Fall Sports Gearing Up For Full Season
Training camps for 黑料专区鈥檚 fall sports teams opened on Aug. 14 in anticipation of seasons that will begin by early September. Tony Faticoni, the Head Men鈥檚 Soccer Coach at Pfeiffer, couldn鈥檛 be happier.
鈥淚 think all of us are really excited that things are going to be back to normal,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting to be able to get a full season again.鈥�
The聽situation聽for fall sports was quite different during the last academic year. All soccer, volleyball and cross country contests were cancelled during fall 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and each of Pfeiffer鈥檚 21 teams played an abbreviated schedule the following spring semester.
Now, normal-length schedules are set to resume, and Pfeiffer鈥檚 friends and alumni are once again allowed to attend home games at the University鈥檚 Misenheimer campus. At this time, there are no COVID restrictions via the USA South conference, of which Pfeiffer is a member. For all home indoor events, the wearing of masks is required, per Pfeiffer policy.
All home games will be streamed via the for Pfeiffer athletics, which was recently and is now hosted by SIDEARM Sports.
Season previews for each of the fall teams promise an exciting season:
Men鈥檚 Cross Country
Last spring, competing on a rain-drenched course at North Carolina Wesleyan University, the men鈥檚 cross country runners were by then-freshman Trent Rivers.
This fall, Rivers will lead a young team, joining three freshman recruits: Coleman Huggins, Jeremiah Ivory, and Brandon Rowe.
鈥淢y ultimate hope is that these four guys run together as a group,鈥� said Andrew Howard, who begins his sixth season head-coaching Pfeiffer鈥檚 cross country and track & field programs. 鈥淭hey all have similar times, so they can train together and push each other. So, that kind of sets us up for the future a little bit.鈥�
Women鈥檚 Cross Country
Howard predicts that his team will land in the top half of the conference鈥檚 20 schools. He鈥檚 counting on two juniors to lead the way: Alyson Hanlon and Micah Welborn.
Two years ago, Hanlon was the best runner on the women鈥檚 cross country team and among the conference鈥檚 Top 30 runners. Howard expects her to do even better this season.
Welborn isn鈥檛 as comfortable with running cross country as she might be because she didn鈥檛 do it in high school. But, Howard called her 鈥渁 great runner and really talented鈥�; she鈥檒l do well this season if she keeps her confidence up, he said.
Women鈥檚 Soccer
Katie Cobb, the Head Women鈥檚 Soccer Coach, is optimistic about her prospects, having coached her team to a USA South East Division Finals in the abbreviated COVID season. 鈥淲e are looking forward to having a normal year where leadership can shine, and we can move forward as far as team building goes,鈥� she said.
Cobb sounded excited about her newest recruits, particularly midfielder Julia Hayes: 鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping she can step up in the midfield and get some playing time right away and try to recover what we have lost in those seniors,鈥� whom the team lost to graduation last spring.
Cobb expects returning defender Morgan Cecil to provide leadership as a senior. She and forward Dayanna Riera earned USA South East Division for numerous contributions last spring.
Leadership should also come from Cayci Eaton, a who鈥檚 pursuing an MBA at Pfeiffer full-time and, therefore, gained another year of eligibility.
Men鈥檚 Soccer
Men鈥檚 soccer finished with a 2-4-2 overall record during the abbreviated COVID season. Nevertheless, Faticoni is optimistic his team can be a contender this fall in the USA South, noting that this past spring, they beat Greensboro College, the conference champion, and tied William Peace University, which Greensboro played in the semifinals.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 realistic for anybody in our conference to make that run and go for a conference championship,鈥� he said.
Faticoni said that his team鈥檚 prospects depend on how well his new and veteran players make up for the 鈥渂ig loss鈥� of midfielder Caz Dabrowski, who graduated last spring after making the USA South鈥檚 2020-21 Academic All-Conference Team.
Steven Lozano, a freshman whom Faticoni recruited after coaching him at , could fill Dabrowski鈥檚 shoes. Though lacking Dabrowski鈥檚 size, Lozano is a 鈥渧ery skilled鈥� and a 鈥渧ery technical鈥� player who 鈥渃an play in the center of the park and outside the field,鈥� Faticoni said.
Volleyball
鈥淲e want to be a team that works hard, plays well together as a team, communicates, and just leaves everything on the court every time we play,鈥� said Melissa Ferris, the Head Volleyball Coach. 鈥淚f we do that, we will be successful no matter where we end up in the ranking.鈥�
Ferris called her contingent of first-year players 鈥渙ne of the strongest classes we have brought in.鈥� She expects several to have an impact.
She was bullish on her returning players, particularly Emma Gray Beacham, a grad student who is entering her .
Beacham 鈥渉as been with me from the very beginning and truly has given Pfeiffer volleyball everything,鈥� Ferris said. 鈥淚 am looking forward to her coming in and being a great leader on and off the court and just having a very successful year at the &苍产蝉辫;蝉辫辞迟.鈥�
Ken Keuffel, who authored this article, has served as Pfeiffer鈥檚 Assistant Director of Communications since December 2019. He welcomes story ideas from Pfeiffer鈥檚 faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends. The form for submitting story ideas is Story Idea/News Item Request Form.