by Russell Vannozzi | Nov 16, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
SEATTLE – Lipscomb goalie Luke Wilson sat on the bench for most of Thursday night’s first-round NCAA tournament game at Washington. His services simply weren’t needed as senior keeper Chris Zappia made eight saves to keep the game scoreless through regulation and two overtime periods. But Lipscomb coach Charles Morrow let Wilson, a known penalty-kick save specialist, loose with the game on the line, and the decision paid off. “Chris had such a good game… we asked Chris at the end of the game, it was his call,” Morrow told LipscombSports.com. “His words were, ‘Let Luke do what he does.’” Wilson stopped shots from Washington’s Corban Anderson and Charlie Ostrem while five of his Lipscomb teammates buried their attempts to give the Bisons a 5-4 shootout victory. “It’s hard and it takes a lot of confidence and belief in yourself,” Morrow said of stopping penalty kicks. “I couldn’t do it, but apparently Luke’s really good at it. I couldn’t be more proud of Luke’s performance.” Logan Paynter, Austin Eager, Louis Robinson, Ben Locke and John Wynia each converted penalty kicks to lift the Bisons to the upset. “It was an ugly game and definitely not the way we wanted it to play out, but our guys battled,” Morrow said. “I told the Pac-12 [Network] crew yesterday that one thing they might not know about this team is that we can play the beautiful game, but we can also win dirty. I think that is what it was tonight.” Washington (12-8) dominated possession for much of the contest and outshot Lipscomb 14-5. But between Zappia’s performance in net and Lipscomb’s aggressive play...
by Russell Vannozzi | Nov 14, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
Losing seven games in a row typically doesn’t equate to a championship season, especially when a team’s schedule only includes 16 regular season games. However, that narrative exactly describes how the Lipscomb men’s soccer season played out. Despite a forgettable start, the Bisons are in Seattle to make their second-consecutive NCAA tournament appearance on Thursday night against Washington. “Looking back at the season… it was all fun,” Lipscomb coach Charles Morrow said at Monday’s NCAA selection show watch party. “That’s something we sort of preach in our program. This is a game and it’s meant to be fun, but there were some trying days in that stretch. For the guys to have the resiliency and perseverance that they did was really, really impressive.” The Bisons went 1-7 in their first eight games, including a seven-match skid that began in August and continued until late September. “It was a rough start,” Lipscomb senior forward Logan Paynter said. “[We had] a lot of new guys and knew it wasn’t going to be easy, so we just knew we had to keep learning and keep growing.” The tough beginning was somewhat expected after losing 10 seniors to graduation, including key cogs like forwards Ivan Alvarado and Ivan Sakou, midfielders Eduardo Reza and Kyle Smith, and defenders Cameron Botes and Joe Kerridge. But there were some silver linings during that losing streak. Five of the seven losses were by just one goal each, and two of the defeats came in overtime to No. 7 Kentucky and Jacksonville. “Coming out of last year and losing 10 guys, you know there’s going to be a...
by Russell Vannozzi | Nov 12, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb men’s soccer team is heading the Pacific Northwest for its second NCAA tournament appearance. During Monday’s NCAA Selection Show, the Bisons learned that their first-round opponent will be the Washington Huskies. The match is set for Thursday at 9:00 p.m. CT in Seattle. “It’s great to still be going and still be a part of all of this,” Lipscomb senior forward Logan Paynter said. “I haven’t been to the Pacific Northwest and I don’t know much about [Washington], but [I’m] super excited to get out there and go play a game.” Lipscomb (9-9) began its season with a dismal 1-7 record, but the team made a miraculous turnaround to win eight of their final 10 matches. That stretch included upsets of No. 10 Louisville and No. 24 Florida Gulf Coast. In Saturday night’s ASUN title game, the Bisons defeated Stetson, 2-0. Paynter set the school record for goals by scoring the 34th and 35th tallies of his career. Lipscomb dropped a 2-0 contest at Butler in its NCAA tournament debut last season. Lipscomb coach Charles Morrow said he believes the lessons learned from that loss will help the Bisons in their second-straight postseason appearance. “[Butler] was a team that could have gotten a bye in the first round,” Morrow said. “I think that, while Washington will be just as strong, I really feel like the guys have more belief and more confidence in themselves this year.” Washington (12-7) is making its sixth NCAA tournament appearance under coach Jamie Clark, and the Huskies have a 12-23-2 all-time record in tournament play. Senior forward Scott Menzies leads the team with nine goals....
by Spencer Boehme | Nov 11, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
For the second time in as many years, the Lipscomb men’s soccer team is going to the NCAA tournament. In a brutally cold match at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex, the one-seeded Bisons beat the six-seeded Stetson Hatters by a score of 2-0 on Saturday night. It was a big moment for head coach Charles Morrow, who happily celebrated a Gatorade bath and posed for trophy pictures with his team after the game. “It’s real good to be back here again and get another crack at trying to move on, and get to the NCAA tournament and see what we can do there,” Morrow said. Redshirt senior forward Logan Paynter scored two goals and received the ASUN Tournament MVP. To make the night even more memorable, Paynter set Lipscomb’s program record for career goals by scoring the 34th and 35th tallies of his career. “My teammates did amazing to get me the ball in those spots,” Paynter said. “And, I mean we played such a great game all around, every single player.” Paynter’s first goal came in the 39th minute. It appeared that Stetson goalie Braeden Luna would recover the ball off a slow bounce, but it instead went past him and into the net, giving Lipscomb a 1-0 lead. In the 53rd minute, redshirt sophomore midfielder Ben Locke passed the ball to Paynter, who outran his defender and booted it past Luna for the second and final tally of the night. “I sure do hope we’re going to work hard to showcase what he can do in the NCAA tournament and showcase what he can do [for] pro teams,”...
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...
