Skip's Report

Cavs 5.. Union 2

2010-10-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

Montreat College’s men’s soccer team hosted Union College on Saturday for conference play. Due to injuries, the Cavaliers have struggled in conference play this season. They entered the game with an 0-4 conference record and a 5-5 season record. Union College arrived with a 3-1 conference record, a 6-5-1 season record and receiving votes for the NAIA Top 25 Poll.

The Cavaliers fielded a healthy team motivated for its first conference victory. Although Union College’s Jamie Cozens put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard first, Montreat sophomore Paul Connell responded with three first-half goals. Montreat took a 3-1 lead into halftime.

Both teams added a lot of offensive pressure in the second half, but the Cavaliers prevailed with additional goals from Maximiliano Viera and Javier Cuellar. The 5-2 victory gave the Cavaliers their first conference victory and some much-needed momentum.

Head Coach Brenton Benware had the following to say about the match. “We really needed today’s win. Although we’re still a bit plagued with injuries, our team showed up big. Connell played exceptionally well and had clinical finishing for us.”

The men’s team will travels to Florida this weekend for matches against Clearwater Christian College and Eckerd College.

Crap.. Cavs 1 - Bulldogs 3

2010-09-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

The Cavs lost their 3rd game in a row despite having the chance and bit of luck they needed to go on to victory.

Montreat were given a gift when number 8 from Tennessee Wesleyan put his penalty kick over the bar.. 'skills' La Belle scored a bit of a lucky goal after a deflected free kick, putting them level at 1-1.

The boys however, couldnt push on to victory, and went down 3-1.

Big game this weekend, its homecoming! Mountain State University at home.

Bad times..

Dissapointing

2010-09-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

The Cav's have somehow managed to lose 2 games in a row, and both of them unfortuinately being conference games!

The guys lost 1-0 in both of the matches. The first being last Saturday against Bryan, and the second being last night against Virginia Intermont. I'd like to put up a match report but to be honest i do not really wanna talk about it!

Long-story short, we were unlucky against Bryan and were amazing.. last night we were a disgrace. The boys didn's show up to play. We were lacking a lot of things and seemed not to be awake right from the start. Really, really dissapointing.. but things will definately pick up again, starting this week away to Tennessee Wesylan..

Come on guys FFS! :-)

The Waffle House picture will always represent bad times!
Keep an eye out for this picture!

Pics of the week!

2010-09-16T09:59:00.000-07:00

The winners of the pics of the week for this week are:

Popa being Popa

Hagenenen being a poser

Bruce the Moose lookin' sharp!

B'zaa and his dodgy hair

If you've any funny pics of the guys send them to my facebook inbox or to paully_connell@hotmail.com!

JV unlucky

2010-09-16T09:06:00.001-07:00

The Cavs JV lost to North Greenville 2-0 yesterday.

And it begins.. at Bryan

2010-09-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

The first conference game of the season is this week for the Cav's. When it comes down to it, all other games do not matter.. its the conference games that must be won!

Bryan college has always been a tough team. Especially when they are at home. But this year, the Cav's have been on fire, going 4-1 after the first 5 games. It will be a great game and a great chance for the boys to see where we are at in terms of our play, starting with the number 1 ranked team in the conference is a good thing!

My prediction is a 2-1 win to the Montreat boys. Lets get these pussies! :-)

Kick off is at 730pm on the 18th September. At Bryan College

Calumet Match Report

2010-09-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

By Josh Riccardi

Montreat College's Men's Soccer team won its third consecutive match with a 5-0 thumping of Calumet College of St. Joseph in a match played in Black Mountain at Owen High School on Saturday, September 11. The rain kept most of the fans indoors, but those that showed up got to see a flurry of Montreat goals as the Cavaliers improved their record to 4-1 on the young season.

Freshman Maximiliano Viera of Montevideo, Uruguay, started the scoring in the 6^th minute of the game when senior midfielder Brandon Rodeman found senior midfielder Javier Cuellar, who then found Viera with a through ball into space; Viera needed only a quick touch before he managed to put the ball past the keeper at the near post.

In the 30^th minute of the game, Viera displayed great field vision to find Freshman Cody LaBelle of Hendersonville, NC, streaking down the right sideline. LaBelle stretched out, diving for the ball to prevent it from crossing the goal line and sending in a cross to freshman Brandon Hageman who converted the great cross easily. The 2-0 scoreline held until halftime.

Head Coach Brenton Benware saw his Montreat defense come out a little shaky to begin the 2^nd half, but the defense parried each Calumet attack. The second half was a fast-paced, back-and-forth game until Montreat sealed the victory behind Javier Cuellar's goal. The sophomore midfielder from El Salvador received the ball from Viera off a give-and-go in the midfield, dribbled past two defenders, then finally fired a shot from 25 yards which the goalkeeper could not touch. Cuellar's thrilling run and well-placed shot established a 3-0 Cavaliers lead with 11 minutes left in the game.

Two minutes later, junior midfielder Rafael Leo Velasquez of Honduras found LaBelle speeding down the right side of the field; LaBelle in turn crossed the ball to Jamaican forward Leonard Walker, who dribbled past one defender before blasting a shot past the hapless keeper from six yards out.

