by Danny Kotula | Nov 1, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb men’s soccer team defeated the Central Arkansas Bears by a 1-0 scoreline Saturday night in overtime. In a battle between the top two teams in the ASUN Conference, the Bisons earned the title of ASUN regular season champions at the last possible moment, winning in overtime on the last day of the regular season. The match also served as Senior Night for Lipscomb’s four graduating players after the season ends. Defenders Chase Carraher and Honore Kalala and attackers Bakary Bagayoko and Zarek Jakubowski were the four players to be honored who will move on from Lipscomb next year. On the field, the match lived up to its billing as the best two teams in the conference traded blows. Both sides attacked freely from the onset, but the two pairs of defensive lines held firm all night long. For Lipscomb in particular, it was one of the best defensive efforts the team has put together across the season. Central Arkansas was limited to just three shots in the first half and five more in the second half; for the first time this season, UCA failed to register a single shot on target to test Bisons goalkeeper Michael Sibley. Meanwhile, Lipscomb struggled with possession throughout the match. Head coach Charles Morrow came out with a clear counterattacking mentality, absorbing pressure deep and relying on quick passes to test the Bears. Things didn’t pan out in the attack in the first half, though, as Lipscomb only registered one shot in the first 45. The second half showed minor improvement for the Bisons, who were bolstered by a Senior Night crowd...
by Danny Kotula | Oct 30, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb women’s soccer team dominated from start to finish in the opening match of the ASUN Conference women’s soccer tournament against Jacksonville State Friday afternoon. After claiming the top seed in the tournament and earning hosting rights throughout the competition, the Bisons continued their successful season with a 6-0 result against the 8-seeded Gamecocks. Behind three goals in each half and a clean sheet from ASUN Goalkeeper of the Year CJ Graham, the Bisons were unstoppable in the attack and impenetrable defensively, leaving no room for JSU to compete. “For me, [the match] was a comprehensive win from start to finish,” said head coach Kevin O’Brien after his 99th win with the Bisons in 10 seasons. “I thought we were the aggressor and created great chances early on, and thankfully converted a couple. I think those early goals against a really, really good team [were] really beneficial.” Graham, a redshirt sophomore from Swannanoa, North Carolina, accrued seven saves en route to her 11th clean sheet of the season, the highest mark among all NCAA Division I goalkeepers this year. Graham has accrued 70 saves this season and only conceded 10. Meanwhile, the Lipscomb attack stole the show after firing on all cylinders for the full 90 minutes. Junior midfielder and Auburn transfer Cami Rogers opened the scoring inside of 10 minutes on a close-range finish. The team’s leading goalscorer, Rogers’ run to the far post was rewarded when sophomore striker Molly Grant sent a low cross from the right side of the box. Rogers finished with a pair of goals on the day, upping her total to seven...
by Gracie Simpson | Oct 28, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
Leah Fortune, associate head coach in her fifth season with the Lady Bisons soccer team, finds herself, happily, in a place she never expected when she was a young soccer star in Brazil. She didn’t just grow up around soccer–she was in it every day. And it was all she knew from a young age. Her parents played, and they opened a soccer complex when she was younger, so she spent most of her time there, learning from and playing with older people. She was born in Brazil, and when she got an opportunity to play for the Brazilian national team at the age of 16, she took it and became the youngest player on the team. She played there for five years until realizing soccer wasn’t going to sustain her for the rest of her life. She knew she needed something more. “To some extent you are wrestling with finding your worth in something,” Fortune said, whose success pushed her deeper into her faith. “You are getting so much affirmation from playing on a national team and playing for World Cups… I decided either Jesus is real and I’m gonna follow Him or I’m not.” She has continued to follow and grow her relationship with Jesus since then, and she has become a leader and a mentor to the girls on the team in their walks of life and in their walks with Jesus. Kate Mason, former Bisons goalkeeper and current goalkeeping coach, sees the way Fortune leads the girls in the right direction and admires it. “Leah’s heart is not only to make the girls better soccer players, but...
