February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By John Manley
Christian Brothers’s men’s soccer team improved to 5-0-0 with victories over Missouri-St. Louis, 1-0, and Southern Illinois, 2-0. Barry Gibney, a junior from Dublin, assisted on the lone goal in the first contest, and scored the winning tally in the second match, connecting in the 38th minute. Ballina, Co. Mayo, native Gareth O’Sullivan coaches CBU.
Rhode Island won matches over Hartford, 4-1, and Maine, 5-0, last week. Belfast junior Gareth Elliot scored the only goal of the first half against Hartford, then assisted on the third goal. He also picked up a goal in the Maine contest, in which Rhode Island improved to 4-2-0.
Fairfield endured a pair of heartbreakers last week. They lost to Loyola (Md.), 2-1, and to Rider, 3-2. Both losses went to two overtimes. Bryan Harkin, a sophomore from Derry, set up all three of the Stags’ goals.
Mercyhurst shut out regional rival Slippery Rock, 3-0, in a match of Irish coaches. Mark Fitzgerald, a senior from Kerry, had a goal for the Lakers, who allowed coach John Melody bragging rights over Noreen Brennan, who calls the shots at Slippery Rock. Mercyhurst then fell to 5-3-0 in Missouri, where they lost to Rockhurst, 1-0, and Truman State, 4-1. Fitzgerald had the only Lakers goal of the latter contest.
Boston University freshman Alan McNamara scored the second goal in a 3-0 victory over Dartmouth. The Terriers’ roster lists McNamara’s hometown as Woodview Raheem. Boston is 3-2-1 at this point. Dubliner Fran O’Leary coaches Dartmouth, which then lost its next game to Stanford, 6-0, falling to 2-2-0.
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North Carolina-Charlotte tied Alabama-Birmingham 1-1 in a battle of university hyphenates. Dubliners David McGill, a freshman, and David Pedreschi, a junior, set up teammate C.J. Robinson for Charlotte’s goal. Charlotte is now 3-2-1 overall and 1-1-1 in Conference USA.
Gary Hanly, a sophomore from Roscommon, put Felician (3-3-0) on the board, but the goal didn’t hold up, as Caldwell answered with a pair of tallies to win, 2-1.
Penn State is ranked second in the National Soccer Coaches Assn. poll and Barry Gorman’s troops will maintain that honor after two wins in the Nike Classic at State College, Pa. The College of Charleston took the Nittany Lions to overtime in the first tilt, but lost, 2-1. Penn State (6-0-0) then defeated Virginia Commonwealth, 1-0, in the tourney finale. Gorman hails from Belfast.
Clemson lost for the first time this season, when they fell to North Carolina, 2-1. Trevor Adair’s Tigers were back on the beam in their next outing, defeating Appalachian State, 4-0, before losing to Atlantic Coast Conference rival Duke, 3-2. Clemson is 3-2-0. Adair came from Belfast.
Ed Kelly’s Boston College squad picked up a pair of wins last week, dropping Providence, 3-0, and Seton Hall, 1-0. B.C. improved to 4-1-0 overall and 3-0-0 in Big East play.
Fairleigh Dickinson-Madison dropped contests with Misericordia, 4-1, and Ramapo, 2-0. The Devils, coached by Belfast native Tom McLoughlin, dropped to 1-3-0.
Women’s Soccer
South Carolina split two games last week, losing to Davidson, 3-1, and then knocking off Iowa State, 2-1. The Gamecocks, coached by Cork native Sue Kelly, are 2-5-0.
The best Keene State could give coach Denise Lyons last week was a tie. The 2-all tie with Western Connecticut State came sandwiched between losses by identical 3-2 scores to Framingham State and Wheaton College. Keene is now 1-4-1. Lyons is a native of Newcastle West, Co. Limerick.
Cross-Country
Olga Cronin led Western Kentucky’s women’s team to victory in the Tennessee Intercollegiates in Nashville. The sophomore from Cork was the first woman to finish, timed in 14:23. Teammate Valerie Lynch, a senior from Cork, was second in 14:25. Three other Corkwomen also competed for the Hilltoppers. They were senior Claire Gibbons, who was seventh in 15:16, senior Lisa Cronin, who was eighth in 15:45, and junior Terri Hennessy, who was right behind in ninth, in 15:49.
Mercyhurst’s Ciaran Brewster ran to a seventh place finish in the Penn State-Behrend Invitational. His time was 27:49. Brewster is a junior from County Longford.