Lady Saints put in the miles

The road is becoming shorter for North Georgia women's soccer team as Sunday draws to a close. The Lady Saints have been on the road since Wednesday in Columbus, Florence, Birmingham and now closing the trip in Montevallo against the Lady Falcons. North Georgia has registered 823 miles in the bus over the last five days before heading back to class on Monday morning.

Coaching Records

Since you would have to go to every sport's page and find a link to each head coach to find their career record, we figured we would make it easier and post them here:

Amanda Harris (Cross Country): no record (do not compete in wins and losses (places)
Patrice Parris (Men's Soccer): 2-4-1 (.333 winning percentage)
Chris Adams (Women's Soccer): 35-37-7 (.486 winning percentage)
Buffie Burson (Women's Basketball): 307-122 (.716 winning percentage)
Chris Faulkner (Men's Basketball): 131-153 (.461 winning percentage)
Tom Cantrell (Baseball): 509-226 (.693 winning percentage)
Mike Davenport (Softball): 273-115 (.704 winning percentage)
Kent Norsworthy (Men's and Women's Tennis): 17-51 (.250 winning percentage)

Also, some milestones that are inching close to magic numbers to watch for the remainder of the season (all North Georgia numbers, records do not include numbers from other institutions):

Megan Huffman (Senior, Women's Basketball): 1,084 points
Syretha Marble (Junior, Women's Basketball): 758 points and 390 rebounds
Anthony Rowe (Junior, Men's Basketball): 551 points and 363 rebounds
Jessica English (Freshman, Women's Soccer): 4 shutouts, 0.40 goals against average
Lauren Cappy (Junior, Women's Soccer): 37 points scored (all-time record) and 17 goals (all-time record)
Lauren Schenk (Freshman, Women's Soccer): 3 goals as a freshman
Brandon Kirksey (Senior, Men's Soccer): 4 shutouts (all-time record at NGCSU under DII)

More records will appear as the seasons go on!

Amazing week of soccer

It is amazing to think that so far this season the North Georgia men's and women's soccer teams have played 12 matches to this point in just the second week in September. It is even more amazing that the two teams combining for six wins, with all six wins coming in shutout fashion. The Lady Saints are 4-1 with freshman goalkeeper Jessica English recording four shutouts, while the Saints are 2-4-1 and have recorded two shutouts in their last two matches. Of the six shutouts, five have been witnessed by the home folks, well the Gainesville folks, at Allen Creek Park. The Saints came within 20 seconds of making it seven wins and seven shutouts, but a goal in the final 20 seconds from Erskine got rid of any preconceived notion.

A week of firsts occurred for the North Georgia men's soccer program this past week. Head coach Patrice Parris recorded his first career victory as a head coach, senior Philip Chittaro scored his first career collegiate goal, freshman Clay Davis recorded his first career collegiate goal, sophomore Brandon Byers recorded his first career assist and Brandon Kirksey recorded his first shutout of the season.

Football Saturday

On a traditional Saturday in the fall, most college students will tailgate at their favorite school's stadium before game time. On Saturday, September 22, North Georgia will celebrate the return of their futbol to Dahlonega when the Lady Saints and Saints host Lander at the NGCSU Soccer Complex - their first game's of the season at their home field. In honor of the return, North Georgia invites all students and organizations to attend and tailgate prior to the 1:00 p.m. kickoff time.

On another note, the Saints and Lady Saints cross country teams competed in Huntsville against some of the best in the South. The Saints finished eighth and the Lady Saints finished 11th in the meet. For complete results and the story, click here.

Shutout Streak comes to an end

Although North Georgia had their shutout streak ended on the road against Alabama-Huntsville this afternoon, their own streak was impressive enough. Freshman goalkeeper Jessica English registered 405 consecutive minutes of shutout soccer, for those of you number enthusiasts that is 4.5 games or nine halves or 24,300 seconds or 6 hours and 45 minutes of scoreless soccer by the North Georgia defense. During the streak, English tied the freshman and school record for shutouts in a career, set a new record for consecutive shutouts to start the season at North Georgia, finished one shutout shy of tying the Peach Belt record for shutouts to start the season and she was named Peach Belt Defensive Player of the Week earlier this week.

