by Charissa Ricker | Oct 30, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb Men’s Soccer (9-5-2, 3-2-1) tied with ASUN opponent No. 20 Florida Gulf Coast (12-3-2, 4-1-1) 1-1 Saturday night at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex in the final regular season game. The team also celebrated senior night honoring six senior student-athletes: Troy Barr, Micah Bledsoe, Josue Chavez, Shpend Rexhepi, Daniel Vieira and team manager Jared Hensley. These seniors have lead the team to 43 victories over their time, an ASUN Regular Season Championship and three ASUN Academic Championships. “I am so proud of this group of seniors,” head coach Charles Morrow said. “These young men have fought through adversity and demonstrated their commitment to this program. Witnessing their personal growth over their time here is what truly makes them men of character.” Senior Goalie Bledsoe broke his thumb during warm-ups and was not able to start as scheduled. Sophomore Chris Zappia started in place of Bledsoe and had seven saves during the game. “Chris Zappia stepped up and had a great game, and the seniors play today was outstanding,” Morrow noted. The team came out aggressively and played strong offense for the majority of the game, with 16 shots on the goal. After a corner kick, FGCU scored the first goal with five minutes left in the first half, leaving the score at half-time 0-1. The Bisons came out in the second half pushing offense. Within the first sevent minutes, defender Joe Kerridge scored a 30 yard goal tying the game. During the second half, the Bisons held the nation’s best offensive attackers to no shots but couldn’t pull ahead in double-overtime. “I think our pressure was outstanding tonight,” Morrow...
by Todd Lamberth | Oct 28, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
When Will Brewer took over the Lipscomb golf program in 2012, he wanted to focus on recruiting the players necessary to compete for championships. Fortunately for him, one of those players was already nearby in junior Dawson Armstrong. Armstrong, a 2014 graduate of Lipscomb Academy, has turned the Lipscomb golf program around in his first two years on campus. Last season, the Bisons finished third in the Atlantic Sun Championship, the program’s best-ever finish in the event. The season ended with Lipscomb’s first-ever appearance at a NCAA postseason tournament, where they finished eighth at the Regional Championships in Alabama. Armstrong was rewarded for his efforts as he was named Atlantic Sun Golfer of the Year as a sophomore. Golfing at Lipscomb has become a tradition in the Armstrong family as Dawson has two brothers on the team as well, senior Dowling and freshman Davis. “It’s really special,” Armstrong said. “The fact that I have two brothers that are also on this team is incredible. The idea that we get to bring success from the academy and bring it to the university is really cool.” Armstrong’s influence on the program extends past from team tournaments into individual tournaments. In 2015, Armstrong won the Western Amateur, a tournament that was also won by the likes of Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson when they were beginners. Armstrong said he uses his play in these tournaments as an opportunity to spread the Lipscomb name. “It’s great for branding,” Armstrong said. “I’m getting noticed as a good player as well as ‘wow, this guy’s from Lipscomb, where is that?’ “No telling how many people I’ve had come...
by Eric Ansett | Oct 28, 2016 | News Slider, Opinion, Sports
The Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians have split the first two games in one of the most intriguing World Series match-ups in recent memory. The student body at Lipscomb has a range of differing predictions about the outcome, some coming from a hometown influence. Lee Solomon, a junior outfielder on the baseball team, is from Columbus, Ohio, and he has cheered for the Indians for most of his life. Solomon said that the Cleveland Cavaliers championship earlier this year gave fans new hope. “Everyone back home is super excited right now, especially with the Cavs starting their season back up,” Solomon said. “People have been super optimistic this whole year. Since the Cavs won their Championship, people don’t think there’s any way the Indians will lose.” Junior Erin Telfer is from the Chicago area and saw the celebrations of many friends through social media. “The night they (the Cubs) made it to the World Series, my Facebook feed was literally full of dads crying because they finally did it,” Telfer said. “I’m not really a baseball fan, but I’m definitely happy for the Cubs.” An unofficial poll of Lipscomb students as to which team would be victorious was virtually split, but some students were more confident in their picks than others. Sophomore Sy Taylor is a Nashville native but picked Chicago to win without hesitation. “I can just feel it,” Taylor said. “They haven’t won one in a while; it’s just their time.” The story-lines surrounding this year’s Fall Classic are endless, but here are a few to keep an eye on in the next week: 1. Cubs’ bats...
by Tyler Harvey | Oct 28, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb Lady Bisons fell to The Freed-Hardman Lions, 81-64, in an exhibition game Thursday night in Allen Arena. The Bisons kept the score close for the first four minutes of the game, trailing 7-6. However, the Lions went on a 9-0 run in the next two minutes which brought the score to 16-7. The Lady Bisons had six turnovers in the first quarter, compared to the Lions who had only one. This helped lead to The Lady Bisons’ trailing behind the Lady Lions with a score of 21-14 after the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Bisons were able to improve their field goal percentage from 38% to 47%. However, after adding five more turnovers to their turnover total they remained down 43-30 at the end of the half. The Lions outscored the Bisons by only 4 points in the second half, but the Bisons’ struggles in the beginning kept them down, causing them to lose by 17 points. Lady Bison’s Head Coach Greg Brown remarked on the loss saying, “We wanted to come in and be simple, be solid and try to execute and finally, by about the 4th quarter, we did, but we had had dug ourselves in too deep of a hole. “We had too many turnovers and lost too many rebounds.” Coach Brown went on to say how they can look back on this loss and learn from it. The Bisons shot a mere 14% from the three-point line for the game, which Brown attributes mostly to the nervous atmosphere. “Some of the shots were a little quick, some of them were good shots and just didn’t fall, but I think some of that is nerves,”...
by Katie Bianchini | Oct 25, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
Junior Brianne Hoglin opened an email from Assistant Athletic Director Dr. Linda Garner that offered her an opportunity she could not turn down this past March. The email explained application details for the annual NCAA Career in Sports Forum, a conference that invites just 200 student-athletes nationwide to learn about possible careers in athletic leadership. At the time, Lipscomb had never sent any applicants to the forum. However, that did not stop Hoglin, a track and field athlete with a goal to coach a collegiate team herself, from sending in her application. Two months later, the conference selected both Hoglin and former Lady Bisons pitcher Kelly Young, who graduated in May 2016, to attend. “It opened my eyes to the role of a coach as a servant leader,” Hoglin said. “The reality is that most head coaches started from the bottom and rose through a serving attitude.” On Sunday, Hoglin refreshed her thoughts from the summer’s conference at the Women in Athletics Leadership Panel at Vanderbilt’s McGugin Center. “I was reminded of the same attitude they talked to us about: if you have a passion for something, you have to go do it,” Hoglin said. “Usually the main person standing in your way is yourself. “It also reminded me of the depth of commitment a position in sports requires,” Hoglin continued. “It’s not always glamorous and glitzy; it’s a lot of work. But it’s fulfilling if your heart is in it.” Vanderbilt panelists included Tennessee State University’s Athletic Director Teresa Phillips, Vanderbilt’s Deputy Athletic Director Candice Lee, Nashville Predators’ Executive Vice President Michelle Kennedy, SEC Associate Commissioner Tiffany Daniels...
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...
