UC-Berkley takes NorPac Title; lack of experience costly for Mountaineers
Mountaineers come up short in tourney

James Nix - Sports Beat

The Appalachian State University field hockey team was defeated by Radford University 2-1 in the NorthPacific (NorPac) consolation game Saturday at Kidd Brewer Stadium.

The loss to Radford in the consolation championship came hard as the Mountaineers fought a scoreless battle into the late second half.
Appalachian’s Emily Walls scored to put the team on the board.

However, Radford soon answered. Megan Driest tied the game on a penalty corner with less than 10 minutes left in play.

Moments later, the Highlanders scored again when Jamie Hillian received a pass from Erin Hebert for the score that sealed the victory for Radford.

The loss concluded Appalachian’s season with an 8-13 record.

Assistant coach Ryan Langford sees the loss not as the end of the season but as the beginning of the future for ASU field hockey.

“The loss today is unfortunate,” said Langford. “We only have a future, we only have success ahead of us.”

In his two years with ASU, Langford said he has seen tremendous improvement.

“As a whole our season was a success,” said Langford. “[The team] has improved leaps and bounds.”

Assistant coach Mandy Latz attributes the loss to the amount of play during the tournament.

“We had two games before,” said Latz. “We had a little bit of fatigue setting in.”

In the quarterfinals, the Mountaineers suffered a 1-0 loss to the University of the Pacific.

“We definitely had an off game on Thursday,” said Latz. “We’re disappointed with that.”

After the loss to Pacific, the Mountaineers moved to the consolation bracket where they defeated Davidson College 2-1 to earn a spot in the consolation game against Radford.

ASU head coach Patience Harrison told the squad they could compensate for the Pacific defeat by dominating the next two games. The Mountaineers did just that against Davidson when Nara Brooks scored at the 1:23 mark to start the game.

ASU scored again 20 minutes later and held the Wildcats scoreless until the last three minutes of the game. Davidson’s Kathleen Fenn knocked in a shot to save her team from the shutout.

“Our goal was to keep shutouts and get goals on the scoreboard,” said Harrison.

In retrospect, Harrison said her team should have won the game against Pacific, but the inexperience of the team hurt the Mountaineers.

“The team was in a mood of panic,” she said. “They froze, and they were stressed.”

Harrison said her team has a lot of freshmen and sophomores starters and with the stress of playing in a conference tournament, they were unable to play at their best.

“They’ve never had the pressure of a championship until last conference tournament and this year.”

Paul Sherar - Chief Photographer

Wes Hunter (11) returned an interception for a TD in the closing moments of ASU’s win over VMI Saturday.

Burchette leads late drive to rally Mountaineers past Keydets

VMI Sports Information

Appalachian State University quarterback Joe Burchette completed 24 of 39 passes for 248 yards and one touchdown to rally the 11th-ranked Mountaineers to a 27-17 win over Virginia Military Institute (VMI) before a crowd of 5,353 spectators at Alumni Memorial Field in Lexington, Va.

The Mountaineers trailed the Keydets 17-14, with 12:54 left in the fourth quarter after Matt Sharpe booted a 25-yard field goal to give the Keydets their first lead of the day.

The VMI lead held until Burchette engineered a 13-play, 71-yard drive that was capped off by Jerry Beard’s one-yard run that put the Mountaineers up for good, 21-17, with 3:57 to play.

Burchette completed seven passes on the drive for 52 yards and also rushed twice for 14 yards—accounting for 66 yards on the possession.

Appalachian opened the scoring when running back Jimmy Watkins plowed in from the one-yard line to cap an 11-play, 57-yard scoring drive that put ASU up 7-0 with 2:22 left in the first quarter. The drive was set up by an interception by linebacker Justin Seaverns at the ASU 15-yard line that was returned to the ASU 43.

ASU extended the lead to 14-0 when Burchette connected with freshman wide receiver DaVon Fowlkes for a 51-yard scoring pass with 14:52 left in the second quarter.

The Keydets halved the deficit to 14-7 when junior running back John Bell burst up the middle for a 13-yard touchdown at the 9:16 mark of the second quarter. The drive was keyed by a 50-yard screen pass on a third down and 20 from quarterback Joey Gibson to senior running back Gene Cauthen that moved the ball to the ASU 16 yard line.

