by Russell Vannozzi | Sep 7, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb men’s soccer team is in a bit of an offensive funk. Following road losses to South Carolina and Georgia State, the Bisons dropped a 1-0 contest to visiting San Diego Thursday evening. “It’s a disappointing loss, it’s a heartbreaker,” Lipscomb coach Charles Morrow said. “From that standpoint, it’s a difficult game to stomach.” Lipscomb fired 11 total shots, five of which were on target, but was unable to find the back of the net. The Bisons have managed just two goals during their three-game skid. “It’s still early in the season and we’re not as sharp in front of the net as we’d like to be,” Morrow said. “We are optimistic that (the goals) will come, and when they do, I think we’ll see them in bunches.” San Diego’s lone tally in the 66th minute proved to be enough for a victory. Torero forward Reuben Dass took advantage on a counter attack and deposited a shot into the upper-left corner of the net after the ball appeared to deflect off Lipscomb goalkeeper Chris Zappia. “(The team) had one bad moment and got caught on a counter,” Morrow said. “We’ve got to find a way to eliminate that kind of thing from happening. But we had plenty of opportunities to put a goal away and just couldn’t find one.” Lipscomb freshman Scott Gulden slid a ball past San Diego’s Matt Wiher, only to have the goal waved off for a foul. Ryan Dougherty, Logan Paynter and John Wynia each had scoring chances in the second half, but none were able to get by Wiher. Lipscomb took a thrilling...
by Spencer Boehme | Sep 7, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The school year is only a couple weeks in at Lipscomb, but Greg Brown is already conducting practice for the women’s basketball team. After a 12-19 season which ended in a 50-point loss to FGCU in the conference semifinals, head coach Brown’s team will return without seven seniors from last year, including Loren Cagle. The season doesn’t begin until November, but the Lipscomb athletics department recently posted the 2018-19 schedule; and it is full of enticing matchups. This includes road trips to Clemson, Cincinnati, Belmont and Georgia. “I think it’s just a great experience when you can go and challenge yourself against some Power Five schools on the road,” Brown said. “Obviously, playing on the road is important. And with new dynamics and new learning experiences, especially playing Clemson early on right there, will give us a great challenge to start.” Not to mention the home-and-away conference matchups against “LU” (Liberty University), an ASUN newcomer. As Brown jokingly put it, “two of us.” “Very well-coached; they have tournament experience,” he said. “I think any time you add quality teams like them and UNA [North Alabama], it raises the level of the conference play, and it pushes everyone to get better.” Indeed, if you look at the 2017 and then the 2018 schedule, you’ll notice that two newcomers, UNA and Liberty, make up part of a nine-team ASUN this year, versus the eight-team conference from 2017. This changes the no-man-left-behind tournament field that the ASUN had last year. “Not everybody goes to the tournament,” Brown said. “So that’s obviously something that you’re always playing for. And then...
by Russell Vannozzi | Sep 6, 2018 | BREAKING NEWS, News Slider, Sports
Marshall County High School basketball standout K.J. Johnson is bringing his talents to Green Hills. The highly-coveted combo guard announced his commitment to Lipscomb via Twitter Wednesday evening. “After praying and talking it over with my family, I would like to announce that I will be staying home and furthering my education and basketball career at Lipscomb University,” Johnson said in the tweet. According to HoopSeen, coach Casey Alexander and his staff made Johnson a top priority. The Bisons recently offered Johnson a scholarship, and he quickly jumped on the chance to play approximately 50 miles from his Lewisburg home. The 6-foot-2 guard had offers from Morehead State, North Alabama, Tennessee Tech and UT Martin, in addition to interest from Murray State, ETSU and Western Kentucky. Johnson was named Tennessee’s Class AA Mr. Basketball after averaging 31.4 points, 3.9 assists and 2.1 steals for Marshall County last season. He then drew more college attention while starring for the Elite Amateur Basketball Club on the AAU circuit this summer. KJ Johnson with 44 here at #BIGSHOTS #RockyTop pic.twitter.com/d3xgBFrgp5 — BIG SHOTS Midwest (@BigShotsMW) April 8, 2018 Johnson joins forward Jacob Hobbs as the second commitment of Lipscomb’s 2019 recruiting class. Hobbs, who hails from Cecilia, Kentucky, gave his pledge to the Bisons in August. Hobbs and Johnson will help replace Garrison Mathews, Nathan Moran, Eli Pepper and Rob Marberry, who are each entering their final season of eligibility. Photo courtesy of HoopSeen.com Thank you god. ???? pic.twitter.com/V73pT4hnIW — Kj Johnson ? (@_glo_boy_3) September 5,...
