Bethune-Cookman's Daniel Brennan receives his trophy after winning medal honors at the Homewood Hilton Airport Invitational.
John Manley / College Roundup
Louisville advanced to the finals match of the Atlantic Coast Conference field hockey tournament on the strength of an 18-save performance by goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran. The junior out of Larne, Co. Antrim faced 20 shots on goal from Duke, allowing just two to get by her. The Duke keeper, who faced only five shots on goal, saw three dribble past in a 3-2 overtime victory for Louisville. The Cardinals got past the first round with a 3-2 win on Thursday, in which McFerran had four saves. The final round didn’t go Louisville’s way, however, as they dropped a 1-0 decision to North Carolina. McFerran, who was named to the All-Tournament team, had five saves in this match. Louisville (14-7) faces Northwestern on Saturday in first-round action of the NCAA Championship tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich. On Sunday, the winner gets the survivor of Saturday’s Michigan-Syracuse match.
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Edel Nyland, a senior from County Tipperary, scored the first goal (her 11th tally of the season) in the sixth minute, but that would be the last time Longwood would lead in a 4-2 loss to Kent State in the first round of the Mid-American Conference tournament. She'd stripped the ball from a rival, with her shot deflecting off the keeper for the goal. The Lancers finish the season 11-6.
Sarah Hawkshaw got an assist on the first goal of the match for Massachusetts in Sunday’s Atlantic 10 championship tilt against St. Joe’s of Philadelphia. But the Hawks went back to the city of brotherly love, having won the match and the title in overtime, 3-2. UMass finished the season 13-8.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Carson-Newman won the South Atlantic Conference Championship with victories over Newberry, 2-0, Tusculum, 2-1, in overtime and, finally, Wingate, 4-0, for the title. Lauren Wade, a senior from Coleraine, Co. Derry, had a hat trick in the Wingate match, which also saw keeper Jacqueline Burns, a sophomore from Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, turn away two shots. Wade, the tournament Most Valuable Player, scored a goal and Burns had one save in the Newberry victory, while Wade factored in both goals against Tusculum, notching the first in the 12th minute and then setting up the match winner in the third minute of overtime. Burns had two saves in the overtime tilt. The Eagles (17-0-1) now move on to the NCAA Division 2 tournament.
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East Tennessee State freshman Sarah Connolly from Ballygowan, Co. Down earned selection to the Southern Conference All-Freshman team. She notched two goals in her first time around this side of the Atlantic, highlighted by a successful penalty kick that resulted in a 1-0 overtime victory for the Bucs over Mercer on Oct. 8. ETSU finished 6-13-0.
East Tennessee State's Sarah Connolly was named
to the Southern Conference All-Freshman team.
Cliona Crammond got credit for an assist in Goldey-Beacom’s 2-1 win over Jefferson in the quarterfinal round of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference tournament. The junior from County Wicklow then had the only goal in a 3-1 loss to Georgian Court on Friday. The shot, her eighth goal of the season, was from 15 yards out over the keeper's head. Goldey is 12-5-2.
MEN’S SOCCER
Jon Gallagher headed in vital goals for Notre Dame as they got past Pittsburgh, 5-0, and North Carolina, 2-1, in the first two rounds of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. Both goals proved to be match winners for the Dundalk senior, who now has 12 goals on the season. The Fighting Irish (11-5-2) hit the road for a semifinal showdown with Virginia on Wednesday.
Kynan Rocks, a junior from Carrignavar, Co. Cork, scored his first goal of the season in Columbia’s 3-0 victory over Sacred Heart at home on Wednesday. Rocks then assisted on the final goal in Sunday’s 6-0 shellacking of Harvard. The wins pushed the Lions mark to 10-2-3.
Columbia's Kynan Rocks scored his first goal of the season against Sacred Heart.
PHOTO BY MIKE MCLAUGHLIN/COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Ahu Obhakhan scored off a rebound for Fairleigh Dickinson's second goal of the match in Friday's 3-0 road triumph over Sacred Heart. That's seven goals this season for the Drogheda junior. The Knights ticked up to 10-4-3.
Brendan Bennett's goal in the 74th minute closed the gap in Christian Brothers' Gulf South Conference quarterfinal match on the road with Montevallo. But 2-1 was as close as the Bucs would get. They and their senior from Belfast dropped the curtain on a 7-9-2 campaign that saw Bennett score a team-leading nine goals, including three match winners.
Daire O'Riordan assisted on an insurance goal as Davenport finished off Purdue Northwest, 3-1, in quarterfinals play of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament at home on Tuesday. The result reversed a 1-0 overtime loss inflicted on Davenport by the same rival just four days earlier on the same pitch. O'Riordan is a freshman from Cork. The Panthers then advanced to the title match with a 3-1 semifinal victory over Northwood. Stephen Carroll, a junior from Cork, accounted for the winning goal in the 73rd minute, when he beat the keeper with a shot to the back post from the right side. That was his fourth goal of the season. Davenport then won the title match on Sunday against Saginaw Valley State, 1-0, to finish the regular season 12-6-1.
Truett-McConnell goalkeeper Evan Gaffney shown turning away a shot.
PHOTO BY TMU ATHLETICS
North Georgia got past Young Harris College, 3-0, in first round play of the Peach Belt Conference tournament. Adam Farrell, a junior from Dublin, scored the second goal for the Nighthawks (10-8-0), who were then bounced by Lander in a match won on penalty kicks after the teams played to a 1-1 tie.