Three minutes later, sophomore forward Paul Connell tapped in an unassisted goal after he controlled a Walker shot that caromed off the post.

After five matches in 2009, the men's team was languishing with a 1-4 record and a goal differential of -10, having scored 8 and yielded 10, before rebounding to finish with a final 9-9-1 record. At the same point this season, Benware's lads have a 4-1 record and have outscored their opponents 13-3. Matters get more serious quickly as the Cavaliers travel this Saturday, September 18, to Dayton, TN to face Bryan College in the first Appalachian Athletic Conference match of the year for both teams. The Lions are 3-1-1 after pounding Asbury University 7-0 on Saturday.

Cavs 5 : Calumet College of St Joseph 0

2010-09-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

The Montreat Mens Soccer team put on another massive effort yesterday, coming out victorious on a rainy day 5.0.

Match report to come shortly so stay posted!

JV lose in opener

2010-09-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

The Cav's JV team played a tough game last night against Maryville College. The team went into half-time at 1-1.. but were lacking a bit of match fitness, going down 4-1 at the final whistle.

The JV team is looking dangerous and i expect to see much better results in the future.

Good luck boiis!

Lopez Out!

2010-09-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

The Cav's have been hit with a massive blow. Centre defender, Cesar Lopez has broken his ankle and could be out for the whole season. It was broken during the game against the dirty, cheating brazilians, Oklahoma Baptist.

We are all praying for a rapid recovery and will be there to support him through his surgery tomorrow. Good luck mate!

Players of the week

2010-09-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Bruce "The Moose" and Brandon "Golden Balls" Hagenenenen for receiving both the defensive and offensive players of the week for the conference!

Golden Balls

The Moose

Fall Classic Round Up

2010-09-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

By Josh Riccardi

Black Mountain, NC - Montreat College kicked off its first annual Fall Classic this weekend. University of St. Francis, Oklahoma Baptist University, and Truett-McConnell College all came to Black Mountain to battle it out on what turned out to be a spectacular weekend of soccer.

The Men's team, coming off a 2-1 loss to Trevecca Nazarene University, was looking to gain some traction in the early part of their season. On Friday night they played Oklahoma Baptist University, packed with 13 players from Brazil, OBU came ready to play.

Montreat possessed the game well with OBU sitting back playing a more defensive game, waiting for the Cavaliers to cough up the ball. Montreat would try to break through the touch OBU defense, but would come up short time and again. OBU had a few chances in the first half off the counter, but the Cavalier's defense would have none of it. The half would finish 0-0.

Scoring would open up in the second half when Paul Connell of the Cavaliers would earn a penalty kick when he received a long ball over top and beat the defense to get a chance at 1 vs.1 with the keeper, but the referee called a penalty kick when the goal keeper rammed into Paul as he was on his way to goal. Paul shot the penalty kick, and the goal keeper had no chance at it, placing it in the top right corner of the net.

The game took a dramatic turn when Cavaliers Senior midfielder Brandon Rodeman was called for his second yellow card, resulting in an ejection from a game, with about 15 minutes left to play. OBU would pepper the net with shots but junior goal keeper Michael Bruce would stop every challenge that came his way, putting on a clinic on how to save the impossible. What would seem to be a sure goal, Bruce would somehow manage to shield the ball away, keeping intact the shutout. The Cavaliers would hold on to win the game 1-0 in regulation. OBU would have 11 shot, 7 on goal to Montreat's 8, 6 on goal.

The Montreat Men's team would play St. Francis University on Saturday in what could have been read as the tale of 3 freshmen. Playing without starters Cesar Lopez and Brandon Rodeman, the Cavaliers needed to step up big.

Scoring would open up quick when Freshman Brandon Hageman would put a blast in from the left side, but St. Francis would quickly find an answer when they would squeak a well placed shot past goal keeping Michael Bruce. But, Montreat would soon have the lead again when freshman midfielder Maxi Viera would earn his first goal of the season. The half would end 2-1.

The second half was full of action. St. Francis came out strong, hitting 2 shots off the post and crossbar. But just like the first half, Montreat's freshmen would come up big. Cody LaBelle would get his first goal of the season when he took a quick touch off a pass on the right side, fired a shot that ended up in the net after is banged the left post. Freshman forward Brandon Hageman would later get his second goal of the game as the Cavaliers would go on to win with a final of 4-1. Montreat had assists by Leo Walker, Paul Connell, and David Friedrichs. Shots by Montreat were 14, 9 on goal and St. Francis with 14, 5 on goal.

Head coach Brenton Benware had this to say about the wins, "These were two big wins for us. Oklahoma Baptist was a very strong team that challenged our defensive unit with some excellent opportunities. Goalkeeper, Michael Bruce, showed up big for us and made some amazing saves. Our game against University of St. Francis was a tough match, but our offensive unit showed up big."

Montreat will have a week off to get ready for its next game against Calumet College of St. Joseph on September 11.

Future blogs will contain:

2010-09-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

This blog is going to contain scores, match reports, injury updates, funny stories and much more from the Montreat Mens' Soccer team.