by Russell Vannozzi | Nov 6, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
For the first half of Sunday’s ASUN final, the Lipscomb women’s soccer team was within arm’s reach of its first-ever conference title. Florida Gulf Coast was not having any part of it. The Eagles recovered from a 2-0 deficit with two second-half tallies and a double-overtime goal to top the Bisons, 3-2, at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex. With the victory, FGCU took its fourth-consecutive ASUN championship and clinched a berth in the NCAA tournament. “We had a really difficult semifinal that drained us – probably more than FGCU’s semifinal drained them,” Lipscomb coach Kevin O’Brien said. “We kind of ran out of gas. We didn’t have the legs we needed to push through it.” FGCU downed Lipscomb in both the 2015 and 2016 title games, and ultimately had the Bisons’ number once again this year, as Varin Ness scored a breakaway goal to lift the Eagles in sudden-death overtime. “To lose the conference final in Golden Goal…these girls are going to be hurting,” O’Brien said. “But I tell them each and every week that their identity isn’t found in soccer.” With 19 minutes left in the first half, Lipscomb went up 1-0 when Hannah Torbett rocketed a shot off the post and into the back of the net. The tally – Torbett’s first of the season – came from nearly 25 yards out. 12 minutes later, Lipscomb’s Ellen Lundy made it 2-0 with her eighth goal of the season. The score came off a cross from Olivia Doak that was headed to Lundy by Arielle Hansford. FGCU’s Holly Fritz and Camille Knudstrup each tallied second-half goals to knot the...
by Lorena Coleman | Nov 4, 2017 | News Slider
Delta Sigma hosted its philanthropy event Thursday evening with “Battle of the Sexes.” Proceeds from the social club’s annual event went to the “Come To Me” campaign, which is deigned to raise awareness on mental health. The $5 ticket to Battle of the Sexes also came with an orange “Come To Me” bracelet to help bring awareness to the campaign. The night started off with an introduction from Delta Sigma’s service coordinator, sophomore Tess McGhee. McGhee introduced the hosts for the evening, Sam Hearn from Sigma Iota Delta and Hayden Hines from Tau Phi and also shared a quick video about their chosen philanthropy project. When choosing contestants, McGhee said she wanted to make sure she got a wide variety of participants from all over campus, so everyone could get the chance to be involved and represent. “I messaged the presidents in each club to get two people from each club,” she explained, “And I messaged some others, who aren’t in a club or play sports also and got them to ask their friends too.” Things got off to a fun start when emcees Hines and Hearn explained the rules of the game and introduced the first round of contestants. There were five rounds for the night, with eight contestants participating in each round (4 girls, 4 guys). After every round, the contestants would switch off to let some fresh faces play. The contestants participated in themed rounds such as Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, Family Feud, The Price is Right, Finish the Lyric and general trivia. The wide variety of questions asked included: “What single city contains 20% of the residents...
by Russell Vannozzi | Nov 4, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
For the third consecutive year, the Lipscomb women’s soccer team will play Florida Gulf Coast for the ASUN title. Unlike the previous two meetings, the 2017 edition of the championship game will be played in Nashville. The Bisons used an early goal from Justis Bailey to defeat Kennesaw State 1-0 at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex on Friday, setting up a chance for revenge against the Eagles on Sunday. “It was a competitive tournament game,” Lipscomb coach Kevin O’Brien said. “You could feel the tension, the emotion and the passion – it was all on display. It was incredible.” Bailey’s goal came in the 11th minute, when the junior defender received a pass from Natalie Duboise and headed the ball into the top right corner of the net. The tally was Bailey’s first of her career. “I’ll be honest with you – I’m completely shocked that’s her first one,” O’Brien said of Bailey’s goal. “She’s very good in the air and (the goal) came at the perfect time. She’s been a great player for us this year, and she doesn’t get the recognition she deserves.” Lipscomb had numerous scoring chances in the second half but was unable to cash in on any of its opportunities for an insurance goal. Senior Ellen Lundy opened the second half with a header off the post, and later sophomore Jordan Walsh sent a shot just over the crossbar. Lipscomb forward Olivia Doak found the back of the net with 20 minutes remaining, but the goal was disallowed due to a foul. “A second goal could have taken the steam out of the game, but we weren’t able...