The score remained 14-7 at halftime, but VMI blocked a Mountaineer punt and took over at the ASU 27, and Cauthen scored on a seven-yard run on the last play of the third quarter. Matt Sharpe’s extra-point made the score 14-14 heading into the final period.

The Keydet special teams forced an ASU turnover on the ensuing possession when return man Jermane Little was jarred by VMI’s Kenny Moseley, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Kevin Solomon at the Appalachian 17-yard line. The stingy Mountaineer defense made VMI settle for a 25-yard field goal by Sharpe, giving it a 17-14 lead with 12:54 left.

Following the Burchette-led decisive fourth quarter drive culminated with Beard’s go-ahead touchdown plunge, the Mountaineers’ final score of the game came on a Wes Hunter interception that was taken 21 yards back for a touchdown with 23 seconds
remaining in the contest.

The Keydet defense limited ASU’s ground game to 113 yards, but the Mountaineers, the SoCon’s top passing team, gained 248 yards through the air.

In a long-standing rivalry, Appalachian State (6-3, 5-2) will battle on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Western Carolina for the Old Mountain Jug in Boone, N.C.

Paul Sherar - Chief Photographer

Primeau stretches before a workout at State Farm Thursday afternoon.

Injuries, doubt left behind in cloud of dust on road to personal victory

Chris Boyce - Sports Beat

The women’s Southern Conference Cross Country Championship race on Oct. 27 proved to be a classic finish, with Appalachian State’s Sarah Primeau frantically trying to catch a pair of University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) runners to claim the individual title.

Each surge from Primeau was followed by a subsequent surge from the pair of Mocs up ahead and unfortunately the junior from Simpsonville, S.C., was never able to overtake the leaders.

She finished third, claiming her second consecutive all-conference honor, and led the Mountaineers to their second straight second-place finish in the event.

But just to have that opportunity to race for Appalachian State might have never happened if not for a critical experience in Primeau’s life.

A fateful finish in the 1998 South Carolina State Cross Country Championships nearly put an end to the runner’s dreams of racing in college and is the major low point in what has been a successful running career.

Primeau began her running career as a freshman in high school running on the track team. She joined the cross country team her sophomore year and began learning under the influence of coach Delmer Howell, a recent inductee into the Cross Country Hall of Fame.

“I never felt anybody believed in me as much as coach Howell did,” said Primeau. “He told me during my freshman year that I had a lot of potential and that I could go somewhere with running.”

In addition to Howell, Primeau’s parents played a big role in impacting their daughter by attending every meet.

After several solid seasons on the team, Primeau became the team’s star runner her senior season and entered the state championships as a serious contender for a top-three finish. Led by Primeau, Mauldin High School was a favorite to win the state championship.

But a horrible twist of fate destroyed Primeau’s hopes for the title only several meters into the race.

Primeau’s right foot fell into a pothole only a few strides from the starting point, breaking a small bone in her ankle and adding the injury to a list suffered earlier in the season including a popped ligament and a sprained arch in the same foot.

She finished the race not in the top three as was hoped but in the 50s and needed to be carried from the finish line by her father.

To add to the agony of losing the race and the pain of the injuries suffered, Primeau also dealt with the guilt she placed on herself for hurting her team’s chances to win.

“Our team was supposed to win that year and I blamed a lot of it on myself because of my finish,” said Primeau. “I thought it was over. It was so hard to get up again after working so hard.”

The outcome of the race also hurt Primeau’s hopes of running in college because the meet served as many recruiters only chance to watch prospective cross country athletes compete on the high school level.

“I was in tears. I was very discouraged and down on myself. Probably the person that made the biggest difference for me was my father who sat down with me that night. I was still really upset but he said you’re going to do one of two things about this,” said Primeau. “You’re gonna either lay down and quit or you’re gonna get back up and its going to make you work harder the next time.”

Primeau chose the second option, and walked onto the Appalachian State cross country team in the fall of 1999 in which she enjoyed near instant success, running as high as second for the Mountaineers.

Primeau made even larger strides as a sophomore, finishing fourth in last season’s Southern Conference championships, earning all-conference honors.

Emerging from the long shadow of one of best runners in Appalachian State history, Mary Jayne Harrelson, Primeau assumed a leadership role this season along with seniors Jenny Honeycutt and Heather Needham.

