Men's soccer shuts down Wake Forest

Evan James, Jennings Rex, and Owen Darby all scored for Charlotte as the men's soccer team knocked off ACC powerhouse Wake Forest on the road Tuesday night 3-1. The Demon Deacons came in as the 3rd ranked team in the country.

James started the scoring in the tenth minute when he took a long Andres Cuero pass and was left one-on-one with goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald. James quickly chipped the ball past Fitzgerald for his 5th goal of the season to give Charlotte a 1-0 lead.

Jennings Rex made it 2-0 Charlotte in the 59th minute with his third goal of the season. Evan James gave an emaculate cross from the right side to place the ball perfectly in front of the goal and with a simple flick of his head, Rex made the score 2-0.

Wake Forest forward Andy Lubahn didn't wait long to cut the 49ers lead in half. Just 19 seconds after Rex's third goal of the season, Lubahn made the score 2-1 when he knocked in a rebound in front for his second goal of the season.

Owen Darby sealed the deal just ten minutes later when he took advantage of a Wake Forest turnover and nailed one into the back of the net for his first of the season. Josh Norwood had the assist.

Wake Forest held a 14-9 shot advantage but the 49ers had the advantage where it counts the most. Charlotte will be in action again on Saturday night when they travel to Greenville, SC to take on the Paladins of Furman.

Charlotte tied for ninth after first round of VCU Shootout

The Charlotte 49ers men's golf team is currently tied for ninth after one round of play at the VCU Shootout being held in Sabot, VA.

Charlotte is led by senior Corey Nagy, who fired a first round of three-under par, 69 to tie for 2nd individually. Sophomore Paul Ferrier wasn't far behind, carding a one-under par round of 71 to tie for 11th. Freshman standout Andy Sajevic and sophomore Olafur Loftsson both struggled to rounds of +8, 80, and junior Will Golden had two early-round double bogeys that led to a dissapointing round of +6, 78.

UNCW currently leads the event at -7, 281 and has a six-shot lead over second place Virginia. Charlotte is 17 shots behind UNCW and currrently stands behind the likes of Virginia, -1, 287, VA Tech, +3, 291, Maryland, +8, 296, and East Carolina at +9, 297. The 49ers will look to rebound on day two after a dissapointing first day.

Check back tommorow for final results

49ers knock off Duquesne 5-3 in conference opener

Senior midfielder Hailey Beam scored her 4th and 5th goals of the season and also tallied an assist as the Charlotte 49ers women’s soccer team knocked off Duquesne 5-3. The win improved Charlotte to 7-2 on the year, 1-0 in A-10 play and also extended the team’s 17-game winning streak in conference play. The loss dropped Duquesne to 3-5 on the year, 0-1 in A-10 play.

“It’s always nice to get the first conference win,” said head coach John Cullen. “As I said to the girls, it’s nice to score five goals, but there was still a question mark about conceding three which he have to improve upon.”

Beam opened the scoring in the 28th minute when she was awarded a penalty kick after Carrie Dail was tackled from behind. The goal was Beam’s fourth of the season.

Duquesne squandered a great chance to tie the game just seven minutes later when they were awarded a penalty kick of their own. However, senior goalkeeper Lauren Brown guessed right and came up with a gargantuan diving save, stopping Morgan Herbert’s shot to the bottom-left corner.

Freshman midfielder/forward Carrie Dail made the score 2-0 when she received a great through-ball from Jonna Handra down the right side and chipped the ball over Duquesne goalkeeper Gabby Morin, her third of the season.

A steady rain fell on Transamerica field from start to finish, but that didn’t hamper a confident 49ers team that accumulated nine shots during the first half. The first half was relatively mild in comparison to the second half, which saw six goals total, three from each side.

Charlotte amassed 18 total shots for the game and held the visiting Dukes to only 12. Junior forward Whitney Weinraub led the 49ers in that category with four and also added her 6th goal of the season when she dribbled through three Duquesne defenders and blasted the ball past goalkeeper Gabby Morin.

