Golf takes fifth at Springhill, behind PBC foe Aiken

The GCSU soccer team hosted the First Little Feet Invitational this past weekend and came away with a tie and a loss in its two games. The Bobcats (2-3-1) drew their first game of the tournament against Lincoln Memorial University on Friday night. Although GCSU looked to be the more dominant team, neither squad was able to score in the first half.

When the second half began, GCSU continued to play aggressively and managed to keep the ball near the Railsplitters’ penalty box for much of the period. Though multiple scoring attempts were made, neither team was able to find the back of the net.

“I think that we finally showed what we have to offer,” senior defender Morgan Cobb said. “We laid it all out on the table, the page turned and I feel like we did excellent.”

Because neither team had scored, the game went into overtime. After two exciting 10-minute overtime periods, neither team was able to break the deadlock and the contest finish, 0-0.

“Sometimes soccer’s a cruel game, you do everything to win it and you deserve to win it,” head coach Juan Pablo Favero said. “But I’m very proud of the girls for their attitude and performance and we can build on this.”

After the game, players and fans stuck around to view an impressive fireworks show put on by the GCSU athletic department in memory of Sept. 11, 2001.

“We weren’t doing so well in the beginning (of the season),” junior midfielder Kayla Emerson said. “But now we’ve connected and gotten better at staying together, passing and making plays.”

The Bobcats’ second game of the weekend was against the Carson-Newman College Eagles on Sunday afternoon.

The game got off to a similar start to Friday’s game. Although both teams had scoring opportunities, neither of them managed to score in the first half.

In the second half, GCSU appeared to be headed toward its second scoreless draw of the weekend. However, with less than 30 seconds on the clock, GCSU hearts were broken.

A shot from Trenna Howell on a re well. We’re still trying to get things rolling in a positive direction. We backed up a few on the back drive,” Young said. “We just definitely want to get better. We want to start sinking more putts, and get everyone on par with each other and get things going the right way.”

Senior Francisco Bide came into Tuesday’s action with a 74 and 72 respectively in his first two rounds. He improved that mark with a one-under 71 to finish at 217, tying for 30th.

Junior Billy Shida finished in 51st with a three-round score of 222, after shooting 77 for the final round. In his first two rounds, Shida fired a 72 and 73, respectively.

“We played pretty well as a team overall, but there’s always room for improvement. Several of the guys played well,” Shida said.

The Bobcats had two players competing in their first collegiate tournaments. Redshirt freshman Taylor Smith, who shot even par the first day, finished the final round with a 73, giving him a three-round total of 217, good enough for a 30th-place tie. Freshman Bernardo Bide, Francisco’s younger brother, finished the tournament in 79th-place with a total of 233.

“We were solid as a team,” Smith said. “We didn’t play as well as we would have liked to after winning last week’s tournament (at Kiawah).”

Immediately after his team finished playing, head coach Jimmy Wilson said he was impressed with how his squad had improved as the tournament went on.

“We didn’t play too well in the first round, but we got things going a little better in the second round,” Wilson said.

Wilson added that the competition at the tournament seemed to have improved from last season.

“We’re one shot better than we were at this point last year, but we were also in second place last year,” Wilson said. “So either the golf course played easier, and we didn’t play as well, or the other teams just played a lot better.”

Smith added that there is room for improvement for the Bobcats, but that the team is still shooting for the same goal.

“Our team’s number one goal is always going to be to win the national championship,” Smith said. “That’s the tournament we care about the most.”

The Bobcats will return to action Monday and Tuesday when they are scheduled to participate in the second-annual State Farm Laker Classic, hosted by Clayton State University.

“We can definitely get better,” Wilson said. “We’re still a work in progress.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 18 2009. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry