by Micah Dempsey | Nov 8, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb’s men’s and women’s soccer seasons have come to a close after losses in the ASUN semifinals and finals, respectively. As the two seed in the ASUN tournament, the Lady Bisons received a bye in the first round and defeated Stetson 2-1 in the semifinals. However, the team fell 0-2 to Florida Gulf Coast in the final game. They finished the season with a record of 12-5-2, a mark that ties last season for the most wins in program history. Lipscomb also put five players on the ASUN All-Academic Team: Emily Rogers, Ellen Lundy, Brooke Brenner, Maycie McKay and Scholar-Athlete of the Year Natalie DuBoise. Nominees were required to have at least a 3.30 cumulative GPA and participate in at least 50 percent of their team’s games. As a team, the Lady Bisons achieved a cumulative 3.69 GPA, the highest mark in the conference and the second-best in all of Division I. Anna Buhigas claimed the ASUN Goalkeeper of the Year award for the third season in a row, becoming the first player in conference history. She accumulated 91 saves, six shutouts and a 1.08 GPA this season and finished her career with an incredible 376 saves. Olivia Doak was named ASUN Freshman of the Year with seven goals on the season, and Nimah Rawlins achieved the Defensive Player of the Year award as well. The ASUN All-Conference First Team featured five Lady Bisons: Buhigas, Doak, Rawlins, Lundy and DuBoise. Maycie McKay was also named Second Team All-Conference. Lundy, Rawlins and Brooke Brenner were named to the 11-person All-Tournament squad in addition to their regular season achievements. “It was another...
by Micah Dempsey | Oct 22, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
In the final game of the regular season, the women’s soccer team (11-4-2, 5-1-1) beat ASUN opponent NJIT (6-9-3, 2-5) 3-0 Saturday afternoon at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex. For senior day, the Lady Bisons celebrated four senior student-athletes: Anna Buhigas, Alesondra Colbert, Lyndie Donegan and Carolyn Springsteen. This group will graduate with the highest win total for a class in the program’s history. “They mean the world to this team in the sense that they were the first recruiting class of mine,” head coach Kevin O’Brien said about the seniors. “They really show that we can have a winning Christ-centered soccer team, mixing character and caliber.” Lipscomb came out strong in the first half, pressuring on both sides of the ball and dominating time of possession. The physical style of play led to many steals on defense and constant passes through holes of the Highlanders’ defense. Eventually this lead to an arching pass from freshman forward Olivia Doak that junior midfielder Natalie DuBoise crushed with a header to the left side of the net in the 26th minute. Just three possessions later in the 33rd minute, a counterattack for the Lady Bisons left sophomore forward Maycie McKay open in the left corner of the final third. She sent a quick cross to junior forward Ellen Lundy, who turned and scored to the top right corner of the goal, giving Lipscomb a 2-0 lead. The two goals in the first half were DuBoise and Lundy’s sixth goal of the season for each player. The Lady Bisons look the lead into halftime, outshooting NJIT 11-2 with a 7-0 advantage in shots...
by Micah Dempsey | Oct 6, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb men’s soccer team (5-5-1) lost 2-0 to the Memphis Tigers (6-4-1) Wednesday night at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex after a series of three away games last week. “We are still confident, we played well as a team; there are just little things we have to work on and we are going to stay positive moving forward,” senior midfielder Daniel Vieira said. Throughout the first half, the Bisons sent many long passes up the left side of the field and played several quick, two-touch passes down the ride side; however, despite outshooting Memphis 4-3 in the half, Lipscomb couldn’t find the back of the net. In the 39th minute, a ricocheted ball fell to the feet of a Tiger forward in the box and he scored to the left side of the goal givingMemphis a 1-0 lead going into halftime. “We had a good first half despite the silly goal at the end,” Vieira said. “We wanted to keep moving the ball side to side and we wanted to watch out for the same stuff that hurt us on that goal.” The Tigers, a team that entered the match with the 25th best shutout percentage in the nation at 0.50, stayed true to their defense throughout the game as they utilized speed to continually clear the ball away from Lipscomb attacks. As strong back lines for both teams dominated the second half, the Bisons began to turn up the offensive pressure as time winded down. In the 87th minute, a cross went all the way through the box, narrowly missed by several attackers. Again in 88th minute, junior forward Kyle Smith had the...
by Micah Dempsey | Sep 22, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb men’s soccer (5-2, 1-0) defeated the Stetson Hatters (2-4-2, 0-1) with a score of 2-0 Wednesday night at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex. This win extended the team’s win streak to 4-1 after wins against Belmont and SIUE last week. After the first half, neither team successfully put the ball in the back of the net. The Bisons missed several close call opportunities; one of which included a race in the 35th minute where redshirt sophomore forward Logan Paynter sprinted down the field with only one defender to beat; yet, he was tackled in the box, and no foul was called. “We needed to bring a more aggressive approach to defending and bring more energy,” coach Peter Lowry said. “The emphasis [at halftime] was having more urgency on the ball, and we won because we outworked them.” As Lipscomb emerged from halftime at a 0-0 tie, junior midfielder Eduardo Reza caught a ball on his left foot just outside the box, and in he 50th minute immediately shifted the ball to his right foot before sending the ball to the left post and giving the Bisons a 1-0 lead. “We knew we needed more intensity; we were looking for a goal and it fired us up,” Reza said. In the 77th minute, redshirt senior forward and midfielder Josue Chavez played the ball back and forth with junior forward Brandon Braumuller, eventually resulting in a powerful shot to the back of the net for Chavez, his first goal of the season. “The team has been emphasizing pushing through lately,” junior Brandon Braumuller said. “We refuse to be satisfied until the full time has been called.” Possession offense and defense closed out...
by Micah Dempsey | Sep 10, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb volleyball (6-2) beat Ole Miss (8-1) in straight sets and beat Northwestern (5-3) by a score of 3-1 to conclude the first day of play at the fifth annual Lipscomb Invitational on Friday, September 9 in Allen Arena. The team came into the tournament with a 4-2 record after trips to the Pepperdine Asics Classic in Malibu, California, and the American Campus Classic in Austin, Texas. They have not played a single five set match this season — a streak that continued after Friday’s games. “Momentum is a huge thing in volleyball,” head coach Brandon Rosenthal noted. “I think more than anything it’s the belief system behind that momentum, and everything that goes through [the players’] heads.” The Lady Bisons handed Ole Miss, an SEC foe, its first loss of the season in a match in which they won the first set 25-23, the second set 25-21 and the third set 25-15 in powerful fashion. Coaches and players agreed that the energy was exactly where it needed to be for both the players and the fans. Lipscomb outside hitter Carlyle Nesbaum led the match with 15 kills and also posted a .310 hitting percentage while outside hitter Lauren Anderson led the match with a .500 hitting percentage and junior defensive specialist libero Brittany Thomas contributed a match-high 13 digs. As a team, the Lady Bisons had 42 assists to Ole Miss’ 24 and added 31 digs compared to Ole Miss’ 23 in the win. As the team transitioned to the night game against the Northwestern Wildcats, Northwestern got out to an early lead due to multiple blocks and...
