Sports

By Brian Vigna | bvigna@flagler.edu

Sean Taylor, safety for the Washington Redskins, was tragically shot and killed last week, shocking the sports world.

Taylor, 24, died Nov. 27 after being shot while fighting off intruders at his home. Taylor was shot in the upper thigh, and lost a life-threatening amount of blood during the flight to the Ryder Trauma Center of Jackson Memorial Hospital. Taylor passed away from the injury, several hours after the shooting and before ever regaining consciousness.

By Ryan Day | rday@flagler.edu

Flagler guard D. J. Ferguson knows he and his Saints did everything they could to match the speed and physicality of a Saint Thomas University team that he calls “a top team in the Florida Sun Conference.”

By Devon Jeffreys | djeffreys@flagler.edu

For the Flagler College volleyball team, there will be no trophy, no regional or national tournament but don’t tell them they didn’t win a championship on Friday night because as much as they could, they did.

A team still in its NCAA infancy, with no postseason light at the end of the tunnel, had just one game to look forward to at the end of the year, another match with rival SCAD.

With emotions running high, the Saints managed to overcome their demons, and a 2-1 SCAD lead, to bring home a 3-2 victory and their own little championship.

By Devon Jeffreys | djeffreys@flagler.edu

Golitah 97, David 51

It didn’t end the way that head coach Bo Clark and the Saints had dreamed, no one dreams about losing by 46, but for one night, Flagler College basketball was on the big stage.

“This was an exciting thing for Flagler College,” Clark said. “I wish I could say we won the ballgame 88-84 but I’d probably be dreaming.”

The Saints, playing the role of David, entered the O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida last Thursday as a severe underdog and when it came down to it, Goliath, the two-time defending national champion Florida Gators, was just too big and too strong.

Photo by Tad Mask

By Devon Jeffreys | gargoyle@flagler.edu

With what may be the biggest game — in terms of hype — in school history behind them, the Flagler Saints men’s basketball team now focuses on what’s in front of them: the 2007-2008 season.

The Saints lost their first exhibition game of the season to the Florida Gators 97-51, but the regular season starts Nov. 15 against Trinity College at Flagler Gym.

“Florida is not going to be a true gauge of how good we are,” Coach Bo Clark said. “It’ll be the Rollins and Florida Southern and Saint Leo games, and that’ll be a transition, too.”

By Ryan Day and Will Sandberg | gargoyle@flagler.edu

The Flagler women’s soccer team may be in transition to Div. II, but Coach Teddy Meyer hopes the offensive explosion the Saints had in the 2007 season is permanent.

In 2006 the Saints scored 15 goals all season in 17 matches, less than one goal per game. Flagler forward Annika Hogberg has already scored 17 goals by herself, breaking the college’s single-season record for goals.

“Her [Hogberg’s] impact this year has been a bright spot,” Meyer said. “Last year we had struggled scoring goals.”

Through 18 games so far, the Saints have scored 42 goals, being shut out only twice all year. Compare that to last year when the 2006 Saints scored 15 goals all season and were shut out nine times.

And it’s not just Hogberg and her 17 goals that have been putting the Saints on the scoreboard. Seven players on the team have at least two goals. Freshman midfielder Caleigh Hodgkins and sophomore midfielder Meredith Marshall have scored their first ever collegiate goals this year. Midfielder Tiffany Urquhart, the Saints leading scorer of 2006, has had the pressure taken off in 2007 and is tied for second on the team in assists with midfielder Pam Quimby with four.

Typically when a team improves on one side of the ball, the other side suffers. In 2006, the Saints gave up 51 goals in 17 games, an average of three goals a game. In 2007, goalkeeper Hope McArthur leads a defense that has recorded eight shutouts and given up only 29 goals in 18 games, a 1.63 GAA. She’s faced 152 shots on goal and saved 123 of them, making for a .809 save percentage.

The improvement between last year and this year can be found in their attention to detail and the minor components of the game:

By Ryan Day | gargoyle@flagler.edu

Flagler women’s basketball head coach Sherri Abbey-Nowatzki promises two things: an exciting brand of basketball and a competitive group of girls every time the Saints take the court.

“Anyone that comes out to watch us is going to watch a more talented and much faster team,” Nowatzki said. “That much I can tell you.”

By Ryan Day | gargoyle@flagler.edu

Flagler forward Boris Kalff isn’t giving any excuses on what he calls a disappointing season for a Flagler men’s soccer program that has only collected two wins in the first 15 games of the season.

“We as a team did not play up to our quality,” said Kalff, one of nine players from Europe. “I am very disappointed. We’re all very disappointed. I can’t think of one man on this squad that isn’t.”

By Lindsey williams | gargoyle@flagler.edu

All of Flagler’s 2,000 plus student body might not have attended the game Thursday night, but it sure felt like it as 200 cheering fans roared for their men’s basketball team against the Florida Gators in Gainesville’s O’Connell Center.

Swallowed by a sea of blue and orange, Flagler fans were scattered throughout the arena, proudly wearing spirited attire. Shirt or no shirt, body paint or no body paint, they came to support.

Clearly, this game was unlike any other game.