The Mountain Lion Talk

How far up the ladder can junior defender Quinn Thompson go by the end of the season? Let's take a look at the current standings: 1st Place: Ilija Ilic (31) 2nd Place: Lewis Hilton (30) 3rd Place: Niall McCabe (29) 4th Place: Khurram Shazad (22) 5th Place: Alex Jacq (20) 6th Place: Carlos Gomez (18)  7th Place: Seba Andreassen/Val Feeney/Macauley King/ Quinn Thompson (17) 8th Place: Alex Wyper (16) 9th Place: Paco Craig (14) 10th Place: Mikie Rowe (13) *11th: Marco Micaletto with 12  

How far up the list can junior forward Saad Maziane go by the end of the season? Let's take a look at how it currently stands: 1st Place: Ilija Ilic (64) 2nd Place: Mikie Rowe (46) 3rd Place: Carlos Gomez/Khurram Shazad (32) 4th Place: Niall McCabe (31) 5th Place: Sondre Olsen: (26) 6th Place: Lewis Hilton (25) 7th Place: Mikkel Goeling (23) 8th Place: Seba Andreassen/Marco Micaletto (21) 9th Place: Saad Maziane (19) 10th Place: Paco Craig (17) *11th: Alex Wyper (16) 

Sophomore Alexis Scarpinato is a returning midfielder who leapt up the NCAA-era career goals list in 2022 after an eight-goal season. She now has 12 goals for her career at Young Harris, which currently places her sixth all-time. The only people who have more are program alumni Baylee Roach, Lucero Robayo, Emily Ober, Whitney Thomas, Haley Holderfield and Amber Matthews. Here's where the list currently stands: 1st Place: Baylee Roach (21) 2nd Place: Lucero Robayo (20) 3rd Place: Emily Ober/Whitney Thomas (19) 4th Place: Haley Holderfield (15) 5th Place: Amber Matthews (13) 6th Place: Alexis Scarpinato (12) 7th Place: Mika Lopes (11)    8th Place: Carly Rich/Aimee Durn (9) 9th Place: Candace Edwards/Laisy Scardazzi (7)  10th Place: Emily Villas (6) 

Middle Hitter Sophie Bearden is returning for her junior season. She's tied for sixth with 54 appearances.  Defensive specialist Joha Bernis is returning for her junior season. Her 57 appearances is currently tied for fourth all-time.  Setter Alex Boydstone is returning for her junior season. She's currently third all-time with 64 appearances and, with 644 assists, is 56 assists away from being the first Mountain Lion volleyballer with 700 helpers.  Outside Hitter Lily Hidalgo is returning for her junior season. She's tied for fourth with Bernis with 57 appearances.  Outside Hitter Nicole Klucharich is returning for her junior season. Her 27 appearances are three away from the top ten.  After a 533-assist season (19 per game) in her debut with the team last year- the first 500-assist season in team history- setter Mollie Lawrence is returning for her junior season. Her 28 appearances places her two back of the top ten.  Defensive Specialist Kallee McK...

The women's harriers will have a completely revamped look for their 2023 season as they have just one returner- junior Chayil Aponte .  Aponte has appeared in eleven meets over her career thus far, which is currently tied for tenth in team history with Genesis Newton.  9th Place: Holli Abernathy, Kristin Fuhs and Savannah Hardin with 13 apiece. 8th Place: Nancy Murgor and Chandler Spivey with 14 apiece.  7th Place: Caroline Conner with 15 (her fifteenth appearance was November's D2 Southeast Regional).  6th Place: Latty Ryals and Claire Warren with 17 apiece.  Aponte will be joined by freshmen Emily Baars, Caroline Bass, Brianna Dalton, Piper Marsingill and Brinley Wilson for 2023. 

1st Place: Pien Van Kampen (43) 2nd Place: Arielle Charles/Taylor Erickson (30) 3rd Place: Nicole Medeiros (29) 4th Place: Kelsey Cunningham (17) 5th Place: Junior McKenna Peaster (15) 

On the women's side, I'll talk about the rest of the roster in a separate post, but junior McKenna Peaster will be the most experienced of the three goalkeepers on the 2023 roster- she'll be joined by freshman Samantha Thomson and sophomore Kaylie Hayes, who I believe is transferring from Erskine College. Where does Peaster stand on the women's NCAA-era record books?  15 Games Played: Currently fifth; she needs three to surpass Kelsey Cunningham for fourth. 61 Saves: Tied for sixth with Yustin Nambo; fifth place right now is Cunningham with 97.  6 Wins: Technically fifth as there's a two-way tie for fourth: both Taylor Erickson and Cunningham have both picked up nine wins in their career.  Three juniors will be returning for the men's team for this upcoming season: Quinn Thompson, Saad Maziane and Pato Padilla.  Forward Saad Maziane has appeared 38 times across three seasons with starts in 28 games. His 19 career goals is technically tenth-most in the team...