Local College roundup: FMU men earn fifth straight win

FLORENCE — Junior Juan Rivas assisted on a pair of goals, one in each half, to lead Francis Marion to a 2-0 shutout of Catawba College on Tuesday in non-conference men’s college soccer action.

Playing in an intermittent drizzle, Francis Marion (11-3-3) captured its fifth straight win and is unbeaten in its last seven matches. The Patriots are ranked third in the latest Southeast Region poll.

FMU junior goalkeeper Clark Richeson recorded four saves in the opening 78 minutes, while senior back-up Jeremy Crooks made one stop in the final 12 minutes. It is the Patriots’ eighth shutout of the season.

Sophomore forward Adam Dillihay gave Francis Marion a 1-0 advantage with a score at the 43:20 mark.  He took a pass from Rivas and from 19 yards out chipped the ball over Willard, who had left the goal to come out and challenge for the ball.

Kyle Clinton then doubled the Patriot lead to 2-0 in the 70th minute when he took a feed from Rivas and converted a 10-yard attempt. It was the lanky midfielder’s team-leading seventh score of 2009 and his 29th career goal in 72 matches.

FMU golf finishes 14th
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Led by senior Christopher Couch’s even-par 72, the Francis Marion golf team moved up one position over the final 18 holes to place 14th at the Aldila Scenic City Invitational Golf Tournament.

Co-host Middle Tennessee State University rallied from a nine-stroke deficit to capture the team title with an 851 score.

Francis Marion shot a final-round 312 score to finish at 914. 

Ciaran McKenna led Francis Marion with a 36th-place finish, following a 76 tally on the final day. He ended the tournament with a 6-over 222 score. 

Patriots tackle ACC opponents
FLORENCE — Over a span of nine days, three Francis Marion sports teams will take on opponents from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Patriot women’s soccer team (3-11-1) will close out its season at North Carolina State University (7-8-2) on Thursday.  Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. on the Wolfpack’s Dail Soccer Field.

The FMU women’s basketball team will play an exhibition game at the University of North Carolina on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Dean E. Smith Center. The contest will pit the Patriots against former Francis
Marion coach and current UNC mentor Sylvia Hatchell.

The FMU men’s basketball team will play an exhibition game at Clemson on Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Littlejohn Coliseum.

Admission to both basketball games will be free with general admission seating.

Mount Olive tops Cobra volleyball
HARTSVILLE — The Coker Cobras were unable to pick up a win in Conference Carolinas volleyball action on Tuesday as they fell 3-1 to the Mount Olive College Trojans.

The Trojans Racey Bartley was the driving force behind the Mount Olive victory, putting away a match-high 21 kills, while adding four total blocks.

The loss drops Coker to 3-23 overall and 1-12 in the conference, while Mount Olive improves to 12-14 overall and 11-2 overall.

For Coker, Kristin Teets led the attack with 13 kills while Lisa Ross led the defense with 11 digs.

Coker SAAC Committee cleans up Kalmia Gardens
HARTSVILLE — The Coker College Student-Athlete Advisory Committee took time out of their weekend Sunday to do a little community service.

About 20 members of the SAAC spent the day at Kalmia Gardens helping to remove invasive plants from the flood plain of the Gardens.

Student-athletes pulled huge amounts of plant material, including entire trees, from the flood plain to make room for the natural plants of the area to grow. The debris was later chopped into mulch to be
used in other areas of the Gardens.