Conference play begins tonight

Big South Conference play for men’s basketball begins tonight as Winthrop faces VMI along with three other Big South match-ups. The Eagles will play at Liberty on Saturday before going back to non-conference action for a couple of weeks.

It is too early to get a read on any of the teams in the league this season. One reason is because of all the non-D1 games Big South teams have played this year. I have a hard time reading much into the 151 points VMI hung on Central Penn or Charleston Southern’s 120 points against Toccoa Falls.

UNC Asheville has a marquee win over a bad Auburn team but it was competitive against North Carolina and Georgetown and then lost to a winless USC Upstate. Gardner-Webb has posted good results this season including wins over Charlotte and Western Carolina, a team that people were saying could be a factor in the Southern Conference. Coastal Carolina has an overtime victory over Charlotte.

Winthrop of course has the win over Wake Forest which looks even better since the Deacons knocked off Illinois this week but the loss to Hampton still stings.

After this weekend we should be a glimpse of what the conference will look like. The Virginia trip is always difficult for the Eagles but if they can come home with a couple of victories I think it would give fans a lot of confidence heading into January.

Presbyterian is a team that has raised some eyebrows with wins at Eastern Kentucky and against Princeton. It will face Liberty and VMI this weekend as well. High Point has struggled out of the gate but we should get a read on the Panthers after they face Gardner-Webb and UNC Asheville.

If you have a satellite, MASN will show two Big South games tonight. High Point hosts Gardner Webb and PC at Liberty. For those of you who have Comporium cable we will try to get the Winthrop games against VMI and Liberty on the air next week.

It’s early but always exciting to talk about conference basketball. We will look forward to seeing the Eagles play this weekend.

Thanksgiving

I am about to take off of a brief holiday break but before I do I wanted to give thanks for the men’s teams victory over Wake Forest last night. Obviously this isn’t the same Wake Forest team we have seen in the past. They are picked last in the ACC but anytime a mid-major wins a game on a major conference team’s home court it is a good win.

The Eagles played very well last night getting in transition and pushing the tempo. Robbie Dreher looked like he had missed playing the last four games and tried to fit four games of scoring into one. Reggie Middleton was close to a triple-double. I love that he is getting into the rebounding mix.

Also the women picked up a victory over Davidson last night. A much needed win for a young team. This team has the makings of a good team, they just need some people to get healthy and provide some depth.

Volleyball season ended with a heartbreaking five-set loss to Liberty. Those who were here and there were a lot of fans, all said it was one of the most exciting matches in a long time. The atmosphere was incredible; I just wish the ladies could have pulled out a win. So, the fall is complete with women’s soccer winning a regular-season trophy. Volleyball finished fourth and men’s soccer sixth.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and we will see you on Saturday as the men and women both face Lander.

Volleyball Tournament- Day 2

The 2010 edition of the Big South Volleyball Tournament began on Thursday with unprecedented results. For the first time in the 25 year history of the tournament, all four matches were decided in three sets. #2 High Point rolled over #7 Radford, #6 Charleston Southern upset #3 UNC Asheville, #1 Liberty had no problem with #8 Gardner-Webb and #4 Winthrop defeated #5 Coastal Carolina.

Semifinal day pits two teams who are looking for their first finals appearances in over 20 years and the two teams who have been to more finals than anyone else. High Point has never been to the Big South Championship match in volleyball and is making just its second semifinal appearance in school history. The Panthers face a Charleston Southern team who has not been to the finals since it last won the tournament in 1989. This is CSU’s second straight semifinal appearance after an 18-year absence from the semis. Winthrop and Liberty are both tied for the most conference championships (5) and finals appearances (9); one school will set a new conference mark for Finals appearances with a win tonight. Liberty is 9-5 all-time in the semifinals with two semifinal victories over Winthrop while Winthrop is 9-4 all-time in the semis but has never beaten Liberty in this round. Liberty has played in each of the last three Big South Championship games and is trying to make Karyl Bacon the first player in school history to play in four-straight Championship Matches. Winthrop on the other hand has won 16-straight sets at the Coliseum and is the only Big South team to defeat Liberty this season.

So something has to give, in both matches. Charleston Southern and High Point trying to reach heights neither school has reached and Winthrop and Liberty trying to take a step above the other. It should be exciting. Remember you can catch both matches on the Big South Network beginning at 4:30 p.m.

Volleyball Tournament Week Day 1

Well here we are just two days from the start of the Big South Volleyball Tournament and now it is time to see what we got right and what we screwed up on our pre-season rankings. Let’s review; I had Coastal, High Point, Winthrop, Liberty, UNC Asheville, Charleston Southern, Presbyterian, Gardner-Webb, and Radford. The conference poll was pretty similar with Coastal, Liberty, Winthrop, High Point, UNCA, CSU, PC, GWU, and Radford.

Now I remember saying I thought Liberty was too high at number two because they had to replace three All-Conference players. Turns out, I was wrong, they were too low. The Flames breezed through the league at 14-2 behind Karyl Bacon who should be the Big South Player of the Year. I was correct about High Point. They had a great season led by two terrific outside hitters in Megan Smith and Audie Gonzalez. UNC Asheville and Winthrop flip flopped; Asheville led by its outsides Kelsey Benorden and Cindi Miller. Winthrop easily the best middles in the league with Becca Toor and Sara Felts. Asheville and Winthrop split their two meetings and are both right where they should be.

Coastal Carolina turned out to be the biggest disappointment in the league this season. With Kelsey Kimes and Meagan Bickford this is a much better than a fifth place team but as I warned at the beginning, they are not consistent. Too many times they lose to teams they should beat. But don’t sleep on this team, they were the four seed last year and won the thing. They are talented and could make another run.

Charleston Southern and PC, both feel into the trap. They had the best teams they have had in years but the league was just too good this year. CSU places sixth and will face UNC Asheville in an interesting quarterfinal. PC does not qualify for the tournament so they get skipped over in the tournament seedings.

Radford played very well at the end of the season. This is a team that improved the most from start to finish. The record may not be impressive but the improvement is. They took teams to the wire and pulled off some upsets the second time through the league. The Highlanders will be dangerous for High Point in the Quarterfinals, they won’t win, but it will be a better match than you think.

Gardner-Webb really never had a chance. A young Bulldog team was hit with injuries and although they played alright at home they simply did not have enough fire power on offense. I am impressed with Presley Mabrey, she deserves 2nd team all-conference honors but it will be a short tournament for the Bulldogs I am afraid.

I will make more predictions tomorrow. I will tell you who should be all-conference and who will win.

Good News for Women's Soccer

The Big South announced its postseason honors on Tuesday and the Winthrop Women's team is well represented. The complete release can be found here... It turns out all of politicking paid off as Coach Spenser Smith was named Big South Coach of the Year. Of course when I wrote that blog the Eagles were in fourth place, they of course finished in a five-way tie for first and grabbed the top-seed. The award was deserved before they got the top-seed but it must have been unanimous afterwards.

Courtney Durbin, Allie VandeWater and Katie Perkinson all are well deserved of first-team honors. Durbin scored six goals in nine conference games after beginning the season as a defender. Four of her goals were game-winners. Hard to argue with any of the picks on the All-Conference Teams, Che Brown of Radford and Marky Boyce of CSU certainly were deserving of their honors.

Now for the tournament which begins tomorrow in Radford. The top seed has not won the event since 1997. Last season, the top four seeds all lost in the quarterfinals. This tournament has not been kind to high seeds in recent years. What is interesting is the top five teams are all seemingly the same. Obviously with five co-champions there is no clear cut favorite. This should make for an exciting tournament.

Remember all matches will be video streamed on the Big South Network. If you want to listen at work for FREE, you can do that here. And of course you can follow Winthrop athletics on Facebook and twitter to get updates as well. Also look for video highlights after the match as well as thoughts from Coach Smith on Youtube and Winthropeagles.com.