“I knew last year that Mary Jayne was leaving and I felt that I was probably the next person to step up. There were going to be some big shoes to fill and I knew that from the start so I put in the miles this summer and trained harder than I’d ever trained,” said Primeau. “I came in wanting to be good leader to the team, to support every single girl and to show that I cared.”

“She’s been able to emerge from the shadow of Mary Jayne Harrelson, one of the best individual athletes we’ve ever had,” said Appalachian State head cross country coach Mike Curcio. “So for her to step out, finishing third in the conference and lead a team of younger women this year has been really something.”

Although Primeau and her teammates finished just shy of a conference title, there is still more races to be run this fall with both the women’s and men’s teams gearing up for the NCAA Southeast District Championships at Furman University Saturday.

“Last year our goal was to break into the top ten and we ended up doing that. This year we want to improve on that. It’s probably the fastest and most competitive field we’ve run in so far,” said Primeau. “It’s our last shot to do the best we can and hopefully pull out some good times.”

Commentary

Yankees mystique undeserving of
biased media coverage

Andy Morris

Editor’s Note: The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the New York Yankees in Game 7 Sunday evening to capture the four-year-old franchise’s first World Series Title.

Let me start by saying I hate the New York Yankees. Wait, I have always been taught hate is a strong word, so allow me to correct myself. I really hate the New York Yankees.

I hate “The House that Ruth Built” and the blue pinstripes the Yankees wear. I hate Rudy Giuliani’s Yankee hat and Chuck Knoblauch’s horrid batting stance. I cringe every time Fox Sports shows a shot of manager Joe Torre’s ugly mug or another “amazing” Derek Jeter play.

Now, let’s talk for a minute about Derek Jeter. To me, he is the embodiment of Yankee smugness. His constant swagger and his cocky grin have never set right with me. The most beautiful thing to me was his World Series slump, until he hit the game-winning home run in Game 4. Of all people, it had to be Jeter.

Even as much as I wished against it, I knew Jeter would hit a home run at that at-bat in the 10th inning. So, not only did I have to watch Jeter and the whole Yankee team celebrate, Fox decided to show how his parents celebrated in the stands.
Yay.

But let’s not confuse my Yankee-hatred with any lack of love for the city of New York. Just as the t-shirts say, ‘I love New York.’ However, many people, including the media, have named the Yankees as a rallying point for the attacks on the World Trade towers.

It’s as if the Yankees are supposed to win because of it. CNNSI called the Yankees the “Dynasty of Destiny” after they won Game 4 to tie the series. Can you say bandwagon? This is almost as bad as University of North Carolina sports fans. (Did I say that out loud?)

Even before the World Series began, the Arizona Diamondbacks were treated as a second-rate team compared to the Yankees. Everyone said, “They only have Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson.” But Arizona proved the naysayers wrong with three emphatic victories in Games 1, 2 and 6, and a ninth-inning rally Sunday evening to capture the championship. Even still, the media focused on the Yankees and not the superb performances of the Diamondbacks.

Just watch a few innings of a game and you will quickly see the differences. For example, Yankee Shane Spencer’s third inning home run that just got over the right field wall in Game 4 was replayed about 15 times, at least.

In the very next inning, Arizona’s Mark Grace cranked a much more impressive home run to the upper deck to tie the score 1-1 but only one replay was shown. We saw Spencer’s home run from every single camera angle in the stadium, we saw the Yankees’ dugout celebrate while the home run was in the air,
and we saw Spencer’s face as he rounded the bases.

But Grace’s home run was replayed right before Fox went to commercial and it was just the usual replay angle. Not that I care deeply about replays, it just seems a little biased.

Now, I am not trying to take anything away from the talent of the New York Yankees. Their lineup is a fearsome one, both offensively and defensively. Their pitchers are equally imposing, especially Mariano Rivera.

However, the Diamondbacks, in my opinion, have players that can compete with New York. Of course, the duo of Schilling and Johnson is unmatched in baseball. But Arizona also has good position players that are not as “big-name” as the Yankees including Luis Gonzalez, Craig Counsell, Reggie Sanders and yes, even Matt Williams and Mark Grace. Give respect where respect is due.

But if this team of “destiny” wins the World Series, then I guess fate meant for New York to answer the attacks with a World Series trophy. I, on the other hand, will be left to wait another year, hoping for someone else to beat the Yankees.
But even if the Yankees win the next 10 World Series, I will continue to hate them and Derek Jeter.