Men’s Soccer
The men’s soccer team is coming off two impressive home wins last weekend, trouncing conference rival Huntingdon 8-2 on Saturday and Toccoa Falls 8-1 on Monday.
The Lions quickly set the tone against Huntingdon. Senior Ricardo Ruiz handled a beautiful cross from the freshman Davis Knight that put the Lions on the board in the 5th minute. Just a few moments later, Colin Vogel found the back of the net for his first of two goals. On the day, Piedmont had six players find the net, with freshman Davis Knight scoring two on his way to another CCS Rookie of The Week award.
On Monday the Lions recognized their seniors Brady Puckett and Ricardo Ruiz. While Jason Aussin and Colin Vogel got the party started with goals at 22:51 and 36:53, respectively, it was only a matter of time before the seniors got their opportunity. After driving past the Toccoa Falls defense, Ruiz snuck past the keeper to put the Lions up 5-0 in the 2nd half. After scoring, Ruiz skipped the usual team celebration to jog off the field to celebrate with his mother and father who were there to support him on senior night. With 11 minutes remaining in the game, Puckett found the far post to etch his name onto the senior night festivities.
The Lions (5-6-3, 2-1 in conference) will travel to conference rival Maryville to do battle with the Scots (3-5-4) on Oct. 14.
—Eric Edmondson
Men’s Swimming
The Piedmont University’s men’s swim team dominated Sewanee with a 197–74 win on Saturday, Sept. 30.
“For me, and I know a lot of my teammates feel the same way, we don’t focus much on the score until the end of the meet,” said senior Ross Coppedge. “We know we have what it takes to win, and our coach Teddy Guyer puts us in specific events and sets us up for success. We try to focus on each race and take it one race at a time. With doing that, the lead comes over time.”
Picking up where he left off last season, where he helped break Piedmont’s 200-yard freestyle relay time at the Georgia Small College Championships, Coppedge and his teammates dominated the 200-yard medley, establishing the tone with a final time of 1:37.37.
Coppedge topped the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.76. His time was just .29 seconds in front of sophomore Alex Pangelinan who came in second with a 23.05.
“I feel really great about our team and this season. We have grown and built up a very talented and successful group,” Coppedge said. “This is year four of our program and we have never been this strong. With that being said, we have the same goal as we always do, which is to bring home that trophy as conference champions in February and with this group I have no doubt in my mind we will get the job done.”
The Lions will return to the lanes with their next meet at Warren Wilson College on Oct. 21 in Asheville, North Carolina.
—Jailyn Green
Men’s Golf
Withstanding cold and windy conditions, the men’s golf team competed in the Tartan Invitational in Ligonier, Pennsylvania this weekend, finishing 7th of 15 teams with a score of 922.
Senior Josh Hebrink believes that the team is coming together. “We just need to keep working and control what we can control. As we all to put it together, we will keep climbing the leaderboard.”
The Lions opened the event strong, shooting their best round of 306. Hebrink shot the low round for the Lions in round one, with a 71 (-1). Rounds two and three proved to be a challenge the team, who for both rounds had scores in the 80’s that counted. Hebrink’s 3-round, 225 total led The Lions to their 7th place finish. The Emory Eagles won the event for the second year in row shooting a score of 888.
Hebrink’s performance continues to lead the Lions; however, he accepts the need for improvement. “A top 10 finish is nice to see because it shows progress, but I know that with how good I was hitting the golf ball I definitely could have done better.”
The Lions have a quick turnaround this week. They will be traveling to Sandestin, Florida for the Golfweek DIII Fall Invitational Oct. 15-17.
—Erin Donovan
Volleyball
The women’s volleyball team went 1-1 over the weekend, hosting a conference tri-match between with Berea University and Huntingdon College.
“This wasn’t the weekend we were hoping to have” said sophomore outside hitter Katie Hubbard. “I thought we were trending in the right direction, but this weekend shows we still have some work to do in order to make a run come November.”
After dropping the first set, the Lady Lions rallied to defeat Berea 3-2 in their first match before being shut out 3-0 against Huntingdon.
Hubbard had an outstanding weekend individually, where she notched 19 kills on the weekend and was a threat during both of her matches. Senior outside hitter Jenna Ash also enjoyed a great weekend, leading both matches in kills, and finishing the weekend with 27. Defensively, junior middle blocker Jessica Sconyers led the team with five blocks, all against Berea.
With a 7-2 conference record (9-10 overall), the Lady Lions are in second place in the CCS. The team will host another conference tri-match on Oct. 14, hosting Belhaven University and Maryville College.
—Simon Johnstone
