MOC soccer players finish among national leaders

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

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MOUNT OLIVE -- The Mount Olive College women's soccer team finished the season ranked first in the nation in scoring offense and the men's soccer team ranked seventh in the nation in scoring in the 2004 NCAA Division II men's and women's soccer final statistics reports.

Mount Olive, which won both the 2004 Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference men's and women's championships, is one of only three schools to have both its men's and women's soccer teams finish in the top 10 in scoring.

Melanie Cobb finished the season ranked among the top five NCAA II women's soccer players in the nation in goals and points per game, while Warren Atkins led all NCAA II men's soccer players in total assists.

In the women's statistics, Cobb finished third in goals per game with a 1.47 average and fourth in points per contest with a 3.32 average. Named the Most Valuable Player of the 2004 CVAC women's soccer tournament, Cobb set a school record with 28 goals, the fourth-highest individual goal-scoring total in the nation.

Gina Dos Santos, who scored two goals in the CVAC tournament championship game and finished the season with 20 goals, ranked No. 28 in the nation in goals per game and 29th in points per game. Cobb and Dos Santos finished the season as the only teammates to reach the 20-goal mark.

Heidi Philip ranked sixth in the nation in assists per game with a 0.70 average and her 16 assists tied for the second-highest individual total. Philip's five assists against Converse on September 5 was the second-highest single-game assist total of the year, as well as the second-highest in Division II women's soccer history.

Kate Painter finished in a tie at No. 18 with 11 assists and a 0.58 average per game. Goalkeeper Heather Ressler's 0.726 goals against average was the 18th-lowest in the nation.

In the team statistics, Mount Olive led the nation in scoring offense with 4.13 goals per game. After scoring only 17 goals in 2003, the Trojans scored 95 goals this season for the second-highest goal-scoring total in the nation, finishing behind national champion Metro State (Colo.).

Mount Olive's 12 goals against Averett (Va.) University on Sept. 9 tied for the 10th-highest single-game total of the year. The Trojans also ranked 16th in scoring defense with a 0.694 goals against average. Mount Olive finished the season with 11 shutouts in 23 matches for the 26th-best shutout percentage.

The Trojans' .870 winning percentage (20-3-0) was the seventh-highest in the nation and they were one of only four 20-game winners in the nation.

Coincidentally, it was Metro State's record that Mount Olive broke this season for the greatest one-year improvement in NCAA II women's soccer history. The Trojans improved by 14 1/2 games over last year's 3-15-0 mark, breaking the previous record improvement of 11 1/2 games.

On the men's side, Atkins led the nation in total assists with 19 and finished second in assists per game with a 0.84 average. His four assists against Averett (Va.) University on Sept. 1 tied for the highest single-game assists total of 2004.

Cory Worrell, who was named 2004 CVAC men's soccer player of the year, finished 11th in the nation with 23 goals in 22 matches for a 1.05 goals per game average. His 2.27 points per game average was the 15th-highest in the nation. Worrell's eight points (three goals, two assists) vs. Averett tied for the fifth-highest single-game points total of the season.

Goalkeeper Chris Roush, who was named Most Valuable Player of the 2004 CVAC men's soccer tournament, ranked 29th with a 0.902 goals against average.

In the team stats, Mount Olive finished with the seventh-highest scoring offense with 68 goals in 22 matches for an average of 3.09 goals per game. The Trojans' 10 goals against Averett tied for the fourth-highest single-game total of the season.

MOC Sports Information