By Zack Ciboth
The Fall slate for UNCP Athletics went from a rocky start to closing out the fall seasons with impressive finishes. The UNCP Football, Women’s Soccer, Volleyball and Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country teams each had great seasons. With all three sports now complete let’s recap what happened.
Football
The UNC Pembroke football team turned what started as a rocky 0-4 start to finishing strong with a 6-5 record. Head coach Mark Hall completed his second year as the Braves head coach and took on the challenge of competing with some of the best teams in the southeast region and the Mountain East Conference.
Set to officially join the Conference Carolinas in the 2025 season the Braves left one last statement on the Mountain East Conference before departing. The Braves fell short to Wingate, Fayetteville State, Charleston (WV), Glenville State and Fairmont State. But despite those results the Braves never gave up putting on a scoring clinic and closing out the season with a 6-1 record.
In five of those wins the Braves scored 50+ or more points against their opponents while also breaking records in the process. In a 67-20 win against West Liberty Colin Johnson broke the record with the most passing touchdowns and his 514 passing yards broke the passing record in a single game as well to go along with a total of 675 offensive yards and 10 touchdowns, both were school records.
Nothing beats winning a game in front of your home crowd than a win in your homecoming game as the Braves did just that with another dominating victory over West Virgina State 62-17, marking nine straight homecoming victories for the Braves. Another record-breaking performance came in the form of a 79-20 win over West Va. Wesleyan.
In the win the Braves broke the record for most points scored in a single half when they led over the Bobcats 56-7 and added to it with the most points in a single game scoring those 79 points. Along with that quarterback Caleb Locklear made history marking the first time that an American Indian has started at quarterback for UNCP.
Volleyball
The UNCP Volleyball started the season off with a pair of tournaments starting with one in Daytona Beach, Florida and concluding with a trip to Alaska. Despite the results being not what the team wanted. It was an experience and a challenge that Head coach Jaleesa Harper, and her squad wanted.
The Braves, despite having an up and down season and spurts of runs, finished the season with a 17-18 overall record and finished the Conference with a strong performance and an 11-7 record.
A positive for the Braves, despite the loss the Braves found themselves in five set thrillers with some of the best teams in the southeast region and the conference. UNCP got hot late as the season was closing with two victories and a tournament run to the championship game for the third straight year.
The clock struck midnight for the Braves despite upset wins over Francis Marion in the form of a reverse sweep and an upset sweep over Mount Olive, the magic ran out and they fell to Converse in the championship.
But in the end, I would say from feeding reindeer and seeing the Northern Lights in Alaska to making a Cinderella run to the title game in conference the Braves were battled test all season long and can hold their head up high with a hard-fought season.
Soccer
The UNCP Women’s soccer team finished with another successful season under Head coach Lars Andersson with another winning season to go along with a fourth straight Conference Carolinas Championship.
The Braves were tested early and often to start of the season with ranked matches against North Georgia and Lenoir-Rhyne, but they ended up falling short. The Braves did start off conference play on fire with a 7-0 win over North Greenville as Mercy Bell recorded a hat trick that broke the school record of Hall of Famer Melanie Cobb.
The Braves went to battle with their rivals Francis Marion and Mount Olive coming to a draw in both matches with the Patriots each coming at 1-1 draw and a season sweep over the Trojans. The Braves finished the conference slate with an 8-0-4 record making them undefeated in conference and a 1-4 record against non-conference with the only win coming against Limestone 4-0.
Some more records fell for the Braves. In a 2-0 win over Young Harris Anna Grossheim broke the school record for most career starts with her 78th start. In a huge Senior Day 6-0 win over King Grossheim. scored five goals breaking the single-game record for the Braves and tied Cobb’s record with most career goals scored with her 44th in a 2-1 loss to Francis Marion.
Cross Country
The Men’s Cross County team finished the season with strong showing including finishing three finishes out of four with top ten finishes and a third straight Conference Carolinas finishing first in the race and a strong finish with taking sixth in the NCAA Southeast Regional.
As for the Women’s Cross-Country team they too had a great season with multiple top ten finishes and despite taking third in the Conference Carolinas Championship race they took home the individual time when Moureen Kimaiyo won it for the second straight year.
They finished 9th in the NCAA Southeast Regional and Kimaiyo advanced on the individual side as she qualified for the NCAA National Championships where she placed 152nd in to cap off strong seasons from both programs.