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THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA MONROE

September 19, 2016

SPORTS

by John Stevens

Shekhinah Wells

Bahamas

photo courtesy ULM Athletics

Trading in the island life isn’t always easy, but sophomore midfielder Shekhinah Wells has made the most of it since her junior year of high school when she moved stateside.

Wells was born in Nassau, Bahamas and grew up around a soccer ball. When she was a sophomore in high school, she left to go play for the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, which is just south of Tampa Bay. Although coming to Florida from the Bahamas may not seem like that far, the culture shock was different for Wells.

Among the largest differences were food and the tempo of the culture as a whole. Back home, everything is calmer for Wells and not as fast paced as it is in America.

Leaving her family behind in the Bahamas

hasn’t been easy either, but it has been nice knowing they have supported her along the way.

“They’re really proud of me; they want me to continue to work hard and see where it takes me,” Wells said.

Unlike most Bahamian soccer players, Wells is playing division one collegiate soccer. Most players from her hometown never get the exposure to play anywhere.

While they may have the talent, they never get the chance to go anywhere for their sport.

Wells definitely feels blessed to be able to play at ULM. “We have some people from Canada and England; I think we can all relate. Every country is different than here, so I think we all see eye to eye.” said Wells.

With Wells being a sophomore, she has

seen the team make major changes between last season and this season. Under a new head coach and new faces, she believes the team is on the right path.

“It’s a work in progress, but we keep putting in the time, so we’re taking a step in the right direction,” said Wells.

While Wells is known around campus for playing soccer at ULM, back in the Bahamas, most would know her for playing on the Bahamas’ U17 Women’s National Team.

Wells is majoring in psychology with a minor in criminal justice and is on track to graduate in May of 2019. Logging 152 minutes as a freshman, Wells will be a household name for ULM soccer before long. contact John Stevens at stevenjr@warhawks.ulm.edu

Volleyball bounces back from 1st home loss

by Cory Thaxton

The ULM volleyball team started off the first match of the season against the Southern Mississippi Lady Eagles on Tuesday with a three set loss. Head coach Patrick Hiltz stuck to the positives of the match.

“The energy that our team exudes on a constant basis helps maintain our level of play and therefore helps create our own momentum throughout the match,” Hiltz said.

At the start of the first set, the Lady Eagles immediately scored three points, but the Warhawks answered back with three points of their own to

tie the game.

Minutes later with the score tied at seven, the Warhawks began to show promise with their lead over the Lady Eagles.

The Warhawks began to fall back which led the Lady Eagles to win the first set (25-17).

Both teams began to score backto-back, but the Warhawks couldn’t seem to catch up.

“When we accept less than our best from ourselves and from our teammates, we set ourselves up to perform at a lower level than we are capable. We have to expect greatness

in order to achieve it,” Hiltz said.

Unfortunately, the Warhawks went on to lose the second set (25-18).

The Warhawks started the third set off strong leading Southern Miss. until the Lady Eagles came back to tie the game at eight.

The Warhawks’ held their heads high going into the third set, making Southern Miss. work for the win.

It was neck and neck, but the Lady Eagles took the third and final set, (25-13), winning the match.

“People that want nothing more than to make others around them happy. We worry so much sometimes

about letting others down that we forget that volleyball is just a game. It’s not life and death. It’s not the end of the world,” said Hiltz after the match.

After the Warhawks home opener loss against Southern Miss., they made their way to Jacksonville State where they competed in the Gamecock Invitational.

In their first match against Nicholls State, they won in four sets after being tied a set a piece going into the break between the second and third set.

The first set was back and forth as the Colonels and Warhawks ex-

changed kills and found themselves tied at nine. It wasn’t until kills by Tara Jenkins and Hope Pawlik that ULM was able to push late and take the set (25-18).

After taking an early lead in the second set, ULM let Nicholls State back into the set when they tied the set at 10. The Colonels then took off like the Warhawks did in the first set and took the set (25-23).

