded Columbus State downed fourth-seeded Flagler 3-1 in the final quarterfinal game of the PBC Tournament on Saturday. With the win the Cougars (37-18) advance to Sunday’s semifinal game against #1 Armstrong at 1:30 pm. Flagler (34-17) will await the NCAA Tournament selections to see if they have received an automatic bid.

With one on and one out in the top of the first inning, Googe launched the third pitch she saw over the center field fence for a 2-0 CSU lead. The homer was her 20th of the season, tying the PBC mark for single-season home runs, last accomplished by Ken-nesaw State’s Cambria McKay in 2004.

Flagler answered with a run in the bottom of the first as Lauren Rouda-bush led off with a bunt single, then stole second. Alona Peronious drove in the only RBI of the game for the Saints with her single in the next at-bat.

Turner led off the second with a solo home run, tak-ing a 3-2 pitch far beyond the left-field wall. That cushion would be all CSU starter Mollie Russell (W, 18-10) would need as, after giving the two hits in the first, she would allow only one more hit the rest of the game.

Russell went the distance, allowing the one unearned run and striking out one. The complete game was her league-leading 25th of the season.

Russell was matched by Flagler’s Donna Munafo (L, 16-5) who settled in after the second inning and set

CSU down in order in the third, fourth, sixth and sev-enth innings. Munafo struck out five and did not allow a walk.

Flagler threatened in the third, putting runners at first and third with two outs thanks to two errors. But Russell got out of it with a grounder to third, one of 15 ground-ball outs for the CSU defense.Box Score

PBC semIfInals: noRth geoRgIa aDvanCes to ChamPIonshIP game(4/22/12) COLUMBUS, GA – North Georgia scored seven runs in the second inning on the way to a 9-0, five-inning shutout win over USC Aiken in the first semifinal of the 2012 PBC Softball Tournament in Columbus. Eight of the nine North Georgia batters collected at least one hit while Pilar Harden homered

and Hilary Cox drove in three. With the win, the Saints return to the PBC Championship Game for the fifth straight season and have won the last three tournament titles.

After a scoreless first, the Saints (45-7) blew the game open in the second scoring seven runs, all with two outs. Callie Fernandez started the surge with a two-run single to center field,

scoring Kayla Minger and Katherine Martin.

A walk and hit batter loaded the bases once again and was the end of the day for USCA starter India Ko-rnegay, who appeared to have stiffness in her shoul-der. Kornegay (L, 20-12) went 1.2 innings with three strikeouts and five earned runs. She was replaced by Samantha Lamm, whose wild pitch allowed the third run to score. Cox then drove in two more with a single to left center and Karlie Gillam doubled to left to score another.

Katherine Martin, making her second at-bat of the inning, drove in the final run with a double to right cen-ter to score Gillam. A fly ball brought the inning to an end, but not before seven runs crossed the plate.

COLUMBUS STATE’S TAYLOR TURNER

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120421_pe6q.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120421_77zm.xml

That was more than enough support for North Geor-gia starter Melissa Dickie (W, 19-0) who pitched all five innings and allowed only two hits while striking out a pair. Her only trouble spot was in the fourth as USCA’s Whitney Clary led off with a single and moved to second on a passed ball. After a strikeout, the inning came to an end on a great defensive play as North Georgia’s Minger, playing in right field, made a diving catch on a shallow fly ball off the bat of Cort-ney Sadler, then doubled up Clary who left the bag at second.

North Georgia put the game away in the bottom of the fourth with Harden’s solo home run to start things off. Rochelle Shuman followed with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch, then scored on Cox’s sacrifice fly to right.

Shuman was the only Saint to have more than one hit for North Georgia, going 2-for-2 with a pair of runs scored. Four of North Georgia’s nine hits were for extra bases with Fernandez driving in a pair.

Clary and Nicole Borden had the two hits for USC Aiken, who fall to 26-17 on the year.

North Georgia will try for their fourth straight tourna-ment championship later on Sunday as they face the winner of the second semifinal between Armstrong Atlantic State and host Columbus State.Box Score

PBC semIfInals: Russell, ColumBus state shut Down toP-seeDeD PIRates; aDvanCe to tItle game(4/22/12) COLUMBUS, GA – Mollie Russell pitched a complete-game four-hitter and the Columbus State offense put up five runs in the fourth inning on the way to a 6-0 win over top-seeded Armstrong Atlantic State in the second semifinal of the PBC Tournament. Columbus State advances to the championship game at 4:00 on Sunday to take on North Georgia.

The Cougars (38-18) did all their damage in the explo-sive fourth, starting the inning with four straight hits. Casey Googe started the attack with a double and then scored as Kara Gordon singled. That was fol-lowed by a single from Morgan Staffins, who went all the way to third on a throwing error as Gordon scored. Kori Waugh then doubled to left, scoring staffins.

That was enough to chase Armstrong starter Celia Blome (L, 3-3) who did not get an out in the foruth and was charged with four earned runs. Blome was replaced by PBC Pitcher of the Year Megan Barnwell, who gave up the fifth run of the inning on a fielder’s choice from Branigan Wix.

That was more than enough run support for Russell (W, 19-10) who needed only 82 pitches, 68 of them for strikes, to finish the game. Russell struck out seven without issuing a walk and retired nine in a row at one point before the Pirates got a baserunner on the lone CSU error of the game. She never allowed more than one hit in any inning and Armstrong only had a baserunner reach second base once.

Columbus State capped the scoring in the seventh inning as Morgan Staffins launched a line drive solo home run that bounced off the top of the center field wall. Staffins finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Waugh and Turner also had two hits each for Columbus State.

No Pirate had more than one hit in the contest as Shelby Duff, April Jowers, Ashley Buckett and Blome each had one. Blome was the only Armstrong player with an extra base hit as she doubled with two outs in the seventh but was stranded on base.

CSU returns to the championship game for the first time since 2007 when they completed a run of three straight tournament titles. North Georgia is seeking their fourth straight PBC title.Box Score

ColumBus state wIns PBC softBall touRnament!COLUMBUS, GA – Tournament Most Valuable Player Mollie Russell allowed only one hit and one unearned run while Casey Googe bashed a three-run home run to lead the fifth-seeded Columbus State Cougars to a 4-1 win over North Georgia in the championship game of the PBC softball tournament on Sunday. The win gives Columbus State (39-18) their first tourna-ment title since 2007 and the PBC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Regional Tournament. North Georgia (45-8) will be one of the two host sites for the NCAA Tournament when the fields are released on April 30.

Russell, who pitched a four-hit shutout ear-

144

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120422_uw6f.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120422_gcck.xml

Softball

145

lier in the day in CSU’s semifinal win over Armstrong, finished the tournament with 21 innings pitched and a 0.00 ERA with only two unearned runs allowed. The junior hurler limited North Georgia to only two base runners in the first three innings, both of those com-ing with second-inning walks.

After being held to only one runner in the first two innings by North Georgia

starter Jessica Coan (L, 23-7), Colum-bus State broke through in the third. Kristen Gregory began with a single to right, CSU’s first hit of the game, and then stole second. Morgan Knight

drew a two-out walk to set the stage for Googe.

After sending a long foul ball out

to left field, the sophomore took the 2-2 pitch from Coan over the center field wall, making the score

3-0. Googe set the PBC single-sea-son home run record with that blast,

her 21st of the year and second of the PBC Tournament.

CSU added another run in the fourth as Kori Waugh led off with a double and later scored on Taylor Turner’s RBI single

up the middle. The Cougars threatened to put more runs with two more hits in the in-ning, but the North Georgia defense solidi-

fied to end the threat.

North Georgia responded in the fourth as Karlie Gil-liam finally got to Russell with a base hit. A walk to

Katherine Martin and a wild pitch put runners at second and third with one out. Russell struck out Sarah Johnson and got Kayla Min-ger to ground out to second to end the inning.

The Saints, winners of the last three PBC Tournaments, pushed across their only run of the game in the seventh. Russell issued back-to-back walks to Martin and Johnson, the both moved to second and third

on a wild pitch. Martin then scored on a passed ball. With no outs, Russell retired the final three Saints with two ground outs and a foul out to secure the title.

Googe was the only player in the game to finish with more than one hit as she went 2-for-4 with the three RBIs. Turner added the other run as she went 1-for-3.

The Championship is the fourth for Colum-bus State, the first since three wins in a row from 2005-07. CSU becomes the first #5-seed to win the PBC Softball Tourna-ment.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: munafo anD flagleR knoCk off no. 9 aRmstRong(5/4/12) SAVANNAH, Ga. – Donna Munafo tossed a two-hit complete game shutout to help lead Flagler College to a 1-0 8-inning win over No. 9 (NFCA Division II Top 25), and No. 2 seed, Armstrong Atlantic State University in the opening round of the Savannah Re-gional which is part of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Friday afternoon at the Armstrong Softball Field.

Flagler, the No. 7 seed, advances into the winner’s bracket game and will face No. 12 Lenoir-Rhyne Uni-versity, the No. 3 seed, at 11 a.m. tomorrow (May 5). The Saints snapped their six-game losing streak and improved to 35-17. Armstrong has now lost two in a

PBC All-TournAmenT TeAmShelby Duff, ArmstrongApril Jowers, Armstrong

Kaitlyn White, USC AikenIndia Kornegay, USC Aiken

Melissa Dickie, North GeorgiaHilary Cox, North Georgia

Tiffanie Burns, North GeorgiaCasey Googe, Columbus StateTaylor Turner, Columbus State

mosT VAluABle PlAyerMollie Russell, Columbus State

2012 PBC SOFTBALL CHAMPiONSCOLUMBUS STATE COUGARS

COLUMBUS STATE’S MOLLiE RUSSELL

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120422_x2a5.xml

row and fell to 44-10. The Pirates play in an elimina-tion game tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. against Catawba College.

Munafo (17-5) was efficient with her pitches as she only tossed 74 in eight innings of work. After allow-ing a lead-off single in the first, she retired the next 22 batters in a row. Miunafo only allowed two base runners in the entire game. She retired 15 batters on ground outs.

All of the offense came in the top of the eighth. Robyn Draper led off the inning with a single up the middle. Breezy Collings sacrificed her to second and Alona Personius singled to the gap in left-center. Two batters later, Hayley Cravenhit a two-out single into the hole at shortstop where Baillie Temples made a nice diving stop, but she couldn’t get anyone out and Draper eas-ily scored from third.

The Pirates had an opportunity in the bottom of the eighth with a runner at second and only one out, but could not plate the tying run.

Craven went 2-for-4 with the only run batted in for the game.

Megan Barnwell (21-4), the Peach Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year, also went the distance and scat-tered seven hits and walked four batters.

Shelby Duff and Brittany Cooley each singled for the Pirates.

Flagler’s seven hits this afternoon were the most it has had since it played Columbus State University on Apr. 1.

Flagler and Lenoir-Rhyne met earlier in the season at the Mid-South Classic in Spartanburg, S.C on Mar. 3. The Bears came away with a 7-4 win.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: late InnIngs heRoICs lIft laDy CougaRs Past augusta state(5/4/12) DAHLONEGA, GA – Morgan Staffins laced a two-out single to left-centerfield driving in Kara Gor-don from third base giving Columbus State University a 2-1 victory over Augusta State in the opening game of the NCAA Southeast Regional played in Dahlonega,

Georgia. The game took place at Haines & Carolyn Hill Stadium.

With two-outs in the top of the sixth, Gordon lined a ball to centerfield that Kristen Jones dove for and missed allowing the junior to race around the bases for a triple. On the first pitch Staffins saw, the first baseman delivered for CSU lacing a single to left-cen-terfield driving in the game-winning run.

From there, Mollie Russell continued her great post-season run retiring Augusta State in order in the sixth and seventh as the Lady Cougars recorded their first NCAA Tournament win since 2007.

To end the game, Russell retired the last nine batters she face and 14 out of the final 15. The junior did not

allow a hit after the first inning on her way to her 28th complete game of the season. Russell (21-10) struck out six batters and walked just two.

Augusta State starter Heather Hughes looked domi-nant to begin the game striking out the first two bat-ters she faced. With two-outs, Augusta State decided to go right after Casey Googe, the Peach Belt Con-ference single-season home run record holder. The sophomore once again stepped up for the Lady Cou-gars launching her 22nd home run of the season over the left-centerfield wall.

After the blast, Kara Gordon reached base on an in-field single but a fly out ended the inning.

COLUMBUS STATE’S CASEY GOOGE

146

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120504_lxlg.xml

Softball

147

Augusta State (31-17) came right back in the bottom of the first as leadoff batter Kacee Camp reached base on a swinging bunt right in front of the plate. Af-ter back-to-back strikeouts, a wild pitch allowed Camp to move up to second. On the next pitch, Jessica Thornton singled up the middle tying the game at one.

In the third, Branigan Wix hit a single just past a diving third baseman into leftfield to lead off the frame. Next up was Nina Rubio who lined into a double play as she hit a ball straight back to the pitcher.

ASU had their best scoring threat since the first in the bottom of the third as Camp drew a one-out walk. A fielding error on Gordon put two runners on for the middle of the Jaguar order. However, Russell dug deep inducing a soft liner to second and a groundout to get out of the jam.

Hughes was tough on Columbus State (40-18) in the middle innings of the game retiring eight batters in a row until Wix recorded her second single of the game in the fifth inning. With Rubio batting, Wix stole sec-ond but was stranded on a Rubio popped out.

After the sixth inning rally, the Lady Cougars put runners on the corners with two-outs in the seventh inning after pinch-hitter Lucy Lamb singled down the rightfield line but Hughes ended the threat getting Morgan Knight to fly out.

Kara Gordon and Branigan Wix had the lone multi-hit games going 2-for-3. Both Casey Googe and Morgan Staffins were 1-for-3 with a RBI.

Kacee Camp was 1-for-2 for Augusta State while Jes-sica Thornton was 1-for-3 with a RBI.

Heather Hughes (10-9) was struck with the loss toss-ing all seven innings allowing two runs on seven hits.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: saInts eDge kIng College 1-0 In southeast RegIonal oPeneR(5/4/12) DAHLONEGA, GA – Senior Pilar Harden sparked another late inning North Georgia win as the top-seeded Saints took game two of the NCAA South-east Regional 1-0 over King College on Friday after-noon at The Hill.

The Watkinsville, Georgia, native smacked a two-out triple to deep right field in the bottom of the fifth, bringing Katie Block home to score the game’s lone run.

Jessica Coan (24-7) was dominant in the circle for the Saints tossing her fourth complete game shutout of the season scattering just three hits and striking out 11.

After allowing a one-out double in the first, Coan settled down not allowing another hit until the seventh inning.

Tornado starter Hannah Light (20-5) was equally impressive holding the potent Saints offense at bay all afternoon. While Coan was overpowering hitters with her rise ball, Light changed speeds and worked the corners letting her defense make the plays.

Offensively, Harden led the charge for North Georgia going 2-3 with an RBI to register her 14th multi-hit game of the season. Katie Block went 1-1 with a run scored after coming on as a pinch runner for Callie Fernandez in the third.

After recording two quick outs in the fifth, Light ran into trouble as Block lined a single to left and Harden followed with yet another clutch hit.

The Saints were threatening once again in the sixth with runners on first and second and one out, but Sarah Johnson lined into a double play as Tornado shortstop Christina Melcher made a great play.

King College’s lone threat came in the seventh when Melcher and Fallon Thomas hit back-to-back singles

NORTH GEORGiA’S PiLAR HARDEN

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120504_lw8v.xml

to start the rally. Coan would respond by striking out Kendall Brabson. Christy Kooch came to the dish try-ing to shock the top-seeded Saints, but she flared a blooper to shallow left field and North Georgia short-stop Tiffanie Burns made a diving catch and doubled off Melcher to end the threat and the game.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: munafo hanDCuffs no. 12 lenoIR-Rhyne, 2-0(5/5/12) SAVANNAH, Ga. - Flagler College righthander Donna Munafo hurled her second straight shutout, limiting No. 12-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne to just one hit in a 2-0 win, sending the Saints into Sunday’s champion-ship game of the 2012 NCAA DII Softball Southeast Regional in Savannah.

Munafo limited the Bears (47-12) to just a first-inning single, walking two while striking out eight in improv-ing to 18-5 on the season.

The Saints (36-17) got both of their runs in the third inning on a single by Robyn Draper, a double by Breezy Collings and an infield single by Alona Personi-us. Lenoir-Rhyne starter Dawon Millwood (33-7) then walked both Hayley Craven and Kristen Chapman with the bases loaded for the two runs.

Millwood took the loss for the Bears, giving up six hits and two runs in seven innings of work, walking four while striking out one.

Draper had two hits to lead the Saints at the plate, while Haily Jarman had the Bears’ lone hit of the game with her first-inning single.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: CamPBell Blanks InDIans, 1-0, to keeP PIRates alIve(5/5/12) SAVANNAH, Ga. - Armstrong Atlantic State University freshman Caitlin Campbell hurled a six-hit shutout to keep the host and No. 9-ranked Pirates alive at the NCAA DII Softball Southeast Regional with a 1-0 win over Catawba on Saturday afternoon.

The second-seeded Pirates (45-10) advance to anoth-er elimination game at 4:00 p.m. against third-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne, with the winner advancing to Champi-onship Sunday. Catawba (33-19) sees its first NCAA postseason appearance come to a close with the loss.

Armstrong loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the first inning against Catawba starter Brittany Murray (16-12), but Murray got out of the jam without allowing a run to score.

The Pirates finally broke through in the second inning when Ashley Schwab worked a two-out walk, then Shelby Duff delivered an RBI double to left center field, ending a 18 1/3 scoreless inning streak by Arm-strong that dated back to the first round of the Peach Belt Conference tournament.

With the one-run lead, Campbell (20-3) then sealed the deal with a six-hit shutout, walking one while strik-ing out four. The Armstrong defense turned two double plays behind Campbell as the freshman delivered her fourth shutout of the season.

Murray was the hard-luck loser for the Indians for a second straight game as she gave up six hits and one run in six innings of work, walking two while striking out one.

Duff finished the game 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles FLAGLER’S BREEZY COLLiNGS

ARMSTRONG’S SHELBY DUFF

148

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120504_f2z8.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120505_cane.xml

Softball

149

and an RBI to lead the Pirates at the plate, while April Jowers, the nation’s leading hitter, went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.

Alli Justice led the Indians at the plate with a 2-for-3 day.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: saInts walk-off ColumBus state 2-1, aDvanCe to RegIonal ChamPIonshIP(5/5/12) DAHLONEGA, GA – Down to their final three outs in game three of the NCAA Southeast Regional, 11th-ranked and top-seeded North Georgia battled back to score two runs and walk-off with a 2-1 victory over 5th-seeded Columbus State at Haines & Carolyn Hill Stadium.

With just one hit over the first six innings, the Saints had one last chance against the Cougars and made the most of the seventh inning. Rochelle Shuman led off the frame and struck out, but reached base on the play, the first of a series of costly mistakes by the Cou-gars. Hilary Cox followed and grounded out to second, but Nina Rubio booted the grounder and the Saints were in business with two on and no outs.

After a fielder’s choice for the first out of the inning, Katherine Martin laced a grounder to third that was thrown wildly to first by Kristen Gregory to load the bases. Sarah Johnson followed and singled to second to plate the tying run and keep the bases load for Kayla Minger.

With Minger looking for some walk-off magic, the junior grounded out to first and the Cougars came home for the force out. Casey Googe then fired down to first attempting for the inning-ending double play, but the throw hit off the diving Minger and rolled into right field to bring Martin racing home for the win-ning run and walk-off victory. In total, the Cougars committed four errors in the seventh

inning.

With the win, the Saints (47-8) advance to the South-east Dahlonega Regional Championship game on Sun-day afternoon at 1:30 p.m. North Georgia is undefeat-ed over the last three years in regional play, winning their 14th consecutive game over the last four years.

Columbus State drops their first game since the middle of April as they fall to 40-19 on the year. The Cougars will look to fight back in the loser’s bracket, as they will play in game five of the tournament on Saturday evening against Augusta State or King Col-lege.

The Cougars got their only run of the game in the third inning when a passed ball brought Branigan Wix rac-ing home to give Columbus the early lead.

The Saints were held hitless until the sixth inning when Tiffanie Burns lined a clean single up the middle to break up the perfect game by Mollie Russell, but Burns was stranded at second later in the frame when Pilar Harden scorched a liner up the middle that was snagged by the leaping Morgan Knight in center field.

Tossing another gem in the circle was true freshman Melissa Dickie (20-0) who came out and allowed just two hits and no earned runs to stay perfect on the year. Making her NCAA Tournament debut, Dickie al-lowed a pair of hits in the third inning before retiring the Cougars in order over the final four innings.

Russell (21-11) was the tough-luck loser for Columbus State, allowing just two hits and two unearned runs. She tallied one strikeout and did not issue a walk.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: asu aDvanCes Past kIng, 5-1(5/5/12) DAHLONEGA, Ga. – Augusta State jumped on top 3-0 against King College Saturday afternoon and advanced in the NCAA Southeast Dahlonega Regional with a 5-1 victory at Haines & Carolyn Hill

Stadium.

Jaguar senior shortstop Kacee Camp enjoyed a 4-for-4 effort and scored two runs. Jes-sica Thornton went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored. Thornton, Lauren Yeargan and

NORTH GEORGiA’S HiLARY COx

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120505_y6ih.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120505_wtn3.xml

Macy Terry each drove in a run.

With the victory, the Jaguars improved to 32-17 and advanced to take on Columbus State at 6:30 p.m. in an elimination game.

Senior righthander Emily Headrick (17-6) allowed six hits and one run in 5.0 innings. She tallied one strikeout before Heather Hughes worked the final 2.0 innings.

Camp singled to open the game and moved to second on a Hannah Vaughn sacrifice. Kristen Jones singled sharply through the left side and Jessica Thornton laid down a perfectly-executed suicide squeeze to plate Camp.

When King pitcher Hannah Light’s errant throw to first wasn’t handled, Jones scored all the way from first. Thornton promptly stole second before Macy Terry singled down the right field line to chase home Thorn-ton.

The Tornado (34-19), from Conference Carolinas, got a run back in the bottom of the third before the Jags answered with a pair of runs in the fifth. Camp pro-vided the spark with a leadoff single and Thornton lined an RBI-triple to right. One batter later, Yeargan slapped an RBI-double to right-center to chase home Thornton.

Light scattered 10 hits in 6.0 innings, yielding three earned runs with a pair of strikeouts and a walk. Ra-chael Wilmoth closed out the game with an inning of scoreless relief.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: lenoIR-Rhyne elImInates aRmstRong 4-0(5/5/12) SAVANNAH, Ga. - No. 12-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne rode the arm of SAC Pitcher of the Year Dawon Millwood into the NCAA DII Softball Southeast Region championship day with a 4-0 shutout of host and No. 9-ranked Armstrong on Saturday afternoon, eliminat-ing the Pirates.

The Bears (48-12) advance to Sunday’s noon match-up with Flagler and must beat the Saints twice to ad-vance out of the regional. Flagler, meanwhile, needs just one win to advance to the Super Regional. Arm-strong wraps up its season with a 45-11 record after making its 10th appearance in the NCAA Champion-ships in the last 12 seasons.