Your Source for WU Women's Soccer

The Winthrop Women's soccer is the top seed in this week's Big South Tournament which will be held at Radford Thursday thru Sunday. We will be making the trip to follow the Lady Eagles in their quest for their first ever NCAA bid. All Winthrop games will be available two ways. 1. FOR FREE via and audio only feed from Winthropeagles.com and 2. Pay per view via the Big South Network on bigsouthsports.com. Also check in each night to get a recap of the day's action and comments from Coach Smith and key players. Also Facebook and twitter will be alive with updates regarding the tournament. So for all you need to know about the Big South Women's Soccer Tournament chack out bigsouthsports.com as well as winthropeagles.com. We will have it covered. GO EAGLES!!!

Spencer Smith for Big South Coach of the Year

All of these political ads on TV have gotten me in the campaigning mood. Here is my campaign for Big South Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year…

OK, I realize I have a biased opinion and I realize that the Coach of the Year usually just goes to the team that finishes in first place which will most likely be Charleston Southern. However, I think the Coach of the Year should go to the coach that gets the most out of his team. I give you Spencer Smith.

Let’s take a look at that preseason poll. CSU was picked to finish second; they are in first place by three points over Coastal Carolina. Coastal was picked third, they are in second place. High Point picked fourth is tied for third place with WINTHROP, who was picked seventh. SEVENTH!!! and the Eagles are tied for third just one point out of second and four points out of first.

Winthrop was winless in its first eight matches (0-7-1), but showed improvement throughout. Since conference play began, the Eagles are 3-1-1 with still four matches left in the regular season. Even if the Eagles go 2-2 and finish 5-3-1 in the league it will be a lot better than seventh place.

No one expected anything from this team at the beginning of the year. Everyone said, “It’s going to take some time. Spencer will get them there but this year is going to be tough.” And it was in the beginning but let’s take a close look at those eight losses…umm, four of the losses came in overtime and five are by one goal. Only once has an opponent scored more than two goals in a match (Jacksonville got three).
Coach Smith has done a terrific job with this team and I know the voters for the award will give it to whoever wins the regular season. But is it really a surprise that Charleston Southern, who was picked second and has the best player in the league, is at the top or that Coastal Carolina, who won the league last year is right there. Is that good coaching or just doing what is expected?

If the Eagles finish in the top four, which they are in position to do, Coach Smith deserves this award for keeping the team together through the beginning of the year and making the moves to make this team competitive in the league. Remember, they finished eighth last season. For me this is easily the best coaching job in the league. I am going ahead and casting my vote now, even it slightly biased. Look at the facts and judge for yourself.

Tough Non-Conference Schedule Paying off for Eagles

The Winthrop Volleyball team began the season 3-9. The three wins were over Seton Hall, South Carolina, and South Alabama. Some of the losses included Wisconsin, Clemson, Kansas, Northern Iowa, and Georgia Southern. The players and coaches all knew they were better than their record. The thought was to play a tough non-conference and we would be battle tested heading into conference play.

It now looks like the plan is working. Since beginning conference play with a tough 3-2 loss to High Point, the Eagles have reeled off five straight wins and it’s not like Winthrop has played the bottom of the conference. The last three wins are against Liberty (winners of three of the last four BSC championships), Coastal Carolina (defending tournament champ and preseason top pick), and UNC Asheville (defending regular season champ). The really impressive part is the Eagles have only lost two sets in the last five matches. That is 15-2 people.

The Eagles are proving to be the most balanced team offensively in the league. Every team has a great outside hitter; some teams have two great outside hitters. But no one has the middles that Winthrop has. Becca Toor and Sara Felts have been dominating people. If you think about attack percentages the same way you think about batting averages in baseball (.300 being where you want to be, and .400 being a super star) Becca Toor in her last three matches is hitting .408, Sara Felts is hitting .281, combined they are hitting .346. That is against three of the top four teams in the conference.


A couple of people who are not getting headlines but are improving as the season goes along. Libero Kelsey Harrison (libero’s never get headlines) set a school record with 31 digs against Asheville on Oct. 6. Carolyn Weed set a new career-high with 15 kills and hit .324 in that same match. Weed is settling in as the second outside hitter and can really be a factor if she can average around 10 kills a match. Stephanie Palmer did a nice job of filling in at setter against Asheville and has also proven to be a factor on the right side when she is not setting.

It is still too early to hand the Eagles the trophy but right not the ladies are playing as well as anyone in the league. They have two more matches against Presbyterian and Gardner-Webb this weekend to close out the first trip around the league. The second trip around the league will be tough with High Point, Coastal, and Asheville all on the road but they are playing well now and hopefully will continue through the rest of the year.

Women's Soccer

It’s that time of the year again everyone! The Winthrop women’s soccer has begun its eighth overall season as a program with a new coach in Spencer Smith, who had spent the last 15 seasons at the helm of the Radford men’s soccer team. The 2010 season is currently eight games old, and the Eagles have posted a record of 0-7-1. Winthrop participated in two exhibition contests, on the road at Wofford and at home against The Citadel, before opening the regular season against Marshall in the 2010 Winthrop Invitational. The season was supposed to begin at Georgia Southern, but weather prevented that from happening. The Eagles kicked off the season with a 2-2 draw against the Thundering Herd before falling in the invitational finale to Appalachian State 2-1. Winthrop then dropped three more games on the road against Jacksonville, and Miami (OH) and East Tennessee State in the ETSU Soccer Invitational. Following the three straight losses on the road, the Eagles have lost to Georgia State (2-1 in double-overtime), Davidson (2-0) and South Carolina State (2-1 in overtime).

Despite opening their season without a win thus far, I can see improvement with the squad even though the results don’t show it. The team lost only two starts from last season and one part-time player. One of those players will be difficult to replace in Stevie Lucas because she was such a great defender and was always in the right position to prevent the opponent a scoring opportunity. Other than that, all of the players who earned valuable playing time in 2009 return with another year of experience under their belt.

Heading into the conference opening weekend, senior forward Tricia Vensel leads Winthrop in four offensive categories: goals, points, shots and shots on-goal. Vensel has continued from where she left off last season after earning Second Team All-Big South honors. She gives the Eagles a good offensive weapon, especially with the speed that she brings to the table. Sophomore midfielder Allie VandeWater currently has a team-high three assists on the season and recently picked up her first goal of the season against the Bulldogs on Sept. 29. VandeWater is one of the better ball-handlers on the squad and adds to that her crisp passing ability. The goalkeeper position has been split so far this season between redshirt-junior Kelsy Weavil and sophomore Sarah Schippers. Both players have started in four games each, while Schippers has allowed seven goals and grabbed 23 saves to lead those two categories.

With the Big South opener set for Saturday night, we’re going to take a look at every team in the conference and show how they shape up this season. One of the goals for each team is to make it to the Big South Tournament as only eight of the ten teams will make it to the postseason. The one thing I learned from the conference tournament last season is that anything can happen. For the first time in tournament history, the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds met in the championship match as the Eagles faced High Point. Another interesting point is that none of the higher seeds won a match heading in the final game. So as we enter the second season as some people like to call it, let’s examine the other nine teams in the Big South Conference. We will discuss each team in the order that they were predicted in the Big South Women’s Soccer Preseason Poll.

Liberty
The Flames are a dangerous team in 2010, which shows as they captured the Big South Regular Season title last year. Liberty entered the conference tournament as the top seed, but fell to Winthrop in penalty kicks. Liberty boasts perhaps two of the top players in the conference in Maria Owen and Silvia Betancourt. Owen is one of the top players in the conference, but Betancourt is probably just as good. I had a chance to see them play during the Winthrop Invitational several weeks ago and came away impressed with the team. Liberty’s offense was very organized and knew exactly where it wanted to go with the ball, while the defense never allowed many scoring chances for the opposing team. The one question that possibly lies with the Flames is do they have a senior leader on the squad? While it’s always important to have an upperclassman provide leadership, Liberty does have everyone back which allows it to retain that team chemistry from last season.

Charleston Southern
The Buccaneers have a player in who I believe, and probably a good number of people, is the top player in the conference in Marky Boyce. You could also consider Boyce as one of the best in the country as TopDrawerSoccer.com has her listed as the 89th best player in the nation. To go along with Boyce, Charleston Southern brought in a great recruiting class for this season and will add them to a team that returns a lot of players from 2009. The parts are in place for the Buccaneers to make 2010 their year in the Big South Conference.

