Lion Pause
Click here to view Mars Hill's athletic highlights for September 18-25.
Athletic Highlights: September 18 – September 25, 2017
Football: The Lions lost on the road at South Atlantic Conference rival no. 25 Catawba 37-13, Saturday night in Shuford Stadium. Five turnovers plagued the Lions in the loss. Mars Hill fell to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the league. Keshaun Taylor caught five passes for 119 yards and one score while Craig Rucker pulled down the same number of catches for 99 yards and one touchdown reception. Malik Prescott rushed for 107 yards on 17 carries averaging 6.3 yards per run. David Salmon completed 17-31 passes for 294 yards throwing two touchdown passes. Unfortunately, he was picked off twice. Jacari Williams led the Lions defense with a game high 10 tackles (9 solo). Preston Lockwood followed with nine tackles. Chris Leamon added six tackles and three pass break-ups. Mars Hill accumulated 393 yards of total offense, 294 in the air. Taylor was named the SAC Offensive Player of the Week last Monday for his performance against Lenoir-Rhyne.
Men's Soccer: Mars Hill split their two games this week, falling 2-1 to the defending national champions and conference rival, the Wingate Bulldogs, but bouncing back to hand Belmont Abbey their first loss of the season Saturday evening by a score of 2-1. Jordan Lennon scored the lone goal for the Lions in their loss Wednesday night. Stian Sanner and Kyle Dix provided the two markers in their victory against the Crusaders. They now hold a 2-4-1 (1-1-1 SAC) record.
Women's Soccer: Mars Hill fell to the visiting Bulldogs of Wingate on Wednesday evening, 5-0, at the Ammons Family Athletic Center. Kaitlyn Danglemaier made seven saves in the contest. The Lions have dropped their last four matches.
Men's Golf: Harry Butler medaled at the Queens Invitational, shooting -6 during the three-day tournament. He finished with a two stroke lead over second place. The Lions finished 8th overall.
Men's Tennis: Mars Hill split their contests against Milligan and Limestone. Tuesday afternoon saw the Lions come away with a 6-3 victory over the Buffaloes of Milligan. Ben Reid, Fernando Neto, Kyrel Trim and Pedro Pinassi picked up singles victories, while the teams of Reid/Neto and Trim/Farman picked up the doubles wins. The Lions were then defeated Saturday afternoon against Limestone, 7-1, at home. The team of Mathew Bailey and Tom Farman picked up the lone victory for the Lions.
Women's Tennis: The Lions opened up their season with a 1-1 record facing off against Milligan and Limestone. In their season opener, Mars Hill was edged by a score of 5-4. Jasha Geerdink and Evan Lake won their respective singles matches, while the teams of Lake and Sophia Pelaez, Geerdink and Dani Potts won their doubles contests. The Lions picked up their first victory Saturday afternoon against the Saints. Mars Hill won seven of the nine contests, taking five of six singles' matchups. Wins by Lake, Pelaez, Potts, Hannah Hill and Andrea Garber highlighted the dominant performance.
Men's Cross Country: Brandon Beard ran a personal best and came away with the individual victory at the Columbus St. Cougar Invitational. Three Lions finished in the top-four and the team came away with the victory. It marked their first victory of the season.
Women's Cross Country: Nyla Feeney once again led all Mars Hill runners at the Columbus St. Cougar Invitational. She helped lead the Lions to a fifth place finish. She ran a personal best time of 19:59.19. Freshmen Emily Wilson and Hannah Jones ran personal bests with times of 24:58.69 and 26:19.86, respectively. Mars Hill averaged a time of 22:03.79 per runner in their fifth place finish which was a new season best.
Volleyball: The Lions dropped all three contests they played this week to Tusculum on the road, Queens and Wingate at home. Mars Hill extended its losing streak to seven straight and remain winless in conference action. Rebecca Butler and Maddie Spurgeon led the Lions offensively with 25 and 23 kills over that span, respectively.