Lenoir-Rhyne scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning on Haily Jarman’s one-out double to right center field. The Bears looked to have scored an insurance run in the frame as, with runners on second and third and one out, Sara Adkins’ fly ball to left was snared by a diving Ashley Schwab. Jarman tagged from third and apparently had scored, but the Pirates appealed and Jarman was ruled to have left third early, ending the inning with just one run cross-ing the plate.

The Bears then put the game out of reach in the sixth inning as Tameron Sealey led off the inning with a triple to right field, then scored on a Carlee Carpenter RBI single. Jarman followed with an RBI single off of reliever Caitlin Campbell, then a sacrifice fly to left field by Jessica Fellmeth plated the third run of the inning.

That was more than enough offense for Millwood, who fashioned a two-hit shutout, walking one while

AUGUSTA STATE’S KACEE CAMP

ARMSTRONG’S APRiL JOWERS

150

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120505_hoqc.xml

Softball

151

striking out two to improve to 34-7 on the season with her 18th shutout of the year. Barnwell (21-5) took the loss for the Pirates, giving up four hits and four runs in five-plus innings of work, walking two while striking out two.

April Jowers had a bunt single in the sixth inning as the two-time PBC Player of the Year wrapped up her incredible season with a NCAA Division II-leading .565 batting average as well as 105 hits on the year, both a school and Peach Belt record. She finishes with 334 hits, eighth-most in NCAA Division II softball history.

The Pirates also saw the end of four other senior’s careers with All-PBC outfielder Baillie Temples (3rd all-time home runs in Armstrong history), All-PBC first baseman Whitney Galloway, All-PBC designated player Heather Walker and catcher Ashley Buckett playing their final games in Armstrong uniforms on SaturdayBox Score

nCaa touRnament: Jags PunCh out CougaRs, 5-1(5/5/12) DAHLONEGA, GA – Augusta State advanced to the championship game of the NCAA Southeast Dahlonega Regional Saturday evening with a 5-1 victory over Columbus State at Haines & Carolyn Hill Stadium.

With the victory, the fourth-seeded Jaguars (33-17) earned the right to face tournament host and No. 1 seed North Georgia (46-8) on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. A victory by ASU would set up a rematch with the Saints at 3:30 p.m.

Jaguar senior third baseman Jessica Thorn-ton paced the squad with a 2-for-3 effort with an RBI and a run scored. ASU com-bined for seven hits as a team vs. the Cougars after racking up 10 hits in the first game of the day vs. King College.

Senior righthander Emily Headrick (18-6) went the distance, yield-ing just four hits and an unearned run. She struck out one and pitched around five walks.

“I couldn’t be

more excited for the ladies,” said ASU head coach Me-lissa Mullins. “We talked yesterday about the adjust-ments we had to make and we fought hard today and did all the little things.”

Columbus got on the board first in the bottom of the first before the Jags came back with a pair of runs in the second and added two more in the third. Thorn-ton reached on a leadoff single in the second, moved to second on a sacrifice and took third on a throwing error on Lauren Yeargan’s grounder. After Hannah Vaughn struck out, the pitch got away from catcher Casey Googe and then her throwing error allowed both Thornton and Yeargan to race home.

Freshman centerfielder Molly Walton started out a two-out rally in the third with a single to left. Senior rightfielder Kristen Jones roped a triple to right-center to score Walton and Thornton followed with an RBI-single to center.

The Jags added an insurance run with two outs in the sixth on a Renae Kimbell single, a passed ball and a Laura Brown RBI-double to left.

ASU chased Columbus State starter Mollie Russell (21-12) after 4.0 innings and Taylor Turner worked the last three frames for the Cougars.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: flagleR aDvanCes to suPeR-RegIonal 9-7(5/6/12) SAVANNAH, Ga. – Lauren Roudabush’s two-run single in the fifth inning proved to be the winning margin in Flagler College’s 9-7 win over No. 12 (NFCA Division II Top 25) Lenoir-Rhyne University in the championship game of the Savannah Regional in the NCAA Division II National Tournament Sunday after-noon at the Armstrong Softball Field.

The Saints won all three games of the regional and will advance to next weekend’s Super

Regional at North Georgia College & State Univer-sity in Dahlonega in a best-of-three series. The winner advances to the NCAA Division II National Champion-ships in Louisville, Ky. The Saints knocked off No. 9 Armstrong and No. 12 Lenoir-Rhyne twice. Flagler is 7-0 all-time at the Armstrong Softball Field.

Flagler improved to 37-17 while Lenoir-Rhyne ended its season with a 48-13 record.

AUGUSTA STATE’S KRiSTEN JONES

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120505_3j1f.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120505_sobn.xml

Flagler wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard. Alona Personius hit a two-run single in the first inning.

Undaunted, the Bears scored twice in the home half of the first, the first runs Flagler had allowed in the tournament.

The Saints took the lead for good on an RBI-double by Marissa Blake in the second.

Flagler sent eight batters to the plate in the third and plated four runs. Personius had an RBI double and three batters later, Lauren Bessent hit a single to right-center to produce Flagler’s fifth run and chase Lenoir-Rhyne starter Dawon Millwood (34-8) from the game. Blake greeted the reliever, Lauren Harris, with a two-run double to left-center.

Now trailing 7-2, Jessica Fellmeth hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the third to keep the Bears in the game.

But the Saints took a commanding 9-4 lead in the fifth on Roudabush’s hit and held off a Bears rally in the bottom of the fifth.

Blake went 3-for-3 with two doubles, three runs bat-ted in and scored a run. Personius went 3-for-4 with a double, three RBI and scored a run. Robyn Draper had three hits, including a double, and scored twice.

Donna Munafo (19-5) pitched 4.1 innings and allowed seven hits, five earned runs before giving way to Katie Enright. She tossed the final 2.2 innings and did not allow a run to earn her fifth save of the year.

Fellmeth went 3-for-3 with the home run, and knocked in four runs for the Bears.

Millwood tossed 2.2 innings, surrendered nine hits and seven runs.

This is Flagler’s second appearance in NCAA postsea-son play. The Saints went 2-2 in last year’s Dahlonega Regional. The 16 hits were the most by the Saints this season since Feb. 19 when they had 18 hits against Eckerd. The nine runs scored was more than the total runs in Flagler’s previous nine games.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: noRth geoRgIa eDges JaguaRs, aDvanCe to suPeR RegIonal(5/6/12) DAHLONEGA, GA – The top-seeded North Georgia softball team advanced to their fourth straight NCAA Southeast Super Regional on Sunday defeating fourth-seeded Augusta State 1-0 in the Dahlonega Regional Championship at The Hill.

Jessica Coan (25-7) capped a perfect 2-0 weekend for the Saints (48-8), tossing her second complete game shutout of the regional, striking out eight and scat-tering just three hits. In 14 innings of this weekend’s regional games, Coan allowed zero runs and just six hits, while striking out 19 batters.

The pitching of Coan and Melissa Dickie led the Saints to victory as their offense mustered just four runs, only one of which were earned.

“It’s a tribute to the great pitching we saw this week-end,” said North Georgia head coach Mike Davenport. “Emily Headrick kept us off balance all afternoon.”

North Georgia capitalized on each of their opponents mistakes and limited their own, committing just three errors to their opponents six.

For the second straight day the Saints capitalized on early miscues, as a throwing error led to the eventual game-winning run crossing the plate.

In the home-half of the first with Rochelle Shuman on first, senior Hilary Cox lined a one-out single to left field. A bobble allowed Shu-man to move up to third and an er-rant throw that missed the cut-off sent her racing home.

Emily Headrick (18-7) picked up the loss tossing a complete game, allowing one unearned run surrendering five hits and striking out three.

NORTH GEORGiA’S JESSiCA COAN

152

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120506_gvzy.xml

Softball

153

After getting the lead, Coan was in shutdown mode retiring the final 14 batters she faced.

North Georgia has now won 12 consecutive NCAA Re-gional games and will make yet an other appearance in the NCAA Super Regionals this coming weekend.

The 2012 senior class also picked up their 200th ca-reer win over the weekend, now holding an incredible win total of 202 wins. Cox, Coan and Pilar Harden will go down as one of the most successful senior classes in school history.Box Score

nCaa suPeR RegIonal: flagleR takes aDvantage of noRth geoRgIa eRRoRs, wIn game one 8-2(5/11/12) DAHLONEGA, Ga. – Flagler College sent 10 batters to the plate in the third inning and took advan-tage of four errors en route to an 8-2 win over No. 11 North Georgia College & State University in the first

game of the best-of-three series in the NCAA Division II Southeast Super Regional Friday night at Haines & Carolyn Hill Stadium in Dahlonega.

Flagler won its fourth game in a row and im-proved to 38-17 overall. North Georgia fell to 48-9.

Tori Jolley led off the third with a base hit through the left side. Sarah Albino came on to pinch run and took second when Marissa Blake hit a grounder to

North Georgia shortstop Tiffanie Burns. She booted the grounder and everyone was safe. Lauren Rouda-bush followed with another grounder to short, but Burns bobbled the ball and then threw the ball away allowing Albino to score. Two batters later, Robyn Draper’s grounder found Burns who committed her fourth error of the inning and Flagler took a 3-0 lead. Alona Personius added an RBI single and Laure Bes-sent hit a two-run single up the middle to put Flagler ahead 6-0.

Draper added a two-run triple in the fourth to push the lead to 8-0.

North Georgia tallied a run in the bottom of the fifth to avoid the mercy rule and plated one more in the sixth.

Donna Munafo (20-5) tossed five innings, scattered five hits and allowed one run to earn the victory. Katie

Enright finished the last two innings and allowed two hits and one run.

Lauren Ely collected a pair of singles and scored a run. Marissa Blake singled and scored two runs while Draper and Bessent knocked in two runs apiece.

Jessica Coan (25-8) went the distance and surrendered nine hits and two earned runs.

Karlie Gillam collected two singles for North Georgia. Kayla Minger also singled twice and drove in a run.

The two teams will meet at 2 p.m. tomorrow (May 12). Should North Georgia win the first game, the two teams will meet again at 4:30 p.m. to decide the se-ries winner and advance to the NCAA Division II Soft-ball Championships May 16-19 at Louisville, Ky.

NOTE: The 8-2 loss by North Georgia at home was its worst loss at home since losing to Alabama-Huntsville 9-1 on Mar. 13, 2011. Flagler is now 2-10 all-time vs. North Georgia and have won the last two games in the series. Tonight’s win at Dahlonega was the first time a Flagler team has won at North Georgia in five games.Box Score

nCaa suPeR RegIonal: saInts slIDe By flagleR In must wIn, foRCe DeCIsIve thIRD game(5/12/12) DAHLONEGA, GA – The North Georgia soft-ball team forced a decisive game three in the NCAA Southeast Super Regional on Saturday afternoon, tak-ing game two 3-0 over Flagler College at The Hill.

The Saints (49-9) won the pitchers duel shutting out their opponent for the 16th time this season, while Flagler (38-18) was shutout for the first time this year in postseason play.

Melissa Dickie (21-0) was masterful once again toss-

FLAGLER’SDONNA MUNAFO

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120506_diq4.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120511_y57k.xml

ing a complete game shutout and scattering three hits, while striking out three. Dickie continues to impress during her freshman campaign, as the Dak-tronics Southeast Region Pitcher of the Year has not allowed an earned run in her last 21 innings of work.

The complete game shutout was her seventh of the season and she held an opponent to three hits or fewer for the 15th time this season.

Donna Munafo (20-6) was the tough luck loser tossing a complete game and allowing three runs on eights hits, while striking out four.

Both offenses were quiet early until North Georgia opened the scoring in the top of the sixth inning, plat-ing a pair of runs on two hits. Senior Hilary Cox got the rally started when she was plunked by Munafo. Karlie Gillam’s sac bunt attempt was successful and Alona Personius came off the bag early on the throw.

With runners on first and second and no outs Katherine Martin lined single to left field bringing pinch runner Katie Garrett racing home. With heads up base running Martin moved up to second on the throw. After a Sarah Johnson groundout Kayla Minger delivered another big hit for North Georgia, singling through the left side to bring pinch runner Taylor Merritt charging home.

Munafo was able to get out of the jam as North Georgia tried to pull a fast one on Flagler as Martin was gunned out at home.

North Georgia added an insurance run in the top of the seventh when

Pilar Harden launched her eighth homer of the sea-son, a solo shot, to left center.

In the home half of the seventh Flagler threatened, starting the inning with back-to-back singles by Per-sonius and Lauren Bessent. Dickie buckled down and retired the next three hitters in a row striking out Marissa Blake to seal the victory.Box Score

nCaa suPeR RegIonal: flagleR tRIumPhs oveR no. 11 noRth geoRgIa, 4-1 aDvanCe to woRlD seRIes(5/12/12) DAHLONEGA, GA - Flagler College split a doubleheader with No. 11 (NFCA Division II Top 25) North Georgia College & State University, losing the first game 3-0 and winning the final game 4-1 in eight innings to win the NCAA Division II Southeast Super Regional Saturday at the Haines & Carolyn Hill Sta-dium in Dahlonega. Flagler advances to the NCAA Divi-sion II Softball National Championships May 16-19 in Louisville, Ky.

Flagler got on board first when Tori Jolley singled home Collings in the second inning.

The score would remain the same until the bottom of the seventh. Tiffanie Burns belted a lead-off double, moved to third on a ground out and scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly.

2012 NCAA SOUTHEAST SUPER REGiONAL CHAMPiONSFLAGLER SAiNTS

NORTH GEORGiA’S MELiSSA DiCKiE

154

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120512_9k5p.xml

Softball

155

Lauren Ely drew a two-out walk to get things started in the eighth for Flagler. She took second on a wild pitch and Robyn Draper ripped a triple to the gap in right-center to give Flagler a 2-1 lead. Collings followed with a single to plate Draper and pinch runner Becca Mill-age later scored on an error.

Katie Enright (9-4) tossed a complete game and scat-tered nine hits and allowed one run. She retired 14 batters on ground outs.

Draper had two of Flagler’s six hits, scored a run and drove in one.

Dickie (21-1) took the loss for North Georgia. She al-lowed six hits and two earned runs.

Harden singled twice for North Georgia.

Flagler will be making its first-ever appearance in the national championships. The Saints are in their fourth year as a program and advanced to the regionals last season. Box Score

nCaa woRlD seRIes: no. 2 CentRal oklahoma stRIkes eaRly anD holDs off flagleR, 4-2(5/16/12) LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Megan Whitmire socked a 2-2 pitch over the left-center field wall in the first in-ning to give No. 2 (NFCA Division II Top 25) University of Central Oklahoma a 3-0 lead and then held on for a 4-2 win in the first round of the NCAA Division II Soft-ball National Championships Wednesday evening at Knights Field.

Central Oklahoma improved to 45-7 while Flagler fell to 39-19.

NFCA All-America selection Nathalie Timmermans drew a two-out walk in the top of the first to get things started for the Bronchos. Kacie Edwards followed with a single up the middle and then Whitmire hit the home run.

Lauren Roudabush and Robyn Draper sandwiched a pair of bunt singles around a sacrifice hit by Lauren Ely to put runners on the corner for the Saints. Breezy Collings grounded out to second to bring Roudabush home and Alona Personius singled home Ely and Fla-gler was right back in the game, 3-2.

UCO added another in the second for insurance. Han-nah Justus led off the inning with a bunt single in front of the plate. She moved to second on a sacrifice and advanced to third on a ground out. A walk gave the Bronchos runners at the corners and Kayce Raines singled to right to plate Justus.

That’s all Rachael Steverson (27-5) would need. She went the distance and scattered seven hits and al-lowed just two runs. Steverson induced 14 ground outs. She retired the last seven batters in a row.

Edwards singled twice and scored a run while Devyn Frazier collected a pair of singles for the Bronchos.

Donna Munafo (20-7) took the loss in the circle for the Saints. She surrendered eight hits and four runs

Draper went 2-for-2 with a run scored for Flagler.Box Score

nCaa woRlD seRIes: flagleR enDs nCaa Run wIth 5-2 loss to st. JosePh’s(5/17/12) LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Flagler College commit-ted five errors, the most since a Mar. 3 loss vs. Lenoir-Rhyne University, and were eliminated from the NCAA Division II Softball Championships after a 5-2 loss to Saint Joseph’s College of Indiana Thursday afternoon at Knights Field.

Flagler wraps up its season at 39-20 while Saint Joseph’s lives to fight another day and improved to 40-20. Saint Joe’s will face the defending national champion, UC San Diego, at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow in another elimination game.

The Saints broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning when Tori Jolley hit a two-run double to right-center.

That looked like all Flagler would need, but three costly errors was all it took in the sixth inning to see the lead turn into a deficit.

Kylie Weeks led off the inning by reaching on a fielding error by Alona Personius. Stephanie Winter hit a sharp grounder to short where Lauren Bessent fielded the ball cleanly, but on the force attempt at second base, she threw the ball away. A wild pitch allowed the run-ners to move up a base but when Robyn Draper threw down to third to catch Weeks, the ball sailed into the

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120512_aqfa.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120516_fby7.xml

Cosida academic all-america first teamKacee Camp, Augusta State

Cosida academic all-america second teamShelby Duff, Armstrong

Cosida academic all-Region teamOlivia Ferguson, Francis MarionKristen Hobbs, UNC Pembroke

PBC all-academic teamSara Broderick, Francis MarionArielle Buchholz, LanderGabby Buck, Georgia SouthwesternKacee Camp, Augusta StateJessica Coan, North GeorgiaHilary Cox, North GeorgiaKayla Denham, USC AikenShelby Duff, ArmstrongCaitlin Duvall, Georgia CollegeTristan Faile, Francis MarionOlivia Ferguson, Francis MarionSarah Fuller, LanderKatie Garrett, North GeorgiaKristen Hobbs, UNC PembrokeNatalie Klemann, UNC PembrokeBrittney Sheriff, LanderKellie Van Dyke, UNC PembrokeErin Vick, Georgia SouthwesternLauren Wilcox, Armstrong

nfCa all-america first teamApril Jowers, ArmstrongWhitney Okvist, Georgia College

nfCa all-america third teamCasey Googe, Columbus State

AwArd winners

ASU’S CAMP, ARMSTRONG’S DUFF NAMED ACADEMiC ALL-AMERiCANSTOWSON, MD – Augusta State senior shortstop Kacee Camp and Armstrong junior outfielder Shelby Duff were named Capitol One CoSIDA Academic All-Amer-icans on Wednesday. Camp was placed on the first team while

Duff was named second team. The two players are the seventh and eight softball players in Peach Belt Conference history to be named an Academic All-American, widely regarded as the highest honor a student-athlete can achieve. The team is selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

A senior biology major with a 3.88 GPA, Camp finished the season as well as she started, ending with a .390 average, 35 runs scored, 20 extra-base hits, 27 RBI, and a .451 on-base percentage. She led the Jaguars to the NCAA Southeast Regional for the fourth consecutive season. She has already been named first-team All-Peach Belt Conference for the season.

Camp becomes the first CoSIDA Academic All-American in Augusta State softball history. She graduated in May with a 3.88 GPA in biology. Named to the PBC Presidential Honor Roll four times, the Harlem, Ga., native was also named to the PBC softball All-Academic team.

Duff, who was named to the second team as an outfielder, is just the second Armstrong player to earn Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America softball honors in the program’s history. The Springfield, Ga., native carries a 3.63 GPA in radiologic sciences and was a first-team All-Peach Belt Conference and NFCA All-Region outfielder, hitting .416 with six home runs and 30 RBIs in helping the Pirates capture the 2012 Peach Belt Conference regular season title.

She joins Jessica Strong, who was a third-team Academic All-American outfielder in 2009, as the only players to earn the academic honor from Capital One and CoSIDA.

outfield and the Pumas were on the board. Shawn Hoskins singled through the left side in a drawn in infield to plate the tying run. Four batters later, Rachel Weaver homered to left-center and SJC grabbed a 5-2 lead.

That was all of the insurance Sarah Franklin (18-9) would need. She went the distance and scattered seven hits and allowed two runs. Franklin induced 12 fly outs.

Lauren Roudabudsh collected two singled while Robyn Draper singled and doubled for the Saints.

Katie Enright (9-5) tossed six innings, allowed five hits and five unearned runs.

