Eagles ready for BSC championships

By Karl Lyles

Winthrop's men's and women's cross country teams will be in action Saturday at the Big South Cross Country Championships, with High Point hosting for the first time.

The course is at Shady Oaks Kennel in Winston-Salem, N.C., with the men's 8-kilometer race beginning at 10:30 a.m. and the women's 5-kilometer following at 11 a.m.

Winthrop has not run on the course this year, unlike many BSC schools that ran in the Big South Preview on Sept. 19 at the same site. The Eagles face an additional disadvantage since they have yet to face four conference opponents this season.

Still, the women's team of Carly Moss, Carey Phillips, Brooke Spencer, Lisa Sickman and Jen Schofield is healthy and should be competitive.

Adam Freudenthal has been consistent all season on the men's side, finishing in the top 10 in every race.

The men's Big South Preview race was won by VMI. Liberty was second. That might be an indication of the teams to beat. The Flames' Evans Kigen won the race in 25:27, with VMI's Andrey Dmitriev second with a 26:34 clocking.

Liberty won the women's race, beating VMI. VMI's Hannah Granger was the overall winner in 18:52, jut ahead of Liberty's Dacia Bushman (18:59) and Jennifer Klugh (19:02).

MEN'S SOCCER — The men's soccer team is coming off its worst defeat in years. The Eagles lost 4-0 at Elon on Tuesday. The last time Winthrop allowed four or more goals was Oct. 9, 2004, in a 7-5 victory over Liberty.

Liberty is next on the schedule. The match originally was scheduled to be played in Lynchburg, Va., on Sept. 25. Winthrop made the trip only to have the game postponed due to wet conditions.

Liberty's last match, Tuesday at High Point, was stopped in the 25th minute due to heavy rains and poor field conditions. Liberty led 1-0 on a goal in the fifth minute by forward Darren Amoo.

Winthrop leads the Big South with a 4-0-2 record and is 10-3-2 overall. The team climbed one spot this week to 8th in the latest NSCAA/adidas South Atlantic Regional Ranking.

Liberty is in a three-way tie for sixth at 1-1-2 and owns a 7-3-3 overall mark.

The Eagles wrap up the regular season Tuesday with a home match against Coastal Carolina. The BSC tournament is Nov. 12-15 in High Point, N.C.

MAKE IT A DOUBLE — The women's soccer team entered last weekend searching for its first conference win, and the Eagles beat UNC Asheville 2-1 on Friday and Presbyterian 3-0 on Sunday.

Charleston Southern, Liberty, Gardner-Webb and Radford were within a point of each other for first place in the conference going into Thursday's games.

Winthrop plays the regular-season finale Saturday at Coastal Carolina. The BSC tournament is Nov. 5-8 at Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston.

VOLLEYBALL — Coach Sally Polhamus' team will have to forget about its last match, a 3-0 loss at home to Liberty on Saturday. The team plays at Radford tonight. Presbyterian comes to Winthrop on Nov. 7, and the Eagles finish off the regular season with games at Gardner-Webb (Nov. 13) and league-leading UNC Asheville (Nov. 14).

COLISEUM IMPROVEMENTS — The most visible change to the coliseum this year is coming in December. The chairs in the lower section along both sidelines are going to be replaced with cushioned seats. The chair backs will be adorned with the Eagle logo.

Fans will notice new courtside scoring and media tables with message boards facing the court. Some improvements that are less obvious include new lighting in the rafters and strobe-like lights underneath the main scoreboard.

The Lady Eagles basketball team is getting a locker room makeover. Part of the plan will give them a team lounge and new open-air lockers.

THIS IS IT — The men's and women's golf teams cap the 2009 portion of their schedules early next week. Coach Kevin Pendley's men play in the Hummingbird Intercollegiate hosted by Western Carolina in Cashiers, N.C. The women's team, guided by coach Jodi Wendt, is headed to the Pinehurst Challenge.

Pendley has been disappointed with his team's play this fall but has one of the youngest rosters in the country. Freshmen Brad Sill (74.00 avg) and John Conners (74.17 avg), the only Eagles to break 70 this season, are leading the way.

Freshman Danielle Dunnagan (77.67 avg) and senior Rachel Smith (77.83 avg) have led the women's team. Both have low rounds of 74. Dunnagan's younger sister, Maureen, was the medalist and helped Lexington High School win the South Carolina State Championship on Tuesday. Wendt has been watching and would probably love to have both Dunnagans on her roster for 2010-2011.