Coastal Carolina
Along with Winthrop, the Chanticleers are one of three teams in the conference to bring in a new head coach. Tammy DeCesare comes to the Coastal Carolina women’s soccer program after spending the last five seasons as head coach at Western Carolina University. The Chanticleers are a new team this year with DeCesare at the helm as she was a very successful coach with the Catamounts. She will bring that same mentality to Coastal Carolina. The team lost a lot of players from last season, but DeCesare was hired earlier enough that she hit the recruiting trail and had plenty of time to bring in a solid recruiting class. DeCesare was able to do that by signing a number of good players.

High Point
The Panthers are the defending Big South Conference Tournament champions after defeating the Eagles in penalty kicks last season. High Point would fall to North Carolina 1-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but it made a mark in the first year of the Marty Beall campaign. Beall came to the Panthers last year after spending 10 seasons at Francis Marion. High Point brings back a bulk of its roster from 2009 and will add to that will several good recruits. They play a tough schedule in non-conference, but will help them when conference play begins. The tough non-conference schedule has always paid off for the Panthers as they defeated the Clemson Tigers 4-3 on Sept. 12.

Radford
The Highlanders brought in probably one of the best recruiting classes in the Big South for this season. Radford currently holds a 6-4 overall record heading into conference play at UNC Asheville this weekend. The program is under the watch of head coach Ben Sohrabi who is in his 15th year with the Highlanders. Radford is a program, like many others in the conference, which brought in a number of great recruits which should benefit the team as it heads throughout the season. They also return the reigning Big South Freshman of the Year in Mary Wiley. The Highlanders are a very well-organized team both offensively and defensively, and it shows as they have scored 20 goals so far this season and have given up only six. The organization of the team is a credit to Sohrabi, as Radford has always been that type of team during his tenure.

Gardner-Webb
Winthrop will open its conference schedule Saturday with the Runnin’ Bulldogs, and it should be an evenly-matched contest as both teams were picked sixth and seventh, respectively, in the preseason poll. Gardner-Webb is another solid conference squad and returns a number of players from last season for head coach Kevin Mounce. Those returning players should blend nicely with several good recruits that Mounce brought in this off-season and will make them an organized unit. The Eagles are opening conference play against the Runnin’ Bulldogs for the second straight season as they fell in Boiling Springs, NC 2-0 last year.

VMI
The Keydets are an interesting team to figure out this season. VMI is looking to replace Chrissy Beach in 2010 after she led the team with five goals and 15 points last year. Some considered Beach to be one of the better players in the conference during the 2009 season. The program is under the helm of Bryan Williams, who is beginning his sixth year as head coach. The Keydets are a competitive squad with a bunch of returning players from last year, when their season ended at the hands of Winthrop in penalty kicks at the Big South Tournament. The main question for VMI this season is who will be its leader?

UNC Asheville
Perhaps the team in the Big South that has the most questions heading into the season were the Bulldogs. Who really knows what to expect from this team? The question is still out there on UNC Asheville. The Bulldogs are the other team in the Big South who will be harboring in a new head coach as Michelle Demko comes to the program after spending the last three seasons as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Nebraska. She replaces long-time coach Michelle Cornish, who is the Big South and UNC Asheville all-time leader in victories. The Bulldogs lost their goalkeeper from last season Veronica Lazar. Lazar was a solid goalie for UNC Asheville throughout her career, and kept them in numerous contests in 2009. They do return several players from last season’s 5-10-1 squad, and it will be interesting to see how the team fits in to the new system that Demko has installed.

Presbyterian
The Blue Hose are still in the transition phase of becoming a Division I school, so they will not be eligible to make the Big South Tournament this season. They are gearing up for conference play by scheduling a tough non-conference schedule, which a number of teams around the country do. It benefits the program that they have a veteran coach to lead the program through this transitional phase. Presbyterian is coached by Brian Purcell, who is currently in his 21st season with the Blue Hose. He has been with the program since its inception during the 1989 season. Purcell has been able to build solid teams over the years, and he should have another one this season as Presbyterian will be a good team with a toughness mentality attached to it.

Winthrop Athletics on TV

Once again I find myself apologizing for it taking longer than a week to get a new blog out to keeping you, our loyal fan base, in the dark about what is going on around the coliseum. Well, here it is finally and with news to tell.


I am proud to say that the first edition of Inside Winthrop is complete and now airing on Comporium channel 18 in Rock Hill. Parts of the show (coach interviews) can be seen on the website. If you watch the interviews the only thing you are missing is the Kicks vs. Cancer segment and the Campus Spotlight featuring Boyd Jones and DSU. The next show will be filmed during basketball Media Day on Oct. 12, in Charlotte and will air around Oct. 20. If you miss a show don’t worry there are plenty of chances to see it. Inside Winthrop airs Monday through Friday on Channel 18. At 4 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, 2 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and at Noon on Fridays.

Also beginning this week is the first installment of the Winthrop EagleTV Game of the Week. The game can be seen each night on Channel 18 at 9 p.m. and on Saturday afternoons at 2 p.m. This week’s Game of the Week is the volleyball team’s 3-1 victory over South Carolina. You will need to catch it soon if you haven’t seen it. It will be replaced by the recent women’s soccer overtime game against Georgia State tomorrow or Friday. Possibilities for next week’s game will be either Volleyball against High Point or men’s soccer vs. Liberty we will see how it goes.

So, if you live in the Rock Hill area and you get Comporium Cable checkout Channel 18 from time to time for Inside Winthrop and the Game of the Week. We are optimistically hoping to make channel 18 your source for Winthrop Athletics moving into basketball season but we still have to remember to take baby steps this first year. If you are outside the Rock Hill area, give us some time to work with channel 18, and hopefully we will be able to take our show to DirecTV in the future but don’t worry, we will continue to put pieces of Inside Winthrop on winthropeagles.com and you can get all the games on the Big South Network and watch archives whenever you want. So stay tuned as our video presents continues to expand. Go Eagles!

Fall Sports

Wow, with all that is going on it appears that we have not had a new blog in a while. So, here it is the first blog of September. At first glance it would appear that the Eagles are struggling a bit in the fall sports. But let us take a closer look.

Volleyball is 2-7. The two wins are against Seton Hall and South Carolina (A Big East opponent and a SEC opponent). There are a lot of Big South schools with better records that would love such wins. In Fact, as a conference the Big South has just two wins over teams from the Big 6 Conferences (ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big 10, Pac 10, and Big East) and Winthrop has both of them. The Eagles are playing an extremely difficult non-conference schedule and of the seven losses two are to ranked teams (Wisconsin and Northern Iowa), three are to major conference opponents (Kansas, Clemson, and Wisconsin) and two more have been in five sets (William & Mary and College of Charleston). The final tune-up for conference play comes this weekend as the Eagles fly to Georgia Southern for its final three non-conference matches against Ga. Southern, South Alabama, and East Tennessee State.

Men’s Soccer is 2-2 with wins over Brevard and Long Island and losses to Mercer and UNC Wilmington. Wilmington is ranked in the top 25 and Mercer played in its league’s championship match last season. Many people were disappointed in the showing against Mercer last Sunday but were much more encouraged by the performance against Wilmington. This is a team that just needs to learn to come to go to work every day. The Eagles are extremely talented but also extremely young and sometime young players don’t feel like they have to play hard or give max effort in very game. We saw some of that in the preseason and we have seen it early this season. But I honestly feel like things will work out for the Eagles. They are too good and Coach Posipanko will teach them that they need to take every team seriously. In college, everyone is good enough to beat you if you don’t play hard. They will learn.

Women’s soccer is 0-4-1 and what has to be remembered is that this team is learning a new system and a new coach. The tie against Marshall got everyone’s attention thinking hey this might be a turn-around season. But with just two goals over the last four matches we need to realize it doesn’t happen that quickly. I expect this team to improve with each match hopefully by the end of conference season things will begin to come together. The ladies will be at home on Friday against Georgia State. That is our next home event so come out and support the Eagles.

Don’t forget that many games can be seen on-line via the Big South Network. Go to bigsouthsports.com and sign up to follow the Eagles live. Also be on the lookout for new videos on winthropeagles.com and even a couple of new shows on Comporium Cable 18 for those in the Rock Hill area.