This was Flagler’s first appearance in the softball national championships.Box Score

156

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/boxscores/20120517_37iw.xml

Softball

157

nfCa all-southeast Region first teamHayley Burnett, Georgia CollegeKacee Camp, Augusta State Jessica Coan, North GeorgiaBreezy Collings, FlaglerHilary Cox, North GeorgiaShelby Duff, ArmstrongPilar Harden, North GeorgiaDonna Munafo, FlaglerTaylor Turner, Columbus State

nfCa all-southeast Region second teamMegan Barnwell, ArmstrongLauren Bessent, FlaglerKarlie Gillam, North GeorgiaMorgan Knight, Columbus StateAlona Personius, FlaglerMollie Russell, Columbus StateBaillie Temples, ArmstrongHeather Walker, Armstrong

Daktronics all-america first teamApril Jowers, Armstrong

Daktronics all-america third teamJessica Coan, North Georgia

Daktronics all-america honorable mentionMelissa Dickie, North GeorgiaCasey Googe, Columbus State

Daktronics southeast Region Player of the yearApril Jowers, Armstrong

Daktronics southeast Region Pitcher of the yearMelissa Dickie, North Georgia

Daktronics all-southeast Region first teamMegan Barnwell, ArmstrongHaley Burnett, Georgia CollegeKacee Camp, Augusta StateBreezy Collings, FlaglerPilar Harden, North GeorgiaWhitney Okvist, Georgia College

Daktronics all-southeast Region second teamHilary Cox, North GeorgiaKarlie Gillam, North GeorgiaMorgan Knight, Columbus StateKelsea Martin, Georgia CollegeDonna Munafo, FlaglerAlona Personius, FlaglerMollie Russell, Columbus StateHeather Walker, Armstrong

PBC all-Conference first teamMegan Barnwell, ArmstrongKacee Camp, Augusta StateJessica Coan, North GeorgiaHilary Cox, North GeorgiaShelby Duff, Armstrong

Whitney Galloway, ArmstrongKarlie Gillam, North GeorgiaPilar Harden, North GeorgiaApril Jowers, ArmstrongKelsea Martin, Georgia CollegeDonna Munafo, FlaglerWhitney Okvist, Georgia CollegeBrittney Sheriff, LanderBaillie Temples, Armstrong Jessica Thornton, Augusta StateHeather Walker, Armstrong

PBC all-Conference second team

Lauren Bessent, FlaglerHaley Burnett, Georgia CollegeBreezy Collings, FlaglerMelissa Dickie, North GeorgiaRobyn Draper, FlaglerKatie Enright, FlaglerCasey Googe, Columbus StateEmily Headrick, Augusta StateAshley Jaramillo, Francis MarionIndia Kornegay, USC AikenHayley Leissner, LanderTaylor Luff, Francis MarionMason Moreland, Ga. SouthwesternAlona Personius, FlaglerMollie Russell, Columbus StateTaylor Turner, Columbus State

PBC Player of the yearApril Jowers, Armstrong

PBC Pitcher of the yearMegan Barnwell, Armstrong

PBC freshman of the yearMelissa Dickie, North Georgia

PBC Coach of the yearTed Evans, Armstrong

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKFEBRUARY 14, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanApril Jowers Jessica Coan Taylor TurnerArmstrong North Georgia Columbus State

FEBRUARY 21, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanBreezy Collings Jessica Coan Alexis MercerFlagler North Georgia Armstrong

FEBRUARY 28, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanShelby Duff Mollie Russell Brea HartleyArmstrong Columbus State UNC Pembroke

MARCH 6, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanCasey Googe Mollie Russell Katie CarnesColumbus State Columbus State Francis Marion

MARCH 12, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanApril Jowers Kelsey Gilliam Tiffanie BurnsArmstrong Columbus State North Georgia

MARCH 19, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanShelby Duff Donna Munafo Karlee WilsonArmstrong Flagler UNC Pembroke

MARCH 27, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanLindsey Jones Mollie Russell Taylor TurnerUSC Aiken Columbus State Columbus State

APRiL 2, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanApril Jowers Donna Munafo Lauren RoudabushArmstrong Flagler Flagler

APRiL 9, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanOlivia Ferguson India Kornegay Caitlin CampbellFrancis Marion USC Aiken Armstrong

APRiL 16, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanWhitney Galloway Melissa Dickie Taylor TurnerArmstrong North Georgia Columbus State

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120214sbfpotw

http://http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120214sbpchrotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120214sbfotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120214bbfotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120221sbpotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/playersoftheweek/201204221bpchrotw



http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120228sbpchrotw


















http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/playersoftheweek/201204109sbfptw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/sball/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120409sbfpchrotw





IndIvIdualBattIng aveRageApril Jowers, Armstrong .565Shelby Duff, Armstrong .416Whitney Okvist, Georgia College .412Brittney Sheriff, Lander .405Kacee Camp, Augusta State .390Alona Personius, Flagler .366Tristan Faile, Francis Marion .361Casey Googe, Columbus State .360Kristen Hobbs, UNC Pembroke .355Sara Broderick, Francis Marion .355RunsCasey Googe, Columbus State 54Whitney Okvist, Georgia College 54Shelby Duff, Armstrong 53April Jowers, Armstrong 50Morgan Knight, Columbus State 46Sarah Johnson, North Georgia 39Mason Moreland, Georgia Southwesterm 39Baillie Temples, Armstrong 37Jessica Thornton, Augusta STate 36Kacee Camp, Augusta State 35hItsApril Jowers, Armstrong 105Shelby Duff, Armstrong 77Alona Personius, Flagler 68Casey Googe, Columbus State 67Whitney Okvist, Georgia College 66Kacee Camp, Augusta State 64Brittney Sheriff, Lander 64Pilar Harden, North Georgia 61Sara Broderick, Francis Marion 60Tristan Faile, Francis Marion 60Runs BatteD InCasey Googe, Columbus State 55Baillie Temples, Armstrong 49Whitney Galloway, Armstrong 48Morgan Staffins, Columbus State 42Alona Personius, Flagler 42Haley Burnett, Georgia College 41Morgan Knight, Columbus State 41Ashley Jaramillo, Francis Marion 40Breezy Collings, Flagler 39Tristan Faile, Francis Marion 39home RunsCasey Googe, Columbus State 22Morgan Knight, Columbus State 11Breezy Collings, Flagler 10Tiffanie Burns, North Georgia 9Morgan Staffins, Columbus State 9Kara Gordon, Columbus State 9Baillie Temples, Armstrong 9Pilar Harden, North Georgia 8Katherine Martin, North Georgia 7Karlie Gillam, North Georgia 7

stolen BasesWhitney Okvist, Georgia College 52April Jowers, Armstrong 28Jessica Thornton, Augusta State 27Mason Moreland, Ga. Southwestern 22Molly Walton, Augusta State 17Whitney Little, Flagler 15Lauren Bessent, Flagler 15Destinea Schneider, Francis Marion 15Natalie Bellantoni, Georgia College 15Shelby Duff, Armstrong Atlantic State 14InnIngs PItCheDJessica Coan, North Georgia 223.0Mollie Russell, Columbus State 217.1India Kornegay, USC Aiken 205.0Hayley Leissner, Lander 180.1Donna Munafo, Flagler 177.1Megan Barnwell, Armstrong 175.2Emily Headrick, Augusta State 165.2Caitlin Campbell, Armstrong 149.2Melissa Dickie, North Georgia 145.2Kayla Ellingsen, Francis Marion 133.0eaRneD Run aveRageMollie Russell, Columbus State 0.93Melissa Dickie, North Georgia 1.15Donna Munafo, Flagler 1.22Hayley Leissner, Lander 1.28Kelsey Davis, Lander 1.38Jessica Coan, North Georgia 1.44Katie Enright, Flagler 1.58India Kornegay, USC Aiken 1.78Kalyn Loverich, Flagler 1.83Taylor Turner, Columbus State 1.86wInsJessica Coan, North Georgia 25Mollie Russell, Columbus State 21Melissa Dickie, North Georgia 21Megan Barnwell, Armstrong Atlantic State 21Caitlin Campbell, Armstrong Atlantic State 20Donna Munafo, Flagler 20India Kornegay, USC Aiken 20Emily Headrick, Augusta State 18Hayley Leissner, Lander 14Kayla Ellingsen, Francis Marion 11savesKatie Enright, Flagler 5Heather Sexton, Augusta State 3Mollie Russell, Columbus State 3Emily Headrick, Augusta State 3Erica Bell, Georgia College 3Jessica Martin, Ga. Southwestern 2Hayley Leissner, Lander 2Megan Barnwell, Armstrong Atlantic State 2Jessica Coan, North Georgia 2India Kornegay, USC Aiken 2

stRIkeoutsJessica Coan, North Georgia 332India Kornegay, USC Aiken 260Mollie Russell, Columbus State 191Megan Barnwell, Armstrong Atlantic State 164Hayley Leissner, Lander 157Donna Munafo, Flagler 149Taylor Luff, Francis Marion 135Emily Headrick, Augusta State 114Melissa Dickie, North Georgia 109Kayla Ellingsen, Francis Marion 108

TeamBattIng aveRageArmstrong .310Francis Marion .291Columbus State .290North Georgia .288Georgia College .279Unc Pembroke .270Lander .270Flagler .263Augusta State .254USC Aiken .249Georgia Southwestern .241RunsArmstrong 308Columbus State 302North Georgia 286Francis Marion 225Flagler 224Augusta State 217Georgia College 215Lander 178Georgia Southwestern 159USC Aiken 134UNC Pembroke 123home RunsColumbus State 69North Georgia 49Armstrong 45Francis Marion 25Flagler 21Augusta State 19Lander 14Georgia College 9USC Aiken 9Georgia Southwestern 9UNC Pembroke 9eaRneD Run aveRageNorth Georgia 1.39Columbus State 1.44Flagler 1.47Lander 1.78Francis Marion 2.09Augusta State 2.17Armstrong 2.59Georgia Southwestern 2.64USC Aiken 2.82UNC Pembroke 2.85Georgia College 3.46

stAtistiCs

158

Baseball

PBC touRnament: RoDRIguez’s PInCh-hIt lIfts falCons to PBC touRnament wIn(5/9/12) COLUMBUS, GA – Freshman pinch hitter Vinny Rodriguez lofted an RBI double to deep right center field to score Josh Headley with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning as the University of Montevallo made its Peach Belt Conference Tourna-ment debut a successful one with a 5-4 victory over 13th-ranked USC Aiken, Wednesday morning (May 9).

The eight-team double-elimination tournament is be-ing played at 5,000-seat Golden Park in downtown Columbus, Ga.

Montevallo (25-26), the West Division’s second seed, advances to face the Armstrong Atlantic State Univer-sity/North Georgia College & State University winner on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. USCA (34-17), the East Division’s third seed, meets the AASU/North Georgia

loser at 9 a.m. on Thursday.

Headley began the winning sequence with a one-out single through the right side. Rodriguez then took the third pitch from Pacer reliever Jake Padgett and drove it onto the warning track just in front of the fence some 390 feet from home plate.

Falcons’ closer Wes Rich (4-3) earned the win with 1.2 scoreless innings. USCA reliever Tyler Stephan (1-1), who preceded Padgett, was tagged with the loss.

The Falcons took a 4-0 advantage with four runs in the bottom of the third, thanks in part to some wild-ness from USCA starter Ryan Milewski. A pair of hit batters and a single loaded the bases with no outs. Will Fulmer scored the game’s first run when Milewski uncorked a wild pitch that went to the backstop. Des-ignated hitter Chris Ross then hooked a 1-0 offering into the right field corner for a two-run double.

Ross moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and then came home with the fourth run of the frame on a sacrifice fly to center by Blaine Rosenberg.

The Pacers crept to within 4-1 in the top of the fifth. Left fielder Nick Aranas was hit by a pitch to lead off the in-ning and moved to third on a single by designated hitter Bill Gerstenslager. Aranas then scored as the Falcons turned a double play on a ground ball

bAsebAll

CONFERENCE OVERALL GP Record Win % GP Record Win % Last 10

eaST dIvISIOn1. Armstrong 30 20-10 0.667 57 41-16 0.719 5-52. Francis Marion 29 19-10 0.655 58 40-18 0.690 6-43. USC Aiken 30 18-12 0.600 55 37-18 0.673 7-34. Lander 30 18-12 0.600 58 38-20 0.655 6-45. UNC Pembroke 29 14-15 0.483 49 30-19 0.612 4-6 6. Flagler 30 13-17 0.433 49 27-22 0.551 4-6

WeST dIvISIOn1. Georgia College 29 19-10 0.655 50 29-21 0.580 4-62. Montevallo 30 16-14 0.533 53 25-28 0.472 3-73. Columbus State 30 15-15 0.500 53 30-23 0.566 3-74. North Georgia 30 13-17 0.433 52 24-28 0.462 4-65. Ga. Southwestern 29 9-20 0.310 47 13-34 0.277 4-66. Augusta State 30 4-26 0.133 50 13-37 0.260 2-8

FiNAL STANDiNGS

stRIkeoutsNorth Georgia 458Francis Marion 330Columbus State 329Flagler 326USC Aiken 291Armstrong 281UNC Pembroke 253Lander 245Georgia Southwestern 213Augusta State 191Georgia College 165

Runs alloweDNorth Georgia 108Flagler 122Augusta State 125Columbus State 127USC Aiken 132Francis Marion 137Lander 137Armstrong 155UNC Pembroke 179Georgia Southwestern 188Georgia College 197

159

to short by Ty Barkell.

USCA cut the margin to 4-3 by scoring twice in the sixth without the benefit of a hit. A hit batter and two walks loaded the bases with two outs. With Ger-stenslager at the plate, Pacer leadoff batter Bryce Baur scored on a wild pitch and a handful of pitches later Will Tankersley scampered home on Michael Shreves’ second wild offering of the at bat.

Montevallo senior Kirk Waligora saved a run in the top of the eighth with a diving catch in deep center field off the bat of the speedy Stephen Carmon. The catch prevented a sure lead-off triple. However the next Pacer batter, catcher Josh Miller, knotted the score at 4-4 with a towering solo home run to left that chased Shreves from the contest.

The Falcons threatened in the last of the eighth, but Austin Dubberly was tagged out at home on a safety squeeze attempt. Dubberly singled to center with one out and moved to third on a single by Rosenberg that was errored on in left field.

USCA took its initial lead with a manufactured run in the top of the ninth. Gerstenslager singled to left center and was replaced by pinch runner Dylan Dur-ham, who moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, to third on a fly ball to center, and then came home on an RBI single through the right side by third baseman J.J. Loker.

However, Montevallo answered with a manufactured tally of its own in the bottom of the ninth. Vincente Andrews walked with one out and was removed for pinch runner Zack Willoughby, who advanced to third on a single by Heath Peterson and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Ross. Willoughby beat the relay throw home with a head-first slide to the outside part of home plate.

Dubberly (2-for-4) and Gerstenslager (2-for-3) were the lone batters to record multi-hits.Box Score

PBC touRnament: hall’s ComPlete game leaDs aRmstRong Past noRth geoRgIa 4-0(5/9/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – Armstrong’s Chan-dler Hall tossed a complete game shutout

Wednesday afternoon to lead the No. 11-ranked Armstrong Atlantic baseball team to a 4-0 victory over North Georgia College in the first round of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament at Golden Park.

Armstrong (37-13), the top seed in the East Division, will face Montevallo (W2), a 6-5, extra-inning winner over USC Aiken, at 12:30 p.m., Thursday.

North Georgia (24-27), the fourth seed in the West Division, drops to the loser’s bracket and will play USC Aiken (E3) at 9 a.m., Thursday.

Hall (9-2) struck out four, walked three and allowed five hits.

North Georgia’s Phillip Taylor (0-3) suffered the loss after striking out one, walking four and allowing three earned runs on two hits in two-thirds of an inning.

The two teams endured a 2:27 rain delay at the top of the third inning.

Armstrong took a 3-0 lead in the third inning. Taylor walked the bases loaded -- Drew Walker, Alex Freder-ick and John Roberts – then the Pirates got back-to-back RBI singles from Chris Zittrouer and Cody Powell and a bases-loaded walk by Will Thomas.

The Pirates stretched their lead to 4-0 in the sixth, when, again, with bases loaded – Casey Maloney

walked, Walker reached on a fielding error and Frederick singled – Dennard’s RBI groundout plated Maloney.

For Armstrong, Zittrouer batted 2-for-4.

Box Score

ARMSTRONG’SETHAN BADER

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120509_fgi6.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120509_u604.xml

Baseball

PBC touRnament: lanDeR BaseBall uPsets geoRgIa College, 5-0(5/9/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – Lander’s Chris Thomas, the recently crowned Peach Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year, tossed a four-hit, complete-game shutout Wednesday night in leading the Bearcats to a 5-0 upset victory over Georgia College in the first round of the PBC Tournament at Golden Park.

Lander, the No. 30-ranked team and the fourth seed in the East, improves to 35-16 and will face the winner of Francis Marion (E2)/Columbus State (W3) winner at 7:30 p.m., Thursday. Lander’s 35 victories is a single-season school record.

Georgia College, the No. 28-ranked team and the top seed in the West, drops to 29-20 and will face the Francis Marion/Columbus State loser at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Thomas (8-2) struck out 11 and didn’t allow any walks in 30 batters faced.

GC’s Matt Kaplan (2-3) suffered the loss, striking out six, walking four and allowing four earned runs on six hits in six innings pitched.

Lander took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Jor-dan Owens’ RBI single drove in AJ Nunziato, who had reached on a walk.

The Bearcats extended the lead to 3-0 in the sixth after Kevin Starr’s RBI single to second, coupled with a GC fielding error, plated Owens, and Jeff May later sent Kevin Starr home with an RBI single.

Lander scored its final two runs in the seventh when Ian Harvey, who reached on a double, later scored on a wild pitch, and Owens’ sacrifice fly plated Harvey.

For Lander, Owens batted 2-for-3 with one run scored and two RBI, while May went 2-for-4 with one RBI.Box Score

PBC touRnament: leIBRanDt-leD Cou-gaRs eDge fRanCIs maRIon 4-1(5/9/12) COLUMBUS, GA – Junior left-handed pitcher Brodie Leibrandt scattered 10 hits and stranded the tying runs on base in the bottom of the ninth inning as Columbus State University outlasted sixth-ranked Francis University 4-1, Wednesday evening (May 9) in

the opening round of the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Baseball Tournament.

Because of rain on Wednesday afternoon at the down-town Golden Park, the contest was played on CSU’s on-campus facility Ragsdale Field. The remainder of the eight-team double-elimination tournament will however be played at Golden Park.

FMU drops to 34-15 and falls into the losers’ bracket where they will meet 28th-ranked Georgia College on Thursday at 4 p.m. Georgia College was shutout by 30th-ranked Lander University 5-0 also on Wednesday evening.

In Wednesday’s other first-round action, the University of Montevallo edged 13th-ranked USC Aiken 6-5 in 10 innings and 11th-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University blanked North Georgia College & State University 4-0.

Leibrandt (7-5), the son of former major league pitch-er Charlie Leibrandt, threw 141 pitches, striking out eight and walking only one.

Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the ninth, the Patriots strung together three straight singles by catcher Jacob Golliday, second baseman Brock McCallister, and right fielder Jarrod Reed to load the bases with one out. However, Leibrandt recovered to fan pinch-hitters Aus-tin Smetana and John Jones to end the game.

Reed finished the game 3-for-4, while both Golliday and Mc-Callister were 2-for-3.

Junior All-Conference pitcher Spencer Jordan (9-4) suffered the loss as he allowed three runs, all earned, on six hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked four.

Jordan struggled through the top of the first as he opened the game with back-to-back walks, the first of COLUMBUS STATE’S

BRODiE LEiBRANDT161

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120509_gdnl.xml

which eventually came around to score on Eric Weiss’ RBI single through the left side.

Francis Marion evened the score in the last of the second frame with a single tally. Senior center fielder Buddy Sosnoskie singled through right side to lead off. Golliday attempted to bunt Sosnoskie to second but ended up reaching on a single when he eluded the pitcher’s tag along the first base line. Both run-ners then moved up on a sacrifice bunt by McCallister.

Reed then plated Sosnoskie with an RBI single up the middle that was fielded by the shortstop behind the second base bag. Leibrandt then retired the next two batters to avoid further trouble and strand two Patri-ots on base.

CSU (30-21) went back ahead in the top of the fourth by a 2-1 count when left field J.D. Pullen drilled an RBI singled through the right side. The Cougar advantage would increase to 4-1 on consecutive run-scoring singles by Brett Teschner and Weiss with no outs in the seventh.

FMU failed to get a runner on base in only one inning (sixth), and the Patriots stranded six runners in scor-ing position.

Teschner, Weiss, and Pullen all had two hits for the Cougars. FMU left fielder Tyler Boyd robbed Teschner of a third hit when he made a leaping catch at the left field wall in the third inning.Box Score

PBC touRnament: usC aIken Bashes noRth geoRgIa 11-2, aDvanCes(5/10/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – 13th-ranked USC Aiken used 16 hits including three homeruns to end North Georgia College and State University’s Peach Belt Con-ference Tournament trip with an 11-2 victory in game number five of the 2012 PBC Tournament.


USCA (35-17), the East Division’s third seed, advanc-es to face the loser of the Armstrong Atlantic State University/University of Montevallo on Friday at 9:00 a.m. North Georgia (24-28), the West Division’s fourth seed, is eliminated from tournament play.

The Pacers opened the scoring in the very first inning as senior Stephen Carmon reached base on a one-out single and moved to second on an error by pitcher Taylor Keinat. The very next batter, junior Josh Miller, hit a bloop single to left field to score Carmon and give the Pacers an early 1-0 lead.

USCA scored its second run of the game in the second inning as junior Adam Anderson reached on a two-out single to left field. He then advanced to second on a wild pitch and was brought home by a single from junior Bryce Baur who beat out a slow roller to second base.

The runs continued to pour in for the Pacers in the fourth as Anderson and Baur hit back-to-back homeruns to put the Pacers up 5-0. The homeruns were the first for both Anderson and Baur on the season. Anderson hit a two-run homerun which scored senior Tyler Bourdo who had reached on a hit by pitch while Baur launched a solo shot. Both homeruns were to left field. After a groundout, Miller hit a double down the left field line which chased Keinat from the game. He pitched 3.2 innings with a pair of strikeouts, nine hits and five earned runs given up.

USCA added another run in the fifth as junior Bill Ger-stenslager hit a one-out double to left centerfield. He was brought home by the very next batter, freshman Ty Barkell, who hit a single to left centerfield to give USCA a 6-0 lead.

The Saints threatened in the bottom of the fifth as they loaded the bases with two outs but a strikeout ended the threat and kept the shutout alive for the Pacers.

USC AiKEN’S KELLY HOLT

162

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120509_bej7.xml

Baseball

163

North Georgia finally broke through in the sixth as se-nior Matthew Black reached on a two-out walk on four straight pitches. Senior Terrell Jones then hit a single through the left side to move Black to second. The RBI came off the bat of freshman Andrew Gordon who hit a single to right field which cut USCA’s lead to 6-1.

The Saints tacked on another run in the seventh as senior Jordan Erisman reached on a two-out single after the first baseman dropped a foul ball earlier in his at bat to extend the inning. Junior Derek Hooper followed with a single to left field to move Erisman to second. Junior Kenny Bellavance provided the RBI single through the right side to cut the lead to four.

The Pacers put the game out of reach in the ninth as freshman Will Tankersley hit a three-run homerun to left field to chase relief pitcher Jacob Beauchamp from the game. Beauchamp pitched 4.1 innings of relief with a pair of strikeouts and a walk. He allowed five hits and four runs. The Pacers then loaded the bases on an error by the third baseman, a single to left field and a walk. Bourdo then drove in the fourth run of the inning with a fielder’s choice to second base. The bases then got loaded again as Anderson hit a ball off the second base umpire. Baur followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to put the Pacers up, 11-2.

Junior Kelly Holt (6-4) took home the win for the Pac-ers as he pitched 8.0 innings with 10 strikeouts and five walks. He allowed eight hits and two runs includ-ing one earned. Keinat (4-5) was tagged with the loss.

Baur and Tankersley led the Pacers with three RBI each. Baur was 2-for-4 on the day while Tankersley was 2-for-5. Miller went 3-for-6 with an RBI and Ander-son was 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI.

North Georgia was led by Hooper who went 3-for-5 at the plate while five others had one hit each. Bel-lavance and Gordon provided the lone RBI for the Saints.Box Score

PBC touRnament: malone Closes DooR on 5-3 PIRate wIn(5/10/12) COLUMBUS, GA – Freshman reliever Chess Malone pitched 2.1 scoreless innings and allowed 11th-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University to es-cape with a 5-3 win over the University of Montevallo,

Thursday afternoon (May 10) on the second day of the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Baseball Tournament.

Armstrong (38-13) advances to a winners’ bracket game on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Montevallo (25-27) falls into the losers’ bracket where the Falcons will face USC Aiken on Friday at 9 a.m. USCA eliminated North Georgia College & State University 11-2 earlier on Thursday.

Malone earned his fourth save of 2012, while Arm-strong starter Scott Strickland improves to 9-3. Strick-land fanned eight and walked six in 6.2 innings.

Montevallo starter Alex Guilford (3-6) was tagged with the hard-luck loss as he allowed five runs, but only one was earned.

Catcher John Roberts and second baseman Will Thomas paced the Pirates with a pair of hits each, while second baseman Will Fulmer and third baseman Andrew Hill both had two hits for the Falcons.

Armstrong manufactured its first run in the top of the fourth for a 1-0 lead. Roberts reached on a throwing error and advanced to second on the play. He moved to third on a groundout and came home on a success-ful safety squeeze bunt by Jones.

In the fifth, the Pirates pushed the lead to 4-0 on back-to-back nearly identical RBI infield singles by Jones and Thomas. Lead-off man Casey Maloney plated the third run of the frame with a single to right center field.

Montevallo dented the scoreboard, almost literally, as first baseman Heath Peterson blasted a 395-foot solo home run to lead off the bottom of the sixth to trim the margin to 4-1. It was his 14th round-tripper of the year. Later in the frame, left fielder Zack Willoughby drilled an RBI-triple off the right field fence to make it a two-run contest at 4-2.

