Own Worst Enemy in E&H Loss

By Dan Stillwell

Registar-Herald Sports Writer

Emory & Henry 5, Mountain State University 0

EMORY, Va. — Eric Olsen scored a hat trick and Elliott Anderson added two goals to lift Emory & Henry.

The Cougars were often their own worst enemy, losing three players to red cards and giving Emory an easy first goal on a blown play by the defense.

Emory & Henry led 3-0 at halftime.

“We’re really young and we had some stupid mistakes,” MSU coach John Birkelbach said. “We’re not the type of team that can go down (a player) in the first few minutes and come back from that.”

The Cougars fell to 0-3 on the campaign. They were in a scoreless tie last Saturday with Mars Hill before giving up three goals in the final 15 minutes.

On Tuesday they dropped a 4-3 decision at the University of Charleston. Eric Danso, Max Bendig and Keith Allison scored for MSU. Michel Hiza had two assists.

“We played very well against Charleston. It should have been a turning point for us,” Birkelbach said. “Offensively we finally realized how to possess the ball and open up the attack, but we got scored on four times in first half. The defnese is putting us in holes and we’re not recovering from that.”

The Cougars play Lynchburg College (Va.) at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday and Guilford College at 5:30 p.m. the following afternoon, also at Lynchburg.

Birkelbach is hopeful of some good results.

“We’re a good team and we have to realize that,” Birkelbach said. “We’re going to put a game together and get a win.”

— Dan Stillwell