Soccer Mocs see hope in SoCon tournament
As has been the case all season long, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s soccer team was close to getting a big win last weekend.
And while the Mocs fell short against Southern Conference co-champion Furman, 1-0, they edged Wofford 1-0 on Sunday and have reason to see good things going forward. They take a 5-9-4 overall record and 3-4-2 SoCon mark into the league tournament as the sixth seed.
“I thought we played a good game as a team (against Furman). We can definitely improve upon that,” senior midfielder Emily Moseley said. “On Sunday we had a hard-fought win; Jordan (Mueller) scored a tough goal and we came together to help the seniors.”
UTC will play Friday night at No. 3 seed UNC Greensboro (8-7-3, 5-22). The regular-season meeting was a scoreless tie in Chattanooga on Oct. 8.
The Mocs have played some of the top teams in the league tough this season. In addition to the narrow loss to No. 1 seed Furman, they trailed No. 2 seed Samford by a goal in the second half of a game they eventually lost 3-1. They defeated fourth-seeded Western Carolina 1-0.
Runners in SoCon meet
The UTC cross country program will be competing in its conference meet Saturday in Spartanburg, S.C., starting at 10 a.m.
Emily Poole has been the Mocs women’s top runner this season, with the team’s best time in all three races. The men have been led by John Payne and Ryan Gebelein, with Payne having the best time in runs at the Brooks Midnight Twilight Classic and the Falcon Classic, while Gebelein’s time of 25 minutes, 47.66 seconds in the 8-kilometer Greater Louisville Classic topped his teammate by nearly 12 seconds.
Around campus
Led by senior Cristina Perez’s first top-10 finish of the season, the women’s golf team finished seventh at 901 in the 17-team Palmetto Intercollegiate in Kiawah Island, S.C. Ole Miss won at 883. Perez shot a 6-over-par 222 in the three-day event, and she and Monica San Juan shot 74s on the final day of the event to lead the team. San Juan and Holly Morgan tied for 31st at 227, and Maddy McDaniel and Megan Woods shot 231 and 232.
The men’s golf team is in the East Bay Intercollegiate at Kiawah Island, starting Sunday.
The volleyball Mocs (12-12, 5-5) have a two-game homestand this weekend, with Furman and The Citadel coming to town. The team is coming off yet another 1-1 weekend, with a 3-0 win over Western Carolina preceding a five-game loss to UNCG, its fifth such loss this season.
The women’s tennis team finishes its fall slate with a trip to Atlanta for the Piedmont Invitational, starting Friday, while the men are in Statesboro, Ga., for the Georgia Southern Championships.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.