Published: October 22, 2008 11:44 am            

WVU Tech sports update

Notes from the WVU Tech campus:

-- WVU Tech continued to seek its first football win of 2008 Saturday, but a 56-19 setback to host Bethel kept the Golden Bears waiting at least another week.

Senior Eric Putmon led the defensive attack against Bethel by returning one of his two interceptions 70 yards for a touchdown, in addition to having a fumble recovery. But Putmon wasn’t the only defensive player creating turnovers to try and kick-start the Golden Bears. Jon Culbertson snagged an interception and Carl Spriggs forced and recovered a Bethel fumble, bringing the total number of turnovers for Bethel to five.

Unfortunately, the Wildcat defense was up to the challenge of stopping the Tech offense and forced the Bears into an interception and two fumbles, one which occurred as WVU Tech was driving deep into Bethel territory. The Wildcats also came up big on special teams, blocking a pair of WVU Tech punts for touchdowns.

For the Tech offense, Michael Scott threw for 172 yards and two touchdowns during a 19-of-44 passing effort. Dyrone Johnson hauled in eight catches for 50 yards and one touchdown, while Rashard Gould snagged two catches for 37 yards and a score. Gary Joshway had three catches for 56 yards.

WVU Tech (0-7 overall, 0-4 Mid-South Conference) will be back in action on Oct. 25 as the Bears take on a University of the Cumberlands (3-0, 6-1) team whose defense leads the nation in interceptions per game. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m. at Martin Field.

-- The Tech women’s soccer squad couldn’t hold off the visiting Tigers from Georgetown College for the entire 90 minutes of play Friday night, resulting in a 3-0 Georgetown triumph.

Ashton Caruthers was kept busy for the entire game as she turned away 23 of the Tigers’ shots before giving up the first goal in the 76th minute. Georgetown then scored again in the 82nd and 86th minutes to put the game away.

Hannah Jaskot, Andrea Arias and Bradlee Brown were the only Tech players to get shots off as their team struggled to create offense.

-- In a showdown between Mid-South rivals, the Golden Bear men’s soccer team earned a well-deserved 2-1 win on Friday night when the Georgetown Tigers came to town.

Daniel Gonzalez connected with Sidi Diarra in the 10th minute of the match to record the first goal for the Golden Bears. The Tech offensive push continued for the remainder of the half as the hosts recorded six more shots on goal before Jonathan Day handled a beautiful through ball from Almamy Sienta and converted it into the second goal in the 44th minute.

However, Georgetown didn’t wilt, as the Tigers made some adjustments at halftime that seemed to take the Golden Bears out of their offensive rhythm and held Tech scoreless for the second half. The Tigers also added a goal of their own in the 56th minute to bring the score to 2-1, which is where it stayed for the remainder of the game.

Tech improved to 7-5-1 on the season and 1-1 in the conference.

-- The WVU Tech volleyball team struggled against the University of the Cumberlands’ balanced attack at the Baisi Athletic Center on Friday.

UC defeated the Golden Bears 25-18, 25-15 and 25-10 in the first match. Beckley’s Lindsey Smith recorded 16 digs while Clay’s Erica Schoolcraft chipped in 10 digs of her own to help the Tech cause.

The second match of the evening against UC was a similar story as Smith recorded a team-high 20 digs and Schoolcraft had 15 of her own. Amber Camp tallied 12 kills on the match as Tech lost, 25-16, 25-19 and 25-15 to the University of the Cumberlands.

WVU Tech will be back in action on Oct. 25, when it travels to Berea College.

-- Coach Florin Marton and his Golden Bear women last week defeated ex-WVIAC foe Alderson Broaddus 4-2.

In the victory, the Golden Bears saw some players step up and contribute. One of those athletes was Karen MacCorquadale, who scored in the third minute, courtesy of a pass from Hannah Jaskot, who had two goals and two assists for the game. Caroline McKelvie supplied a goal and an assist.

        

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