by LeBron Hill | Nov 3, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
The third installment in the Thor series, Thor: Ragnarok once again delivers fans an action-packed, visually-stunning movie experience. In the Taika Waititi directed film, viewers first find Thor (Chris Hemsworth) attempting to prevent Ragnarok — the prophecy of darkness to destroy Thor’s beloved city of Asgard — by killing the demon beast, Surtur. After killing Surtur, Thor comes back to Asgard to find that his father has been replaced by his brother, the god of mischief, Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Oden (Anthony Hopkins) tells his sons that Ragnarok is still coming in the shape of their sister, the goddess of death, Hela (Cate Blanchett). While attempting to escape Hela, the two demigods get knocked out of the portal and into another planet where warriors are forced to fight against each other. The ruler of the planet, only known as the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), forces Thor into fighting, claiming that he will let Thor go if he defeats his champion. A fellow Avenger, The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), soon appears, which sets up a new dynamic duo within The Avengers franchise. The film does a remarkably good job at completing Thor’s journey to becoming King of Asgard. In the past two movies, viewers have seen Thor find himself be the hero of Earth. Now that his relationship with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) has ended, and Earth is protected for the time being, Thor sees this as a good time to focus on his home world and his people. Nevertheless, Jane Foster’s abrupt departure lacked any emotion. The couple dated for nearly two years, so there should have been more explanation as to...
by Erin Franklin | Nov 3, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
Music City has been beautifully transformed into the City of Light this week. The anticipated production of An American in Paris has officially come to the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, featuring a jaw-dropping array of color, dance, music and emotion, sure to delight any hopeless romantic or musical-enthusiast. A ballet set in Paris right after WWII, An American in Paris tells most of its story through striking musical numbers, complete with big sets and authentic-looking costume work by Bob Crowley that will take you straight to 1940s Paris. Real-life husband and wife duo Matthew and Kirsten Scott steal the show as Adam Hochberg and Milo Davenport, who both convey a groundedness to round-out the overall mysterious and lush-nature of the show. K. Scott’s timing is spot-on, and M. Scott gives an endearing and down-to-earth performance as an ex-GI living in Paris. The story centers on an American soldier, Jerry Mulligan (McGee Maddox), who decides to stay in Paris after the war and focus on his artwork. Here, he meets Adam and Henri (Ben Michael), and the three immediately become the “Three Musketeers,” as they aptly put it during one of their song and dance numbers. Although intending to focus on his artwork, Jerry is, after all, in one of the most romantic cities in the world, so of course he meets Lise (Allison Walsh, who served as the Lise alternate in the Broadway production), a mysterious yet beautiful ballerina who has an interesting and complex past with Henri. Meanwhile, Milo, an American heiress, also joins the picture, and a complicated love triangle ensues, which will keep unfamiliar playgoers guessing....
by Hannah Pipher | Nov 1, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
Many college students consider themselves lucky to simply graduate in four years with their sanity intact, let alone receive an award for the first time in school history. First-year graduate student Ellen Lundy was awarded ASUN Player of the Year Wednesday. Lundy has also been recognized as a scholar athlete and a member of the All-Conference First Team in addition to being ASUN Player of the Year. Other notable mentions for ASUN Women’s Soccer awards this season include seniors Jade Abarca and Niamh Rawlins on the All-Conference First Team, sophomore Olivia Doak and junior Justis Bailey on the All-Conference Second Team and Coach Kevin O’Brien as ASUN Coach of the Year. Lundy mentioned that she was really shocked to learn the news because she views the team as doing more work than she does and because she thought that there were more deserving girls in the conference. While Lundy was surprised by the news of the award, O’Brien was not shocked to learn that ASUN unanimously selected her as the recipient. “She scored some pivotal goals for us this year, and a lot of those have come in conference, so the impression she has left on the other head coaches is that she is a gamer, and she is really important to our success,” O’Brien said. Receiving an award of this honor typically comes with pressure to uphold the image that has been placed on the individual. However, Lundy has chosen not to feel the pressure, but instead embrace her original goals for the season. “I didn’t start this season thinking, ‘My goal is to win ASUN Player of the Year.’ I started the season...