Both teams scratched singles tallies in the seventh – Armstrong on a 390-foot solo blast to left-center field by Chris Zittrouer and Montevallo on an RBI-single to right from designated hitter Chris Ross. The Pirates escaped further trouble in the bottom of the seventh when Malone entered the game and induced Blaine Rosenberg to line-out to second with two outs and the bases loaded.

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120510_wjpj.xml

Malone issued a lead-off walk in the eighth, but then coaxed a double play grounder back to the mound to wipe out the baserunner. He tossed a perfect 1-2-3 ninth inning to close out the Pirate win.Box Score

PBC touRnament: PatRIots PounD BoBCats 12-2(5/10/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – The No. 6-ranked Francis Marion baseball team pounded out 17 hits Thursday afternoon and defeated No. 28 Georgia Col-lege, 12-2, in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament loser’s bracket at Golden Park.

FMU, the second seed in the East, improves to 35-15 overall and will play the Lander/Columbus State loser at 12:30 p.m. Friday.

Georgia College, the top seed in the West, ends the season at 29-21.

Matt Broderick (8-2) earned the win on the mound for the Patriots after striking out four, walking one and allowing two earned runs on eight hits in six innings pitched. Don Sandifer was credited with a save with two strikeouts in three innings.

Georgia College’s Mike Guinane (3-7) was tagged with the loss, striking out four, walking one and allowing six earned runs on 10 hits in 6.2 innings of work.

GC got off to a good start when the Bobcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on back-to-back RBI singles by Cody Maas and Jeremy Donaldson.

The Patriots stormed back in the top of the third to take a 3-2 advantage on Jarrod Reed’s two-RBI dou-

ble down the left field line that drove in Michael Wilson and

Brian Paulhus, and Buddy Sosnoskie’s sacrifice

fly that sent Brock McCallister across the

plate.

FMU stretched its lead to 4-2 in the fourth on Rhodes

Dickerson’s single up the middle that plated Tyler Boyd, then made it 5-2

in the sixth when Boyd, who reached on a hit by pitch, stole second, and advanced to third on a throwing er-ror, scored on Paulhus’ RBI single.

The Patriots added two more runs in the seventh on RBI singles by Stephen Tarkenton and Dickerson that scored Sosnoskie and Tarkenton respectively.

FMU continued the scoring barrage with three more runs in the eighth on Jacob Golliday’s two-RBI single and Tarkenton’s RBI double to go up 10-2.

Dickerson and Wilson scored the Patriots’ final runs in the ninth on McCallister’s RBI single and a bases-loaded walk.

For FMU, Wilson batted 4-for-6, Dickerson 3-for-5 with two RBI, Boyd 2-for-3, Paulhus 2-for-4 with one RBI, and Tarkenton 2-for-6 with two RBI

The Bobcats’ Donaldson batted 2-for-4 with one RBI.Box Score

PBC touRnament: lanDeR eDges ColumBus state 6-5(5/10/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – Colby Painter’s solo home run over the right field wall in the eighth inning Thursday night led the No. 30 Lander baseball team to a 6-5 victory in the second round of the Peach Belt Conference Baseball Tournament at Golden Park.

Lander (36-16), the fourth seed in the East Division, will meet the USC Aiken/Montevallo winner at 4 p.m., Friday. The Bearcats’ 36 wins is a single-season, school record, while the victory also marks the fur-thest a Lander team has ever advanced in the PBC Tournament.

Columbus State (30-22), the third seed in the West, drops to the loser’s bracket and will face Francis Marion, a 12-2 winner over Georgia College, at 12:30 Friday.

Lander’s Ross Davis (3-3) earned the win in relief as he struck out seven, walked one and allowed just two hits in 5.2 innings pitched.

CSU’s Drew Dades (4-3) took the loss after striking out two, walking two and allowing one earned run on one hit in 1.1 innings.

FRANCiSMARiON’S

BUDDYSOSNOSKiE

164

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120510_6txn.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120510_t4pm.xml

Baseball

165

The Bearcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first in-ning when Ian Harvey led off with a single and later scored on a Columbus State error, and Jordan Owen’s RBI single plated AJ Nunziato.

After cutting the margin to 2-1 in the bottom of the in-ning when Cyle Rasmus scored from third on a double play, CSU knotted the game at 2-all in the third inning when Navarro Hall walked, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when Brett Teschner’s pop fly landed in the middle of three Lander players.

The Bearcats got back on top at 3-2 in the fourth when Jeff May, who walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch, later scored on a Columbus fielding error.

The Cougars took their first lead of the game at 5-3 in the fourth. Seth Corbitt doubled, moved to third on Rasmus’s bunt single and scored on a fielder’s choice, then Cameron’s Scott’s RBI single plated Hall and J.D. Pullen.

Patrick Grady’s fifth inning homerun over the left field wall – his sixth of the season – cut the Cougar lead to 5-4 in the fifth, then the Bearcats tied the game at 5-all in the seventh on Kevin Childs’ bases-loaded walk.

For Lander, Grady batted 2-for-3 and Nunziato went 2-for-5.

For the Cougars, Corbitt went 2-for-3, and Teschner and Scott both batted 2-for-5.Box Score

PBC touRnament: PaCeRs holD off montevallo 7-5(5/11/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – USC Aiken’s Derek Bea-sley overcame a shaky start to strike out 10 and lead the Pacers’ baseball team to a 7-5 victory over the University of Montevallo in the Peach Belt Conference Baseball Tournament’s loser’s bracket Friday morning at Golden Park.

USCA, which is ranked No. 13 and is the third seed in the East Division, improves to 36-17, and will face Lander at 4 p.m., Friday.

Montevallo, the No. 2 seed in the West, finishes the season at 25-28.

Beasley (9-4) earned the win after walking four and al-lowing three earned runs on two hits in seven innings pitched. Thomas McCleod was credited with his sec-ond save of the season after striking out one, walking one and allowing one earned run on two hits in three innings pitched.

Montevallo’s Devon Davis (2-4) suffered the loss, striking out two, walking one and allowing three runs (none earned) on four hits in 4.2 innings pitched.

With bases loaded and one out in the first inning, Montevallo took a 2-0 lead on back-to-back, bases-loaded walks that plated Will Fulmer and Vincente Andrews. In all, Beasley registered four walks and hit two batters before striking out the final two to get out of the inning.

USC Aiken finally got on the board in the fifth inning and took a 3-2 lead on an RBI double by Stephen Carmon and a pair of RBI singles from Bryce Baur and Josh Miller.

The Pacers stretched their advantage to 4-2 in the sixth when Ty Barkell’s single scored Nick Aranas.

Will Fulmer’s solo homer in the seventh cut the Pacer lead to 4-3.

But USCA came right back in the bottom of the inning and increased its lead to 6-3 after Aranas’ two-RBI double sent Will Tankersley and Carmon home.

Montevallo rallied in the eighth and made it 6-4 when Austin Dubberly singled, advanced to second on Josh Headley’s single and later scored on a fielder’s choice coupled with a throwing error.

USC AiKEN’S NiCK ARANAS

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120510_nhes.xml

The Pacers responded with one run in the bottom of the inning to go up 7-4 when Baur, who reached on a bunt single, later scored when Montevallo second baseman Fulmer dropped an infield pop fly with two outs.

The Falcons scored their final run in the ninth on An-drews’ solo homer over the right field wall.

For USCA, Carmon batted 3-for-5, Aranas 2-for-3 and Baur 2-for-5.

Dubberly went 2-for-3 for Montevallo.Box Score

PBC touRnament: ashCRaft anD ston-eR manage 4-1 fmu wIn(5/11/12) COLUMBUS, GA. – Junior right-hander Gary Ashcraft and sophomore righty Jeffrey Stoner com-bined on a six-hitter and senior center fielder Buddy Sosnoskie went 4-for-5 to lead sixth-ranked Francis Marion University to a 4-1 win over Columbus State University, Friday afternoon (May 11) in an elimination game of the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Baseball Tournament.

The Patriots fight off elimination for a second straight contest, up their record to 36-15, and advance to face 11th-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. If FMU wins that game, the two teams will play again on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Columbus State ends its season at 30-23.

CSU got its lead-off batter on base in five of the first six innings, but Ashcraft and Stoner managed to hold the Cougars to a lone tally. Ashcraft (6-0) remains unbeaten by allowing five singles in five innings, while fanning three and walking no one.

Stoner tossed four scoreless frames to earn his eighth save of 2012. He allowed just one single and one walk, while striking out three.

CSU starter Levi Futo (3-4) allowed only six hits and three runs in 7.2 innings. He struck out four and issued four bases-on-balls.

Sosnoskie registered his fourth four-hit game of the

season and in the process drove in a pair of runs. Lead-off batter Michael Wilson continued his hot hit-ting in the tournament with a 2-for-3 effort that includ-ed one run scored and one driven in.

Right fielder Eric Weiss was the lone Cougar with multiple hits as he was 2-for-4. Each of the top four batters in the CSU line-up recorded one hit.

Both squads squandered scoring opportunities in the first with FMU leaving two on and CSU stranding a run-ner at third.

FMU junior first baseman Rhodes Dickerson’s fifth hit in three tournament games ignited a two-out Patriot rally in the second. Catcher Brian Paulhus followed with a walk and Wilson then laced an RBI-single to right center to plate Dickerson for a 1-0 lead.

Two great defensive plays by FMU in the bottom of the second preserved the lead. Ashcraft fielded a hard come-backer to throw out a runner heading from second to third. Right fielder Jarrod Reed made a run-ning catch in deep right-center and then threw back to first to double off a Cougar base runner and end the inning.

CSU knotted the game at 1-1 in the last of the fourth. Center fielder Navarro Hall led off with a single, stole second, moved to third on a groundout, and crossed home plate on an RBI-single up the middle by Cougar catcher Brett Teschner.

FMU quickly regained the advantage in the next half inning when Sosnoskie laced a two-out RBI double

near the left-field line that scored Reed all the way from first base.

The Patriots added single runs in the eighth – on a sacrifice fly by Dickerson – and the ninth

– on a scorching two-out RBI-double to left center by Sos-noskie – innings to take a 4-1 advantage. Stoner

then retired the Cougars in order in the last of the ninth.

Sosnoskie’s two doubles give him a confer-

FRANCiS MARiON’S SPENCER JORDAN

166

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120511_1a9z.xml

Baseball

167

ence-leading 21 for the season, one shy of the Patriot single-season record set by Jeff Parsons in 1988.

CSU had beaten the Patriots by an identical 4-1 score on Wednesday evening in the first round of the tourna-ment. The Cougars listed eight seniors on their 2012 roster.Box Score

PBC touRnament: usC aIken suRvIves, Beat lanDeR 9-3(5/11/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – The No. 13-ranked USC Aiken baseball team dealt No. 30 Lander its first loss of the Peach Belt Conference double-elimination tour-nament Friday afternoon when the Pacers pounded out 18 hits en route to a 9-3 victory at Golden Park.

The two teams will meet again at 7 p.m. Saturday in the elimination round to see who will face either Arm-strong Atlantic or Francis Marion for the conference championship on Sunday. The conference champion earns an automatic berth in next week’s NCAA Divi-sion II Southeast Regional.

USCA, the third seed in the East, improves to 37-17, while Lander, the fourth seed in the East, slips to 36-17.

USCA’s Wyatt Brown (7-2) earned the win after striking out five, walking one and allowing seven hits in eight scoreless innings.

Lander’s Kyle Tate (3-2) suffered the loss after striking out one and allowing six earned runs on 10 hits in 4.1 innings pitched.

The Pacers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Will Tankersley’s solo home run over the left center-field wall.

USCA’s big inning was the third when the Pacers tal-lied four runs and stretched their lead to 5-0. Josh Miller’s fielder’s choice drove in JJ Loker, while Nick Aranas and Bill Gerstenslager added RBI singles that scored Miller and Tankersley. Aranas later stole home.

The Pacers scored one run each in the fifth and sixth innings on an RBI double by Tyler Bourdo and Miller’s RBI single that drove in Gerstenslager and Baur to extend the lead to 7-0.

USCA continued its assault with two more eighth-inning runs. Aranas tripled and went home on a wild pitch, and Baur singled in Anderson.

The Bearcats prevented the shutout with three runs in the ninth inning. Ian Harvey’s double plated pinch run-ner Tyler Wilson, AJ Nunziato’s fielder’s choice scored Colby Painter, and Harvey went home on Patrick Grady’s RBI single.

For USCA, Gerstenslager batted 3-for-4, Tankersley 3-for-5, Ty Barkell 2-for-3, Aranas 2-for-4, and Baur and Miller 2-for-5.

For Lander, Painter went 3-for-4, Grady 3-for-5, and Jeff May 2-for-4.Box Score

PBC touRnament: #6 PatRIots suRvIve elImInatIon game oveR #11 PIRates(5/11/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – Sixth-ranked Francis Marion University Patriots survived a late rally by the 11th-ranked Pirates of Armstrong Atlantic State Uni-versity to survive in the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Tournament, 9-7.


FMU (37-17), the East Division’s two seed, came into the game with one loss while Armstrong (38-14), the East Division’s one seed, came in undefeated. With the win the Patriots and Pirates will play a win-or-go-home game tomorrow, May 12 at 3 p.m. with the winner advancing to the PBC Championship game on Sunday.

Senior Jarrott Hooks took home the win to improve to 7-0 on the season as he pitched 6.0 innings with seven strikeouts and three walks. Sophomore Jef-frey Stoner came in and pitched the final 1.1 innings picking up his second save of the day and ninth of the season.

Junior Ross Beach of Armstrong took home the loss pitching 1.2 innings with a pair of walks and five runs given up.

The Patriots opened the scoring in the very first inning as sophomore Tyler Wilson led off with a triple to right

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120511_vdg6.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120511_8q4o.xml

168

centerfield. Senior Brock McCallister followed with a single through the right side to give FMU a 1-0 lead. A walk and a single loaded the bases for the Patriots with no outs but back-to-back-to-back weak ground-balls allowed the Pirates to survive the inning with just one run allowed.

The Pirates responded in the top of the second as junior Chris Zittrouer led off with a single that just got past the second baseman. Sophomore Clayton Miller followed with a double down the left field line to score Zittrouer and was then gunned down at third trying to stretch the double into a triple.

FMU retook the lead in the bottom of the inning as McCallister hit a two-out triple down the right field line to score Wilson who had reached on a fielder’s choice. Senior Buddy Sosnoskie added to the lead as he hit a double down the left field line to score McCallister and put the Patriots up 3-1. The double gave Sosnoskie 22 for the season which tied the FMU school record for doubles in a season which was set back in 1988 by Jeff Parsons. He would later break the record in the bottom of the eighth with a double to right center. Junior Jacob Golliday followed with a single to right center to score both Sosnoskie and junior Jarrod Reed who had reached on a walk earlier in the inning to extend the Patriots lead to four. Golliday would be the final batter that Armstrong starter Beach would face as he left the game after 1.2 innings of work.

The Patriots tacked on three more runs in the third as Wilson hit an RBI double to centerfield to score senior Tyler Boyd. Just one batter later junior Jarrod Reed hit a two-RBI single to right field to score Wilson and senior Brian Paulhus to give FMU an 8-1 lead.

The Pirates began to work their way back into the game in the fourth as a pair of errors cost the Patriots three runs. Senior Alex Frederick drew a bases loaded hit by pitch and was followed by a two-RBI single from senior Drew Walker to cut the Patriots lead to just 8-4.

Both teams went scoreless over the fifth, sixth and seventh innings until the Pirates broke through in the eighth with a walk and back-to-back-to-back singles to score their fifth run of the game. A sacrifice fly by Frederick scored Armstrong’s second run of the inning to cut the lead to just two. A groundout RBI by Walker chased reliever Don Sandifer from the game as the lead was cut to 8-7. Sandifer pitched 1.2 innings of

relief with two strikeouts and two walks. He allowed three runs off of three hits.

Sosnoskie’s record-breaking double in the eighth led to FMU’s ninth run of the game as he hit a lead-off double to right center and then moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. A groundout by junior Stephen Tarken-ton sent Sosnoskie home for the 9-7 lead.

FMU was led by Sosnoskie who went 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Wilson, McCallister and Paulhus all added two hits each.

Armstrong was led by Walker who drove in three runs while going 1-for-5 at the plate. Three Pirates had two hits each including Miller, Cody Powell and Tanner Jones.Box Score

PBC touRnament: BaDeR, Powell PoweR PIRates Into PBC BaseBall ChamPIonshIP game(5/12/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. - Sophomore Ethan Bader hurled a four-hitter and sophomore Cody Pow-ell delivered a key three-run home run to lead the No. 11-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University baseball squad into the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship Game with a 5-1 win over No. 6 Francis Marion on Saturday afternoon at Golden Park.

The top seed in the East Division, Armstrong (39-14) will face either Lander or USC Aiken in Sunday’s 1 o’clock championship game. The champion receives

ARMSTRONG’S CODY POWELL

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120511_w73o.xml

Baseball

169

the PBC’s automatic berth into next week’s NCAA Divi-sion II Southeast Regional Tournament. The Pirates, making their third appearance in the championship game, captured the tournament crown in 2007. Fran-cis Marion (37-16), the second seed in the East Divi-sion, will await a possible at-large bid into the regional tournament.

Ethan Bader (11-4) threw just 98 pitches - 71 for strikes - in the four-hit complete game, striking out 10, walking one and allowing just one earned run.

FMU’s Jeremy Knab (0-1) suffered the loss after strik-ing out two, walking five and allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits in five innings. The Patriots’ Knab, Justin Turbeville, Will Chandler and Tyler Smith com-bined for the three-hitter.

Tyler Boyd gave Francis Marion the early 1-0 lead in the third inning with a solo home run over the left field wall.

The Pirates took a 2-1 advantage in the bottom of the inning when, with bases loaded,Drew Walker’s sacrifice fly plated Tanner Jones and Will Thomas scored on a fielding error.

Armstrong’s Cody Powell prevented the Patri-ots from tying the game in the top of the sixth inning when he caught Brock McCallister’s fly ball in right field and gunned down Brian Paulhus at the plate on the sacrifice fly at-tempt for the third out.

Powell then put the game out of reach in the bottom of the eighth inning when he stroked a three-run homer over the left field wall for his sixth home run of the season and the Pirates’ final runs.

FMU’s Paulhus was the only player with multiple hits with two. Powell finished the game with the home run and three RBIs for the Pirates while Clayton Miller added a double.Box Score

PBC touRnament: lanDeR Beats aIken; aDvanCes to ChamPIonshIP game(5/12/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. - The No. 30-ranked Lander baseball team exploded for four runs in the eighth inning Saturday night and went on to defeat No. 13 USC Aiken, 7-4, at Golden Park and earn a spot in Sunday’s Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship game against Armstrong.

Lander (37-17), which is the fourth seed in the West Division, will be making its first-ever appearance in the championship game after setting a new school record for wins in a season. Lander and No. 11 Armstrong are scheduled to start at 1 p.m. to see who will earn the PBC’s automatic berth into the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Tournament.

USC Aiken (37-18), which is the third seed in the East Division, must wait to see if they earn a berth

into the regional tournament.

Lander’s Ross Davis (4-3) earned the win in relief after striking out three, walking one, and allowing one

earned run on four hits in 3.2 innings of work.

Tied at 3-all, Jeff May and Colby Painter had back to back singles to lead

off the eighth and both scored on Ian Harvey’s fielder’s choice coupled with a throwing error. AJ Nunziato followed with a two-run homer over the right field wall to put the Bearcats up 7-3.

The Pacers’ Ryan Milewski (7-1) was tagged with the loss,

striking out two and allow-ing three runs on four hits

in two innings pitched.

Lander took a 1-0 first-inning lead when Harvey, who reached on a single, later scored on a throwing error. But USCA tied

it at 1-1 in the bottom of the inning on Josh Miller’s solo home run over the left field wall.

The Pacers took a 2-1 lead in the second after Bill Gerstenslager scored on Tyler Bourdo’s RBI single.

Lander came right back in the fourth and made it 2-2 on Harvey’s sacrifice fly.

LANDER’SA.J. NUNZiATO

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120512_lrbp.xml

Starting pitcher Brandon Miller pulled the Bearcats out of a fourth-inning jam when, with runners on first and second, he set down three straight Pacers with a pair of strikeouts and a foul fly.

Lander regained the lead at 3-2 in the sixth inning when May reached on an error, advance to third on an error and went home on Nunziato’s groundout.

But USC Aiken answered in the seventh and tied the game at 3-all on Miller’s RBI single that scored JJ Loker.

The Pacers scored the final run of the game in the ninth on Miller’s RBI single that drove in Bryce Baur.

For Lander, Painter batted 2-for-4, and Nunziato and May both went 2-for-5.

For USCA, Miller went 3-for-5 and Gerstenslager 2-for-5.Box Score

PeaCh Belt touRnament ChamPIons! no. 11 PIRates Down lanDeR, 3-1(5/13/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. - No. 11-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University scored twice in the top of the ninth inning to snap a 1-1 tie and capture the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship with a 3-1 win over No. 30-ranked Lander on Sunday afternoon at Golden Park in Columbus, Ga.

The Pirates (40-14) earn the Peach Belt’s automatic berth into the NCAA Championships, which begin on May 17 at a site to be announced tonight with a 10:00 p.m. selection show. The berth is the Pirates’ 13th in the last 23 seasons and the tournament title is the second as Armstrong also won in 2007. Lander (37-18) must now await word of a possible at-large berth after advancing to its first PBC Tournament final.

Each team plated a run in the second inning as the Pirates’ John Roberts hit a solo home run in the top half of the inning, while Lander’s Erik Lunde doubled in a run in the bottom half.

Lander had five hits through the first two innings against Armstrong starter Travis Morris, but Mor-ris settled down to hold the Bearcats at bay through three more innings of work, exiting in the sixth after giving up just one run, walking three and striking out

four in five innings.

Scott Elitzsky (4-2), the starter for the Bearcats, was magnificent outside of the home run to Roberts. He did not allow another hit the rest of the way in his 8 1/3 innings of work and Armstong did not get a baser-unner against him until a leadoff walk in the seventh.

The game turned in the top of the ninth inning when leadoff hitter Casey Maloney’s ground ball to short resulted in a high throw to first, pulling Owens off the bag and allowing Maloney to reach. A sacrifice hit by Frederick followed by Drew Walker being hit by a pitch put runners at first and second with one out. Cory Hopper came on in relief for the Bearcats and Roberts stroked an RBI single to right field, scoring Maloney with the go-ahead run.

Clayton Miller followed one out later with a line shot up the middle, plating

Walker with an insurance run.

Freshman and PBC Tournament

MVP Chess Malone then closed

out the ninth, giving

up just one hit to earn the win in his third appearance in the tourna-ment. Malone (3-1) hurled four innings of three-hit shut-

ARMSTRONG’S CHESS

MALONE

2012 PBC BASEBALL CHAMPiONS ARMSTRONG PiRATES

170

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120512_e6z4.xml

Baseball

171

out ball, walking one while striking out five and for the tournament pitched 7 1.3 innings of four-hit, one-run ball, earning a win and a save.

