Newberry College

2008 Newberry Men’s Soccer
South Atlantic Conference
Historical All-Conference Selections
1997 - Chris Newcomb, 2nd team
1999 - Rick Ladimir, 2nd team
2000 - Rick Ladimir, 1st team
2001 - Rick Ladimir, 1st team
Brandon Cockrell, 2nd team
Freshman of the Year
Bobby Ladimir, co-Coach of
the Year
2002 - Brandon Cockrell, 1st team
2003 - Brandon Cockrell, 1st team
2006- Edsul Rudder, 1st team
Jeff Bell, 1st team
Debola Ogunseye, 1st team
Kyle Rudder, 2nd team
2007- Debola Ogunseye, 1st team
Shane Abbott, 2nd team
Kwame Gyamfi, 2nd team
The South Atlantic Conference has experienced and enjoyed over 30 years of athletic tradition
and excellence. The conference has been tremendously successful due to dedicated
people building a premier athletic conference throughout its history.
The distant forerunner of the South Atlantic Conference was the North State Atlantic Conference
(NSIAC). The NSIAC was formed when the “Little Six”, as it was called, broke from
the North Carolina Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1930. These charter members included
Lenoir-Rhyne College, Atlantic Christian, Catawba College, Guilford College, Elon
College, and High Point University.
The North State continued to grow over the next 30 years, adding Western Carolina (1933),
East Carolina (1947) and Pfeiffer (1960). A name change became necessary when the league
accepted Newberry as its first South Carolina member in 1961. The league took on the name
Carolinas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIAC) on May 20th of that year.
The CIAC saw several changes in the following years as East Carolina withdrew from the
league in 1962. Appalachian State and Western Carolina followed in 1971 and 1976. All three
landed in the Southern Conference.
The South Atlantic Conference was founded in 1975 solely as a football conference. The
league received its name from a contest in which Kurt Brenneman of Greensboro, NC became
the first to submit the SAC-8 moniker.
The SAC-8 consisted of Carson-Newman College, Catawba College, Elon College, Gardner-
Webb University, Lenoir-Rhyne College, Mars Hill College, Newberry College, and Presbyterian
College. Dr. Fred Bentley, of Mars Hill College, was named league president for its
inaugural year, by a vote of the member institutions.
After the first season of play in the SAC-8, the Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne College captured the
first football title.
In 1989, the league’s 15th year of operation, the South Atlantic Conference became a comprehensive,
all-sports conference. That year the South Atlantic Conference sponsored 10
sports - football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball, men’s soccer, volleyball,
men’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis. Later the conference grew to 14 championship sports
by adding women ‘s soccer (1990), men’s and women’s cross country (1993) and women’s
golf (1999).
The South Atlantic Conference was composed of the same eight member institutions from
1975 until 1988, when Wingate University replaced Newberry College as the eighth member
institution. Newberry later rejoined the conference in 1996.
Today the conference is a group of nine private, liberal and civic arts colleges and universities,
similar in size and athletic philosophy. Since becoming eligible for NCAA Division II
postseason play in 1993, the league has sent representatives from all of its sponsored sports
to NCAA postseason play.
In July of 1998, Tusculum College was admitted as a member of the league, and Lincoln
Memorial University began play in the conference in the 2006-07 academic year. The league
membership now includes Brevard College in Brevard, N.C.; Carson-Newman in Jefferson
City, TN; Catawba College in Salisbury, NC; Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, NC; Lincoln
Memorial University in Harrogate, TN; Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, NC; Newberry College
in Newberry, SC; Tusculum College in Greeneville, TN; and Wingate University in
Wingate, NC.
2007 Final SAC Standings
Conference Overall
School W-L-T Pts. PCT W-L-T PCT
Lincoln Mem. 5-1-1 16 .786 20-4-1 .820
Tusculum 5-1-1 16 .786 11-9-2 .545
Wingate 5-2 15 .714 16-5-1 .750
Carson-Newman 4-2-1 13 .643 15-4-2 .762
Lenoir-Rhyne 3-4 9 .429 13-6 .684
Newberry 2-5 6 .286 9-10 .474
Mars Hill 1-5-1 4 .214 8-9-3 .475
Catawba 1-6 3 .143 7-12 .368
Brevard 0-0 0 .000 4-14-1 .237
2008 SAC MEN’S SOCCER COACHES
POLL
Pl School
Pts.
1. Lincoln Memorial (6) 78
2. Tusculum (3) 73
3. Carson-Newman 58
4. Wingate 56
5. Lenoir-Rhyne 42
6. Newberry 34
7. Catawba 27
8. Mars Hill 26
9. Brevard 11
(First place votes in parenthesis)
2008 PRESEASON ALL-SAC
First Team
Forward - Leandro Pereira, Lincoln Memorial
Forward - Debola Ogunseye, Newberry
Forward - Bruno Conceicão, Tusculum
Forward - Junior Nyemb, Wingate
Midfielder - Luis Carrizosa, Lenoir-Rhyne
Midfielder - Lucas Paulini , Tusculum
Midfielder - Luke Mulholland, Wingate
Midfielder - Anteneh Lemma, Tusculum
Defender - Thomas Ostvold, Carson-Newman
Defender - Aaron Wheeler, Lenoir-Rhyne
Defender - Felipe Nogueira, Lincoln Mem
Defender - Gary Higgins, Lenoir-Rhyne
Goalkeeper - Sean Merfeld, Mars Hill
Second Team
Forward - Omar Cooke, Carson-Newman
Forward - Kwame Gyamfi, Newberry
Forward - Rory Green, Wingate
Midfielder - Shane Abbott, Newberry
Midfielder - Gareth Williams, Tusculum
Midfielder - Aaron McKenna, Lincoln Memorial
Midfielder - Marcus Cabralis, Carson-Newman
Defender - Everardo Flores, Carson-Newman
Defender - Rondon Bacchus, Mars Hill
Defender - Sven Meyer, Tusculum
Defender - Shawn Brunk, Lenoir-Rhyne
Goalkeeper - Jordan Moore, Carson-Newman
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