During the streak, the Lady Saints went 4-0, their best start in school history, the NFL went through their exhibition season and started their regular season, Louisville played two football games to start the college football season and the Chicago Cubs took the lead in the National League Central after chasing the Milwaukee Brewers for most of the season.

The streak almost matched the impressive streak posted by Columbus State's Monica Sanchez at the beginning of last season. Sanchez posted 536 consecutive minutes of shutout soccer, losing the streak to Armstrong Atlantic State University. Ironically, the Lady Saints play Columbus State in their next match, opening the Peach Belt Conference portion of the season, on the road Wednesday night.

Athletics the Weekend of September 7-9

The world of North Georgia College & State University athletics in the fall is well underway, with both soccer teams and both cross country teams in action at this point. The men's soccer program is 1-4-1 on the young season under first-year head coach Patrice Parris. The Saints won their first game of the season over former 14th-ranked Queens University due in large part to the play of freshman midfielder Clay Davis and senior goalkeeper Brandon Kirksey. Davis made a few long runs up the right side for the Saints, including one in which he crossed the ball to senior Philip Chittaro. The senior, and former defender, out jumped his defender and headed the ball straight down into the goal for the game winning goal. Ironically, it was only Chittaro's second career shot and his first collegiate goal. Meanwhile, Kirksey made some tremendous saves in the goal, including one in the 58th minute in which a sure goal was turned away when the trimmer Kirksey left his feet and found the ball lodged under his shoulder to keep the score 1-0 in favor of the Saints. Although the ball almost made its way through, Kirksey showed his leadership skills that made him a once big-time transfer to the Saints program. North Georgia returns to action on Sunday against Florida Tech, and here is a few match notes for your reading enjoyment.
With the men getting their first win on the board, the attention turns to the women's soccer team who is in search of a few school records and Peach Belt Conference records to open the season. The Lady Saints (4-0-0) have recorded four consecutive shutouts on the season, and are currently looking for the fifth straight as they should be 15 minutes into their match against Alabama-Huntsville as this blog is being written. The record to start the season in the Peach Belt Conference is five in which North Florida and UNC Pembroke hold from the 2000 season, while the Lady Saints have set a new school record for shutouts to start a season. All ready through just four games, a few records have fallen by the side. Freshman goalkeeper Jessica English has tied the school record and freshman record for shutouts in a career in just four games, junior Lauren Cappy recorded just the third hat trick for the Lady Saints since they joined the ranks of the NCAA and she set a new school record for points in a match with seven against Converse College. North Georgia is on the road until they return home to face Lander at the NGCSU Soccer Complex on September 22. With a victory today, head coach Chris Adams career mark at North Georgia will even up at 36-36-7 heading into their first conference match of the season against Columbus State. Here are a few match notes for your reading enjoyment on the women's side.
And finally for the third (and fourth) team competing this weekend for North Georgia, which is ironic, is the cross country team in - you guessed it - Huntsville on the campus of UAH. The teams should be arriving in Huntsville now to watch the Lady Saints soccer program compete for their fifth consecutive win. The Saints finished 10th last week in the Sewanee Invitational in Tennessee, led by Alan Schmitz's Top 40 finish. The Lady Saints finished 13th due in part to Emmy Lawalin's Top 40 finish. Both of the finishes do not look fantastic on paper, but when you consider that Mississippi State won both events, and North Georgia was the second-highest NCAA Division II school in the field, the results look tremendously better. Look for the teams to compete against some of the nation's best this weekend in Division II, since this is the same place that will host the NCAA Division II Regionals later in the season. On a side note, this was supposed to be the weekend that the Saints hosted their meet but due to unforeseen circumstances they cancelled that meet and moved to Huntsville. Amanda Harris has posted information about the first-ever Halloween Hustle, a fundraiser to benefit both the men's and women's cross country teams.
Look for more information later on tonight as it becomes available about the women's game, including some side notes on all of the events taking place this weekend in Dahlonega and abroad.