GO EAGLES

Men's Soccer Preview

The 2010 men’s soccer season around the corner and it’s time to start getting excited for what’s in store for the team this season. Winthrop has won back-to-back titles in the Big South and three of the last four. Since winning in 2006, the Eagles have lost goal scorers such as Saidi Isaac, Daniel Revivo, and Matthew Skonicki in addition to playmakers Michael Luk and David Kenga. Along with their departures have been the likes of Otto Loewy, Patrick Mitrovich, Henry Kalungi, Stephen Nsereko, Sean Weron, John Gilkerson, and Matt Lacey. All of these players accumulated several awards and achieved many great things in their careers at Winthrop.
Each year always has question marks and brings new faces to the roster. Last year the Eagles knew there were questions on whether the amount of youth could mesh with the veteran players and things turned out just fine in the end. Again, this season there is the question: How successful can this team be with so many inexperienced players accumulating a majority of the playing time and starting positions?
This year could see as many as eight underclassmen in the starting line-up. The last time there were this many underclassmen in the line-up, Winthrop pulled through for its first ever Big South Conference title in 2002. That season saw seven underclassmen in the starting line-up. It was a banner season for the Eagles including two wins over nationally-ranked Coastal Carolina. Of those underclassmen, four of them earned multiple all-conference awards and were four-year starters. The Eagles have started six underclassmen three times (’03, ’05, ’06) since then, but have only started a total of six in the last two years. Now don’t get me wrong. There is definitely a lot of youth on the team this year (18 underclassmen), but among this group is a lot of talent.
The coaches in the Big South obviously thought so because Winthrop was picked second in the preseason poll with Coastal Carolina. High Point was the favorite, which most of us believed would be and Coastal Carolina second doesn’t surprise me either, but I didn’t see this coming. I figured anywhere between third and fifth, but closer to fifth with everything that’s been lost in the past two years. Last year’s team finished tied for fourth in the regular season and were the fifth seed in the tournament. Matthew Skonicki graduated and Michael Luk along with Matt Lacey are graduated. That’s a lot of to lose in one year. Being picked second can be good or bad. Depending on how the young players look at it. Even if they were picked fifth or sixth, you will be a game most teams look forward to playing. That comes with having won three of the last four championships. You may not have played last season, but the other teams don’t care. So even with High Point as the favorite and a game everyone will look forward to, Winthrop will have to be ready to play every single conference game. There is always a little extra joy in defeating a conference team that is the defending champion. It’s a pride thing the young guys will have to take into consideration. That’s really nothing new since every conference game seems to be a knock-down drag out no matter who or where you play.
I’ve now seen the Eagles play two exhibition games and I’m not sure I can make a full assessment of what you will see in 2010. The team has suffered through injuries during the preseason and the line-ups have been all over the place. The two games I watched I did see a lot of good things and was impressed how the team knocked the ball around despite having guys out of position and so many starters out.
Winthrop returns Enrique Miranda (goalkeeper), Daniel DiBiagio (defender), Wylie Rea (defender), Matt Horn (defender), Jordan Osborn (defender), Tomas Brennan (midfield), Miquel Casajuana (midfielder), and Adam Skonicki (forward) who are all expected to start. That is a good amount of returning talent with experience, but it’s going to be up to what players plug the whole that will dictate the amount of success the Eagles have this year. Freshman Alex Bolton has impressed me so far in the two games I watched and he could be a mainstay in the midfield on the outside. He works hard and goes forward well. Like any freshman, he does have the tendency to give the ball up more than a coach would like, but that will be cleaned up as the season goes on. Freshman Matt Stinson is another freshman expected to start and he’s a very solid defensive midfielder from what I’ve seen so far. I was really impressed with him and DiBiagio against Furman in the exhibition opener when they arrived by plane at 6:30 at Charlotte-Douglas Airport and then came straight to the field to start the second half and play 45 minutes of very solid soccer.
Freshman I have not seen play are Tinotenda Chibharo, who is expected to be a starter or see a lot of playing time. One of the most impressive players in the preseason for me is senior Ted Bartels. This is a guy that has been hurt, ineligible and I saw him for the first time in three years on the field against Furman and he was moving the ball well and creating in the midfield for the Eagles. I was told that he was playing really well, but for him not having played in a real game in so long, I was impressed. He should see a lot of time if he maintains that level.
There is some talent that Winthrop can turn to for the starting line-up for the first few weeks while everyone gets healthy. One of the players we’re waiting on to get healthy is freshman Nick Kowalski. He had a small surgery a few weeks back and is expected to make an impact in the midfield when he returns (which could be 5-6 games into the season).
The goalkeeper situation is solid as Miranda returns after playing every minute last season and Tom Banfield, who redshirted last year, has looked solid in the preseason.
Defensively, Winthrop should be pretty strong and will be young, but good in the midfield. Up top, the Eagles will have a sophomore in Adam Skonicki and a combo of Andres Pullin, Brandon Forlemu, Felipe Netto and Randall Eads. Maybe even Bartels? We’ll see.
My prediction: If Kowalski comes back healthy and can play significant minutes, along with the rest of the guys getting healthy—this team can once again be a team to reckon with in the league. The Eagles are playing a solid schedule and will get tested early with games against Mercer, UNC Wilmington, East Tennessee State and Georgia Southern.
Personally I don’t agree with the prediction of the Eagles being second in the preseason poll, but I don’t get a vote in that anymore. Coach Rich Posipanko and his staff have been able to keep reloading for this run of three championships in four seasons no matter who graduated, etc. Why should this year be any different? I still think 4th or 5th is realistic. One thing for sure is no matter how the team starts the season, I believe this squad will get stronger and stronger as it moves into November and will fight to defend its title. There will be games where they look like they’ve figured it out and then games where you scratch your head. That’s the life of having a young team. Let’s hope we’re not scratching our heads very often.

Coastal Carolina
This program has one of, if not the richest tradition in the Big South. The Chanticleers have won nine regular season titles, been to the conference tournament title game 11 times and brought home nine Big South titles.
Despite being tied with the Eagles at second in the preseason poll, Coastal Carolina could easily capture the regular season like it did in 2009 and is always a contender to win the conference tournament. Even though 2009 Big South Conference Player of the Year Djamel Bekka graduated, the Chanticleers are loaded with nine of 11 starters returning. This teams overall record is always deceiving as head coach Shaun Docking always puts together a tough non-conference schedule. This year is no different with the likes of Old Dominion, Virginia Commonwealth, Elon, College of Charleston, North Carolina State and Maryland.
The returning players are featured by First Team All-Big South member Alex Russell, a senior with good size and one of the best defenders in the league. Senior’s Joe Anderson and Matt Schroeder return as the top two scorers for a Chanticleer team that put the ball in the net 29 times in 18 games last year. However, defensively, Coastal Carolina only allowed 20 goals all season, 10 of which came in three games. Both are very strong midfielders with good size and pace (Anderson at 6-3 and Schroeder at 6-2). Schroeder, Second Team All-Big South in 2009, is a defensive midfielder where as Anderson will be more involved in the attack as he plays on the outside.
Junior Scott Angevine returns in net for the Chanticleers and had a solid 2009 season in which he was 7-0-6 with four shutouts and a 0.65 goals against average. Those were good enough to earn him First Team All-Big South honors. I would assume he will be back as the starter.
Coastal will get Winthrop and High Point at home this season. Coastal Carolina was 5-0-3 in the league last year while High Point was 5-1-2. Hosting High Point could be the difference again this year. Coastal will have to travel to Liberty to open conference play and that will be in the middle of a three-game road trip and five of six on the road. Five of the conference games will be on the road. That will make it tough to repeat as regular season champions. The Chants will only play six home games.
Don’t know too much about the recruiting class of the Chanticleers, but just reading through the list there are a lot of players coming in with Olympic Development and Regional Team experience. There isn’t much room with nine starters returning but talented players like that will be fighting to start and earn playing time. Even with only six home games, I expect Coastal Carolina to be right there in the end and make its 12th title game appearance. Coastal is always a very physical team and that is key for playing in the postseason. I think all the experience of playing away from home will be an advantage in the end, especially for a veteran team.

