by Russell Vannozzi | Sep 10, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
It took dealing with a slippery pitch, firing 18 shots and battling through an overtime period, but the Lipscomb women’s soccer team refused to be denied a home win Sunday afternoon. Forward Olivia Doak fed a pass to teammate Maycie McKay, who slid the ball past Miami Ohio goalie Patricia Koutoulas to give the Lady Bisons a 3-2 overtime victory. “(McKay) made that run seven or eight teams and didn’t get rewarded with the ball,” Lipscomb coach Kevin O’Brien said. “Sometimes you can get discouraged and quit (trying) it, so I was grateful and proud that she kept chipping away.” The shot was McKay’s only attempt of the day, but it was all she needed to score her first goal of the season at the most opportune time. “We had a lot of people in the box at the end,” McKay said. “We almost got one early on (in overtime), and that just drove us to keep going and keep pushing.” Miami (2-3-1) took the initial lead on tally from freshman Lyda Bogadanovtich in the 40th minute, but Lipscomb’s Selah Gilmore answered with a goal of her own just three minutes later. In the second half, Lipscomb defender Logan McFadden finished a header from Doak to give the Bisons a 2-1 lead. The goal was McFadden’s second of her freshman campaign. “We knew recruiting her that she had the ability to step in and play right away,” O’Brien said of McFadden. “She can still grow in her technical ability and her decisions on the ball, but…the fact that she’s contributing on the offensive side is gravy.” But Miami made things...
by Carly Reams | Sep 9, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
An athlete like Micah Bledsoe doesn’t stop until he has gotten to where he wants to go. Once a Lipscomb goalkeeper, Bledsoe is now playing professional soccer for Nashville SC of the United Soccer League. The Ohio native never saw himself as having pro potential in high school, but after a stellar college career, he decided to take the sport as far as he could. “There was never a time when I wanted to quit,” Bledsoe said. “There were times when I didn’t know if (going pro) was going to be possible when I was done with college. I had to go to a couple of tryouts, but I knew that I wanted to pursue it as far as I could.” Bledsoe followed his family’s footsteps by walking onto a Division 1 soccer field in 2013. His two older sisters – Aubrey (Wake Forest) and Amber (Brown University) – both played goalkeeper in college. Paul Bledsoe, the father of the three goalies, taught them the sport at a young age, and the training paid off. Micah’s career at Lipscomb was filled with accomplishments. By the end of his freshman year, Micah was selected to Atlantic Sun All-Freshman Team. That year he also finished second in the A-Sun and 42nd in the nation with 79 saves. Micah continued to improve throughout his four-year Lipscomb stint and finished his career as the school’s all-time leader in career wins, shutouts and save percentage. That was enough to earn help him land a contract with Louisville City FC in March 2017. At Louisville, Micah said that he saw the culture and mentality that it...
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 McKenzie Utley | Aug 29, 2018 | News Slider
Lipscomb University’s Convocation began Tuesday when an array of flags emerged from the tunnels of Allen Arena, marking the continued increase of diversity at the school. But the flags were just a small part of the larger ceremony that served as a kickoff to the 2018-19 school year. Lipscomb typically holds convocation during the second week of the semester. President Dr. L Randolph Lowry III took the stage to address the improvements the school made this summer and to announce improvements to come in the future. Lowry praised his staff for their patience and hard work during the summer, which brought changes to the Bison Cafe and Bennett Campus Center and also included a total remodel of the cafe’s outdoor patio. Lowry spent time talking about Lipscomb’s history, which spans 127 years, and he also encouraged students to work hard and put God first during their studies this school year. But Lowry saved the best announcements for last, as he introduced Grammy Award-winning artist Michael W. Smith to play a few songs on the piano and to lead worship. Lowry also announced plans for a new, 200-space parking garage to be constructed near the Fields Engineering Center on the northwest corner of campus. Students, long-plagued with parking issues, erupted in excitement at the news. The garage isn’t expected to be completed until at least August...
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...