by Micah Kennedy | Oct 28, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
The men’s and women’s cross-country teams finished their last weekend of competition with a pair of first-place finishes. Lipscomb bested 32 men’s teams and 33 women’s teams at the Arturo Barrios Invite hosted by Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. The teams also sent runners to the UAB Blazer Classic in Birmingham, Alabama where the men finished 5th and the women finished 10th. Freshman men’s runner Ben Butcher competed in Birmingham and was Lipscomb’s second-highest finisher, coming in 26th place with a time of 25:35:05. “The atmosphere is really positive right now.” Butcher said. “I think the past few weeks when we saw what the top guys at Texas A&M were capable of doing, we all thought ‘wow, we are legit and can compete with the top teams in the country and make a name for ourselves.’” Both Lipscomb teams seem to be trending in the right direction with the ASUN Championship next up. Along with the talent on both rosters, Butcher believes having a normal fall season has helped both teams as well. Last year, COVID-19 forced the season to be condensed and rescheduled for winter 2021. “There is a strong appreciation for having more normalcy.” Butcher said. “My teammates have talked about last year and how hard it was to have cross country and indoor track basically at the same time. This year having that space to focus on cross country, everyone has felt more relaxed and prepared for the season.” Normalcy and their recent success are two things the Bisons can take with them into the ASUN Championship. The team is carrying a lot of confidence...
by Gracie Simpson | Oct 28, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
Jack Ingold was just a normal freshman, focused fully on his studies, at Lipscomb University last year. But he knew that eventually, he wanted to earn a spot on the basketball team. He had the credentials, but the time wasn’t right. Standing 6 feet 3 inches tall, the Charleston, West Virginia-born guard has known since the fifth grade that Lipscomb is where he wanted to play basketball, and he was a dominant high school player. But he took last year off the hardwood, focusing on school while staying in basketball shape. All the while, he hoped for an opportunity to join the men’s team this year. “I got here as a freshman, and I emailed coach (Lennie) Acuff and told him a little bit about myself and what I wanted out of this,” said Ingold. “I told him if he’d crack the door for me I’d kick it in, and he gave me the opportunity, so I’m here,” said Ingold. Teammate and good friend Tanner Shulman said he’s impressed with Inngold and loves having him around the team. “He moved into the dorms with us (this past summer) and his energy from day one was just awesome,” said Shulman. “Jack is always in the best mood…. It’s just nice to have him around. “He’s doing everything we do, and he’s working his tail off,” Shulman said. “You can already see his body has changed, and he’s gotten to be so much better already.” Acuff said he is impressed with Ingold. “He’s been great, he’s an awesome kid,” Acuff said “He’s a good player. He does everything we...
by CJ Arndt | Oct 24, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
The Bisons women’s soccer team won the ASUN West Division with a 3-0 victory over the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears. “[It feels] really good,” head coach Kevin O’Brien said on the valuable win. “I mean, that’s obviously what you work for all year long. You train in the summer and then you show up and have preseason and you put in time and time and time in the non-conference to try to get ready and go on a run and thankfully these girls have shown up in the ASUN season.” “Going into the conference championship playing well, I thought we created lots of good chances and defended well also, and that’s all a head coach can ask for.” The Bisons took on the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears for the first time this season. This served as the deciding game for the host of the west bracket of the ASUN Conference tournament as well as Lipscomb women’s soccer senior night. The team recognized midfielder Kristi Jones from Lynn Haven, Florida majoring in Biology and forward Kammy McGee from Collierville, Tennessee. Both have taken the field over 50 times in 4 years as well as being a part of the back to back ASUN championships which led to two NCAA playoff berths and the program’s first NCAA tournament win. In the first half the Bisons kicked off to start the game. Lipscomb pushed up into the box but good defence by the Sugar bears prevented any shots by the Bisons. Kristi Jones got the first shot off on Keyla Perez. A Lipscomb foul led to a free kick by the Sugar...