High Point
There is a lot of attention on this team in 2010. The Panthers are the preseason favorite, they have the preseason Player of the Year and they are hosting the 2010 Big South Conference Tournament. With 10 of 11 starters returning, it isn’t surprising the coaches selected them as the favorite. High Point was definitely one of the favorites to win the conference tournament last year before all things got crazy with the rain and the relocation of the tournament to Gardner-Webb. High Point is ready to be the most relaxed team as the host and the players wake up and find out things are changing and it will be moved to Gardner-Webb. That curveball along with playing a seventh-seeded Radford team that was way better than its record, just made it that more difficult for the Panthers. It was a young team last season and eight of the top returning players for 2010 are sophomores. Mix that with Karo Okiomah (Preseason Player of the Year) and a few more veterans and you have a very solid Panther squad. This team played fast when I saw them play last fall and I expect the same out of them this season. The Panthers did add a Rock Hill, SC native to its recruiting class in Alex Martinez. He was named the MVP of the Clash of the Carolinas. Scott Rojo, one of the few seniors on the team, has been a key player since his freshman season and had a solid summer as he was named to the All-Premier Development League as well as the All-Eastern Conference Team in the PDL.
Shawn Sloan (So.) was a First Team All-Big South selection in 2009 and was the Freshman of the Year as he played in all 18 games. He scored six goals and had two assists while playing in the midfield. Defender Todd Ray was another Panther that made All-Big South honors. The All-Freshmen Team featured three High Point players in Sloan, Fejiro Okiomah and Patrick Donahue. Fejrio Okiomah scored four goals and had three assists while Donahue started all 18 games in the midfield. Michael Chelser returns in net for the Panthers. He started all 18 games and finished with a 1.30 goals against average and five shutouts.
This is a team with a lot of young talent that head coach Dustin Fonder has assembled and it is a team that has a very good chance at winning its first Big South Championship in men’s soccer.

Liberty
The Flames are coming off a very impressive season in which they won 12 games and will return seven very solid starters for the 2010 season. Liberty reached its fifth over final in 2009 and will have a lot of experience back for this season. The four starters not back were impact players. Juan Guzman was a very solid midfielder and Chris Mandall and Michael Ward (both All-Big South selections) were very solid in the back. Goalkeeper Andrew Madero also graduated after starting in 18 games with a 0.45 goals against average.
The biggest loss will be in the defense with those three gone, but the Flames do return their top five scorers from a year ago led by Darren Amoo. He is a very skillful and quick player that scored 14 goals last year as a redshirt freshman. He will be a player that will contend for the Big South Conference Player of the Year award. Playing alongside him will be junior Timothy Bullock, who had four goals and four assists last season and was selected to the All-Big South team. In the midfield, Phillip Aseweh, Juan Nino and Chris Phillips return to give the Flames one of the strongest, experienced midfields in the league. Nino posted eight assists last year and Aseweh had seven goals and six assists. This group was the foundation of a team that scored 43 goals last year and should be able to equal that. This is definitely the making of a team that could return to the championship match.

RADFORD
Radford is an interesting team and kind of an unknown, but has the potential to be a solid team. The Highlanders have a new coach for the first time in 17 years. New head coach Marc Reeves brings a wealth of experience from a successful program (St. John’s).
This team that finished seventh in the Big South last season returns a very solid core of players that were a part of a positive finish to the 2009 season after an upset of second-seeded High Point in the opening round of the Big South Conference Tournament.
The record of 5-9-3 last season was a bit deceptive as the Highlanders had a talented team that was involved in nine games decided by one goal or ended in a tie. The team managed just 18 goals in 17 games and if Radford solves that problem it should be one of the top four teams in the league. Radford had a 3-1 win over Virginia Tech and tied High Point and Winthrop during the regular season. Having watched the game against Winthrop, the game could have easily gone in favor of Radford as it applied a lot of pressure but missed opportunities, as did both sides.
The top five scorers return and seven or eight starters as well as both goalies. Sophomore Myles Jones is coming off a very impressive season in which he was named to the All-Big South Second Team and the All-Freshmen Team. He is a very solid defender and has great size at 6-3. He is from the same hometown as Winthrop’s two freshmen players from Harare, Zimbabwe. In addition to Jones, Radford returns a solid defense in veterans Aldo Macias and Brendan Shaffer. James Jordan and Iyiola Awosika return as the top scoring forwards and just add to the experience Radford brings to the 2010 season.
Reeves added five freshmen to the roster for the 2010 season (four midfielders and a forward). The newcomers will add depth to a midfield that returns Brian Gwanzura, Joe Baxter and James Leith.
One of the more interesting things about the 2010 Highlanders is the schedule. They will only be playing five games at home, opening up the home schedule with a conference game against rival Liberty and then playing Longwood, Presbyterian, Winthrop and Coastal Carolina at home. The non-conference schedule features games at North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Davidson, and Elon as well as neutral site games against Mercer and Georgia Southern. One thing for sure, the Highlanders will be battle tested and well prepared for the conference tournament. Playing on the road for 12 of your 17 games in a season won’t be easy. Despite that, I still feel Radford will finish among the top five teams in the league.

Gardner-Webb
Like many of the teams in the league, the Bulldogs return a solid core of players that includes nine of its top 12 scorers from last season. Gardner-Webb finished fifth in the league with a 4-3-1 record and is a team that seems to pride itself with hard work. Every game seems to be a battle. Gardner-Webb was the fifth seed in 2009 and lost a heartbreaker in the opening round to Winthrop in a shootout. This is a team that was voted sixth in the preseason poll, but is definitely capable of finishing around the top of the standings. I know it sounds like a broken record and it seems like every team I’ve talked about so far has a chance to win the league. I think that shows the depth of talented teams in the Big South heading into the season. This team opened the 2009 season with a 1-0 win at Clemson and also picked up wins over Jacksonville, Liberty, and Georgia Southern (5-2).
Gerard Hefferon, a very talented player that scored 10 goals and had eight assists last season, has graduated but there are nine players returning that scored at least one goal in 2009. Senior Romeo Kabanda is the top playmaker back for Gardner-Webb; five goals and eight assists last season. Gardner-Webb scored 31 goals in 17 games, but also allowed 31. This team was only shutout three times last season.
With a few questions on defense, Gardner-Webb could be susceptible to the same amount or more this year. If the Bulldogs defense comes together, they will be tough to beat. All-Big South selection Jon Ole Reinhardsen will be the veteran on defense, despite being a redshirt sophomore. Head coach Tony Setzer shuffled some players between midfield and defense last season and could give them a permanent home in the back this year.
Manning the net will be senior keeper Trent Kozman, who posted a 7-5-2 record last year with three shutouts. He missed the Big South Tournament with an injury.
I don’t know much about the newcomers other than there is a lot of them. But knowing coach Setzer, he’s brought in a few talented players that will help make this team even more competitive.
The schedule is competitive and Gardner-Webb will play VMI, Presbyterian College, Coastal Carolina and Radford all at home. Non-conference schedule will prepare them for Big South action as the Bulldogs travel to play Clemson and Appalachian State and will host Mercer, Georgia State, Davidson and UNC Greensboro.
The Bulldogs will definitely be a tough contest for every league team.

Presbyterian College
This is a team that is getting closer and closer to being a winner in this league. This team plays hard and plays very physical. Two of the teams three wins last season came in the Big South and they were against Radford and VMI as well as pulling off ties against the first and second best teams in the league last year (Coastal Carolina and High Point). They lost six games by one goal.
Seven starters return, including sophomore keeper Andrew Wallingford. He had a 1.24 goals against average in 2009 while senior James Neal returns after a 1-7-0 record and a 2.23 goals against average. Neal saw over 800 minutes in net while Wallingford played in 650.
Just like last season, I expect PC to compete in every league game. Last year they surprised with the ties against the top two teams in the league and this year I think one or even both of those ties turn into wins over someone in the top half of the standings.
All three wins the Blue Hose got in 2009 were at home. Winning on the road is key in the Big South to finish in the upper half of the standings and if PC figures out how to do that this season then the league is definitely facing a large number of tie-breaking scenarios.

