By: Justin Caudell
Sports Editor
WCU TO HOLD BASEBALL TRYOUTS
Western Carolina University and head baseball coach Bobby Moranda have announced the date for annual open walk-on tryouts. Current WCU students who are interested in trying out for the Catamount baseball team can do so on Friday, Sept. 26.
The open walk-on tryout will begin promptly at 3:00 pm at Childress Field at Hennon Stadium on-campus. Students will need to bring their own gloves and equipment, and be ready at 3:00 pm.
For more information, contact the WCU Baseball Office at (828) 227-7338.
LADY CATAMOUNTS BEGIN FALL PORTION OF TENNIS SEASON
The Western Carolina University women’s tennis team opened the fall portion of their 2008-09 schedule by competing in the University of South Carolina Upstate Tournament on Friday, Sept. 12.
Freshmen Layne Arnold and Ainhoa Iglesias teamed up in doubles to win their first match as a team, defeating East Tennessee’s Whitney Trotter and Jessica Ratliff 8-6. Later in the day, the Catamount duo fell 8-1 to University of South Carolina Upstate’s Anna Novo and Emilia Milovanovic.
In singles play, Iglesias won her opening singles match in Draw B against Ratliff 6-4, 6-2. After falling 6-3, 6-3 to Charleston Southern’s Brooke Pletcher in the A Draw, Western Carolina junior Sarah Brinkley bounced back to defeat Wofford’s Sabrina Smyers 6-1, 6-1 in the first round of consolation.
WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM REACH 10 YEAR MILESTONE
Western Carolina’s women’s soccer program is celebrating its 10th season in 2008. The program will celebrate their milestone Oct. 3-5 around WCU’s Homecoming events in Cullowhee.
As a part of the celebration, the Catamount Athletic Department will announce a 10th Anniversary team, as well as the “Top 10 Moments from the First 10 Years” ahead of Homecoming 2008 festivities.
WCU is scheduled to honor its women’s soccer alum in two matches on Homecoming Weekend. The present Lady Catamounts will host Wofford on Friday, Oct. 3 at 6:00 pm in Cullowhee in a match that will be followed by Spirit Night activities. And then, on Sunday, Oct. 5, WCU will recognize its Anniversary Team at halftime of the match against Furman at 2:00 pm.
The women’s soccer team at Western was founded in 1998 under head coach Debbie Hensley. The Lady Catamounts first played in 1999 and quickly became a program with which to contend with in the Southern Conference. WCU earned it’s first-ever victory at Troy State, 2-0, on Sept. 4, 1999, and claimed its first-ever home victory over Limestone 12 days later on Sept. 16.
Hensley garnered 2001 SoCon Coach of the Year honors as her squad posted a then-school-record 16 victories and claimed WCU’s only regular season conference championship to date in just its third year of existence.
In 2005, in a tournament held at Furman’s Stone Soccer Stadium in Greenville, South Carolina, under the direction of first-year and current head coach Tammy DeCesare, WCU earned an overtime victory over the College of Charleston before blanking both Davidson and Furman to win the ’05 SoCon Tournament Championship. The team won a school-best 18 matches in ’05 and made the school’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, falling to second-seeded North Carolina, 2-0, in Chapel Hill.