Malone was joined on the All-Tour-nament team by John Roberts and Ethan Bader, who hurled a four-hit complete game 5-1 win over Francis Marion on Saturday to put the Pirates into the championship game.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: JoRDan helPs PatRIots avoID PIRate attaCk(5/17/12) MOUNT OLIVE, NC – Junior right-hander Spencer Jordan pitched seven strong innings and senior second baseman Brock McCallister collected three hits and a pair of two-out RBIs to lead fourth-seeded and sixth-ranked Francis Marion University to an 11-2 win over third-seeded and seventh-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University, Thursday morning (May 17) in a first-round game at the 2012 NCAA Divi-sion II Southeast Regional Baseball Tournament.

The six-team, double-elimination tournament is being hosted by Mount Olive College on its Scarborough Field.

Francis Marion (38-16) advances to face the Tus-culum/Catawba winner on Friday at 7 p.m. FMU snaps string of tournament-opening losses as the Patriots had dropped their first game in each of their past five post-season tournaments dating back to the 2009 NCAA regional at USC Aiken.

Armstrong (40-15) will meet the Mount Olive/Lander winner on Friday at 3 p.m.

McCallister finished the game 3-for-6 with a run scored and the two driven in. He led a Patriot line-up that all saw every starter get at least one hit and seven different player record RBIs.

Sophomore shortstop Michael Wil-son, junior third baseman Stephen Tarkenton, junior catcher Jacob Golliday, and senior designated hitter Brian Paulhus all had two hits.

That 16-hit attack backed the pitch-ing of Jordan (10-4) who allowed only one earned run on four hits in seven innings. He struck out four and walked three. Junior righty Don Sandifer finished the contest with two hitless and scoreless frames.

Armstrong southpaw Chandler Hall (9-3), who beat the Patriots during the regular season in Savannah, took the loss on Thursday. He surrendered six runs (four earned) on eight hits in six innings.

FMU took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Tarkenton singled up the middle with one out. Golli-day followed with a double to left field that advanced Tarkenton to third, and both runners continued around to score when the relay throw was wild and rolled all

the way to the right field line.

The advantage increased to 3-0 in the fifth when Paulhus was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a bunt single by Luke Tollison, and crossed home plate on McCallister’s first two-out base hit. Jordan did not allow his first hit until R.J. Dennard led off the bot-tom of the fifth with a single to left center.

Three consecutive run-scoring singles by Golliday,

Tyler Boyd, and Paulhus expanded the Francis Marion lead to 6-0 in the top of the sixth. Armstrong loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the frame, but Jordan escaped by allowing only one run – that on an RBI groundout by catcher John Roberts.

Francis Marion plated four runs in the top of the eighth, started by junior Rhodes Dickerson’s first extra-base hit as a Patriot, a double to left center that drove home Paulhus. Altogether, FMU was 8-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

PBC All-TournAmenT TeAmBuddy Sosnoskie, Francis MarionMichael Wilson, Francis Marion

Josh Miller, USC AikenWyatt Brown, USC Aiken

Patrick Grady, LanderChris Thomas, Lander

Ethan Bader, Armstrong John Roberts, ArmstrongmosT VAluABle PlAyer

Chess Malone, Armstrong

FRANCiS MARiON’S BROCK MCALLiSTER

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120513_higb.xml

The first two Pirate batters in the bottom of the eighth reached and that forced Jordan from the game in favor of Sandifer. Third baseman Drew Walker drove home Armstrong’s second tally with a groundout to first, but that was all the damage the Pirates could inflict.

“We played well today,” said FMU head coach Art In-abinet in the post-game press conference. “We talked about being more aggressive offensively and the need to score more runs if we wanted to be around on Sun-day (last day of the tournament).

“We have a low-key team. They don’t get too high or too low. We played near-perfect baseball today, but it’s just one game and the most important game is now tomorrow. We will need to continue to excel in all three phases: pitching hitting, and fielding.”

Jordan commented on his outing by saying, “I was able to locate my fastball today, and then I could make use of my change-up. It also helped that the team got me a lead. It is a lot easier to pitch with the lead. After we went up 3-0, they got a few hits but I was able to bear down and contain the damage.”

“In the bullpen before the game I had all four pitches working. I was able to mix in my off-speed pitches, then (catcher) Jacob (Golliday) helped me spot my fastball. I knew my change-up would have to be big for me today if I was going to have success.”

His battery mate Golliday added, “Spencer got ahead of the batters today and really pitched well.”

On playing after a car accident earlier this week in which he was hit in the driver’s side door, Golliday said, “It’s funny. This is the second straight season I have been in a car accident a couple of days before regionals. (On Monday) I expected to wake up the next day and be really sore. As bad as it looked, I really only had a small bruise on my leg.”

McCallister added, “It means a lot getting into the win-ner’s bracket. We do have a laid-back team, but this is the regionals. If you can’t get up for this game, you can’t get up for anything.”

Concerning his two-out clutch hitting, he added, “I try to keep my approach the same and just try to put the ball in play and hit it hard.

Box Score

nCaa touRnament: lanDeR uPsets toP-seeDeD mt. olIve 7-5(5/18/12) MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – Freshman Colby Painter blasted a three-run home run over the right field fence Friday afternoon to lead the No. 20 Lander baseball team to a 7-5 upset victory over top-seeded and No. 4-ranked Mount Olive College in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament at Scarbor-ough Field.

Sixth-seeded Lander (38-18) will play Armstrong Atlan-tic later this evening. Top-seeded Mount Olive (44-9) will play Catawba in the next game. The championship game is set for Sunday with the winner advancing to the Division II World Series, May 26-June 2, at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.

The win is the Bearcats’ first-ever in the regional tour-nament and sets a new school record for victories in a season.

Trailing 5-3 with two outs in the ninth, Lander cut the Trojans lead to 5-4 on Jeff May’s RBI single that scored Jacob Tisdale. After Erik Lunde’s single down the left field line pushed Aaron Poole to second, Mount Olive changed pitchers.

The Trojans’ Matt Dillon, who started the game and threw 178 pitches, was relieved by Chris Hinton, a sidearm pitcher. Painter drove Hinton’s first pitch over the fence.

Lander’s Ross Davis (5-3), who earned two wins in last week’s Peach Belt Conference Tournament, was awarded the victory after striking out three, walking one and allowing one earned run on four hits in four innings pitched. Lander starter Chris Thomas, the PBC Pitcher of the Year, struck out two, walked three and allowed three earned run on nine hits in five innings of work.

Dillon (9-2) suffered the loss after striking out six, walking six and allowing five earned runs on nine hits in 8.2 innings pitched.

Mount Olive took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on Mike Mercurio’s two-RBI single up the middle that plated Cameron Sherrer and Nick Gaeta.

172

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120517_eg8e.xml

Baseball

173

Lander bounced back in the third to tie the game at 2-2 after May scored on AJ Nunziato’s RBI single and Painter advanced home on a bases-loaded hit by pitch.

The Trojans regained the lead at 3-2 in the third on Braden Reitano’s sacrifice fly that sent Jacob Rogers across the plate.

The Bearcats came right back in the fourth and tied it at 3-all when, with bases loaded and no outs, Kevin Childs, who reached on an error, scored on Painter’s RBI single.

In the fifth, the Trojans went up 4-3 on Gaeta’s sacri-fice fly that scored Geno Escalante then made it 5-3 in the seventh on Will Bynum’s shot down the right field line that drove in Reitano.

For Lander, May went 2-for-3, Painter and Lunde both went 2-for-4 and Ian Harvey 2-for-6.

For the Trojans, Sherrer batted 3-for-4, Antonio Calla-way 2-for-4, and Escalante 2-for-5.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: PIRates stay alIve wIth 3-2 wIn oveR lanDeR(5/18/12) MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. - Armstrong Atlantic State University sophomore Ethan Bader hurled a 150-pitch complete-game five-hitter to help the No. 7-ranked Pirates stave off elimination at the NCAA Southeast Regional with a 3-2 win over No. 20 Lander on Friday evening at Scarborough Field in Mount Olive, N.C.

With the win, the Pirates (41-15) advance to Sat-urday’s action and will take Catawba at 4:30 p.m. Lander (38-19) will take on the loser Francis Marion/Tusculum, who play later Friday, on Saturday after-noon at 1 p.m.

Armstrong broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth inning with two runs, on an RBI single by Drew Walker and an infield RBI single by Will Thomas.

The Pirates stretched that lead to 3-0 in the seventh on an RBI groundout by John Roberts.

Bader, meanwhile, kept stranding Bearcat runners and pitching out of tough situations. He got out of a

two-on, one-out jam in the fourth with a popout and a strikeout, then stranded two more in the sixth with an inning-ending strikeout.

In the ninth, a two-RBI single by Jacob Tisdale brought the Bearcats to within one run, 3-2, with two outs, but Bader induced a popup into shallow left field by Colby Painter to end the game.

Bader collected his third complete game of the year with the win, improving to 12-4 on the season by giving up just five hits and two runs in nine innings of work, walking three while striking out nine. The 12 wins in a season ties him with Chuck Christopher (1985), Bill Gearhart (1988) and Jon Dobyns (2003) for the most wins in a single season in Armstrong baseball history.

Todd Hughson (3-4) took the loss for the Bearcats, giving up three hits and two runs in 5 1/3 innings of work, walking five while striking out four.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: PatRIots fall to PIoneeRs In late nCaa aCtIon(5/18/12) MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. - Aaron Guinn de-livered four hits and Alexi Colon homered twice as second-seeded and second-ranked Tusculum College remained undefeated in the NCAA Division II South-east Regional with a 7-2 win over fourth-seeded and sixth-ranked Francis Marion University early Saturday morning. Due to postponements caused by Thursday night rain, the contest did not finish until 2:30 a.m.

Both teams advanced to Saturday’s third round. Fran-cis Marion meets Lander at 1 p.m. while Tusculum will meet the winner of that game at 8 p.m.

The Pioneers pounded out 14 hits against three Patriot pitchers in support of starting pitcher Taylor Rakes (10-1). Rakes scattered 10 hits, all singles, in a complete game victory.

Tusculum never trailed after a pair of runs in the top of the second. With one out, Heath Comerford and Nate Reid delivered one-out singles and Tripper Cris-son walked to load the bases. Lukas Graves brought in the first run with a groundout, then Guinn’s first hit made it 2-0.

One inning later, Carlos Santana brought home a third

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120518_dloj.xml

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120518_gnli.xml

run with a groundout.

In the fourth, Francis Marion fought back with two runs of its own. Singles by Jarrod Reed and Stephen Tarkenton got things started, and Tyler Boyd singled home one run, and an error cut the deficit to 3-2.

Francis Marion got no closer. In the fifth, Colon’s 20th homer stretched the lead back to 4-2; then Cody Coff-man delivered his eighth homer in the seventh, a solo blast to right.

Rakes allowed just one earned run, while striking out a career-best nine. Jarrod Reed and Jacob Golliday had two hits apiece for the Patriots. Starter Matt Brod-erick (8-3) took the loss.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: fmu suRvIves In nCaas as sosnoskIe sPaRks PatRIots(5/19/12) MOUNT OLIVE, NC – Senior center field Buddy Sosnoskie had three hits, including a two-run homer, and scored three runs to spark sixth-ranked and fourth-seeded Francis Marion University past 20th-ranked and sixth-seeded Lander University 10-3, Saturday (May 19) afternoon in an elimination game at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Baseball Tournament.

Francis Marion (39-17) advances to face unbeaten Tusculum College at 8 p.m. on Saturday evening. If FMU wins that contest, the Patriots will advance to the regional title game on Sunday at 5 p.m.

Lander ends its most successful season in school history with a 38-20 record after

making its first-ever NCAA Tour-nament appearance.

Sosnoskie finished the day 3-for-4 with four runs batted in. He now has 88 hits this sea-son, one shy of the team record of 89 set

by Barrett Kleinknecht in 2009. FMU senior

catcher Brian Paulhus was 2-for-3 on Saturday with a run scored and two driven in.

Patriot closer Jeffrey Stoner (6-3) relieved starter Gary Ashcraft with two outs and the bases loaded in the fourth. The sophomore right-hander pitched 4.1 in-nings, his longest outing since moving into the closer role, and allowed one run on four hits with four strike-outs.

Three Patriot hurlers held Lander to an 0-for-10 day with runners in scoring position.

Sosnoskie ignited Francis Marion’s offense in the bot-tom of the second. The Statesville, N.C., native legged out a high chopper to first base for an infield single. Third baseman Stephen Tarkenton, after failing to get down a sacrifice bunt, doubled off the left field line to send the speedy Sosnoskie all the way around to score.

Junior designated hitter Jacob Golliday bunted to move Tarkenton over to third, but he reached safely when no Bearcat covered first base. Senior left fielder Tyler Boyd, appearing in his 191st career game, was then hit by a pitch from Lander starter Scott Elitzky (4-3) to load the bases with no outs.

Paulhus plated a second run with a sacrifice fly to left field, before junior first baseman Rhodes Dickerson walked to reload the bases with one out. Leadoff man Michael Wilson drove home FMU’s third run with fielder’s choice grounder.

Ashcraft was able to escape trouble in the top of the third with some defensive work of his own. Bearcat right fielder Kevin Childs laced a double over the first base bag to lead off the frame. After moving to third on a ground out to second, Ashcraft knocked down a come-backer to mound by Ian Harvey and held Childs at third while throwing to first for the second out. Ash-craft then covered first on a chopper wide of first to Dickerson for third out.

Patriot right fielder Jarrod Reed singled past the first baseman to lead off the last of the third and Sos-noskie followed with a two-run line-drive homer to right center field as the FMU advantage expanded to 5-0. It was Sosnoskie’s second long ball of the year and the third of his two-year stay in Florence.

Ashcraft departed in the fourth after allowing a two-out single and then walking three consecutive batters to force in a run. Second baseman Erik Lunde picked

FRANCiS MARiON’S DONSANDiFER

174

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120518_or47.xml

Baseball

175

up the RBI. Francis Marion head coach Art Inabi-net then brought in Stoner. His first batter, Harvey, reached on a two-out infield error that plated Lander’s second run, but Stoner got All-Conference shortstop AJ Nunziato to fly out to end the rally.

Sosnoskie was hit by a pitch in the fifth, and after Golliday walked, Elitzky was replaced by righty Michael White. Boyd collected an infield single and the ball was thrown away at second base allowing Sosnoskie to score. Paulhus then ripped an RBI single between third baseman and the bag to up the margin to 7-2.

Singles to right by Jacob Tisdale and Childs put two Bearcat runners on with one out in sixth, but Stoner retired the next two batters to end the threat. Wilson ended the frame with a lunging catch of a liner by Har-vey in the 5.5 hole that might well have scored two.

The Patriots manufactured a run in the sixth when Wilson walked, moved to second on wild pitch, ad-vanced to third on ground out, and scored on a foul ball sacrifice fly by Reed.

Lander scored its third run on an RBI double to left center by Weston Lawing in the top of the seventh. The Bearcats threatened again in the eighth with two runners on, but Stoner induced back-to-back fly outs to Sosnoskie in center.

Childs led Lander at the plate with a 3-for-3 afternoon, while Tisdale registered two hits.

Sosnoskie accounted for the final two runs of the con-test in the eighth frame with a two-run single through right side.

“Today we were able to get out on top early,” said Inabinet. “Stoner came on and held them down dur-ing the middle innings and we were able to score a few more runs. The final score was not indicative of the how close the game was, especially in the middle innings.

“Stoner gave us a lift. He’s been our closer. He’s started some games for us. Today, he came in and gave us a chance to pull away from them. That was a big homer by Sosnoskie. The ball jumps out of here to right field and he got all of it.”

Stoner commented, “It’s a different mentality start-

ing and closing. Even though I didn’t start the game, I needed to go in and give the team some strong in-nings. My cutter and change were working well today.”

When asked about the home run, Sosnoskie said, “I didn’t know it was going out, but I hit it solid and on a line.” Concerning the quick turnaround from last night’s late game that ended at 2:15 a.m., he added

“Today’s a brand new day. It usually takes me a while to get to sleep. I had a sandwich and that was it this morning. Today is show and go day.”Box Score

nCaa touRnament: PIRates elImInateD wIth 11-0 loss to CatawBa(5/19/12) MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. - Junior pitcher Ross Whitley tossed a three-hit shutout and fifth-seeded Catawba pounded out 15 hits to advance to cham-pionship Sunday with an 11-0 win over third seeded Armstrong Atlantic State Saturday evening in the third round of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional at Mount Olive, N.C.

With the victory, Catawba advances to play second-seeded Tusculum Sunday at 1 p.m. Tusculum is scheduled to play Francis Marion Saturday night at 8 p.m. If Francis Marion wins, all three teams will ad-vance to Sunday, each having one loss. If Tusculum wins, Catawba will need to beat the Pioneers twice Sunday.

Armstrong finishes the season 41-16.

Whitley (7-3) struck out 14 in a dominating perfor-mance. Only twice did the Pirates have a base-runner reach scoring position. Meanwhile five players had at least two hits for the Indian attack.

Catawba got all the offense it needed in the top of the first when Garrett Furr singled home Chris Dula and Ryan Bostian for a 2-0 lead. Brett Underwood’s two-run double in the third, then a Julio Zubillaga two-run single in the fifth chased Armstrong starter Scott Strickland(9-4).

The Pirates never found an answer for Whitley, who retired the first seven batters he faced, including five strikeouts.

Armstrong had its first solid chance to score in the

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120519_xie3.xml

176

third. With one out, Drew Walker walked to become his team’s first baserunner. Casey Maloney singled one out later to put runners on the corners. Whit-ley coaxed a pop out from Alex Frederick to end the threat.

In the seventh, Catawba blew the game open with a four-run seventh. Furr and Zubillaga singled, then ad-vanced on a sacrifice bunt by Underwood. Danny Pa-risi walked to load the bases with two outs for Keaton Hawks. Hawks delivered a bases-clearing triple to the right-centerfield fence. One batter later, Hawks scored on a single by Dula.

Furr finished with three hits and was one of four Indi-ans with at least two RBI. Beard also had three hits.

Travis Morris came out of the Armstrong bullpen to toss two shutout innings, walking one and striking out two.Box Score

nCaa touRnament: PatRIots aDvanCe to RegIonal ChamPIonshIP(5/19/12) MOUNT OLIVE, NC – Playing its third game in less than 24 hours, Francis Marion University rode the strong starting pitching of junior right-hander Don Sandifer to claim a 9-3 victory over second-seeded and second-ranked Tusculum College, Saturday (May 19) night in a semifinal game at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Baseball Tournament.

With the win, its second of the day, sixth-ranked and fourth-seeded Francis Marion (40-17) advances to the

regional title game on Sunday at 5 p.m.. The Patriots will face the winner of Tusculum/Catawba College for the right to go to the Division II National Finals in Cary, N.C., May 26-June 2. Tusculum and Catawba will play earlier on Sunday in an eliminaton game at 1 p.m.

This is the fourth 40-win season for the Patriots, including their third-in-a-row, and all have come under the direction of head coach Art Inabinet, who is now three wins shy of 500 for his career. The only previ-ous regional championship for Francis Marion came in 2006.

Sandifer, a pre-season All-American and last year’s Peach Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year, picked up his first win (1-4 record) since last year’s regional tour-nament – on the same Scarborough Field at Mount Olive College. The Bamberg native allowed three runs on 11 hits with eight strikeouts and two walks in seven innings. Sophomore closer Jeffrey Stoner made his second appearance of the afternoon and pitched two scoreless frames, allowing only one hit.

Sophomore shortstop Michael Wilson led FMU at the plate with a 3-for-5 night that included three runs scored and two driven in. Senior second baseman Brock McCallister (2-for-5), senior designated hit-ter Brian Paulhus (2-for-4), and junior first baseman Rhodes Dickerson (2-for-5) all had two hits and one RBI apiece. Every Patriot position player recorded at least one hit.

McCallister tied the single-season FMU record for at bats (239), while senior center fielder Buddy Sos-noskie finished 1-for-4 with two runs batted in and tied the team record of 89 hits in a season. Former Patriot shortstop Barrett Kleinknecht set both marks in 2009.

Paulhus and Sosnoskie finished Saturday’s two games with four hits apiece. The Patriots eliminated Lander University 10-3 on Saturday afternoon, after losing to Tusculum 7-2 in the early morning hours of Saturday in a game that started on Friday night at 11:40 p.m.

On Saturday night however, Francis Marion took the early 1-0 lead in its first at bat. Wilson led off with a single to right center and advanced to third when Jarrod Reed’s grounder to first was thrown away at second base – the first of six Tusculum miscues. Wil-son came home on Sosnoskie’s RBI fielder’s choice

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120519_bcgo.xml

Baseball

177

grounder to first, a ball almost identical to Reed’s grounder, which the Pioneers again tried to turn into a double play. Sosnoskie then advanced to third when Tusculum starter Adam Sigmon (8-2) threw away a pick-off attempt at first, but the speedy Patriot was stranded there when Stephen Tarkenton struck out.

Looking to add to their lead, the Patriots registered three singles in the top of the second, but could not push across a second run. Tusculum threatened in their half of the second when designated hitter Heath Comerford earned a two-out walk and catcher Nate Reid singled through the left side, Sandifer recovered to strike out shortstop Tripper Crisson to end the threat.

After stranding another runner in scoring position in the third, the Patriots finally picked up a hit in that situation in the top of the fourth and in the process doubled their advantage to 2-0. Senior left fielder Ty-ler Boyd reached on a single that he chopper over the third baseman with one out. After stealing second, he came home on Rhodes Dickerson’s long RBI single to right center.

In the Pioneers’ half of the fourth, first baseman Cody Coffman and Comerford both singled, but Sandifer got Reid to ground out to Wilson at shortstop to end the threat. However, Tusculum did get to Sandifer in the fifth frame. Crisson led off with a single, was sacrificed to second, and scored on right fielder Aaron Guinn’s run-scoring single to center. After a double by third baseman Cade Stallings moved Guinn to third, both came home on Coffman’s triple over Sosnoskie in deep center field.

However, Francis Marion responded with four runs in the top of the sixth and regained the lead for good at 6-3. Tarkenton led off with a single up middle, but was erased on Jacob Golliday’s fielder’s choice bunt. Boyd then worked a four-pitch walk, moving Golliday to second, and the Patriot catcher scampered home on Paulhus’ RBI double over third base bag to knot score at 3-3. Wilson plated both Boyd and Paulhus with a clutch two-out, two-run single through right side, and then he advanced to second on an outfield throwing error. McCallister upped the margin to 6-3 with an RBI single down the right field line that scored Wilson and chased Sigmon from the mound.

Sandifer again escaped trouble in the last of the sixth

with back-to-back strikeouts that stranded runners on second and third. In the seventh, Sandifer fanned Comerford to end a Pioneer threat that included three singles. Wilson saved one run by spearing one of the singles deep in the hole between short and third and keeping the ball in the infield.

Francis Marion added three insurance runs in the eighth, all coming with two outs. Wilson singled to right field and moved up one base on a passed ball. McCallister singled up the middle and Wilson came home when the ball was kicked away into center field. Reed reached on a bunt hit and Sosnoskie followed with an RBI single to left center. Tusculum reliever Dylan Hochevar tried to pick Sosnoskie off first base but his throw went awry and Reed scored from third.

The Patriots totaled 14 hits and took advantage of four walks from Pioneer pitchers.

When asked about his starter, Inabinet explained “That might have been the best game I’ve seen Don pitch since he’s been here. I am so happy for him. Our bats woke up and we scored some runs. Now we get to play one more game.

