Published: November 07, 2009 11:58 pm         

Metro Roundup: St. Mary-of-the-Woods one victory away from national soccer championship

Burlington, Vt. — Although it entered as the eighth seed among eight teams in its first national-tournament soccer experience, St. Mary-of-the-Woods is one win away from the United States College Athletic Association championship after a pair of double-overtime wins Friday and Saturday.

Terre Haute North graduate Erin Pugh has scored all three of the Pomeroy goals in the tournament as The Woods defeated top-seeded and defending national champion Southern Virginia 1-0 on Friday and outlasted New Hampshire Technical Institute 2-1 on Saturday.

The Pomeroys play Marygrove College, a school from the Detroit area, in today’s 2 p.m. national championship match.

Pugh beat two Southern Virginia defenders for an unassisted goal with 1:20 left in the second of two 10-minute sudden-victory extra periods on Friday.

The Pomeroys allowed an early goal against NHIT on Saturday, but Pugh tallied in the 69th minute on an assist from Arrika Garcia to again send SMWC into an extra-time match.

Again there was less than two minutes remaining until the match would be decided by a penalty-kick shootout, but Pugh scored on an assist from Northview graduate Cayla Yockey with 1:38 left.



Friday

St. Mary-of-the-Woods 0 0 0 1 — 1

Southern Virginia 0 0 0 0 — 0

SMWC — Erin Pugh



Saturday

St. Mary-of-the-Woods 0 1 0 1 — 2

New Hampshire Technical Institute 1 0 0 0 — 1

NHIT — April Frink (Alex Merwin corner kick)

SMWC — Erin Pugh (Arrika Garcia)

SMWC — Pugh (Cayla Yockey)

Next — St. Mary-of-the-Woods (6-7-2) plays Marygrove (Mich.) at 2 p.m. today for the USCAA national championship.

Volleyball

• Rose eliminated — At Bluffton, Ohio, Rose-Hulman came back from a 2-0 deficit before losing in the first round of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament to Defiance 3-2 on Saturday.

Defiance jumped out to the early lead by winning the first two games, 25-20, 25-23. Rose then won the next two sets 25-20, 25-22 but couldn’t hold on to the momentum as they dropped the fifth set 15-11.

The Engineers were led by freshman Anna Lewer with 14 kills. Sophomores Morgan Williams and sophomore Karah Hickman each picked up 13 kills. Sophomore Leah Pelzel led the team with 45 assists.

Defensively, junior Samantha Gregory paced the team with 20 digs. Lewer contributed 16 digs while senior Kate Sernettadded 14.

Rose finishes the season with a record of 20-13, the 20 wins marks the first time in school historythey compiled 20 victories in a season.

Swimming

• Rose men, women sweep — At Decatur, Ill., the Rose-Hulman men’s and women’s teams swept Millikin in a duel meet on Saturday.

The women’s squad combined for seven first-place finishes in a 100-77 victory, while the men claimed six top honors as part of a 110-78 win.

Senior Deborah Aleksa paced the women with two individual victories. Aleksa earned top honors in the 100-breaststroke in a time of 1:21.41 and the 1,000 freestyle in 11:51.13.

Four Engineers each claimed one victory for the Rose women. Freshman Shannon Cunnien earned the 200-freestyle win in a time of 2:08.69, and freshman Corey Smith won the 50-freestyle in 27.68 seconds.

Other individual winners for the Engineers included senior Stephanie Hance with a 100-backstroke victory in 1:06.13, and freshman Carley Shumate in the 200-freestyle in 2:08.29.

The tandem of Hance, Smith, Cunnien and Shumate earned the last women’s victory by claiming top honors in the 200-medley relay in a time of 2:07.90.

On the men’s side, senior Brian Yount and freshman Matthew Ross emerged as team leaders with two individual and one relay event win each.

Yount earned victories in the 200-freestyle in a time of 1:56.02 and the 100-backstroke in 58.99 seconds. Ross won top acclaim in the 100-butterfly (55.82) and the 200-individual medley (2:06.83).

Yount and Ross also teamed up with junior Matthew Meyer and freshman Joshua Dugan for a victory in the 200-medley relay in a time of 1:46.10. Freshman Jacob Sheets rounded out the men’s wins with a time of 5:11.82 in the 500-freestyle.

Rose returns to action at the Wabash College Invitational on Nov. 20-21 in Crawfordsville.

Auto racing

• Points leader win — At Perris, Calif., Levi Jones won the feature race Friday in the second night of the Budweister Oval Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway.

Jones led 33 laps including the final 12 to win the main event and increase his lead in the U. S. Auto Club sprint car totals. Jon Stanbrough was fast qualifier and took second and Mike Spencer was third.

Five flips again marred the action with no serious injuries reported.



Friday’s results

Fast qualifier — Jon Stanbrough

Heat winners — Ludvig Solberg (C-main), Stanbrough (semi), Rip Williams, Kevin Swindell, David Cardey, Tony Jones, Matt Mitchell

Feature — Levi Jones, Stanbrough, Mike Spencer, Damion Gardner, Darren Hagen, Mitchell, Bryan Clauson, Cole Whitt, Cardey, Nic Faas, Cory Kruseman, Brady Short, Henry Clarke, Danny Sheridan, Garrett Hanson