VMI
This is a team that no matter what the circumstances are, they will fight you to the end. VMI works its tail off and is coming off a tough season in which it went 2-15-1. However, that team lost seven games by one goal (three in conference games) and lost three of its games in overtime while tying the other. The season ended with a 1-0 loss to top-seeded Coastal Carolina in the Big South Tournament.
This should be an improved VMI squad with the return of nine of its starters, including senior keeper Brian Sowell. This guy is really good and can keep the Keydets in games. I’ve witnessed two games in his career where no matter how many times you pounded the goal, he just refused to let the ball get by him. Whether it’s making the save and bouncing right up and save the rebound. He will be a key element in helping VMI improve from last year.
Senior Brian Harding was the leading scorer last season and returns as a starter in the midfield.
Third-year coach Richie Rose has experience returning and hopes to mold the newcomers in with the returning players to produce a good season. Rose brought in a class of nine players, almost all from the state of Virginia. Three of the players brought in were forwards to try and beef up the scoring a bit. Payton Case is a midfielder and defender Stephen Mallon both were part of the Virginia Olympic Development program. The only non-Virginia recruit is Aaron White, a forward from Wilson, NC and also part of the North Carolina ODP.
With the number of close results from last year in the league, I can only assume VMI will sneak in and turn some of the one goal losses into wins this year.

UNC ASHEVILLE
A new era begins in Asheville where first year head coach Matt Kern takes over. The coach has 18-years of experience in collegiate soccer and will look to turn things around for a team that was 6-12-2 last year with a 2-5-1 league record.
One thing a new coach usually has to do replace players and deal with changes. However, Kern stepped into situation where all 11 starters are returning. The Bulldogs were involved in 11 one goal games last year and also had the two ties. Every game is close and the Bulldogs hope more of them go in their favor this year than last.
One of the top players for the Bulldogs is forward Bryan Bartels, who was named to the All-Big South Second Team in 2009. He had two goals in 20 games with 12 starts. Also returning is Lassi Hurkainen, a junior that played over 1,600 minutes for the Bulldogs in 2009. Of the 11 starters returning, all but Eli Morrow and David Parra are juniors. Parra was a member of the Big South All-Freshmen Team along with teammate Zachery Odum, who tied for the team lead with three goals.
With so much returning, Kern only had to bring in a small number of recruits as he added five for the upcoming season. All freshmen and a transfer from the University of Rhode Island (Cody Zane) make up the class.

Opening Weekend

OK, OK, I know we have been a little slack on the ole blog. But if you didn’t notice there was a lot going on last week with the whole beginning of the school year. But we did have the first full weekend of games that counted and this is what we learned…

Women’s Soccer is still a work in progress. Friday the ladies looked like a completely different team than a year ago. Tricia Vensel netted a goal in the 3rd minute and Megan Pritts made it 2-0 before halftime and Eagle fans were wondering when the last time they saw the ladies score twice in one half. Unfortunately, Marshall responded with two second half goals to tie the match. But the tie felt like a win because the team played well and you could clearly see improvement and we knew that Marshall was a good team. On Sunday, it looked like they regressed a bit. Appalachian State controlled the match even though it was scoreless at halftime. Then in the second half ASU netted two quick goals and it was clear that it was not going to be Winthrop’s day. Gabrielle Corn scored in the 81st minute to make the final 2-1. I was pleased to see the Lady Eagles net the goal and fight hard despite being out-played most of the day. Fitness seems to be a bit of an issue, but it is still early in the season and I am sure that part will improve. The team is better than last season but consistency is lacking. The good news is there is not much difference among the top teams in the Big South and the bottom teams. I think we can be dangerous at the end of the season.

Volleyball went 1-2 this weekend at the William and Mary Tournament. Probably should have been 2-1, the Eagles let the final match against William and Mary slip away. Winthrop led 13-8 in the final set before the Tribe scored the final seven points. Finishing matches seemed to be the biggest problem for the Eagles. Winthrop led Seton Hall 2-0 before dropping two straight sets 26-28 before finally winning in five. The Wisconsin match, well, I am just going to say the bigger team won and that is to be expected. I like that this team is facing really tough competition to start the season. Wisconsin, Seton Hall, and William and Mary would do very well in our league. We can obviously play with these teams but we cannot let sets that we are winning slip away at the end. Another tough weekend is coming up as College of Charleston, Clemson, and South Carolina will be in town for the Carolina Classic. Should be a great weekend hopefully the Eagles can pull out a couple of wins.

Men’s Soccer went 0-2-1 in the preseason and will begin the regular season this weekend. On Saturday the Eagles played a very good Elon team to a 1-1 draw. Ted Bartels scored in the 51st minute to put the Eagles up 1-0. It looked like Winthrop would get the victory but in the final minute Elon scored to tie the match on a corner kick. There were five freshmen on the field at the time but it was disappointing to see us not hold off the final attack. The men will be very good when it is all said and done but right now they are playing a lot of young players trying to get them ready for a very tough conference schedule. The Big South is strong in men’s soccer and this team has to get better to win its third straight title. But again, they played really good teams in the preseason and I think they will be just fine.

We will have much more on Men’s soccer coming up later this week, so check back with us.

Your Feedback Needed

As we struggle through the "Dog Days of August" with temperatures hovering near the 100 degree mark, the start of basketball season can't get here soon enough. With that thought in mind, we want to begin a discussion on what starting times our fans favor for Saturday home games. In recent years, many of the Saturday games were scheduled for mid or late afternoon start times with the thought being that fans could enjoy the game and then go out for dinner or shopping afterward. The afternoon start times have also encouraged late-morning or early afternoon tailgating activities at the Coliseum parking lot.

As an unscientific survey, please give your feedback and thoughts on what Saturday start times you would prefer. Please pick from the following times: 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m. 5 p.m., 6 p.m., or 7 p.m. Your responses could give the folks in the athletic department a feel for what the fans would prefer. Let your friends who may be Eagle basketball fans know about this blog and encourage them to share their opinions.

Volleyball Part 2

Today, we are going to look at teams ranked fifth through ninth in the preseason Big South Volleyball Poll that was released last week. Yesterday we looked at the top four; Coastal Carolina, Liberty, Winthrop, and High Point…

When I first saw the poll I was surprised to see UNC Asheville at number five. The Bulldogs tied for the regular season title and were the top seed in last year’s tournament. However a semifinal loss to Coastal and the graduation of five seniors have coaches around the league down on the Dogs this year. But let us not forget who Coach Julie Torbett has remaining. Kelsey Benorden is perhaps the most consistent player in the league. She is an automatic double-double (10 kills and 10 digs) every time she steps on the court. Cindi Miller can play either outside or middle and last season provided the perfect complement to Benorden as the second outside hitter. It will be interesting to see if Coach Torbett moves her back to the middle this season. If she stays on the outside it gives Asheville a terrific outside attack. The Bulldogs must get better in the middle this season. Coach Torbett has gone back to the well (West Henderson High School) and tabbed freshman Meredith Foster (hey she has already replaced Ficker once) as the middle to replace Ficker. Holly Shelton showed some promise last season but needs to get quicker on the block. Jenna Dover and Rachel Guinane are seniors and need to have the best seasons of their careers for the Bulldogs to finish in the top four. I am not as worried about the loss of Raquel Miotto as some of the coaches are. Yes she was the best libero in the history of the Big South and she covered a lot of mistakes but Coach Torbett’s teams always play great defense. They did before Miotto, during Miotto’s time, and will again. Asheville will win its share of games and will battle all season for a top four berth.

As I was researching my notes I was preparing to say that Charleston Southern head coach Danyel Bellush had the best team she has ever had at CSU and this year the Bucs were going to bust into the top four. Then I looked at the top four. The Bucs are the hardest team in the league to predict. They have five returning seniors including Preseason All-Conference member Amanda Hill. Cori Holeman is a great blocker on the right side and adds enough offensive to take the pressure off of Hill. Amberle Trinder had a solid year last season and CSU won its last five regular season matches and then upset Winthrop in the conference tournament. This IS CSU’s best team. This is the year it should break into the top four in the league. I just don’t know who in the top four it is going to replace. The league may be the best it has been in the last 15 years. CSU can have it best team and still finish sixth but I will tell you what. I do not want to be a high-seed facing this team in the conference tournament. The schedule is another thing to watch that will work in CSU’s favor. Most teams have a weekend trip to Coastal Carolina and Charleston Southern. Coastal is the marquee match everyone will have to prepare for. Do not fall asleep on the Bucs. Hill is every bit as fun to watch and is every bit as good as Chelsey Kimes. I like this team a lot. They are a bit undersized but they are my sleeper. I expect CSU to pull off more than one surprise result this year. There are going to be a lot of teams that go 0-2 on the Beach trip. CSU just has to steal some wins on the road.

Presbyterian is similar in a lot of ways to Charleston Southern. Expect the Blue Hose to be much more competitive this season than in any previous season. PC returns five starters including Lisa Shelly, Presley Mabrey, and Amanda Kettles. It has good balance on offense, players continue to gain experience in the conference, and the only negative is that the league is so strong this year. PC has played really well at home in recent years but last year went just 3-10 on the road. It has to play better away from home. There are too many tough road trips and I just don’t see this team sneaking up on anyone. Depth is the obvious question mark with PC. The six starters can complete with anyone but the drop off is visible when you get deep in matches. The Blue Hose have to avoid injury to finish in the top of the league. I think this is the best PC team it has had since joining the league unfortunately too many other teams have their best teams as well. PC will finish below .500 but it will complete and will surprise a higher ranked team late in the year.

The top four hitters for Gardner-Webb all return including 2008 Freshman of the Year Laura Wilcox. Molly Rhyne had a solid year as well but the defense ranked seventh in digs per set a year ago. GWU went 4-12 in league play but one of its wins was a 3-1 victory over Coastal Carolina at the end of the year. Head Coach Chris Phillips knows the Big South as well as anyone and knows how to have success in the league. Unfortunately for the Runnin’ Bulldogs I just haven’t seen enough defensively to compete this year. Too many teams have too balanced of line ups. GWU only hit .190 last season. I realize it was a mostly freshman and sophomore team but now it’s a sophomore and junior led team. Like many others GWU will have a new setter. I think it will be another tough year for the Bulldogs but they are growing. Next year they will have the experience to make a move in the league. It is hard to say wait until next year before this year starts but in Boiling Springs the growing pains will last one more year.

Radford rounds out our list. The Highlanders struggled against everyone but High Point going 2-14 in league play with both wins coming against the Panthers. Lauren Clary was easily their best player and now she is gone. The Highlanders will have to find some offense. Radford hit just .157 as a team a year ago. Setter Desiree Aramburu often took the offense into her own hands and led the team with a .258 attack percentage as a setter. Laura Waddell, Carly Fleming, and Megan McWhorter have had flashes but they will each need to step up this season if Radford is to get out of the cellar. As with Gardner-Webb and Presbyterian, the league is just too strong this year to be fighting up hill. I think Radford will win more than two conference matches but it will be battling with GWU for eighth place all season long. I just don’t think the Highlanders have enough offensive weapons to compete night in and night out. I do like Aramburu as a setter and I think Radford will continue to improve under head coach Marci Jenkins. Radford has some freshman talent coming in but it will take time to develop.

Volleyball Part 1

This week I want to talk about Big South Volleyball. As you know, the Big South Volleyball Preseason Poll came out last week and that got me thinking. Now, I know most people are talking about football this time of year but here is a little love for the volleyball ladies across the league. In fact this maybe the only site where you can read a blog about Big South Volleyball from someone who is not a coach. So without any further ado, let’s look at the top four teams in the preseason poll…
Coastal Carolina is picked to win the league. Last season, the Chanticleers claimed the tournament title after placing fourth in the regular season. This is a pretty easy call and the coaches got it right. Coastal was much better than the fourth place team last year and they proved it in the tournament. They were the best team last year and, on paper, is the best team heading into this year. However, don’t underestimate the loss of setter Meagan Tracey and middle blocker Jill Nyhoff. Those were two very steady players and anytime you lose your setter the offense changes a little. But Kelsey Kimes is the best pure hitter in the league and Megan Bickford is the best returning middle in the league. Both deserve their pre-season all-conference selections and they give the Chants two excellent hitting options. Sierra Livesay will be better this year giving Coastal the best middle attack in the league. If they play to their potential each night they will win a lot of matches. However, playing to their level was sometimes a question mark last season, which is why they finished fourth. They need to be more consistent but they are still my top pick because when they play well, they are very good.
Personally, I think Liberty is picked too high at number two. Now don’t get me wrong, I think Shane Pinder is a terrific coach and he will get this team to play well. I just think losing Kallie Corbin, Chelaine McCarty, and Nikki Scripko will hurt this team more than the other coaches do. Karyl Bacon is a solid hitter, but she did not have to be the go to player last year. Loren Thomas is very good hitter but there are only five upperclassmen on this team. I know Coach Pinder recruited well, he always does, there is talent but I would have picked them fourth or fifth this year. They need to come of age, they have a new setter. The league is good this year. Liberty will lose some matches early with a tough schedule. I am not saying this team will not be a factor come tournament time but out of the gate, this is not the Liberty team we have watched the last three years.
Winthrop is picked third. The Eagles are the most experienced team in the league with five seniors. We saw UNC Asheville ride senior leadership to a regular-season title a year ago. There is something to be said for seniors who know this is their last chance. Kaley Viola and Kellie Sellers will lead the team from the outside. Sara Felts and Becca Toor in the middle give the Eagles arguably the most balanced attack in the league. The biggest question mark is who will replace last season’s Player of the Year Kelley Taylor. The good news is no one player has too. Give me three good options in the front row as opposed to one great option any day. Kelsey Hall is a senior setter. I like the leadership, I like it is this year or never mentality, and I think Winthrop will be better than it was last year. I also like that they lost in the first round of the tournament last season so they will be hungry to complete. This is a team that knows it can be beaten if it doesn’t play well. I think it will play well and will have a good regular season. We will find out early. The Eagles have some big name matches the first two weekends but it will serve them well come conference play.
High Point is picked fourth; I think this is too low. The Panthers are loaded with talent. Audie Gonzalez returns from injury. She has a great arm swing and tons of potential. She has also been known to bounce one off the back wall from time to time and the injury is a concern but she is fun to watch when she is on. Megan Smith had a breakout year last season and Julie Hershkowitz is the best libero in the league now that Raquel Miotto has graduated. Anna Lott is a big block in the middle with Stephanie Wallin. They struggled with consistency last year without Gonzalez but I expect High Point to be very strong and out-perform Liberty in the regular season. The biggest question mark is at setter for the Panthers but if they can find someone to distribute the ball I like their balance. Depth may be an issue but it is going to be with every team. Remember they took Coastal to five sets in the conference tournament last year. Neither Asheville nor Liberty did that. This team got better as the year went on and I think they are talented enough to make a lot of noise.
I will take you through the teams ranked fifth through ninth tomorrow. There are a couple of teams in the lower half to watch out for so check back.

Riginos Hired as New Baseball Coach

As you have no doubt heard by now, Tom Riginos accepted the offer to be the third head baseball coach in Winthrop history Friday afternoon. His formal introduction will be at a Wednesday press conference in the Eagle Club room. Full video coverage will be available.

Coach Riginos has an excellent pedigree having coached under Jack Leggett at Clemson the past two seasons. Of course, everyone in this area is familiar with the Tiger Baseball program that has made the trip to the College World Series 12 times. Leggett was recently named the ABCA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year. Prior to his time at Clemson, Riginos played and coaching under Pete Dunn at Stetson. The Stetson program you may be less familiar with but the Hatters have played in the NCAA Tournament seven times since 2000. Coach Dunn is seventh on the list of division I wins by an active coach. He has 1,097 wins in 31 years at Stetson. And let us not forget his time at Eastern Kentucky where he learned under the legendary Jim Ward who has been inducted into three separate Halls of Fame (Eastern Kentucky, Stetson, and the Ohio Valley Conference).

