Pride Sports Info.
The Greensboro College men's soccer team went 10-8-1 in 2008. It was the 17th straight time Pride men's soccer has won 10 or more games in a season.
The Pride entered the year ranked 25th nationally and there were many high marks for GC. The teams was ranked regionally almost the entire year.
Nine Pride players collected USA South honors: midfielder
Andrew Clark (Ottawa, Ont/Ashbury College) was named to the 1st Team; forward
Deng Abiel (Darfur, Sudan/Hoover, San Diego Ca.), midfielder
Bobby Dabbs (High Point, NC/Ledford), defender
Drew Griffith (Salisbury, NC/Salisbury), and goalkeeper
Kurt Gardiner (Jascksonville, NC/SW Onslow) earned 2nd Team spots; midfielders
Sean Fogelson (Greeneville, SC/Southeast Guilford) and
Ben Norman (Blowing Rock, NC/Watauga) and defender
Chris Davis (Lakenheath, England/Lakenheath) made the 3rd Team; and for the third straight season,
Quinton Hurdle (Greensboro, NC/So. Guilford) was picked to the USA South Sportsmanship Team.
Clark was named First Team Scholar All-American by the NSCAA. He and Norman earned COSIDA All-Academic team honors, sporting 3.69 and 3.81 GPAs respectively. Clark led the team with 25 points on 11 goals and three assists; Norman finished the season with18 points. Norman was also chosen to the CoSIDA national academic third team.
Fredrik Edeland (Gothenburg, Sweden/Kitas Gymnasium) added a spark to the GC offense this season. The freshman from Gothenburg, Sweden scored eight goals and recorded 20 points. Overall, the Pride outscored its opponents 48-32.
Senior goalkeeper Gardiner finished the season with a 1.71 goals against average and recorded four shutouts.
"We set the bar high with Pride soccer and we did not do many of the things we expected to," said GC Head Coach Bill Brady. "However, by most standards this was a very good year. We were ranked most of the year, beat a nationally ranked team and earned many honors. Looking ahead, we have all conference performers returning at every position next season and our hope will be to get back to the NCAA tournament in 2009."
Yet a season of high expectations ended disappointingly for The Pride. The three-time defending USA South champs fell 4-3 in the tournament quarterfinals to Shenandoah.
GC’s up and down season might best be summarized in a six day stretch in late October. The Pride defeated nationally ranked N.C. Wesleyan 2-1 on October 25, but surrendered a late lead to Methodist a week later. The 2-1 loss to Methodist cost GC a first round bye in the tournament and the chance to host a semifinal game.