Three saves by Evan Gaffney is a 3-2 Truett-McConnell win over Bluefield in the first round of the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament in Cleveland, Ga.
"Evan Gaffney made some very big plays and helped us keep our lead," said Bears head coach Rob Miller. Gaffney is a sophomore from Dublin. The Bears are 14-3-2.
Conor McCoy assisted on Quinnipiac's third goal in a 4-1 won over St. Peter's at home on Wednesday to end the regular season. The Bobcats (8-9-1) then won a first-round match over Manhattan, 1-0, in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament. Next up is Fairfield on Thursday.
Brian McNamara, a senior from County Kildare, scored a goal as Cumberland University defeated Georgetown (Ky.), 3-0, in first-round play of the Mid-South Conference tournament. The Phoenix (13-2-2), coached by Dublin native Adam Grant, next take on Campbellsville on Thursday in semifinal-round action.
William Carey had an easy time in first-round action in the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament, roughing up Brewton-Parker, 7-0. Ross McKeown, a sophomore from Belfast, put the exclamation point on the win with the final goal of the match, while fellow soph Paul Bracken from Dublin set up the third goal for the Crusaders (16-0-0). Play resumes this week.
Cian Lynch booted home a penalty kick in the final minute to ice the cake for Savannah College of Art & Design in a 4-2 win over Southeastern in the first-round play of the Sun Conference tournament in Lakeland, Fla. on Saturday. The goal was the 15th of the season for the Dublin freshman. SCAD continues on with an 8-8-0 record.
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
West Alabama’s Oisin O’Gailin, a freshman from Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, got 10th place in the NCAA Division 2 South Regional in Lakeland, Fla. His time for 10,000 meters was 33:30.7. St. Leo’s Tadgh McGinty, a freshman from Swinford, Co. Mayo, was along in 34:59.6, good for 49th place. St. Leo’s Ronald Cheserek was first to finish, timed in 32:32.7. St. Leo got third place in the team standings, with West Alabama eighth. Lee University took the title.
American International’s Mitchell Byrne took 19th place in the NCAA Division 2 East Regional in Amherst, N.Y. The Dublin senior uncorked a 34:22.6 clocking for 10,000 meters in a race won by teammate Leakey Kipkosgei in 32:38.8. AIC finished second to Stonehill among teams.
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
The Flanagan sisters, Eilish and Roisin, of Adams State got second and third places, respectively, in the NCAA Division 2 South Central Regional in Canyon, Tex. They contributed to a Grizzlies juggernaut that saw them take five of the top 11 spots and easily lay claim to the team crown. Eilish ran the 6,000-meter course in 21:15.1, while Roisin was along in 21:21.6. They are sophomores from Gortin, Co. Tyrone. Teammate Malena Grover, a senior, got home ahead of them in 21:03.6.
St. Leo won the NCAA Division 2 South Regional in Lakeland, Fla. on the strength of four top-15 finishes. Laura Tobin, a junior from Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, was the third runner from the squad to finish, getting ninth place with a time of 22:36.0 for 6,000 meters. Teammate Colett Rampf won the race in 20:49.2.
Wingate’s Amy Jackson finished 65th of 159 runners in the NCAA Division 2 Southeast Regional in Wingate, N.C. The Derry junior finished 6,000 meters in 25:01.0. Mount Olive’s Leah Hanle won the race in 21:15.5.
MEN’S GOLF
Rowan Lester led Texas Wesleyan to another victory, this time at the Southern Plains Intercollegiate, played over Gaillardia Country Club in Oklahoma City. Lester, a sophomore from Dublin and the reigning NAIA individual champion, combined rounds of 73, 70 and 70 to lead the field at three strokes under par. That is his second medal-winning performance in as many weeks.
Bethune-Cookman's Daniel Brennan also came up a medal winner, in this case at Old Corkscrew in Estero, Fla., site of the Homewood Hilton Airport Invitational. Perhaps the airport connotation tugged at Brennan's heartstrings, as he hails from Shannon. Regardless, the senior shot rounds of 75 and 76 (seven strokes over par) for a three-stroke margin of victory. The Wildcats tied for fifth place in the team scramble, in which Central Florida topped out.
Keith Murphy of South Carolina-Beaufort got fourth place in the Coastal Georgia Invitational at Sea Island in St. Simons, Ga. The Dublin senior shared the first-round lead with two others who matched his 69. He was just a stroke off the pace after he shot 70 in the second round, but lost touch with the medalist, Coastal Georgia's Lauri Hacklin, when he shot a closing 77. Hacklin had six strokes on Murphy.
Wake Forest's Paul McBride tied for 32nd place among 112 rivals in the Makai Invitational in Princeville, Hawaii. The Walker Cupper, a senior from Malahide, Dublin, posted rounds of 75, 65 and 72. That placed him four strokes under par for the event and 17 in back of medalist Simon Zach of Louisville.
Paul Murphy, a Western Texas sophomore from County Wexford, got joint-13th place in the Odessa College Invitational in Odessa, Tex. He shot rounds of 76, 78 and 72 to finish 10 strokes over par and 11 behind medalist Michael Salazar of Midland Community College.
WOMEN’S GOLF
Kansas State's Niamh McSherry finished joint-13th in the Trinity Forest Invitational in Dallas. The freshman out of Lurgan, Co. Armagh shot three consecutive rounds of 75 to finish nine strokes over par and 10 behind teammate Reid Isaac in the medal chase. Kansas State won the team title by two strokes over Houston.
