MOC weekend preview

Published in Sports on September 10, 2004 1:56 PM

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MOC Sports Information

Mount Olive College teams take to the road

All of the Mount Olive College fall sports teams are on the road this weekend, with cross country staying in the Tar Heel state, men's and women's soccer heading south of the border and volleyball traveling all the way to West Virginia.

The Mount Olive volleyball team starts things off with a pair of matches this afternoon as the Trojans compete in the Capital City Classic in Charleston, W. Va., hosted by University of Charleston.

Mount Olive takes on Charleston first, then faces Slippery Rock later today. The Trojans (4-0) continue play Saturday at 9 a.m. against Wayne State (Mich.), then conclude play at 1 p.m. against Indiana (Pa.) University.

The Trojans posted a 3-1 mark in the tournament last year with every match going four games. The lone loss came to Indiana. Junior outside hitter Heidi Busch leads Mount Olive with 5.08 kills per game, while sophomore Anna Luft is averaging 0.83 aces and 1.50 blocks per game to go with a .441 hitting percentage.

The men's and women's soccer teams head to Anderson, S.C., to face Anderson in NCAA Division II Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference play.

The women's match kicks off the doubleheader at noon as the Trojans hope to even their conference record. Mount Olive fell to Anderson 2-1 last year.

The men's soccer match follows at 2 p.m. as the Trojans open CVAC play.

Mount Olive (3-1-0, 0-0-0 CVAC) is ranked No. 8 in the Southeast Region, the Trojans' first-ever top-10 regional ranking since joining the NCAA II in 1995. The Trojans hope to get back in the win column after suffering a 3-2 overtime loss at N.C. Wesleyan last Sunday. Eastern Wayne alum Cory Worrell leads the Trojans with seven goals, while Reid Clewis has five goals in the Trojans' first four matches.

Warren Atkins has five assists, four coming in a win against Averett.

The men's and women's cross country teams head to Pembroke Saturday morning to compete in the UNC Pembroke Invitational. The Trojans are coming off their first meet of the season last Saturday at the Campbell University Invitational.

Eastern Wayne graduate Tim Insley emerged Mount Olive's top men's finisher, placing 14th out of 34 runners. Becky Garrod led the women's team, finishing 28th out of 33 runners. At last year's UNC Pembroke Invitational, Insley finished 12th out of 46 runners.

In addition to the fall sports teams, members of the Mount Olive men's and women's tennis teams compete in the 2004 Landfall/UNCW Invitational Tennis Tournament today through Sunday at Country Club of Landfall at Wilmington.

MOC women's soccer team dominates Averett

DANVILLE, Va. -- Melanie Cobb notched her second consecutive hat trick (three goals) and Mount Olive eclipsed school single-game and single-season scoring records as the Trojans defeated host Averett (Va.) University 12-0 in a non-conference women's soccer match Thursday afternoon.

The Trojans set or tied seven school records in the contest.

Mount Olive (3-1-0) took an early 2-0 lead as Kate Painter scored two goals in the first 11 minutes of the match. Emily Escolas scored in the 27th minute to spark a Trojan run of three goals in a span of four minutes. Escolas added a career-high three assists, all in the first half.

Cobb scored the Trojans' last two goals of the first half to give Mount Olive a 7-0 lead at halftime, then scored again less than three minutes into the second half for her third goal. For the second consecutive match, Cobb tied the school record with three goals and became the first Trojan to record consecutive hat tricks.

Cobb also had an assist to give her seven points and match the school single-game record, set Sunday by Heidi Philip. Philip recorded one assist Thursday to give her seven on the season and tie the school single-season record.

Freshman Stephany Speck scored her first collegiate goal in the 50th minute to make the score 9-0 and tie the Trojans' team record for most goals in a game, set in Sunday's 9-1 victory against Converse (S.C.) College.

Freshman Christa Campbell scored the record-setting 10th goal in the 77th minute. Molly Morrow scored her first collegiate goal one minute later and Speck closed out the scoring with her second goal in the 82nd minute.

Thursday's contest gives Mount Olive 28 goals on the season, which already breaks the Trojans' all-time single-season scoring record. Mount Olive scored 27 goals in 2001. Jessica Steffne and Jackie Jimenez also scored for the Trojans. Jimenez added a pair of assists as the Trojans tallied 11 assists, also a school single-game record.

Mount Olive outshot Averett 29-1. Trojan goalkeeper Heather Ressler recorded one save, while Jeannie Byrd finished with nine saves for Averett (1-3-0).

The Trojans return to action Saturday at Anderson (S.C.) College for an NCAA Division II Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference match.