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.