“Whitney was very good tonight, her movement was good,” added coach John Cullen. “She certainly came on and gave us a goal when we needed it and I thought she was a real threat tonight. If she can maintain that performance, she’s going to have a very good season in the conference.”

Duquesne wasn’t deterred as they made the score 2-1 in the 57th minute when Shaina Geisler got a shot past Lauren Brown from outside the box on the right side for her first of the year. Weinraub made it 3-1 just four minutes later, but Duquesne quickly answered in the 65th minute when Samantha Kaiser’s shot from 30 yards out slipped past Brown.

There was a 12-minute stretch in the second half that saw four goals. Hailey Beam scored the fourth goal of that stretch for the eventual game-winner when she headed in a Sam Huecker corner kick from the right side. Jenna McKeon put the game out of reach with her third goal of the season in the 75th minute, making the score 5-2. Duquesne forward Kristin Vinicky added a garbage-time goal in the 87th minute to close the scoring.

The win was a great start for the 49ers in conference play but there is still work to be done on the defensive side of the ball.

“I think we’ve got to do a better job of closing,” head coach John Cullen said. “On the first goal, the girl was able to turn and shoot, and on the second one, she was able to get her head up and shoot, so we’ve got to do a better job of shutting people down.”

Charlotte heads to Fordham tomorrow to take on the Rams.

49ers to host NCAA Tournament in 2011

The Charlotte 49ers will host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in 2011. The tournament will take place at Time Warner Cable Arena and the dates for the first and second rounds are currently set for March 18 and 20, 2011.

The 49ers hosted the 2008 Division I East Regional and also hosted the 1994 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Final Four.

With 80 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament games hosted, Charlotte ranks third in tournament history, trailing only Kansas City (116), and Salt Lake City (83).

Since 1958, Charlotte has served as the host city 20 times. Additionally, Charlotte hosted the 1996 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Final Four and is one of just 12 cities that have hosted both the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Final Four and the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Final Four.

Tickets for the 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament will be released at a later date.

Maybe 20 returning starters isn't always a good thing

Normally, 20 of 22 returning starters to an NFL team that went 12-4 the previous year is a good thing. Well, with the 2009 version of the Carolina Panthers, that’s not the case. The 2008 NFC South Champions couldn’t be in more disarray after a dismal 0-2 start that includes eight turnovers and 66 points against. This doesn’t bode well for a postseason run.

Perhaps it says something about the state of the Panthers that after the 28-20 loss to the Falcons at the Georgia Dome on Sunday, the team said they gained confidence. Sure, the eight point road loss to the Falcons didn’t come close in comparison to the 28-point dusting at the hands of the Eagles in the opener, but should an NFL team really gain confidence after dropping to 0-2?

Personally, I don’t see how the offense couldn’t gain confidence after the week-one abomination. Against Atlanta, QB Jake Delhomme only turned the ball over once and threw for 308 yards, Steve Smith had a big game with 131 yards receiving, and the running back tandem of Williams and Stewart were back to their old ways, rushing for 144 yards.

The defense is a completely different story, they definitely lost some mental fortitude . Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, and Tony Gonzalez made the Panther’s once prominent defense look old and decrepit. Ryan had all day in the pocket and picked the secondary apart with underneath routes and high-percentage passes, completing 78 percent of his passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns. Michael Turner had his way with the depleted Carolina interior and ran for 151 yards, and Tony Gonzalez had seven catches for 71 yards and a touchdown.

New defensive coordinator Ron Meeks’ Cover 2 scheme is based on having great edge pass rushers and forcing the QB to make inaccurate throws. The Panthers had far from an effective pass rush on Sunday, Matt Ryan was able to make the Panthers secondary look like a high school one. To get a grasp of how bad the Panthers’ defense was and the lack of a pass rush, the Falcons first punt didn’t come until 5:46 remained in the fourth quarter and the Panthers have only two QB sacks through two games. For some reason, Meeks didn’t feel the need to throw any blitz packages the Falcons’ way, even after watching Ryan throw three first-half touchdown passes; maybe Meeks has never heard the concept of making in-game adjustments.

