MOC students on break; sports teams on the road

Published in Sports on October 15, 2004 1:55 PM

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With Mount Olive College students away on fall break, the Trojan sports teams are taking to the road this weekend.

The cross country teams return to the site of some of the best race times in Trojan history. The women's soccer team heads to West Virginia for two matches in two days, while the men's soccer team has a chance to clinch homefield advantage in the first round of the conference tournament.

The volleyball team hopes to gain ground in the regional rankings with a little "magic on the mountain." Play begins today at Lees-McRae College with the Trojans facing No. 7-ranked Edinboro (Pa.) University at 3 p.m. followed by a 5 p.m. match against Millersville (Pa.) College.

Mount Olive (17-8) returns to action Saturday at 9 a.m. against Kutztown, then concludes tournament play at 1 p.m. against No. 2 California (Pa.) University. Mount Olive is led by Heidi Busch, who ranks 10th in the nation in kills per game, and Anna Luft, who has the seventh-highest hitting percentage in the nation.

The men's soccer team heads to Misenheimer on Saturday for a crucial NCAA Division II Carolinas-Virginia Intercollegiate Athletics Conference matchup at 2 p.m. against Pfeiffer University.

Mount Olive (11-2-2, 7-0-0 CVAC) can officially clinch a top four finish in the regular season standings and homefield advantage in the first round of next month's CVAC Tournament. The Trojans are currently on a five-game unbeaten streak, but have had to settle for ties in their last two outings.

Senior Cory Worrell continues his torrid scoring pace, setting the Trojan single-season record with his 19th goal Monday and becoming the Trojan men's soccer first-ever 20-goal scorer. Warren Atkins, this week's CVAC men's soccer player of the week, ranks first in the nation in assists. Along with conference ramifications, Saturday's contest is also an important regional match for Mount Olive, ranked No. 5 in the NSCAA/Adidas Division II southeast region poll.

The women's soccer team kicked off its fall break trip Thursday with a 2-0 win at Shenandoah (Va.) University. Today is literally a "travel day" as the Trojans head to Charleston, W. Va., to face Charleston on Saturday afternoon and West Virginia Tech Sunday afternoon. Both opponents are members of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletics Conference.

Mount Olive (12-2, 6-2-0 CVAC) has won three in a row, all by shutout. The Trojans are making the trip without two of their starters. Conference scoring leader Melanie Cobb, a two-sport athlete, opted to stay on campus to participate in the first weekend of Mount Olive women's basketball practice, but will rejoin the soccer squad upon their return. Kate Painter went home this weekend to attend a family wedding.

Offensively, freshmen Gina Dos Santos and April Jacobs have combined for four of the Trojans' five goals in their last two matches. Charleston (4-11-0) has won its last two matches. West Virginia Tech (0-10-0) is coming off a 3-0 loss against Concord (W. Va.) Tuesday.

The cross country teams head up to Greenville on Saturday morning to compete in the ECU Invitational. Last year's race saw two-time CVAC women's cross country runner of the year Beth Martin set a school record for the fastest time.

Martin has since graduated, but current men's runner Tim Insley is among those who had his best time at ECU last year. At last year's meet, Insley finished fourth out of 12 Division II runners with a time of 27:02.

MOC Sports Information