SAU Roundup: men’s and women’s soccer fall at home to Union Commonwealth

LAURINBURG —The St. Andrews men’s soccer team was taken down by conference foe Union Commonwealth on Saturday afternoon in Laurinburg. The Bulldogs defeated St. Andrews 2-1, dropping the Knights’ record to 2-3 overall (0-2 vs conference opponents) while Union Commonwealth improves to 3-1-1 (2-0 vs AAC teams) with the win.

The Bulldogs came out of the gates on a mission with Isa Bramble getting a goal on the game’s first shot less than 30 seconds into the game. About 20 minutes later Diogo Costa extended the Union Commonwealth lead to 2-0. While St. Andrews did answer almost immediately on a goal by Pedro Salomâo de Almeida (assisted by Tomas Canale), that would be the last of scoring for the afternoon.

The Knights managed just three shots on goal during the game while the Bulldogs had five. Cristobal Romero made three saves for St. Andrews while Daniel Harrison made two stops for Union Commonwealth.

St. Andrews will have the week off before taking a trip to Tennessee on Saturday for a conference matchup with Johnson University at 3 p.m. The Royals are currently 3-1-1 (2-0-1 vs conference teams) with a road game against Union Commonwealth on their schedule for Wednesday night.

Women’s soccer falls to Union Commonwealth

The Knights were shutout by conference enemy Union Commonwealth on Saturday afternoon in Laurinburg. The Knights fell to the Bulldogs 3-0, dropping their overall record to 0-5 (0-2 vs conference opponents) while Union Commonwealth now stands at 3-1-1 (2-1 vs AAC teams).

The three goal scorers for the Bulldogs were Rosalinda Sanchez, Miranda Cardona and Alberta Yirenkyi. Goalie Chiara Isanto only faced one St. Andrews shot from Emma Hicklin and made the save. Karla Mendoza faced 10 shots on goal from Union Commonwealth and made seven saves.

The Knights will stay in conference action with a home game on Wednesday afternoon against Brenau University. The game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.

Football loses to Cumberland

St. Andrews fell to 0-3 with a road loss at Cumberland University on Saturday. The Phoenix defeated the Knights 41-6 in their home opener to improve to 3-0.

Cumberland ran the ball against St. Andrews with ease, gaining 339 yards on the ground as a team while averaging 6.1 yards per rush. They had 491 total yards in the game while the Knights had just 176 (95 rushing yards and 81 passing yards).

Kedrick Patterson took the majority of the snaps for St. Andrews at quarterback, going 6-14 throwing the ball with 81 passing yards. He also added five yards on the ground on eight attempts. Rodney Huggins had the most scrimmage yards other than Patterson for St. Andrews with 74 rushing yards on just three attempts while also getting their only touchdown of the day.

The defense made some plays during the game despite the high yardage total against. Savien Hayes and Patrick Flisher both recorded an interception in the loss while Rodarius Poag had two sacks for the Knights. John Brown also added a sack and forced a fumble, which was recovered Rodney Melton.

St. Andrews will have the week off before getting back at it with a road matchup against Lindsey Wilson on Saturday, Sept. 28. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

Women’s volleyball swept by Montreat and Brenau

The Knights started the conference portion of their schedule and Friday and Saturday on the road against Montreat and Brenau, respectively. They ended up being swept by both teams, dropping their overall record to 0-8.

Saturday’s matchup saw them lose the sets 25-18, 25-21 and 25-19. Maddison Larrimore had 13 kills in the game to lead St. Andrews while Mercedes Portalatin had 17 assists, which was the most on the team. Bailey Zivitski recorded 16 digs to pace the Knights.

Friday’s game had scores of 25-11, 25-19 and 25-8. Team leaders for St. Andrews were Larrimore and Zivitski with seven digs apiece, Portalatin having five assists and Jade Alvarez with three kills.

The Knights will return home on Tuesday night for another conference matchup with Columbia at 6:30 p.m. It will be the first home game for the team in two weeks.