by Carly Reams | Aug 26, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb women’s soccer team found themselves back at Vanderbilt for the Music City Invite on Sunday, where the Bisons played the ACC’s Miami Hurricanes. The game remained scoreless until the last 10 minutes when Miami took the 1-0 win on a goal from junior midfielder Kristina Fisher in the 82nd minute. On Friday night, the Lady Bisons (2-1-1) played to a scoreless, double-overtime draw against Ohio before their loss against the Hurricanes (3-1) on Sunday. The contest was fairly equal and made for a match full of shot opportunities and aggressive defense. The Lady Bisons kept up with Miami’s scoring chances but couldn’t seem to get the ball into the back of the net. Lipscomb coach Kevin O’Brien said that this wasn’t due to his team’s efforts but rather the skill of Miami’s goalkeeper and defenders. “I felt that Miam’s goalkeeper kept them in the game, while (Friday) night it was harder to get through Ohio’s back four,” O’Brien said. “The fact that we are creating chances is what I am happy about.” Locked in a scoreless tie with only 10 minutes left, Miami attempted a few shots on Lipscomb senior goalkeeper Kate Mason. On Miami’s third shot attempt, Fisher slipped the ball past Mason despite the efforts of senior defender Justis Bailey, who nearly saved it. Lipscomb continued to play with high energy despite the late score. Sophomore defender Kaitlin Echols believes that the encouragement from the sideline helped the team stay motivated after Miami’s late goal. “We have a ton of support on the sideline, and we all just picked each other up and realized that it wasn’t...
by Spencer Boehme | Aug 26, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
The eighth-annual LUV Invite has concluded, and the Lipscomb Bisons (2-0) stand as the ultimate victors in the tournament hosted in Allen Arena. A 3-2 victory for the Bisons capped off the weekend, which featured visiting teams SMU and Iowa. “It’s great just to get that momentum from the start of the year,” Lipscomb senior outside hitter Lauren Anderson said. “And playing on your home court is incredible, too.” SMU (0-2) got the short end of the stick in the tournament. The Bisons opened with a 3-0 win over the Mustangs on Friday night. Senior outside hitter Carlyle Nusbaum and junior middle blocker Maddie Phillips tied for a Lipscomb-leading 10 kills. Iowa then took down SMU with a 3-1 win on Saturday afternoon. Senior outside hitter Taylor Louis provided the Hawkeyes with a team-leading 19 kills. The final contest proved to be the closest one of the trilogy. The Bisons carried most of the momentum throughout the first set, with the outside hitter Anderson featured as the Bisons’ libero. Nusbaum and sophomore outside hitter Megan Kuper both contributed four kills each for Lipscomb as the Bisons ultimately took the first set 25-13. This included a 15-3 run to cap things off. The Hawkeyes shut down the Bisons’ momentum in the next two sets. They controlled much of the second set, finishing with a 25-20 victory. Iowa also dominated for most of the third set, aided by six unanswered points when they were down 6-7. The Bisons struggled to prevent Iowa’s persistent kill attempts, and they fell 16-25. “I didn’t think we passed extremely well,” Lipscomb coach Brandon Rosenthal said....
by Russell Vannozzi | Aug 23, 2018 | BREAKING NEWS, News Slider, Sports
Fresh off its first-ever NCAA basketball tournament appearance, the Lipscomb men’s basketball team announced its 2018-19 schedule Thursday. The slate features 29 total contests, including 14 home games and six away games within a four-hour-drive of Nashville. The non-conference schedule will be challenging as the Bisons make trips to SMU (Nov. 18), TCU (Nov. 20), Louisville (Dec. 12) and Clemson (Dec. 30). Eight of Lipscomb’s non-conference foes finished higher than the Bisons in the final 2018 Pomeroy Ratings. “We talked to the team about how great it is to have expectations placed upon us, but at the same time, we showed them eight of our nonconference opponents who were better than us last year,” coach Casey Alexander said in a release provided by Lipscomb’s athletic department. “We have plenty of work to do.” Alexander also scheduled several local opponents for non-conference matchups. The Bisons will host Sewanne (Nov. 6), Tennessee State (Nov. 10) and rival Belmont (Nov. 15) to open the season, before traveling to Morehead State (Nov. 25), Middle Tennessee (Dec. 1) and Belmont (Dec. 4). The Bisons’ date with the Blue Raiders will be the first time the two teams have met since 2007. Middle Tennessee has appeared in two of the last three NCAA tournaments, including a shocking, 90-81 upset of No. 2-seeded Michigan State in 2016. “I am really excited we were able to get something worked out with Middle Tennessee,” Alexander said. “I have great respect for what they’ve done as probably the best program in the state of Tennessee over the last few years.” Other non-conference home games include Covenant (Dec. 17), Vermont...
