On one Saturday, two hours away from one another, two Covenant soccer seasons came to a close. The Covenant Women's Soccer team ended their season with a 5-0 loss to Maryville. And several minutes later, the Covenant Men's Soccer team lost 4-2 to North Carolina Wesleyan in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw. Both Scots teams put up great seasons, with the women's team going 10-6-3 overall and 6-1-1 in conference, with their only conference loss being to the eventual Conference Champion Maryville Scots. The men’s team put together a historic season, finishing with an 18-2-2 record overall and 13-0 in conference, a school best.
The Lady Scots had eight players contribute to their goal scoring this season, led by an exceptional 10 goals from USA South First Team All-Conference recipient Kailey Burrell ’22, with Kyra Duble ’21 adding another 9 goals. Addy Cronan ’20 led the team when it came to setting up goals, notching 5 assists on the season, with Kyra Duble and Lizzy Hightower ’20 right behind her with 4 assists each. Burrell and Duble recorded nearly half of the teams total points, Burrell with 23 and Duble with 22.
Freshman Lucy Sandhoff held it down in goal this season, starting each one of the Lady Scots’ 18 games, and recording 90 saves over the course of the season. 13 of these saves came in an exceptional performance against Greensboro in the Conference Semifinals, including two outstanding saves in the penalty shootout that eventually gave Covenant the win.
With the end of another season, the team will say goodbye to five seniors—Riley Battenfield, Addy Cronan, Abby Gienapp, Lizzy Hightower, and Anna Robertson, who said of the season, “From the outside looking in, it may not seem like we finished the season the way we wanted. However, we know that we fought fiercely with such resilience through persistent injuries and setbacks. Making it to the finals was well deserved for this team.” The team will return some exceptional young players and the future looks promising for the Lady Scots.
Just like the women’s team, the men’s season came to a close in the Conference Championship. The season ended in a penalty shootout that saw North Carolina Wesleyan come out on top. The Scots, however, put together an exceptional season. They finished the regular season with an undefeated conference record, making them regular season conference champions. Twelve Scots contributed to the goal scoring this season, led by 14 goals from Mercer Stout ’22 and 12 goals from Josh Brower ’20. Brower also chipped in on the assisting, dishing out 13 through the season, with Jesse Riggs ’20 coming up behind him with 8 assists. Brower finished the season with an outstanding 37 points, and Stout with another 31.
Paul Lemay ’20 spent his final season in goal, and made it one to remember. He played in and started 17 of Covenant’s games, allowing only 10 goals and making 58 saves. These stats were good enough to earn Lemay USA South Goalkeeper of the Year, an impressive achievement. He is joined in the top four USA South honors by Coach Scott Bosgraf, who, in his third year as head coach for Covenant, received USA South Coach of the Year. Six players earned USA South All-Conference First Team—Stout, Brower, Riggs, Lemay, Noah Lee ’21, and Jay Patterson ’23.
Now that the season has reached a close, the team will say goodbye to nine seniors—Brower, Lemay, Riggs, Anthony Buzzeo, Connor McGimsey, Matt Morefield, Colby Pepper, Seth Robinson, and Blake Thomas. While this group will be missed, the Scots keep a number of young and talented players, such as Austin Berry ’22, who said of the team this season, “Everyone stepped into their role well and did what they needed to do no matter how big or small their role was.”
This goes to show how well a season can come together when each player buys into their role and plays under the system of a great coach. Congratulations on awesome seasons to both of the Scots Soccer teams. We look forward to what you have in store for next season!