Riginos has learned from three of the finest baseball coaches around and now he has the opportunity to coach at Winthrop. Personally, I think this is an exciting time for both Coach Riginos and the Winthrop program. Coach Riginos gets the opportunity he has no doubt dreamed about for years, having his own team, making his own decisions, and teaching players the sport he loves. Winthrop gets a new coach who has been to Omaha, has been a part of one of the best programs in the ACC, and has successfully recruited athletes who have played for the US National team and who are in professional baseball.

Winthrop is not in the habit of hiring short term baseball coaches. As I mentioned, this is only the second coaching change in the program’s 30 year history. Horace Tubeville from 1980-1991 and Joe Hudak from 1992-2010 both achieved success at Winthrop and hopefully Tom Riginos will find success here as well. All of the pieces are in place. A beautiful ballpark, great tradition, and a talented core of returning players should make this an exciting year for Eagle Baseball.

Busy Week

Wow, it’s Thursday already. It has been a week since my last blog and I don’t even feel like I have been slacking off. There is surprisingly a lot in the works for a summer afternoon. It appears that the 2010-11 is the 125th school year for Winthrop. So, people are trying to figure out the best ways to celebrate such an occasion.

In athletics, we are also in the process of creating top 10 lists, ideas for special TV shows, and possibly trying to bring notable coaches and players back to campus. Nothing is set in stone but there is a lot to think about anytime you have an anniversary to celebrate.

The real trick to this whole thing is finding footage that has been kept throughout the years. I would love to say sure let’s put together a TV show about great coaches and players from years gone by. We can easily come up with a list of people to interview and some of them may still be in Rock Hill. But how do we make it visually appealing? That is the issue, with very little news coverage and even fewer TV games from the 70’s and 80’s. How do we tell these stories? That is my dilemma.

The good news is that we will do something to celebrate the occasion. 125 years doesn’t come around very often and even though we have only been playing team sports for about 30 years, there are note worthy athletic accomplishments from the early days. Over the next year we will be featuring stories about Winthrop’s athletic successes on the courts and fields in a number of different ways. We will use the internet primarily but Television may also play a role. So be on the lookout once school begins but don’t worry, I will be sure to let you know when new content is available.

More Tournament Stuff

Since I first read this story on ESPN.com , I have been dying to give my two cents. But first, I wanted to hear what others were saying so I bit my tongue, read the message boards, a bunch of articles, and then read the comments on the articles which were hilarious by the way. So this is my take…

Obviously it’s a compromise, The NCAA didn’t want to offend every small conference and have the Distinguished Gentleman from wherever asking for a probe into conspiracy charges against the NCAA ala Orrin Hatch vs. The BCS. The NCAA also didn’t want the big conferences upset that their teams had to play an extra game on short rest just for television ratings. So, they combined it, two games of small conference champion vs. small conference champion and two games of bubble team vs. bubble team.

The key for Winthrop is not to be a 16 seed, isn’t that the hope anyway. The Eagles have been to the tournament nine times, only four of those times have they been a 16 seed. So if you play well in non-conference games, win the regular season, and win the tournament you get out of playing in the “First Four.” If you are a 16 seed, in theory there should be earning first round money for winning. The round of 64 will be called the second round, so the NCAA will give out a little money for the winners of “First Four”.

With all of that said, I am not really a fan of the 68-team bracket but I wasn’t a huge fan of the 65-team bracket. It doesn’t really matter to me how many teams there are, I want Winthrop to do as well as it can in the tournament and that means not being a 16 seed. Let’s not forget 16 seeds have NEVER beaten a 1 seed. So, the odds weren’t real good before.

Let’s continue to grow the program so when we advance to the NCAA Tournament we don’t have to worry about being a 16 seed. And if we are a bubble team as an at large team, like 2007 could have been. Then we should be more than happy to play a big name opponent for the chance to make a run in March. My feeling is it is always better to be playing meaningful games in March than watching them on TV.

Want More? Here is an interesting read Web reaction
Go Eagles

NCAA Tournament

Today, we have a guest at Winthrop Eagle Blog. Winthrop's long time SID chimes in on the recent news regarding the new 68-team NCAA Men's basketball Tournament. Here are his thoughts...
If you are a college basketball fan and have not read or heard about the NCAA committee’s announcement about the format for the expanded men’s tournament, here are some thoughts from someone who has been involved in two of the 10 previous Opening Round games in Dayton, Ohio.
The new plan is being hyped as the “First Four” which is a rather catchy title to go along with the “Final Four”. The committee on expansion looked at three proposals and came up with a compromise that will pit the four highest conference automatic qualifiers based on RPI against each other with the winners earning the right to face two of the No. 1 seeds. The other four teams will come from the last four schools that were considered for at-large berths. These four schools will play for the right to advance against a No. 12 seed in the bracket. This is the simple part. The rest of the plan may present a logistical nightmare.
The committee apparently has designated Dayton (and deservingly so) as the site of all four games in 2011. Based on the information that was released on Monday, the plan calls for a doubleheader on Tuesday followed by another DH on Wednesday. Here is where the rub comes. None of the eight schools will find out for certain if they are in the opening round games (First Four) until Selection Sunday.
As soon as the announcement is made, the scramble is on for coaches, school administrators, players and their parents and fans. Finalizing travel plans for everyone concerned is a daunting task. Believe me, booking travel arrangements via airlines, acquiring ground transportation at the site, and reserving hotel rooms for a party of 75 people (players, coaches, support staff, cheerleaders/dancers and pep band can be a nightmare. For the four winners, the nightmare will have to be repeated just two or three days later when they will have to move the group to another site for a Thursday or Friday First Round game.
My heart will go out to the player parents and fans that have been loyal followers of the eight teams for the entire season. Many of them will be left out of the “Big Dance” experience due to logistical and/or economical reasons. That is the real shame.

Baseball Coach

Well, the World Cup is over and full credit to Spain. My heart was with the Dutch, having visited there and enjoying its culture and people. But Spain was the better side on the day and the best side during the tournament. Proof once again that defense wins championships. The Spanish did not allow a goal in the knock out rounds. So congrats to Spain and now with the World Cup complete, let’s return to Winthrop Athletics.

Who will be the next baseball coach? I have been asked that question at least 10 times this week and I have no idea. The two names that I hear the most around the water cooler are Scott Forbes (assistant coach at North Carolina) and Mike McGuire (Winthrop assistant). Both are well liked in the department, both have been Winthrop assistants, and both are ready to be head coaches.

I do not know the full list of applicants but these are the two names that I am hearing the most and to be honest I think both can have success at Winthrop. Personally, I would like to see Coach McGuire get the chance. He has proven his loyalty to Winthrop by returning after being a successful head coach at Lander. When Coach Hudak was suspended during the Big South Tournament, Coach McGuire had the team playing loose and well against VMI in a game they had to win and they did. He knows this program inside and out, is an effective recruiter, and would be a very good hire.

Obviously, it is the department’s responsibility to hire the best coach that is available and not just the first qualified person. So, it is good that Winthrop is going to take a hard look at all the candidates. Another name may emerge who is an even better candidate only time will tell. But don’t expect any to happen quickly. These things take time. I do not expect to hear anything before school starts in late August. But let me know your thoughts about who the next coach should be.

Summer Time

Ok, here it is the first blog on the newly created Winthrop Eagles Blog. It’s called Summer Time, why, well because let’s face it. There is not much going on in the second week of July. But here is what we have so far… The big news is the recent reassignment of baseball coach Joe Hudak. Sadly, the news didn’t shock as many people close to the situation as it did people around the community. Personally, I didn’t see it coming but other people did and the news was not met with a lot of surprise. Coach Hudak gave his heart and soul to the University of 19 years and built a five-time NCAA regional qualifier. As someone who called the final game of the 1995 regular season, the Play in series (they did that back then), and the Clemson Regional, I am sorry to see him go but I look forward to seeing who the next coach will be. I have some thoughts but that is for another blog.

The other thing going on is the World Cup. I personally am rooting for a Netherlands/German final since the Yanks have been eliminated. More on this if indeed it works out that way. More to come over the summer and we will get you ready of the fall, I hope you enjoy this blog and I be writing more soon.

Go Eagles