The defense wasn’t the only problem, the special teams gave up a blocked punt and repeatedly gave the Falcons premium field position, and the normally sure-handed DeAngelo Williams lost a third quarter fumble, ending his NFL-best streak of 502 consecutive touches without a fumble.

Dating back to last season and including the preseason, the Panthers have lost eight of their last nine games, but I still think this team has a chance to be something special. To go along with the other prognosticators though, I have to throw in the statistic that since 1990, of the 160 teams to start 0-2, only 22 have recovered to make the playoffs and just 10 have come back to win a division title. Does this mean anything? I don’t think so.

The Monday night showdown with Dallas is looming, and with the entire nation watching, the Panthers’ season will be at stake. If they fall to 0-3, the Panthers face a tough home game against Washington after the bye week and a potential 0-4 record. Maybe 20 returning starters isn’t always a good thing.

Which version of the 2009 Panthers will show up in Dallas?

After watching the Panthers firs two games, I'm wondering which team will show up when they travel to "Jerry World" next Monday night. After the opening week performance by Jake Delhomme, many Panther fans thought, "Ok, as long as Jake doesn't have a terrible game, we should be fine".

In the opener against Philadelphia, Delhomme turned it over 5 times, leading to 24 Eagles points, and the defense played reasonably well, allowing only 14 points. Yesterday, a different story all-together. The offense seemed to click as Delhomme threw for 308 yards and a touchdown, the running back tandem of Stewart and Williams combined for 144 yards and a 5.8 average, and the team amassed 440 yards of total offense.

The defense was abominable. The interior line was gashed for 151 yards on the ground, and Falcons QB Matt Ryan picked the secondary apart with underneath routes and high-percentage passes. Ryan had ample time in the pocket and completed 78 percent of his passes, going 21-27 for 220 yards, three touchdowns and a 122.2 QB rating. The defensive front wasn't able to get any pressure on Ryan and didn't force a punt until 5:46 remained in the fourth quarter after seemingly the first blitz of the game.

Dallas ran for more than 200 yards on the Giants last night and if the Panthers don't want to go to 0-3, they're going to have to make some vast defensive improvements. Like I've said all along, Jake Delhomme's bad games are an anomaly and shouldn't happen very often, so I think they're fine on that front. Tony Romo proved last night that under pressure, he makes mistakes. If the Panthers can improve the run defense and get some pressure on Romo, I think the Panthers pick up their first win of the young season.

Different year, same old story for USC

It's a different year, but the song remains the same for Pete Carroll and the Men of Troy. USC lost another winnable road game against an inferior Pac-10 opponent for the third straight year. In 2007, it was Stanford at the Coliseum, last year, Oregon State upset the Trojans on a Thursday night in Corvallis, and this year? A Washington team that was one game removed from the nation's longest losing streak held the Trojans to only 13 points.

Sure, you might say that USC's poor offensive play can be attributed to the play of back-up QB Aaron Corp and the injury to Joe McKnight, but a national title contender SHOULD NOT lose this game. Troy's defense did it's job up until the final Washington drive and game-winning field goal, and the special teams weren't bad, but the offense was absolutely abominable.

3 turnovers inside the opponent's 35, 0-10 on third down efficiency, 0-1 on fourth down, 13-22 passing for 110 yards and 25:49 time of possession? Without knowing the outcome of this game, one would probably think that was the stat sheet for Washington, but no, it's that of mighty USC. The offense was held to it's fewest point total since a 13-9 loss to UCLA in 2006, this against a Washington defense that allowed 412 yards to Idaho last week.