“I am proud of all our guys. We won two games on short rest (after losing to Tusculum in a game that ended at 2:15 a.m. on Saturday morning). Hopefully we will have enough to get the job done tomorrow and have a chance to play next week in Cary. We came so close last year.”

Sandifer explained, “It’s my biggest win here as a Pa-triot. I wanted to give our team a chance to win. Every situation you go through in your head – what you want to do – and tonight I hit my spots. I wanted to keep the ball in, and if I missed, it would to the inside. They (Tusculum) hit us pretty good last night. We were de-termined not to make the same mistakes.”

Wilson also said, “We all tried to match Don’s effort. He kept out-doing us position players, so it became a good battle within our squad. Our bats woke up and we were able to give Don something to work with.”

Sosnoskie added, “This has been my favorite two years of my life. I am not worried about any stats (including the hits record) – I couldn’t care less about those as long as we win. We have 25 or 26 guys out here who want to win a championship for coach. We

want to get to Cary. We were so close last year, now we want to put everything out there.”Box Score

nCaa touRnament: PatRIots Rally But fall shoRt of seRIes BeRth, lose 8-4(5/20/12) MOUNT OLIVE, NC – First baseman Chris Dula rapped out three hits and drove in three runs to lead sixth-seeded and 21st-ranked Catawba College to an 8-4 win over fourth-seeded and sixth-ranked Francis Marion University, Sunday evening (May 20) in the championship game at the NCAA Division II South-east Regional Baseball Tournament.

Francis Marion ends its season at 40-18 and finishes as the regional runner-up for the third consecutive season. The Patriots finish with their fourth 40-win season, and third in a row. FMU was looking to win its second region championship, the first coming in 2006.

The Indians (43-15) earn their first-ever berth in the Division II National Finals in Cary, N.C., May 26-June 2. Catawba had beaten Tusculum College 6-1 earlier on Sunday to advance to face FMU in the title contest.

Playing their final games in a Patriot uniform, senior outfielders Buddy Sosnoskie and Tyler Boyd each reg-istered three hits, a run scored, and one run batted in. Sosnoskie set a new single-season team record with 92 hits, breaking the previous mark of 89 set by Bar-rett Kleinknecht. Boyd appeared in his 194th game for the red, white, and blue.

FMU sophomore shortstop Michael Wilson and senior second baseman Brock McCallister each had two hits apiece. Both Sosnoskie and Wilson were named to

the All-Tournament Team.

FMU sophomore closer Jeffrey Stoner (6-4), the third of three Patriot hurlers, was saddled with the loss. He allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits in four innings. The Martinez, Ga., native had pitched in both of Francis Marion’s games on Saturday, earning one win and logging 6.1 innings.

Catawba scored twice in the top of the first off FMU starter Spencer Jordan. Dula led off with a long dou-ble to base of the right center field fence. A single and a four-pitch walk loaded the bases with no out. After a strikeout, tournament Most Outstanding Player Julio Zubillaga plated the first run with a two-strike bloop RBI single to center. The second tally came home on a wild pitch, but Jordan recovered to strikeout Cam-eron Beard and strand three Indian base runners.

Francis Marion threatened in the bottom of the first. Wilson and McCallister both singled through right side with no outs. After Jarrod Reed struck out, Sosnoskie skewed a ball toward the hole between short and third, but Catawba shortstop Brett Underwood saved a run by making a diving stop in the hole. However the infield single loaded the bases with just one out. Third baseman Stephen Tarkenton then lofted a fly ball to medium-depth left field, and Wilson beat the throw home for what looked like the first Patriot run. However on appeal, Wilson was ruled to have left third before the catch and so FMU was denied its first run and Catawba was out of the inning.

Boyd singled to right field in the next FMU frame, and advanced to second on a wild pitch, but was left there as the next two Patriots were retired.

Catawba struck for two more runs in the top of the third on an RBI single to center by catcher Greg Law-son. Beard followed with a run-scoring bunt single that started as a safety squeeze.

Francis Marion finally got to Catawba starter Nick Lomascolo in the bottom of the fourth. Sosnoskie started the rally with a double just inside first base bag, his school-record 25th two-bagger of the year. He moved up a base on Tarkenton’s fly out to center, and catcher Jacob Golliday walked on a full-count offering to place runners at first and third with one out.

Boyd drilled a run-scoring single through the right side

178

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120519_ykjy.xml

Baseball

179

to plate Sosnoskie and draw FMU within 4-1. After Brian Paulhus lined out to left field, pinch-hitter Luke Tollison bounced an RBI single up the middle on an 0-2 pitch to cut the margin to 4-2. Wilson followed with a drive to right field that hit the top of the fence and bounced back into play for an RBI double, but Tollison was nailed at the plate on a beautiful relay throw from Zubillaga. That play could have put the Pa-triots ahead, but none-the-less brought FMU to within 4-3.

After a quick 1-2-3 inning from senior southpaw Matt Broderick in the top of the fifth, the Patriot bats again came alive in their half of the frame. McCal-lister reached on a single to right center, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, and crossed home with the tying run on a run-scoring single up the middle by Sosnoskie. Following a pitching change, Tarkenton was hit by a pitch and Golliday flared a single to right field to load the bases with one out. The Indians then turned a slick 6-4-3 double play on a grounder by Boyd to end the threat.

Stoner entered the contest in the top of the sixth with runners on first and third and no outs. He retired the Indians without a run, thanks in large part to a long-running catch by Boyd in left center to end the inning.

Catawba then struck for the deciding two runs in the top of the seventh. Zubillaga led off with an infield single, Underwood reached on an error, and Lawson poked a soft single to left that loaded the bases with nobody out. Ironically, both Underwood and Lawson were unsuccessful at sacrificing and thus had to hit away with two strikes. With a light rain beginning to fall, Stoner retired the next Indian on a line-out to right, but Keaton Hawks plated the go-ahead run with a single to right and Dula pushed across a second run with a sacrifice fly.

In the last of the eighth, Tarkenton led off with a single through the left side. After a fly out, Boyd singled through right side to put the tying runs on base. How-ever Catawba reliever Craig Brooks (2-0) got Paulhus to pop out and fanned Tollison looking to end the Patriot rally.

The Indians added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth on a two-run triple to the right center field fence by Dula.Brooks retired the Patriots in order in the bottom of

the ninth with the rain coming down as hard as it had all day on three ground balls to Underwood at short-stop. Three of Brooks’ four complete innings were of the 1-2-3 variety.

Eleven Patriot seniors donned the red, white, and blue uniforms for the final time on Sunday. This group finished as the winningest four-year class in the pro-gram’s history with 159 victories.

“I thought we played well enough to win today, but left too many runners on base,” said FMU head coach Art Inabinet. “We could have won, but not today. Cataw-ba was just a better team. Our kids did a lot of good things today, but just didn’t get the key hits, and they (Catawba) did.”

Jordan commented on his effort that came on short rest after he won the team’s tournament opener on Thursday, “I just didn’t make the pitches, and thus could not get ahead like I did Thursday.”

Boyd, one of four four-year letterwinners on the squad, said “You don’t ever want the last game of the year to come around. But we can’t let our heads dip down, we have a lot to be proud of.”

Sosnoskie offered this, “It always hurts to lose the last game of the year, and maybe a little worse this year than it did in 2011 (last year’s regional title game loss). These past two seasons in Florence at FMU have has been the best two years of my life. I am so glad I came here. I plan on wearing this (rain-soaked) jersey all the way home.”

In earning All-Tournament Team recognition, Sos-noskie finished the five games 9-for-21 with five runs scored and seven RBIs, while Wilson was 7-for-22 with six runs scored and five driven in. Box Score

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/boxscores/20120520_p384.xml

FOUR PBC BASEBALL PLAYERS NAMED ACADEMiC ALL-AMERiCANSFour Peach Belt Conference baseball players were named Capitol One Academic All-Americans on Thursday. UNC Pembroke’s Josh Haley and Eitan Maoz were selected along with Francis Marion’s Buddy Sosnoskie and Arm-strong Atlantic State’s Clayton Miller. The four players selected is – by far – the most the Peach Belt has ever had in a single season. Only 10 league baseball players up to this year had received what is widely held as the the highest honor a student-athlete can receive. The team is selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Haley and Maoz are the first two CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in the history of the baseball program in Pembroke. They are the second and third CoSIDA Academic All-Americans for the UNCP athletic department this year, joining men’s soccer’s Alex Antonescu who was decorated with the honor in December.

Haley, a Jackson Springs product who maintained a 3.50 grade point average as an Exercise & Sports Science major, started all 49 games and led the Braves with a .391 (77-for-197) batting average to go along with 19 extra-base hits (3 HR), 16 RBI and a team-best 61 runs scored. A force on the base paths, the senior ranked second in the PBC with 34 stolen bases (39 attempts) and also booked a .523 slugging percentage and a .474 on-base percentage. Defensively, he was solid from his starting centerfield position as well where he turned in a .985 fielding percentage.

Maoz, a native of Canada who maintained a 3.87 grade point average as an Exercise & Sports Science major, played in 38 games (37 starts) for UNCP and missed 2-1/2 weeks late in the season with a broken ankle. Regardless, the utility player still managed a .348 (48-for-138) batting average with 10 extra-base hits (3 HR), 32 RBI and 28 runs scored. He also scored 80 percent (8-for-10) on stolen base attempts, while also registering a .464 slugging percentage and a .421 on-base percentage. He, too, was a defensive stalwart, booking a .984 fielding percentage in a handful of starts in the outfield, as well as first base.

Sosnoskie becomes the third Academic All-American for the Patriot baseball program, joining right-handed pitcher Sammy Ward (1980) and outfielder Alex Lee (2010). The Statesville, N.C., native has compiled a 3.38 grade point average as a marketing ma-jor. He was named to the 12-member second-team.

On the diamond, Sosnoskie led FMU with a .391 average, 56 runs batted in, and a .444 on-base percentage. He set team single-season records for hits (92) and doubles (25). He shared the team lead in runs scored (51), while also hitting a pair of home runs and stealing nine bases. He finished the year with a 12-game hitting streak, compiled 27 multi-hit games and 15 multi-RBIs games, and reached base safely in 53 of 58 games. In both his seasons at FMU, Sosnoskie garnered All-Conference and All-Region accolades.

Off the field, he was named to the 2012 Peach Belt Conference All-Academic Team; is a member of Chi Alpha Sigma, the national college athlete honor society; and has been honored by inclusion on the both the PBC Presidential and FMU Swamp Fox Athletic-Academic honor rolls.

Miller is the fourth Armstrong baseball player to earn Academic All-America honors from Capital One and CoSIDA, joining catch-ers Chris Milisits (1993), David Harriman (2002) and Michael Pelley (2004). He is also the fourth Academic All-America this year among Armstrong student-athletes and brings the all-time total of Pirates who have earned Academic All-America honors to 14.

Miller, who was named to the third team as a designated hitter, carries a 3.37 GPA in rehabilitation sciences. The Augusta, Ga., native hit .287 with one home run and 27 RBIs in 2012, helping Armstrong capture the Peach Belt Conference regular season and tournament titles.

180

Baseball

181

Capital one academic all-america second team

Josh Haley, UNC PembrokeBuddy Sosnoskie, Francis Marion

Capital one academic all-america third team

Eitan Maoz, UNC PembrokeClayton Miller, Armstrong

Capital one academic all District team

Michael Barnhill, ArmstrongDevon Hallett, FlaglerThomas McLeod, USC AikenCody Powell, Armstrong

PBC all-academic teamMike Barnhill, Armstrong Kenny Bellavance, North GeorgiaJordan Erisman, North GeorgiaPatrick Grady, LanderJosh Haley, UNC PembrokeDevon Hellett, FlaglerDerek Hooper, North GeorgiaErik Lunde, LanderEitan Maoz, UNC PembrokeThomas McLeod, USC AikenRyan Milewski, USC AikenClayton Miller, ArmstrongKenny Miller, Columbus St.A.J. Nunziato, LanderHeath Peterson, MontevalloCody Powell, ArmstrongHeine Rivera, Georgia CollegeJohn Sgromolo, FlaglerBuddy Sosnoskie, Francis MarionTyler Stephan, USC Aiken

PBC all-academic honorable mention

Justin Appel, Augusta State Kip Custer, Augusta State Tyler Daniel, Georgia Southwestern Austin Dubberly, MontevalloMax Gagnon, UNC PembrokeJarrod Taylor, Georgia Southwestern

aBCa/Rawlings all-america first team

Zach Taylor, ArmstrongaBCa/Rawlings all-Region first team

A.J. Nunziato, LanderZach Taylor, ArmstrongChris Thomas, LanderEthan Bader, Armstrong

aBCa/Rawlings all-Region second team

Will Fulmer, MontevalloStephen Carmon, USC AikenR.J. Dennard, ArmstrongJosh Miller, USC AikenNick Aranas, USC AikenJosh Haley, UNC PembrokeBuddy Sosnoskie, Francis MarionSpencer Jordan, Francis MarionDanny Brown, FlaglerBraxton Lewis, UNC PembrokeCody Maas, Georgia College

Daktronics all-Region first teamChris Thomas, LanderA.J. Nunziato, LanderNick Aranas, USC AikenCody Maas, Georgia College

Daktronics all-Region second team

Ethan Bader, ArmstrongDanny Brown, FlaglerSpencer Jordan, Francis MarionChandler Hall, ArmstrongBraxton Lewis, UNC PembrokeJosh Miller, USC AikenWill Fulmer, MontevalloJosh Haley, UNC PembrokeZach Taylor, ArmstrongR.J. Dennard, ArmstrongEitan Maoz, UNC Pembroke

nCBwa all-america first teamZach Taylor, Armstrong

nCBwa all-america honorable mention

Josh Haley, UNC PembrokenCBwa southeast Region Co-Player of the year

Zach Taylor, ArmstrongnCBwa all-Region first team

A.J. Nunziato, LanderZach Taylor, ArmstrongJosh Haley, UNC Pembroke

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKFEBRUARY 7, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanCameron Scott Brantley Hattrich Danny BrownColumbus Sate UNC Pembroke Flagler

FEBRUARY 14, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanClayton Miller Todd Hughson Jordan DeLoatchArmstrong Lander UNC Pembroke

FEBRUARY 21, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanZach Taylor Brodie Leibrandt Danny BrownArmstrong Columbus State Flagler

FEBRUARY 28, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanBrett Moreland Chase Gilreath Taylor KeinatFlagler Columbus State North Georgia

MARCH 6, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanBrock McCallister Chris Thomas R.J. DennardFrancis Marion Lander Armstrong

MARCH 12, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanJohn Sgromolo Chandler Hall Will TankersleyFlagler Armstrong USC Aiken

MARCH 19, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanHeath Peterson Brad Isom R.J. DennardMontevallo UNC Pembroke Armstrong

MARCH 27, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanBuddy Sosnoskie Michael Shreves Jacob BeauchampFrancis Marion Montevallo North Georgia

APRiL 3, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanNick Aranas Brodie Leibrandt Will TankersleyUSC Aiken Columbus State USC Aiken

APRiL 9, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanJosh Haley Michael Shreves R.J. DennardUNC Pembroke Montevallo Armstrong

APRiL 16, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanCody Maas Ethan Bader Ty BarkellGeorgia College Armstrong USC Aiken

APRiL 23, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanJohn Roberts Chris Thomas Chess MaloneArmstrong Lander Armstrong

MAY 1, 2012:Player Pitcher FreshmanJordan Owens Chris Thomas Will TankersleyLander Lander USC Aiken

AwArd winners

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120207bbpotw

http://www.peachbelt.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/playersoftheweek/20120207bbpchrotw






































Chris Thomas, LandernCBwa all-Region second team

Josh Miller, USC AikenWill Fulmer, MontevalloNick Aranas, USC AikenSpencer Jordan, Francis MarionEthan Bader, ArmstrongBraxton Lewis, UNC Pembroke

PBC all-Conference first teamHeath Peterson, MontevalloWill Fulmer, MontevalloTravis Echols, Georgia CollegeA.J. Nunziato, LanderJosh Miller, USC AikenCody Maas, Georgia CollegePatrick Grady, LanderZach Taylor, ArmstrongJosh Haley, UNC PembrokeNick Aranas, USC AikenBrett Moreland, FlaglerChris Thomas, LanderSpencer Jordan, Francis MarionEthan Bader, ArmstrongDanny Brown, FlaglerBraxton Lewis, UNC Pembroke

PBC all-Conference second teamJohn Sgromolo, FlaglerJordan Owens, LanderTyler Bourdo, USC AikenDrew Walker, ArmstrongStephen Carmon, USC AikenJohn Roberts, ArmstrongCameron Scott, Columbus StateR.J. Dennard, ArmstrongBuddy Sosnoskie, Francis MarionWill Tankersley, USC AikenKenny Bellavance, North GeorgiaCody Powell, ArmstrongRyan Milewski, USC AikenMatt Broderick, Francis MarionBrodie Leibrandt, Columbus StateBlake Hobby, North GeorgiaMatt LaMothe, Georgia College

PBC Player of the yearZach Taylor, Armstrong

PBC Pitcher of the yearChrist Thomas, Lander

PBC freshman of the yearWill Tankersley, USC Aiken

PBC Coach of the yearJoe Roberts, Armstrong

IndIvIdualBattIng aveRageBuddy Sosnoskie, Francis Marion .391Josh Haley, UNC Pembroke .391Brett Moreland, Flagler .385Will Tankersley, USC Aiken .377Josh Miller, USC Aiken .376Zach Taylor, Armstrong .373Will Fulmer, Montevallo .361Matthew Black, North Georgia .357Nick Aranas, USC Aiken .357Ty Barkell, USC Aiken .353RunsCasey Maloney, Armstrong 66Zach Taylor, Armstrong 63Josh Haley, UNC Pembroke 61Stephen Carmon, USC Aiken 57J.D. Pullen, Columbus State 53Vincente Andrews, Montevallo 51Will Fulmer, Montevallo 51Navarro Hall, Columbus State 51Buddy Sosnoskie, Francis Marion 51Michael Wilson, Francis Marion 51hItsBuddy Sosnoskie, Francis Marion 92Brock McCallister, Francis Marion 83A.J. Nunziato, Lander 81Brett Moreland, Flagler 80Stephen Carmon, USC Aiken 79Will Fulmer, Montevallo 79Josh Miller, USC Aiken 79Zach Taylor, Armstrong 78Josh Haley, UNC Pembroke 77Ty Barkell, USC Aiken 76Runs BatteD InZach Taylor, Armstrong 71Heath Peterson, Montevallo 69Josh Miller, USC Aiken 57Cody Maas, Georgia College 56Jordan Owens, Lander 56Buddy Sosnoskie, Francis Marion 56Brett Teschner, Columbus State 55Nick Aranas, USC Aiken 52Cameron Scott, Columbus State 49A.J. Nunziato, Lander 49home RunsZach Taylor, Armstrong 15Heath Peterson, Montevallo 14Will Tankersley, USC Aiken 11Vincente Andrews, Montevallo 10Jordan Owens, Lander 9Cody Maas, Georgia College 8Jay Laurienzo, Flagler 8Chris Ross, Montevallo 7Josh Miller, USC Aiken 7Nick Aranas, USC Aiken 7stolen BasesStephen Carmon, USC Aiken 45Josh Haley, UNC Pembroke 34J.D. Pullen, Columbus State 28Patrick Daugherty, Georgia College 23Zach Taylor, Armstrong 21

Casey Maloney, Armstrong 20Caleb Saggus, Augusta State 20Nick Aranas, USC Aiken 19Eric Weiss, Columbus State 19Navarro Hall, Columbus State 16InnIngs PItCheDEthan Bader, Armstrong 115.0Scott Strickland, Armstrong 109.0Chandler Hall, Armstrong 106.1Brodie Leibrandt, Columbus State 100.1Spencer Jordan, Francis Marion 97.0Michael Shreves, Montevallo 95.0Chris Thomas, Lander 92.2Mike Guinane, Georgia College 87.2Alex Pearce, UNC Pembroke 86.1Matt Broderick, Francis Marion 83.1eaRneD Run aveRageDanny Brown, Flagler 2.18Wyatt Brown, USC Aiken 2.36Drew Dades, Columbus State 2.37Chris Thomas, Lander 2.43Brodie Leibrandt, Columbus State 2.51Matt Broderick, Francis Marion 2.59Brad Isom, UNC Pembroke 2.67Ross Davis, Lander 2.70Thomas McLeod, USC Aiken 2.71Reese Patten, North Georgia 2.79wInsEthan Bader, Armstrong 12Spencer Jordan, Francis Marion 10Chandler Hall, Armstrong 9Derek Beasley, USC Aiken 9Scott Strickland, Armstrong Atlantic State 9Matt Broderick, Francis Marion 8Alex Pearce, UNC Pembroke 8Chris Thomas, Lander 8Blake Hobby, North Georgia 8Jarrett Hooks, Francis Marion 7savesBraxton Lewis, UNC Pembroke 11Max Rusch, Flagler 9Jeffrey Stoner, Francis Marion 9Matt Lamothe, Georgia College 7Taylor Grover, USC Aiken 7Wes Rich, Montevallo 7Ross Davis, Lander 6Zack Hula, Georgia College 6Chase Gilreath, Columbus State 5Jarrett Hooks, Francis Marion 4stRIkeoutsEthan Bader, Armstrong 119Spencer Jordan, Francis Marion 95Chris Thomas, Lander 92Derek Beasley, USC Aiken 89Jeffrey Stoner, Francis Marion 88Kelly Holt, USC Aiken 87Mike Guinane, Georgia College 77Scott Strickland, Armstrong 76Todd Hughson, Lander 70Brandon Miller, Lander 70

stAtistiCs

182

Baseball

183

TeamBattIng aveRageUSC Aiken .337Francis Marion .314UNC Pembroke .312Georgia College .302Armstrong .299Columbus State .298Montevallo .294Flagler .290North Georgia .286Lander .281Augusta State .238Georgia Southwestern .236RunsArmstrong 457USC Aiken 404Lander 386Francis Marion 385Columbus State 376Montevallo 357Georgia College 351UNC Pembroke 329North Georgia 295Flagler 249Augusta State 206

Georgia Southwestern 170home RunsMontevallo 46USC Aiken 45Armstrong 40Lander 39Columbus State 30Georgia College 29Flagler 28UNC Pembroke 25Francis Marion 14Augusta State 13North Georgia 13Georgia Southwestern 9eaRneD Run aveRageFrancis Marion 3.42USC Aiken 3.57Columbus State 3.62Lander 3.91Flagler 4.14UNC Pembroke 4.20Armstrong 4.44Georgia College 4.53North Georgia 5.16Georgia Southwestern 5.41Augusta State 5.42Montevallo 6.56

stRIkeoutsLander 504USC Aiken 493Francis Marion 416Armstrong 368Flagler 367Georgia College 362UNC Pembroke 338Columbus State 319Georgia Southwestern 310North Georgia 270Montevallo 265Augusta State 221Runs alloweDFlagler 238UNC Pembroke 239Francis Marion 240Columbus State 250USC Aiken 261Georgia College 282Lander 282Armstrong 289Georgia Southwestern 299North Georgia 322Augusta State 363Montevallo 426

http://www.youtube.com/user/peachbeltconference

GOOD LUCK GEORGIA SOUTHWESTERN STATE FROM YOUR FRIENDS IN BUSINESS

GOOD LUCK LANDER FROM YOUR FRIENDS IN BUSINESS

GOOD LUCK U. OF MONTEVALLO FROM YOUR FRIENDS IN BUSINESS

229-924-6011 • www.phoebesumter.org

PROFESSIONALHVAC/R SUPPLIER-WHOLESALE ONLY

TOMMY [email protected]

JOHNSTONE SUPPLY # 2652215 12TH AVENUECOLUMBUS, GA 31901-1428

TELEPHONE: (706) 322-6789CELL: (256) 750-0029FAX: (706) 596-1123

TOLL FREE: 1-800-241-5185www.johnstonesupply.com

M&D MASONRY, INC.P.O. Box 6133, 409 Southerfield Rd., Americus, GA 31709

Phone: (229) 928-6087 Fax: (229) 928-2929

MIKE WELDON404-788-8190

DAVID WELDON404-788-1835

201-B TOWERS DRIVEP.O. BOX 50627

GREENWOOD, SC 29649

PHONE: (864) 223-1553FAX: (864) 223-1554

C.E. Bourne & Co., Inc.

