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Lander, Clayton meet in key PBC soccer twinbill Saturday

Bearcats can take PBC regular season title with win Saturday and Flagler loss

GREENWOOD – The Lander men’s and women’s soccer teams will have much at stake Saturday afternoon when they host Clayton State in their Peach Belt Conference regular season finales.

Not only are they warm-ups for next week’s PBC Tournaments, the Lander men still have a shot at winning the Peach Belt regular season title. And the Lady Bearcats are having one of their best seasons ever.

Usually, the women’s part of a double-header is first. But the men’s game starts at 1 and the women at 3:30 Saturday on the Lander campus. The Lady Bearcats will participate in the "Kick for the Cure" campaign Saturday (see more at end of this article).

Entering the final weekend, Flagler leads the PBC men’s standings at 6-1, the Bearcats and Clayton State are 5-1-1, and Francis Marion is 4-1-2. The Lander-Clayton victor only wins the conference if Francis Marion can upset Flagler in St. Augustine, Fla., Saturday night at 7 o’clock.

The Bearcats are 9-5-1 overall while Clayton is 10-4-1. Meeting for a possible Peach Belt championship on the final weekend is nothing new to these teams, much the way Lander used to butt championship heads with USC Spartanburg (now USC Upstate) in past years.

"It just seems like the last few years, for whatever reason in the scheduling, we wind up playing Clayton for a possible conference championship," Lander head coach Van Taylor said. "I think they have replaced that old rivalry with USC Spartanburg."

Some memorable Lander-Clayton confrontations came in 2007 when the Bearcats lost both the regular season and tournament 2-1 and 3-2 to the Lakers in a span of just a few days before beating them four days after the PBC Tournament, 1-0, in the NCAA Southeast Regional at Lees-McRae, N.C.

"It’s a good rivalry and they are a good team. We expect the same kind of match Saturday," Taylor said.

Saturday’s winner will have to wait until later that evening for the Flagler-Francis Marion outcome.

"It does put some added significance where Clayton is also in a situation where if they win and Flagler loses, they win the league," Taylor said. "We are looking to win and Francis Marion beat Flagler to win outright. It’s up for grabs for three schools and that speaks well for the conference. We have a lot to play for."

Regardless of Saturday’s outcome, the Bearcats will be playing at home Tuesday night in the first round of the Peach Belt Tournament. The semifinals and finals, both men and women, are next Friday and Sunday at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans, Ga., outside Augusta. The PBC Tournament winner receives an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.

Taylor said Clayton, as usual, is a high-scoring team.

"We match up well. We are contrasting teams. They play out of a 4-3-3 (alignment) and are very dynamic going forward. I think we are a little more balanced," Taylor said. "They have three forwards that they rotate in and out. They have a junior college transfer that I think is 6-foot-6 who will be a handful on restarts, corners and set pieces, so we’ll have to be organized there.

"We are going to have to defend and try to counter them. It will be a chess match. We’ll see. It will be interesting. It will take a complete effort to get through that game."

The Lakers have not played since Oct. 21, having last weekend off and seeing its game at Limestone postponed Wednesday night.

"They will not have played in 10 days," Taylor said. "They could be rested and come out like gang busters. Or are they going to have a little bit of rust for not playing? I don’t know. But we know we are going to have a tough game and we need to be ready to play."

The Bearcats, who have won four of their last five, are led in goals by Adam Arthur with 12 and Aaron Brittain with 11. Each scored in Wednesday night’s 3-0 victory over Erskine.

Lander’s only loss in the last five games was against Montevallo last Saturday, 2-1. The Bearcats gave up a pair of breakaway goals.

"We lost the other day to Montevallo and played well," Taylor said. "We just made two crucial mistakes at the wrong time and we were punished for it. But we created enough chances, particularly early and late. In the first 10, 15 minutes of the game, we should have had a goal. And we had a couple of good chances late. As disappointed as we were, we came away from that game trying to build from the positives."

Lander is relatively healthy heading into the final weekend with only Jamie Davison out. Andy Ludewig is expected to return Saturday.

The Lady Bearcats don’t have any championship opportunities Saturday. But they will finish strong in the Peach Belt, especially if they can beat Clayton Saturday. Columbus State leads the PBC at 7-1-1, Armstrong is 7-2, North Georgia follows at 6-2-1, Georgia College & State University is 5-1-3, followed by Lander at 5-3-1, and Flagler at 4-3-1.

Lander is 9-3-2 overall with seven shutouts. Signature results include a 3-1 win at North Georgia, and a scoreless tie against Georgia College. The Lady Bearcats lost to No. 3 ranked Columbus only 2-1 a week ago.

Lander women’s coach Chris Ayer hopes to see his team play well Saturday. Clayton State comes in at 4-9-1 overall and 3-5-1 in the Peach Belt.

"We just need to play well and put together ninety good minutes of soccer," Ayer said. "Things will fall into place the way they are supposed to and we will be prepared for all of the scenarios."

The Lady Bearcats have featured balanced scoring this season with Christina Barbour leading the way with eight goals, Jamie Shaw six, and Christin Moss five.

"We are a very good team... a very young team that is trying to find its identity," Ayer said. "If we can put it all together, we can be very dangerous."

The Peach Belt Tournament starts next week and Ayer doesn’t expect Lander to have a home game, though it’s possible depending on Saturday’s results around the league.

"At this point, probably not. But it all depends on how the schedule plays out," Ayer said of playing at home in the first round. "We know where we are in the conference and we also know what we are capable of. We are looking forward to the competition."

The injury bug hasn’t hit the Lady Bearcats nearly as hard as it did in 2008. But Breanna Pagano has a separated shoulder and Casi Jones has a sprained LCL.

Lander has been somewhat inconsistent down the stretch, pushing national power Columbus to the final buzzer a week ago before losing to Montevallo, 1-0, last Saturday.

The Columbus outcome shows what the Lady Bearcats are capable of, Ayer said.

"I believe it shows the girls that we can play with anyone," he said. "In saying that, at this point in the season, there are no off days and we have to learn that. We have to play every game like it is our last."

The Lander women will participate in the "Kick for the Cure" campaign. The Susan G. Komen "Kick for the Cure" campaign is the world's largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. The foundation has invested more than $1.3 billion to fulfill their promise, becoming the largest source of non-profit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Select Sport has donated pink soccer balls to be used in the game, one of six "Kick for the Cure" contests in the Peach Belt Conference this fall. Lloyd's Soccer Sports has donated pink wrist bands that the players will wear.

For more information on how to donate money for this cause, please contact Ayer at 864-388-8694 or e-mail him at cayer@lander.edu.