Jake Locker played great, and Steve Sarkisian did a great job of calling plays, but USC has superior athletes and play-callers than Washington. It's becoming a trend for the Trojans to gag in a game against an inferior team under Pete Carroll, this just shouldn't happen. This isn't on the level of Oklahoma losing Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford against a good BYU team, this is all-powerful USC with countless all-Americans dropping a cupcake conference road game to Washington.

Every year this happens. Every year, the Trojans lose to a mediocre team with far less talent at the skill positions early in the conference schedule. And every year, the Men of Troy win the PAC-10 title, massacre a menial team from the Big-10 in the Rose Bowl, and kick and scream about why they aren't in consideration for the BCS Championship game. Well, it looks like the Trojans are well on their way to another Pac-10 and Rose Bowl title.

Time for VA Tech to "Man Up"

This Saturday's game between VA Tech and Nebraska in Blacksburg is a statement game that the Hokies need to win. After losing the season-opening game against Alabama, questions have arisen as to whether the Hokies can beat a team not in the ACC or from a weak conference.

A win against 19th-ranked Nebraska could prove the prognosticators wrong and show that the ACC isn't a weak conference and can play with the "Big Boys". Granted, the Big XII isn't the SEC, but it's a start.

Tyrod Taylor and the Hokies went into Lincoln last year and beat up a run down Nebraska team 35-20, but this is a different Huskers team. With the Big XII portion of the schedule not opening up until October 8th, the Huskers are focused on the task at hand. Nebraska has a retooled defense and the offense is looking to make a big splash behind QB Zac Lee.

The Hokies had trouble against Alabama's stout run-defense in week one, and the draw isn't much better this week. Nebraska's run defense is pretty solid and I look for DT Ndamukong Suh to have a big game. VA Tech relies heavily on the running game, and with Nebraska's run-defense, I don't see them getting much going.

After allowing 498 yards in the season-opener to Alabama, I don't see the Hokies being able to slow down the Nebraska offense enough. Nebraska wins a close one 27-21.

49ers 4th at Gopher Invitational

The Charlotte 49ers men’s golf team finished fourth in the season-opening Gopher Invitational behind strong play from Senior Corey Nagy and freshman Andy Sajevic. Sajevic fired a one-under par 71 in the third and final round to finish tied for fourth individually at one-under, 215 in his first collegiate tournament.

Senior all-American choice Corey Nagy wasn’t far behind Sajevic and finished tied for 12th at +2, 218 after a disappointing final round 76. The 49ers finished fourth place in the field of twelve after a cumulative final round of eight-over par, 296.

SMU won the team event at 9-under par, 855, 10 shots clear of second place Arkansas, and 20 shots in front of Charlotte. Nagy fired the best round of the tournament for a 49er in the second round when he shot a 6-under par 66, 10 shots better than his first and third round 76’s.

Kelly Kraft of SMU took individual medalist honors after posting a three-round total of 15-under par, 201; highlighted by a blistering final round 64. Sajevic joined only six other players in the field to finish the tournament under par. 49ers sophomore Olafur Loftsson finished tied for 21st with a three-round total of +6, 222, sophomore Tyler Mitchell tied for 30th at +8, 224, and Sophomore Paul Ferrier rounded out the Niner’s lineup with a tie for 35th and tournament total of +9, 225.

The 49ers won’t be in action again until the VCU Shootout on Monday, Sept. 28th. The Shootout is highlighted by a prominent field that includes VCU, East Carolina, and Wake Forest, among others.

College Football Snoozefest

I know I'm probably not the first person to say this, but I'm going to be BLOUNT. Yes, in case you were wondering, pun intended. College football was terrible this past weekend. I know everyone else was getting pumped about college football last Thursday night, and why wouldn't we be? The lasting image most of us had of live college football was Tim Tebow doing the "Gator Chomp" at the Orange Bowl in January.