ROOFING CONTRACTORS SINCE 1906Email: [email protected] • Website: www.cebourne.com

Mobile (864) 910-1361 • (864) 377-1766

PO BOX 614, GREENWOOD, SC 29648(864) 223-0188 Fax (864) 223-6516

TED S. BOURNE

1.800.922.2790 | www.BlanchardMachinery.com

Quality of Daily Life Solutions

Sodexo EducationMotivation Solutions#1 Vine StreetMontevallo, AL 35115 USATel.: 205 665 6468Cell: 205 260 8519Fax: 205 665 6467E-mail: [email protected]

MARTIN DIAZUniversity of MontevalloGeneral Manager

Camelot Limousine & Bus Charters“Traveling With God’s Grace”

Toll Free800-767-1721

Phone205-525-1721

GOOD LUCK GEORGIA COLLEGE & STATE FROM YOUR FRIENDS IN BUSINESS

ARCHITECTS, ENGINEERS & BUSINESS FRIENDS WORKING FOR THE FUTURE OF GEORGIA SOUTHWESTERN STATE

GILBERTTRUCK CENTER

SALESSERVICEREPAIR

BODY SHOPHYDRAULIC REPAIR

PARTS

478-742-1500 QUAL ITY ATHLET IC EQU IPMENT

2763 Old Gray Highway

Macon, GA 31211

Phone (478)745-2273

Fax (478)745-2272

[email protected] - email

GRADING, EXCAVATING, PAVING

Darrell Bridges, President

Asphalt Specialists, LLC

Owner & Operator MARK BUCKLAND SR. 40 Years Experience

COMPLETE ASPHALT PAVING & SEALCOATINGCommercial • Residential • Industrial • Sealcoating and Patchwork

PO Box 7164Macon, GA 31209

Macon Office: 478-743-7772Stockbridge Office: 770-506-6339

DELL HOWARDPresident

DIGITAL RIO1225 Kennestone CircleSuite 100Marietta, GA 30066Telephone: 678.281.0135Fax: 678.281.0136Email: [email protected]

5155 Peachtree ParkwaySuite 300Norcross, GA 30092

Tel: 770-209-9393Fax: 770-209-7050wbassociates.comwbinteriorsinc.com

P.O. Box 5228Albany, GA 31706Office: 229-432-7345Fax: 229-438-2755

ON SITE ELECTRICAL SERVICE AND CONSTRUCTION

Wetherald AssociatesPlastering & Acoustics, Inc.

Suspended Ceilings • Spray Foam Insulation • Batt InsulationStucco / Plaster • Steel Studs • Drywall

P.O. Box 50912Albany, GA 31703Email: [email protected]

Office: (229) 435-4093Fax: (229) 435-4449

Brian J. Wetherald

Young Harris Becomes 14tH memBer of tHe PeacH Belt conferenceThe Peach Belt Conference welcomed its 14th member as Young Harris College officially joined the league on July 1.

The Peach Belt extended an invitation to the Mountain Lions, who are transitioning into NCAA Division II and is a candidacy year one member, in January.

The Mountain Lions will be immediately eligible for all regular-season championships without automatic bids, and all other PBC awards, including all-conference and all-academic honors for its student-athletes. Young Harris will not be eligible for participation in any PBC Championships which award automatic bids to NCAA Tournaments until they become a full-fledged member of NCAA Division II.

“Young Harris is a perfect fit for our conference,” said PBC Commissioner David R. Brunk. “The commitment they have made to provide a quality academic and athletic experience for their student-athletes will enable them to be com-petitive in our league immediately. The foundation they have established in a short time will allow them to continue to grow and be successful for years to come, and we are excited to be able to share in that growth and success. President Cathy Cox and Athletic Director Randy Dunn have made a commitment to both Division II and the Peach Belt Confer-ence, and we welcome them with open arms.”

The addition of Young Harris brings the Peach Belt to 14 member institutions, the most the conference has had in its 21-year history. Located about two hours north of Atlanta, in the town of Young Harris, Ga., the college will play basket-ball in the PBC west division, giving both the east and west the same number of teams for the first time in three years. YHC becomes the first new member of the Peach Belt since Flagler College and the University of Montevallo joined

187

in 2009. North Georgia College & State University and Georgia Southwestern State University both joined the PBC in 2006 while making the transition from the NAIA. Young Harris joins Flagler as the only private institutions in the Peach Belt.

“We are very excited that the Peach Belt wants Young Harris College to be a part of this prestigious Division II confer-ence,” said YHC President Cathy Cox. “I would like to thank Commissioner Brunk and all of the member-institution presidents for their support. The Mountain Lions look forward to competing against some of the best student-athletes in Division II athletics.”

Young Harris was founded in 1886, making it the third-oldest institution in the Peach Belt behind Lander University (1872) and North Georgia (1873).

“We are extremely honored to join the Peach Belt Conference, which is comprised of such an elite group of institu-tions,” said Dunn. “Not only will this provide our student-athletes with the opportunity to compete at the highest levels of NCAA DII, it will also give our institution regional and national exposure.”

Currently, the Mountain Lions field men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer and men’s and women’s tennis, all of which are PBC Championship sports. YHC will add men’s and women’s lacrosse as well as competitive cheerleading this fall.

Founded in 1991, the Peach Belt is the home to 32 NCAA Division II National Championships, including the 2012 men’s and women’s tennis titles won by Armstrong Atlantic State University. The PBC hosts 13 championship sports with 14 members in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida and Alabama.

About Young Harris College:Young Harris College is a private, baccalaureate degree-granting college located in the beautiful mountains of north Georgia. Founded in 1886 and historically affiliated with The United Methodist Church, Young Harris College edu-cates, inspires and empowers students through the highest quality liberal arts education. Long known for nurturing students during the first two years of college, Young Harris College received accreditation in 2008 to grant bachelor’s degrees. The College currently has approximately 900 students across four divisions—Fine Arts, Humanities, Math-ematics and Science, and Social and Behavioral Sciences—and plans to increase enrollment to 1,200 over the next few years. The historic campus in Young Harris, Ga., is currently undergoing major campus improvements to accommodate the College’s growth, including recent completion of a 200-bed, LEED Silver-certified residence hall, Georgia’s first higher education facility north of Atlanta to achieve this certification, a 57,000-square-foot, LEED-certified recreation center, the second higher educational recreation facility in Georgia to achieve this certification, and a 148-bed, apart-ment-style residential village. In 2011, the College was granted candidacy for NCAA Division II athletics.

For more information, visit www.yhc.edu.

188

http://www.yhc.edu

‘Make these days the best you can’Clayton State’s Zac Bradley grateful for life after freak accidentBy Brian Hendrickson, NCAA.org (12/11/11)

Zac Bradley would love to play his X-Box on Christmas Day.

The Clayton State basketball player longs to feel the control-ler in his nimble hands. The next time he gets to play, Bradley intends to spend a 24-hour stretch with his NBA 2K basketball, Madden NFL and NCAA Football video games. Sometimes, the sophomore asks friends to come over to play in front of him just so he can feel the excitement.

Clayton State basketball player Zac Bradley has a positive at-titude this holiday season despite his accident.

But Bradley won’t be disappointed if his body isn’t ready. He doesn’t subscribe to that emotion these days. Instead, Bradley and his family will celebrate this holiday as a miracle – one he knows he came close to attending only in memory after a tree fell on his car during a thunderstorm last spring. The accident left him paralyzed and near death.

There have since been early gifts delivered for this Christmas: A healed mind, recovered use of his arms, a Clayton State community that has celebrated him repeatedly, and a family to visit with, laugh with and hold this holiday – something none of the Bradleys are taking for granted this year.

“Just to be here,” Zac said, “and able to celebrate with my family is an awesome feeling.”

Family has always been a priority to the Bradleys. But the perspective is sharper this season.

A year ago, opportunity was flowing in abundance. His jovial, outgoing personality quickly made Zac recognizable and popular from the moment he stepped on Clayton State’s campus on the southern edge of Atlanta. He was enjoying a successful freshman year, posting a 4.0 GPA in his first semester – something head coach Gordon Gibbons can’t recall seeing from another rookie. He played 15.9 minutes per game in his first season, scored 15 points off the bench in the

Lakers’ final regular-season game and was given captain consid-eration for his sophomore year.

He worked out on campus the afternoon of May 26, part of his offseason plan to build strength and improve his shooting, then headed to pick up his friend Asia Green from work at a nearby Old Navy store. Severe weather wasn’t forecasted, but when the thunderstorm flared up that afternoon it fit the trend of weird spring weather in the South. Devastating storms had already made headlines in Missouri and Alabama, and the rest of the South felt the effects of the unusually severe weather. This storm fit that trend and caught the community off guard.

School employees watched nervously from their office windows

189

as the dark clouds gathered. Gibbons, who left school early for a round of golf, got caught in the sudden downpour and watched as the storm’s fierce winds bent pine trees toward the ground.

A tree struck by lightning fell on Zac's car as he was driving home from a basketball workout.

The storm was raging when Zac picked up Green and turned down North Lee Street – a divided boulevard near campus lined on all sides by pines, oaks and maple trees. As Zac steered his Kia Soul down the forested drive, lightning struck one of the trees and caused the top to tip over the road. The timing was tragically precise: The tree landed on the roof over the driver’s seat of Zac’s car, compressing the roof down to the base of the window and pinning Zac inside.

The tree was so large that the first witnesses at the scene didn’t realize a car was underneath. Green broke her arm and suffered a serious spinal injury that required surgery. But Zac was trapped inside for more than an hour as rescue work-ers removed the tree and cut him free with the Jaws of Life. His prognosis was bleak.

There was a hematoma in Zac’s brain, along with skull and neck fractures. Three different vertebrae had been broken, and his spine was twisted. Seven hours of surgery were required the night of the accident just to relieve the life-threaten-ing pressure on Zac’s brain. A second procedure was needed days later to repair his spine. His 13-year-old sister, Ashley, screamed when doctors told the family Zac may never walk again. She became so emotional that she had to be removed from the room. His mother, Senovia, went numb.

“Am I dreaming?” she wanted to believe. “Am I going to wake up?”

Zac pulled through the touch-and-go moments, but his recovery was rife with challenges. An artery was cut during the spinal surgery, delaying the repair. He developed pneumonia and lived with a breathing tube for several weeks. Zac had to learn how to chew food and swallow again. He had to redevelop his strength and coordination to hold a fork and brush his teeth. After three months of therapy and practice, he was able to put on a shirt.

There were many emotional breakdowns, but spurred by his family’s unwavering Christian faith, a single thought kept pushing him forward.

“Make these days the best days you can make it,” Zac said. “I took that on. And I’m doing better now, and I’m thankful for it.”

The support of the Clayton State community has had a significant impact on Bradley as he continues recovery.

But Zac had help making those days great. His hospital room became crammed with visitors immediately after the acci-dent: The Clayton State men’s and women’s basketball teams crowded in, along with the cheerleading squad and univer-sity officials. Constant deliveries of food rolled in – some purchased, much of it home made. And when Zac woke in the hospital after several sedated weeks, he was greeted by hundreds of get-well cards.

What started as a tragedy created deeply personal impacts. Zac’s girlfriend, Sara Diggins, said she and Zac were on the brink of a breakup at the time of the accident. But the events made them reconsider the importance of their relationship, and they’ve been together since. They’ve seen other members of the community make similar personal evaluations after

hearing Zac’s story. Now, strangers routinely approach, eager to testify to the impact his example made in their lives.

“He’s always said that he’s been strong on his faith and know-ing that God has a plan for him,” Diggins said. “We talk about it all the time. We talk about all the things that God has accom-plished with the accident.”

But those conversations always have a forward-facing view. It’s the only direction Zac wants to look.

So rather than stay home after a four-month hospital stay, Zac

190

insisted on attending Laker Madness – the school’s official kick-off to basketball season – where his introduction with the team drew roars from the crowd.

He’s been coming back since: Zac is listed as a medical redshirt on the roster. His locker bears his name and number, waiting for his return. He parks his electric wheelchair at the end of the Lakers’ bench during each home game, where Zac’s teammates receive him as if expecting to see him rip off his warm-ups and assume his usual spot in the backcourt.

Zac attended Laker Madness and has remained a part of the school's basketball program.

“If you guys don’t play hard, I’m coming out there!” Gibbons heard Zac yell during one game. “I’m gonna jump up there and dunk it.”

The Clayton State community hasn’t left his side, either. The school held a series of fundraising events in early Decem-ber as part of Zac Bradley Benefit Week. It sold T-shirts bearing his name, organized a blood drive and a gospel concert, and donated the gate receipts from a basketball double-header toward a fund intended to help the Bradleys purchase a handicapped-accessible van.

Several hundred people attended each event, kicking off a fund-raising effort that so far has raised several thousand dol-lars toward the Help Hope Live fund in honor of Zac. And before tipoff of the men’s basketball game, Gibbons stood next to Zac at halfcourt and handed him a frame containing his retired jersey.

“We’re breaking it out of that case when he’s ready to go,” Gibbons told the crowd. One of the team captains then grabbed the frame and raised it up, whipping fans into a frenzy.

As Gibbons recalled those moments, the memory of Zac’s signing day came back to mind. It seemed ordinary then – the typical handshake, and the typical family predictions: “Zac is going to bring special things to Clayton State,” said Zac’s father, Nathan.

Gibbons has heard those comments before. But after seeing the charity and the cheers that have enveloped the school since Zac’s accident, he agrees with the projection.

“I’ve never seen anything like the feeling that hit our campus, and has remained on our campus, through this whole ordeal,” Gibbons said. “And to think that the guy had just been a freshman and hadn’t really been a star yet. He was just a freshman that already had a reputation for being an outstanding young man and an outstanding student, and it spread throughout the campus. You could feel it.”

And Clayton State will continue feeling it. In January, Zac will return to campus for a full slate of classes, determined to get his life moving back in a normal direction. He isn’t easing back into school, either: Zac enrolled for 13 credits of biol-ogy, American literature, American government and CPR. He refused the option of taking online classes, too, determined to taste the life of a normal college student.

But before that day, Zac and his family will first savor a holiday they know they have been blessed to share.

“I can’t just look at it as a holiday,” Nathan said. “I have a lot to be thankful for because he’s still here. He can eat. He’s joking. We’re laughing. That’s really what it’s all about.”

Because Zac Bradley’s injury wasn’t related to competition, medical expenses were not covered by

the NCAA Catastrophic-Injury Insurance Program. A Help Hope Live Fund has been

established to honor Zac and help with medical costs. To contribute, contact Kristen Davis,

Assistant Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator for Clayton State University, or visit

HelpHopeLive.org.

191

http://www.helphopelive.org/contribute2/patient_results.cfm?patient=4020DEAA-D857-4104-4651614FF6509D6A

armSTrOng earnS COmmISSIOner’S CupA record-setting athletic season has resulted in Arm-strong Atlantic State receiving their first-ever PBC Commissioner’s Cup, presented at the league’s an-nual meetings in Hilton Head on Tuesday night. The award is presented annually to the best overall athlet-ic department in the league, as determined by regular-season standings. A founding member of the Peach Belt, the 2011-12 Commissioner’s Cup is the first in school history.

Armstrong set a league record this season by winning seven regular-season championships. The Pirates began the year with the women’s soccer crown fol-

lowed by a co-Championship in volleyball. Armstrong flexed their true muscle in the spring, winning league titles in baseball, softball, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and women’s golf. The previous record of PBC titles was five, set twice before. Even with those titles, the Pirates just edged out Columbus State, who fin-ished second despite not winning a title this year, but finishing in the top four in seven sports. Clayton State was third in the standings after winning the women’s basketball title and finishing second in women’s cross country.

The PBC Commissioner’s Cup is determined by calculating the number of points possible to each school, given the number of sports they participate in, divided by the number of points earned during the year. Points are determined by placement in the final regular-season standings of each of the PBC’s 13 championship sports.

2011-12 COmmISSIOner'S Cup STandIngSSchool Max Possible Total Earned RatingArmstrong 118 88.5 .750Columbus State 120 86.5 .721Clayton State 89 56 .629USC Aiken 121 73.5 .607Augusta State 99 58.5 .591UNC Pembroke 127 75 .591Georgia College 113 61.5 .544Lander 118 62.5 .530Flagler 137 69 .504Montevallo 116 56 .483Francis Marion 108 50.5 .468North Georgia 110 48.5 .441Georgia Southwestern 113 27 .239

*Numbers in parentheses indicate maximum number of points that can be awarded for each sport. Ratings are determined by taking the maximum number of points available to each school, depending on how many sports each has, and dividing by the number of points won, based on conference finish through the regular season (except golf and cross country which are based on championship results).

garrISOn and bergfeld named pbC SChOlar aThleTeS Of The YearThe University of Montevallo’s Anna Garrison and Flagler College’s Johan Bergfeld were named the female and male Peach Belt Conference Student-Athletes of the Year at a year-end awards banquet in Hilton Head, S.C., site of the league’s annual meetings. The two were selected by the PBC’s Faculty Athletics Representatives, who looked at information on each candidate and based their vote on 50% academic accomplishment, 30%

192

athletic achievement and 20% leadership qualities. The scholar-athlete award is the highest individual award presented by the Peach Belt.

Garrison graduated from Montevallo this May with a degree in communication studies and a minor in public relations with a 3.972 GPA. A first team Capitol One Academic All-American - the first UM female student-ath-lete to ever receive the honor - she also received an Academic Achievement Award from the Division II Athletic Directors Association, was named Academic All-District three times and PBC Presidential Honor Roll Gold Scholar three times. From LaVergne, Tenn., she was named to the President’s List eight times and received the Senior Elite honor from the communications department, an honor given to the most outstanding senior within each major at UM.

She was equally impressive on the volleyball court. A four-year starter for the Falcons she was named the 2010 PBC Setter of the Year and leaves the school with the second-most assists in UM history. She spent three of her four years as a part of the Peach Belt Conference (UM joined the league in 2009) and amassed 3,737 assists to sit 10th on the PBC all-time list. She is the only UM player ever to have 3,000 career assists and 1,000 career digs. A two-time PBC All-Conference performer she was named a PBC Specialist of the Week nine times in her career. In addition to her academic and athletic accomplishments, Garrison served as the vice president of the UM Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, coaches a club team and is a member of Cam-pus Outreach. She becomes the first Montevallo student-athlete to be named a PBC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Bergfeld graduated from Flagler in May with a degree in business administration with minors in economics, finance and marketing and a 3.96 GPA. The native of Akers Styckebruk, Sweden, was named a Capitol One Academic All-American - only the second men’s soccer player in PBC history to receive the honor. He was also named an NSCAA Scholar All-American and to the Alpha Chi and Sigma Beta Delta honor societies. A four-year player at Flagler, three of those in the PBC (Flagler joined the conference in 2009) he has been named to the President’s Academic Honor Roll Gold Scholar three times. He was a part of the Society for the Advancement of Management’s Case Team which placed third nationally this spring.

On the field, Bergfeld was named the 2011 PBC Player of the Year after leading the Saints to their second PBC regular-season championship and first tournament title last fall. A third-team Daktronics All-American, he started all 23 matches in the midfield, scoring six goals - four of them game-winners - with five assists. Un-der his direction and leadership, Flagler won the southeast region and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. He leaves the school a three-time first-team All-Conference selection and is now playing professionally for Orlando City on their Under 23 roster. Bergfeld becomes the first Flagler player to ever be named a PBC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

The North Georgia Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has been awarded with their second con-secutive PBC Make-A-Wish award for most funds raised while Geor-gia College was recognized with the Most Improved Award at the league’s annual meetings in Hilton Head.

The Peach Belt Conference as a whole increased their giving to the Make-A-Wish foundation for the

193

third year in a row and should threaten to win the national award for conference giving.

North Georgia set a league record by raising $12,000 for Make-A-Wish, eclipsing their own mark of $10,625 last year. The Saints remain the only PBC school to reach the five-digit mark in their annual campaign, which they have now done for two years in a row. North Georgia will also look to lead the nation in giving for a second straight year after pacing Division II institutions across the country last year.

The record-setting effort was led by senior Hilary Cox who serves as the North Georgia Student Athlete Ad-visory Committee (SAAC) President. The softball standout is also the PBC SAAC Executive Director and the National SAAC Representative, representing every Division II athlete in the country.

Young Harris was second in the tally with $6,510 while Flagler added $5,399. Overall, Peach Belt Conference institutions raised $36,059, an increase of over $10,000 from last year with half of the 14 schools giving a thousand or more.

Among that number is Georgia College who won the Most Improved Award after boosting their efforts from $500 a year ago to $2,434 this year. That amount is the fourth-highest in the Peach Belt.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.

Born in 1980 when a group of caring volunteers helped a young boy fulfill his dream of becoming a police offi-cer, the Foundation is now the largest wish-granting charity in the world, with 66 chapters in the United States and its territories.

With the help of generous donors and more than 25,000 volunteers, the Make-A-Wish Foundation grants a wish every 40 minutes and has granted more than 171,000 wishes in the U.S. since inception. Make-A-Wish and NCAA Division II entered into a partnership in 2003.

auguSTa STaTe WInS preSIdenTS’ aCademIC aWardThe Augusta State University athletic department was presented with their first-ever Peach Belt Conference Presi-dents’ Academic Award at the league’s annual meetings in Hilton Head. The award recognizes excellence in academics concerning all of an institution’s student-athletes. 2011-12 is the seventh year the award has been presented.

This spring, the Peach Belt Conference asked each of the league’s 13 members to submit an average GPA for the undergraduate student body and a GPA for all student-ath-letes. These two numbers were then used to create a ratio identifying which school’s athletes were perform-ing the most ahead of the curve in comparison to the student body. Schools were not measured against one another, just their athletes to their students. Augusta State had the highest ratio at 1.100, but at 10 of the 13 PBC member institutions the student-athletes had, on average, a better GPA than the general student body.

The Presidents’ Academic Award is part of a larger conference program to highlight the accomplishments of PBC student athletes in the classroom as well as on the field.

