Sports

THE TARTAN WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 , 2011

WOMENS SOCCER:
Highlanders experience exhilaration and disappointment in weekend matches Page 8

TARTAN SCOREBOARD SCOREBOARD

Womens Tennis discovers rhythm at Liberty

A.J. NEUHARTH-KEUSCH
aneuharthkeus@radford.edu
The womens tennis team opened their season this weekend at the Liberty Fall Invite Tournament. The ladies dominated in singles play with three titles and a combined score of 13-5, with success also coming from doubles. The Highlanders received a title and had a combined score of 7-2. Their impressive showing at Liberty was a sigh of relief for the Highs, after coming off a disappointing 6-14 record in the spring. Three of the women on their six-player roster are freshmen and with youth comes high hopes and excitement. Freshmen Hannah Crawford of the United Kingdom, Meg Napolitano of Virginia and Taylor Newman of Maryland are three freshmen everyone is talking about. Crawford was ranked 15th in the UK under 18 age group. She won the U18 singles and doubles title and placed fth in the National College Finals. Napolitano was the fourth ranked girl in the Class of 2011 in Virginia. She was a four-time MVP winner at her high school in Albemarle and a two-time central Virginia Player of the Year. Newman was 16-0 at the number two spot her junior year in high school. She was a Regional Champion and state runner-up in Maryland her senior year. Besides the freshmen, the other half of the team is composed of seniors Petra Dajevic, Mia Drobnjak and Sara Tegner. Dajevic has played most of her Radford tennis at the number one singles and doubles positions. Dajevic owns a 27-11 record at the number one singles spot from 2008-10. Tegner has not always been at Radford University. Before she was a High, she was an Ashland

Mens Soccer
L W L L W W L Wake Forest App State Georgetown Maryland St. Bonaventure Stony Brook UVA 1-2 1-0 4-7 4-9 5-1 3-0 3-4

Big South: 0-0-0 Overall: 3-2-0 (Saturday, Sept. 24, 6:00) -- Elon (Wednesday, Sept. 28, 7:00) -- @ Campbell

Courtesy of RU Athletics

Senior Petra Dajevic provides leadership as a veteran member of a relatively young squad of up-and-coming Highlanders.

See Tennis, 9

Womens Soccer
W L W L W W W L Southern Virginia Ohio State Francis Marion East Tennessee Alabama A&M Tennessee Tech Longwood Old Dominion 8-0 0-4 2-0 0-1 4-0 3-1 1-0 0-3

Field Hockey looks to

dominate in 2011

Big South: 0-0-0 Overall: 5-3-0 (Thursday, Sept. 29, 7:00) -- Presbyterian (Saturday, Oct. 1, 7:00) -- UNC Asheville

Field Hockey
W W W L W L L Ohio State Francis Marion East Tennessee Alabama A&M Tennessee Tech Rider Villanova 3-1 4-3 3-1 1-2 3-2 0-3 1-3

NorPac: 0-0-0 Overall: 4-4-0 (Friday, Sept. 23, 6:30) -- App State (Tuesday, Sept. 27, 7:00) -- @ Longwood

Notes of Worth
Photos by COURTNEY EARLL | The Tartan t tan

Veteran players look forward to the start of NorPac play with optimistic goals
PETER MASON
pdmason@radford.edu
Radford Universitys eld hockey team, currently 4-4, began their season with three road wins against Towson, Lock Haven and Liberty, before they fell 2-1 to Faireld on Sept. 9. We started off really strong, said junior forward Caroline Hollerbach. We had our rst loss to Faireld, we just werent really playing our game, but then we had a big win in overtime in St. Francis the next day, so I think the morale is back up. Senior forward Madonna Wadolowski scored the winning shot in an emotional and hardfought match against St. Francis on the Sept. 10. We had a really good game that week against JMU too, said junior back Alison McNaught. We took them into overtime, but lost. JMU is a team that RU has struggled with for the past two years. In the 2009 season they fell

Courtesy of RU Athletics

Senior middle blocker Carly Fleming of the Radford University volleyball team was named to the All-Tournament team of the Spartan Spiketacular, held in Memphis, T.N. on Sept. 16-17. On the final day of the tournament, Fleming notched her 50th solo block of her career, thus becoming the all-time leader in blocks for the Highlanders. Fleming also recorded 32 kills during the tournament, further buffering her case for the all-tournament team. Despite Flemings performance, the Highs went 1-2 in the three games they played during the tournament. The Highs now sit at 4-8 on the season.

See Field Hockey, 8

Womens Soccer set to kick off Big South play

PETER MASON
pdmason@radford.edu
Already eight games into their season, and with 24 players of sophomore or freshman standing, Radford University womens soccer is off to a good start heading into conference play. The Highs currently own a 5-3 record after their rst eight games of the season. Ill be upset if we lose any conference games, said junior forward Mary Wiley. The team began their season with a commanding 8-0 victory over Southern Virginia, and in the games that theyve won theyve allowed only one goal to be scored against them. The Highlanders three losses so far are a 0-4 road loss to Ohio State, a 0-1 loss at home to East Tennessee State, and a 0-3 road loss to Old Dominion. We look at every game one game at a time, said Head Coach Ben Sohrabi. We have several rivals; Longwoods a big game, Liberty in conference is always a big game. The Highs have already beaten Longwood this season, 1-0, in a Sept. 16 contest, but RU will have to wait until late October to take on Liberty. Sohrabi said the thing he had the team working on most was to generate a better offense. We want to score, but most of the teams you ask that question will probably say the same thing, Sohrabi said. Last year we started a lot of freshmen, this year its a mix of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors; its a pretty good mix. So far its been a tough season, weve still got a lot to learn about this team. Sohrabi also talked about how one of the teams biggest issues was two experienced goalkeepers both ghting for the position. Sophomore Che Brown and the former starter, senior Lisa Lubke, are among the best goalkeepers in the conference. Its a big problem to have two great goalkeepers like we do, Sohrabi said. The team consists of 14 freshmen, 10 sophomores, one junior and only four seniors. [The seniors] will all be missed, Wiley said. Theyre all major parts of the team. This year the team to beat in the Big South, according to Sohrabi and the players, is High Point University. The Panthers currently hold a record of 2-4-1, and are the defending Big South champions. RU will also have their rst crack at High Point in late October, when the two teams face off at Cupp Stadium on Oct. 20. Another team that RU is eager to play this year is Gardner-Webb, who defeated the Highlanders in the Big South tournament to end their season last fall. We lost to them in the Big South last year so we

See Soccer, 8

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

The number of consecutive road games the RU Field Hockey team has played to start out the season. The Highlanders own a 4-4 mark away from their home turf, and are in the midst of a three game losing streak. The Highs are finally set to hold their home opener this week with a match against Appalachian State.

COURTNEY EARLL | The Tartan

Freshman forward Chelsea Hayes works hard in practice against several RU defenders per workout.