First things first ESPN, please don't schedule lowly South Carolina or NC State for the opening kickoff game EVER again. Many prognosticators predicted the game to be a low scoring defensive struggle; but 7-3? That game was so boring I had to drive ten minutes to Cookout for a milkshake just to keep from falling asleep. This game was literally a snooze-fest. The teams combined for a whopping 389 yards of offense and ten points, ok I'm going to say it, the offense was offensive.

Last year's first-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference quarterback Russell Wilson had a stellar game for NC State, going 12/23 for a staggering 74 yards passing, he also led the team to 133 yards of total offense. Can you say ACC powerhouse this year??? I don't think I can ever watch another NC State football game. South Carolina was just as bad, missing a 27-yard field goal and scoring their only points when Wolfpack running back Tony Baker fumbled on the first snap from scrimmage, setting the Gamecocks up for six. If that's the best product Tom O'Brien can put on the field, then Wolfpack fans better not get their hopes up any time soon.

The ACC was pretty pathetic over the weekend, going 0-2 against the SEC, Wake Forest lost to Baylor at home, and Duke and Virginia were both beaten at home by division II powerhouses Richmond and William and Mary, respectively.

Oregon-Boise State was touted to be one of the most high-scoring games of the year, the result? A mistake-prone game that saw the two teams produce a total of just 27 points in a 19-8 Boise State win. The most exciting part of that game was after the whistle had blown when Oregon tailback LaGarrette Blount cold-cocked a jubilant but stupid Boise State defensive end.

The most interesting game Saturday came when always under-achieving Ohio State tried to let Navy steal one at home, 31-27. I was pretty mad when I get stuck with the regional 3:30 game on ABC (Wake-Baylor), but wasn't that upset when I saw the boxscore on the Georgia-OK State game where the mighty, 13th ranked Bulldogs were held to just 10 points, had just 257 yards of offense, and were just 4-12 on third down.

Did the Miami-Florida State classic on Monday make up for this dreadful weekend of football? It was great, but didn't even come close to covering up the dissapointment for me. This is a plea from me for once to Ohio State. Please live up to your hype and give us something better than you did last year in that 35-3 drubbing at the hands of Troy.

Upset Alert

Nevada at Notre Dame

This could be a letdown game for 23rd ranked Notre Dame. The Irish have high expectations coming into 2009 and with the schedule they have, should be able to rack up nine or 10 wins. Nevada was ranked dead last in pass defense in 2008; 119 of 119. So if the Irish can accumulate yards through the air, they should be able to control this game.

Nevada might have a chance if the pass rush can stay in Jimmy Clausen's face; the Wolfpack won't bring a lot of blitzes but will come with pressure when needed. Notre Dame needs to maintain a balanced attack and control the ball in this one. They might be tempted to try and keep up with the high-octane rush offense of Nevada; QB Colin Kaepernick rushed for 1,130 yards and Wolfpack tailback Vai Taua rushed for 1,521 yards and 15 touchdowns.

If the Irish can't control Nevada's ground game, it will be tough to keep up and they might be looking at a trip to Ann Arbor with an 0-1 record.

Picks for tonight's games

Oregon over Boise State.

Boise State has won 49 games in a row at home on the blue turf. Why then, am I picking Oregon in this one? Oregon is 18-1 all-time against WAC opponents with their only loss coming last year to Boise State when QB Jeremiah Masoli was knocked out in the first quarter. Since 1996, the Ducks are 12-4-1 as an Underdog in the month of September. Boise State got gashed on the ground in the Poinsettia Bowl against TCU last year. This year, the Broncos are replacing all but one starter on the defensive front seven so I look for Oregon to run all over the Broncos in this one. Oregon 35-20

NC State over South Carolina

South Carolina has won nine consecutive season openers and 12 of the last 13. The only setback coming to NC State in 1999. In their last 25 road openers however, the Gamecocks are a woeful 7-18. I look for NC State to play solid defense and control the ball on offense. Neither of these teams are explosive offensively so I look for it to be a low-scoring close ballgame. NC State 17-9.