Past Winners: UNC Pembroke, 2010-11; UNC Pembroke, 2009-10; USC Aiken, 2008-09; Georgia Southwestern, 2007-08; Armstrong, 2006-07; Armstrong, 2005-06

194

flagler ClaImS SeCOnd InSTITuTIOn Of The Year prIzeFlagler College received their second consecutive PBC Institution of the Year Sportsmanship Award at the annual meetings in Hilton Head on Tuesday night. Flagler becomes the first school to earn the award in consecutive seasons since it was founded in 2008. The award is given annually to the institution display-

ing the best overall sportsmanship for the 2011-12 season and culminates the PBC’s season-long sports-manship recognition program.

The program presented an award following each championship season to the team in that sport that best exemplified the spirit of sportsmanship and generally conducted themselves with a high degree of integrity, character and class. The team award is selected by other teams who competed in that sport. Points were awarded based on how each team fin-ished in the voting.

The Saints once again led the Peach Belt Conference, earning team sportsmanship awards in four sports in 2011-12. The Saints won in softball, men’s basket-ball, women’s basketball and men’s cross country and have taken 13 team sportsmanship awards in the last three years, more than any other PBC institution.

PBC Institution of the Year Sportsmanship Award Winners:Flagler, 2011-12; Flagler, 2010-11; North Georgia, 2009-10; Francis Marion, 2008-09

COlumbuS STaTe TraInIng STaff gaInS aCCOladeThe Peach Belt Conference announced that Columbus State University has been named the 2011-12 Training Staff of the Year at the league’s annual meeting in Hilton Head. The award was presented to CSU head ath-letic trainer Jared Sandler at Tuesday’s awards banquet, who accepted on behalf of his entire staff. The award is voted on by PBC Athletic Trainers.

“I am fortunate to have an incredibly support-ive administration, excellent team physicians, accommodating coaches, and a hard work-ing staff,” said Sandler. “We are honored and humbled to receive this award from our athletic training peers.”

Sandler and the CSU training staff faced a monumental challenge in 2011-12 as they were tasked with hosting four Peach Belt Con-ference tournament championships this year. Over 1,000 PBC student-athletes participated in the basketball, baseball, softball and golf tournaments hosted by CSU. Two of those events, the baseball and golf, were held at off-campus sites requiring the CSU staff to set up mobile treatment areas.

Sandler accepted the award on behalf of his staff which includes graduate assistants Ashley Pearce, Adam Rooks, Kelli Seremet and Kathleen Simone. The CSU training staff also works closely with the Hughston Or-thopedic and Sports Medicine Clinic and head team physician Dr. Champ Baker, Jr. Julio Llanos is the Assis-tant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine at CSU and oversees the sports medicine program.

195

PBC Hands Out First EvEr suntrust MinOrity POstgraduatE sCHOlarsHiPsThe Peach Belt Conference (PBC) and SunTrust Banks, Inc., are proud to announce that Georgia Southwestern State University senior women’s basketball player Jessica Bivins and senior men’s soccer player Kofi Trim have been awarded PBC-SunTrust Minority Postgraduate Scholarships. The scholarship provides financial support to a deserving Peach Belt minority student-athlete in pursuit of postgraduate college degree. Bivins, who graduated from GSW this May, was awarded the Spring scholarship while Trim was awarded the Fall scholarship in December.

“The PBC-SunTrust Postgraduate Scholarship will highlight my road to success tremendously,” said Bivins. “I am blessed to be in a position to show that all student-athletes are capable of ex-celling on and off the court and receiving this honor signifies that all the hard work and sacrifice has paid off.”

A native of Orlando, Fla., Bivins was also named a recipient of the NCAA Ethnic Minority and Women Enhancement Scholarship. She received her undergraduate degree in exercise science from GSW with a 3.41 GPA and will attend the Florida Agricultural and Mechani-cal University this fall with the goal of earning a doctorate in physical therapy.

“SunTrust has a long and proud history of supporting a variety of education initiatives that allow people to achieve their goals and foster economically healthy and vibrant communities,” said Kevin Blair, chairman, chief executive officer, and president of SunTrust Bank, Georgia Region. “We are pleased to partner with the Peach Belt Conference, and to award this scholarship to Jessica Bivins in recognition of her excellence in the classroom and on the court.”

On the court, Bivins was one of two players to start in all 27 games for the Hurricanes. She was third on the team in scoring with 11.6 points per game. She was also third on the team with 2.6 assists and an integral part of a team that set NCAA-era school records for total victories and conference wins.

“Jessica Bivins is the epitome of the NCAA student-athlete,” said PBC commissioner David R. Brunk. “The dedication she has shown not only to her coaches and teammates but to her academic goals is truly astonishing and we are so proud to be able to work with SunTrust to help her reach those goals.”

Bivins was named to the PBC Presidential Honor Roll for three straight years and the twice to the women’s basketball All-Academic team. A member of Who’s Who, she completed a 125-hour Practicum at Phoebe Sumter Hospital’s Physical Therapy Clinic last summer and will finish a 500-hour internship at a clinic in Orlando this summer. She plans to pursue a career in physical therapy.

Trim, who played on the men’s soccer team and graduated from USC Aiken in December, is the winner of the fall graduate scholarship.

“I am truly honored to be the recipient of such a prestigious award,” said Trim, who plans to begin graduate school in the fall. “This award solidifies the fact that hard work and dedication are still rewarded and cherished. I appreciate SunTrust’s support of this scholarship program, and offer many thanks to USC Aiken and the Peach Belt conference for all that they have done for me in my personal development.

A native of San Juan, Trinidad, Trim graduated with a business degree in marketing from USC Aiken in December with a 3.837 cumulative GPA. A two-year starter on the Pacer soccer team defense, he made nine starts in 2010. He was named to the PBC All-Academic team and received the Division II Athletic Directors Association Academic Achievement Award.

Trim balanced his athletic responsibilities with consistent classroom work and on-campus involvement. He was named the Most Outstanding Marketing Student of 2011 while participating on the School of Business student advisory board. He also served as a Pacesetter and Spirit Club member and was named to the USCA Dean’s List and the PBC Presidential Honor Roll.

“Students like Kofi Trim are the reason we worked with SunTrust to create this award,” said PBC commissioner David R. Brunk. “What he has been able to do on the field, in the classroom and on campus speaks to his dedication and commitment to not only making himself the best he can be, but to providing leadership and camaraderie to those around him.”

Trim plans to pursue a career in marketing and advertising with the goal of beginning his own agency to serve Trinidad and Tobago and other developing Caribbean nations.

196

Montevallo Wins inaugural ConneCting CoMMunities aWardThe University of Montevallo athletic department was award-ed the first-ever SunTrust Connecting Communities Award at the Peach Belt Conference annual awards dinner at the annual meetings on Tuesday night. Montevallo won for their inaugu-ral ‘MOO Day’ which brought local elementary school children to the campus for a full day of athletic-related activities. The award is sponsored by SunTrust Banks, Inc., an official partner of the Peach Belt Conference.

MOO DAY - the Montevallo Official Olympics - allowed UM coaches and athletes, especially foreign athletes, to conduct an Olympic-style festival with basketball, soccer and track and field events. 125 students from Montevallo Elementary School were divided into six ‘countries’ and participated in every event. Each country was partnered with UM student-athletes and staff to serve as coaches and evaluators. Over 22 Falcon student-athletes and 12 staff members coordinated the event.

“This was a way for them to put a face with the school and ultimately make a connection with a real Norwegian student-athlete, Irish student-athlete, etc.,” said Montevallo athletic director Jim Herlihy. “We believe all children should have the opportunity to attend college and live the dream of achieving and obtaining a college degree, but more importantly have an opportunity to be exposed to different cultures outside of their geographical radius and make exercise fun with a goal towards a healthier lifestyle.”

For the contests, each country was given their national flag and taught to cheer their teams in the native language. Staff

members on bicycles monitored all events and awarded bonus points for sportsmanship. Points were kept and tallied for each country.

After three and a half hours of competition, participants re-turned to the UM Arena for a medal ceremony, which awarded gold, silver and bronze to each winning team. Additional awards were given to the most sportsmanlike country. This was followed by a group pizza picnic where the elementary school students were quizzed about their experiences and what they learned. The event was coordinated with the Montevallo Connection Organization. UM plans to make this an annual event.

In all, seven Peach Belt Conference school submitted entries for the SunTrust Connecting Communities award. The award is designed to recognize efforts undertaken by PBC member institutions to reach out and be a partner with their local and regional communities. The award provides a cash prize to be given to the winning schools’ Student-Athlete Advisory Com-mittee.

TrIpp WarrICk: lIvIng a lIfe In balanCeTripp Warrick has been around athletics all of his life.

When your father, Randy Warrick, has been the Director of Athletics at one institution for all of your life there really is no choice.

Still, Tripp has embraced the opportunity, as he has followed his father to the University of South Carolina Aiken where his father is in his 34th year with the athletic depart-ment. Randy was the head baseball coach

197

at USC Aiken for 11 years before solely focusing his efforts on the administrative efforts of the NCAA Division II institution.

Tripp has not let the daunting prospect of playing baseball at the institution where his father is in charge get to him.

Instead, the 21-year-old has become the human embodiment of everything that NCAA Division II “Life in the Balance” is all about.

The “Life in the Balance” approach in NCAA Division II notes that the student-athlete experience at the level is a comprehen-sive program of learning and development in a personal setting.

Not only a member of USC Aiken’s nationally-recognized base-ball program, Tripp Warrick is also a Chemistry major at USC Aiken.

Tripp has put the same fervor into his studies that he has put into his baseball efforts as he enters his senior year boasting a 3.985 grade point average. Warrick hit .333 in the 2012 sea-son for the nationally-ranked Pacers.

The junior was also most recently elected the Student Body President at USC Aiken.

In a Division II student-athlete model that emphasizes six key attributes in learning, balance, resourcefulness, sportsmanship, passion and service, Tripp has unknowingly proven that the model is obtainable and finding the right balance is exactly what every college student at this level should try and do everyday.

In fact, Peach Belt Conference Commissioner David Brunk used Tripp as an example of what finding the right balance is all about at a meeting with the NCAA in Indianapolis in the spring of 2012.

Tripp plans to continue his efforts in the classroom into medical school after graduating from USC Aiken in the spring of 2012.

Baseball will not be a part of his studies at the next level, but the balance and integration he obtained from his time as a Division II student-athlete will have more than prepared him for his life ahead.

neW SpOrTS On The hOrIzOn fOr Several SChOOlSThis year five Peach Belt Conference schools announced the addition of new sports to their respective inter-collegiate athletics offerings. Augusta State will be starting men’s and women’s outdoor track and field, Co-lumbus State and Georgia College will be adding volleyball, Montevallo will begin women’s track and field and Young Harris will be starting men’s and women’s lacrosse and competitive cheer.

198

Clayton State AD Mason Barfield RetiresHe started the athletic program at Clayton State University from scratch in 1989; now, 22 years later, Mason Barfield is leaving Laker athletics on its strongest ground.

Barfield made the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 30, that he will be retiring this year as athletic director at Clayton State. The only athletic director in the history of athletics at Clayton State, Barfield’s last official day will be Oct. 21, 2011. He leaves behind a program that he started with one sport at the NAIA level in 1990, and developed it into a highly-competitive program at the NCAA Division II level, and a program that won its first national championship, in women’s basketball, this past March.

“Mason Barfield was first and foremost a university leader. While his more than two-decade focus was on athletics and student athletes and athletic programs, that focus was guided by his commitment to this Uni-versity and its commitment to learning,” says Clayton State President Dr. Thomas J. “Tim” Hynes. “He followed the rules; he put student learning and student success first; he believed and proved, together with his coaches and staff, that a program could do those things, and succeed competitively. He is seen as a campus leader whose voice is to be respected and valued.

“For me personally, I have come to rely on his perspec-tives on this university and on athletics and on higher education. I will miss him a great deal.”

A native of Hahira, Ga., Barfield was hired as the ath-letic director and men’s head basketball coach at Clay-ton State in the fall of 1989 after serving one year as an instructor and men’s assistant basketball coach at Kennesaw State University, three years of teaching and serving as boy’s head basketball coach at Lassiter High School in Marietta, Ga., and three years of teaching and coaching at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Ga. Over the first five seasons as an NAIA program, he built the Laker men’s basketball program into a highly-compet-itive team in the Georgia Athletic Conference, winning consecutive regular season conference championships in 1994 and 1995, and winning more games than all but one four year intercollegiate program in the state over his last three seasons.

In addition, he also helped institute both women’s bas-ketball (1991) and men’s soccer (1992) at Clayton State.

However, Barfield’s biggest challenge came in the winter of 1995 when the Clayton State administration an-nounced the intention to move the athletic program to NCAA Division II status and join the Peach Belt Confer-ence. To make that happen, Barfield oversaw the unprec-edented move of starting up five new sports – women’s soccer, men’s golf, women’s tennis and men’s and women’s cross country – with competition in those five sports beginning in the fall of 1995, just six months after the announcment of the additions.

Dr. Richard A. Skinner, Clayton State’s president at that time, recalls the most important aspects to this dramatic expansion of Clayton State athletics.

“When I told Mason the time was right for us to move into NCAA Division II, I told him I would help him recruit student-athletes but only if I could say the following to them: you are a STUDENT-athlete, so graduate; we owe you and your teammates the chance to be competitive; you represent Clayton State University every time you put on a uniform, grab a golf club, or run any distance — make us proud of you as a person,” he says.

Skinner also recalls Barfield’s response.

“Mason paused and took a deep breath and said, “we can do better than that.” remembers Skinner. “He was right and the student-athletes did do better, much bet-ter than any of us could have imagined. And if Mason never made a basket, holed a putt, or did a header for a goal, he created an environment in which much was expected and more was delivered. Mason Barfield IS athletics at Clayton State and we shall not see his like again.”

In looking back on his 22 years at Clayton State, it’s not surprising to realize that Barfield’s sense of accomplish-ment still fits within the parameters of his 1994 conver-sation with Skinner. Noting that his first mandate was

199

to start a men’s intercollegiate basketball team, and his second mandate was to create a competitive Division II program, Barfield says, “I fulfilled my obligation to the University, and have done so with a great sense of pride in that we did it the right way. We respected our responsibility to the academic integrity of our programs and student-athletes, and our athletes’ responsibility to represent Clayton State as good citizens has brought a great deal of positive recognition to this institution.”

After the first few years of transition into the Peach Belt Conference, Laker athletics began to take shape at the Division II level under Barfield’s leadership. Since 2000, Clayton State has won 14 Peach Belt Conference regular season championships and finished conference runner-up on 11 occasions. In addition, Laker teams have also won eight Peach Belt tournament titles and finished as tournament runner-up four times, establishing Clayton State as an elite power in the Peach Belt. The Lakers combined PBC Commissioner’s Cup points total since 2000 distinquishes the program as one of the top three most successful programs over that period of time.

At the national level, Clayton State teams have advanced to the NCAA Division II National Tournament 27 times since 2000, including three “Final Four,” six “Elite Eight” and 14 “Sweet 16” appearances. The culmination of that success was last spring when the Laker women’s basket-ball team captured Clayton State’s first-ever NCAA Divi-sion II national championship, defeating Michigan Tech, 69-50, on Mar. 25, 2011, in the title game in St. Joseph’s, Mo..

“The one thing I would like to stress more than any-thing else is that this has been a team effort on behalf of everyone here at this institution. It’s been the most important ingredient to our success,” he says. “What we’ve accomplished here is directly related to the liter-ally hundreds of people here at Clayton State, and in our community, who have supported what we have done over the past 22 years.

“I firmly believe this athletic program’s best days are still ahead, for it will continue to reflect the continued success of this great institution and the wonderful future that lies ahead for it.”

Barfield also points out that such wide-spread support was a necessity, given the challenging circumstances that accompanied the building of the athletic program.

“We created a NCAA Division II intercollegiate program at the same time the institution’s mission was changed from that of a small, two-year community college in 1986, to a senior college unit offering four year degrees,” he points out. “Since we began putting our athletic pro-gram together in 1989, Clayton State has added more than 30 baccalaureate degree and eight graduate level degree programs while almost doubling its enrollment. Needless to say, there was a great demand for the insti-tution’s resources to focus on accomplishing this tre-

mendous academic endeavor. Therefore, since resouces were stretched during these formative years, I utilized the resources available us in a way that prioritized sub-stance over style, with an emphasis on attaining quality people to both fill our student-athlete rosters and lead our programs as coaches and staff.

“My philosophy of success has always put a higher value on people of substance who represent your program over the style of uniform or shoes that you wear.”

“Mason Barfield is not only a superb athletics director, he is one of the finest people I have known,” says Uni-versity of Wisconsin – Green Bay Chancellor Dr. Thomas K. Harden, president of Clayton State University from 2000 to 2009. “As president, I was always confident that in all his decisions and actions, Mason kept the inter-est of students foremost in his mind. Always honest and forthcoming, I knew I could trust him to make excellent decisions and lead the Lakers in ways that made me proud to be associated with the program. His mark of excellence is evident in all aspects of the athletic pro-gram at Clayton State, and he has positioned athletics for further success. He has worked tirelessly as a great ambassador for Clayton State.

“Those who know Mason also know that he is a dedi-cated family man. I am happy for him to reach the point in his professional life that he can now devote more time to his family.”

Barfield’s future plans do indeed include “going home” to Hahira, a move that will allow him to pursue some personal obligations to family and to pursue some future professional opportunities. As for his time at Clayton State, as the only administrator at Clayton State to serve under all four presidents (and interim president Michael Vollmer), and the University’s senior adminis-trator in terms of length of service, Barfield notes that all of the University’s leaders, beginning with founding president Dr. Harry S. Downs, have been men in the right place at the right time, and not just for the athletic program, but for the institution.

The same might be said for the athletic director. When he was hired by Downs in 1989, as a one-year college coach with no experience as an athletic director, Downs told him, “Mason, you’ve never done this before, but neither have we. So we’re going to learn how to do this together.”

And learn they did.

**Carl McAloose assumed the Director of Athletics position at Clayton State as of June 4th, 2012. For more information on his hire click here.**

200

http://www.claytonstatesports.com/information/directory/bios/McAloose_Carl

FALL CHAMPIONSHIPSCross Country (Men’s and Women’s)

PBC ChampionshipsOct. 20, 2012Men: 9 am; Women: 9:45 am (Central)Hosted by Montevallo

NCAA ChampionshipsRegionals - Nov. 3, 2012Charlotte, N.C.Finals - Nov. 17, 2012Joplin, Mo.

Women’s Soccer

PBC TournamentFirst Round - Oct. 30, 2012Top 8 teams - at higher seedChampionships - Nov. 2, 4, 2012Blanchard Woods Park - Evans, Ga.

NCAA Championships1st & 2nd Rounds: Nov. 9 & 11, 20123rd Round/Quarterfinals - Nov. 16 & 18, 2012Finals - Nov. 29 & Dec. 1Blanchard Woods Park - Evans, Ga.

Men’s Soccer

PBC TournamentFirst Round - Oct. 30, 2012

Top 8 teams - at higher seedChampionships - Nov. 2, 4, 2012Blanchard Woods Park - Evans, Ga.

NCAA ChampionshipsOpening Round - Nov. 7, 20121st & 2nd Rounds - Nov. 9, 11, 2012Quarterfinals - Nov. 17, 2012Finals - Nov. 29 & Dec. 1Blanchard Woods Park - Evans, Ga.

Volleyball

PBC TournamentNov. 16-18, 2013Hosted by FlaglerSt. Augustine, Fla.

NCAA ChampionshipsRegionals - Nov. 29 - Dec. 2, 2012Finals - Dec. 6-8, 2012Pensacola, Fla.

WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPSBasketball(Men’s and Women’s)

PBC ChampionshipsMarch 7-10, 2013Hosted by Columbus StateTop 4 in each division

Men’s NCAA Championships

Regionals - March 16-19, 2013Elite Eight - March 27-28 & 30Highland Heights, Ky.

Women’s NCAA ChampionshipsRegionals - March 15-18, 2013Elite Eight - March 26-27 & 29San Antonio, Texas

SPRINGCHAMPIONSHIPSTennis(Men’s and Women’s)

PBC TournamentApril 12-14, 2013Palmetto Tennis CenterSumter, S.C.

NCAA ChampionshipsRegionals - April 27-29, 2013Finals - May 8-10, 2013Surprise, Az.

Golf(Men’s and Women’s)

PBC TournamentApril 19-21, 2013Callaway Gardens Hosted by Columbus State

NCAA Men’s ChampionshipsRegionals - May 6-8, 2013Finals - May 20-23, 2013Hershey, Pa.

NCAA Women’s Championships

Regionals - May 5-7, 2013Finals - May 15-17, 2013Daytona Beach, Fla.

Track & Field(Men’s and Women’s)

PBC ChampionshipsTBD

NCAA ChampionshipsFinals - May 23-25Pueblo, Colo.

Softball

PBC TournamentApril 20-21, 2013Top 8 teams - single eliminationSite TBA

NCAA ChampionshipsRegionals - May 10-12, 2013Super Regionals - May 17-18, 2013Finals - May 23-26, 2012Salem, Va.

Baseball

PBC TournamentMay 8-12, 2013Top 8 teamsSite TBA

NCAA ChampionshipsRegionals - May 15-19, 2013World Series - May 26-31Cary, N.C.

Championships Calendar

201

GOOD LUCK U. OF NORTH CAROLINA AT PEMBROKE FROM YOUR FRIENDS IN BUSINESS

L & M GLASS CO., INC.Storefronts, Glass & Glazing, Mirrors,

Showers, Porch Enclosures, Curtain Walls,Replacement Windows, Stained Glass

2421 Dairy RoadRed Springs, NC 28377Phone: 910-843-5305Fax: 910-843-9042

Mitzi JacobsCarrie McMillan

LOWRY PLUMBING CO.N.C. License No. 4601-P.1.

1144 COMTECH DR.P.O. BOX 2997

PEMBROKE, N.C. 28372

BUSINESS: 910-521-3977FAX: 910-521-3542

CELL: 910-608-1090Richard S. Lowry, [email protected]

3214 SUMMERFIELD DR.MONROE, NC 28110

Office (704) 753-5400 Fax (704) 353-7007Cell (540) 379-6990 [email protected]

VINCE LABARBERA

SITE PREPARATION SITE CLEARING SITE UTILITIESEARTHWORK WATER STORM SANITARY

We have taken exterminating to the NEXT LEVEL

FREE ESTIMATEFOR TERMITE

COVERAGE & CONSULTFOR MOISTURE CONTROL

Residential/Commercial Pest ControlMosquito Management • WildlifeManagement • Termite Control Services

Fayetteville910.484.8383

www.cleggs.comLLC.

Tony Nusdeo

1109 Hickory Trace DriveGreensboro, NC 27407

Office: (336) 299-7567Cell: (336) 202-9856

[email protected]

Nusdeo PaintingNusdeo PaintingTony Nusdeo

1109 Hickory Trace DriveGreensboro, NC 27407

Office: (336) 299-7567Cell: (336) 202-9856

[email protected]

Residential • CommercialResidential • Commercial

4898 S. Atlanta Rd.Smyrna, GA 30080phone 404.351.3250 ext. 203fax 404.351.4140toll free 800.624.8919cell [email protected]

ATLANTA CHICAGO HOUSTON LOS ANGELES NASHVILLE NEW JERSEY

Randy Lagod

Always A Bright Idea

www.esamjones.com

202

2011-12 Year in Pictures203

2011-12 Peach Belt Conference Yearbook

Documents

Transcript of 2011-12 Peach Belt Conference Yearbook