The final two sets would be just as close as the first two, but ULM was

Continued online at ulmhawkeyeonline.com

September 19, 2016

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA MONROE

PAGE 15

SPORTS

Soccer scores strong success against Eagles

by Ethan Prudhomme

Golf tees off on season photo courtesy ULM Athletics

HOLE IN ONE: Members of the men’s gold team pose with their Sam Hall Intercollegiate Tournament trophy after finishing first.

by John Stevens

The men’s and women’s golf teams started their season off in respectable fashion last week, as the women finished eighth in the Payne Stewart Memorial tournament and the men finished first in the Sam Hall Intercollegiate Tournament.

Although eighth place may not sound all that great, it was the middle of the pack for the Lady Warhawks at Twin Oaks Country Club in Springfield Mo. ULM also had two women finish in the individual competitor top-15, with Shani White coming in ninth and Ashton Maddaloni coming in 13th place.

White led the way for the Lady Warhawks when she shot for a 73 in the first round of the tournament.

While as a team they came in eighth place, ULM did finish ahead of Sun Belt foe Little Rock who came in 10th place.

On the men’s side, the Warhawks won the 54-hole tournament in Hattiesburg, Mississippi by four strokes and were lead by Andoni Etchenique and Hogan Arey.

Etchenique set the pace for his teammates as he went four under par for the entire event. In his second round, he had seven birdies and one bogie to put him at six under par for the day.

Meanwhile Arey also had a strong second day, as he shot a 63 and went four under par. His five birdies and one bogie contributed to his success on the course that day.

ULM was able to beat out second place Southern Miss by four strokes and third place Miss State by eight strokes.

Among other schools, ULM topped in the tournament would be sixth place UL-Lafayette and twelth place Little Rock.

The women will now get ready for the Chris Banister Golf Classic in Glencoe, Alabama which begins on September 25.

However, the ULM Men’s golf team looks to continue their success this week as they head to Choudrant, Louisiana to compete in the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate. contact John Stevens at stevenjr@warhawks.ulm.edu

By Appointment

Georgia Southern arrived in Monroe this past Thursday to play ULM in the soccer team’s first conference game of the season. The Eagles early lead did not seem to faze the Warhawks, as they fought back and won the game in a very cinematic fashion by a final score of 2-1.

GSU put the pressure on in the beginning of the game, but ULM’s exceptional defense during set pieces and an early crucial save by the goalkeeper Brooke Scroggins kept the Eagles at bay.

The Eagles scored the first goal of the game at 24:40 and kept control of the momentum for the remainder of the first half.

Warhawks returned to the field in the second half looking more determined offensively. Early in the half, ULM found the back of the net, but it was ruled no goal due to a hand ball call just prior to the shot leaving them still goalless.

Head Coach Keyton Wheelock gave her input on the disallowed goal in the second half.

“Anytime a goal is disallowed you are afraid your team is going to ‘drop their hats,’ but my team stepped up and got fired up from it.”

ULM continued to get into the

offensive zone but was plagued by multiple offsides calls in the attempt to tie the game. Then at 72:00, defensive player Emely Segovia was able to pick up the equalizing goal.

The Warhawks continued their offensive dominance. Within the last minute of the game, Segovia received a pass from Danielle Sabathe and took the shot. The shot was blocked by GSU goaltender, but Segovia picked up the rebound behind the goaltender and sent the ball into the back of the net with only 38 seconds left in the game to win it for the Warhawks 2-1.

“We needed this goal. Our team has been working so hard, and we needed this result. So we fought for it,” Segovia said.

This marks the Warhawks first win in a conference opener since joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2006.

“We now have a win, but we haven’t done enough yet. There are a lot of goals our team has set as a unit, but if we want to be playing in November, there is a lot of work to do still.” Coach Wheelock said.

The win was much more meaningful than just a conference

Continued online at ulmhawkeyeonline.com