TERRE HAUTE — Erin Pugh has a passion and talent for soccer.
Those traits are exactly what St. Mary-of-the-Woods coach Mike Aycock is in need of to build his soccer program.
Pugh will be a key component for the Pomeroys soccer team next fall. Aycock was unable to field a team in 2006 due to injuries and transfers.
“I’m really excited [to play at The Woods]. I’ve been playing since I was 4 years old. I just wanted to continue playing.”
Pugh, who held a 4.0 grade-point average at North, was the Patriots’ leading goal scorer all four years. Pugh put the ball in the back of the net 15 times her senior season, earning her third honors to the all-Vigo County team.
Aycock will be getting a leader on the field as well as a skilled player.
“Erin’s friendly, outgoing personality and charm make her a team favorite,” said North coach Emily Knight.
Pugh is the 12th commitment Aycock has for newcomers to his team, which should give him a total of 19 for the program, which he began in 2000.
Pugh played midfield for North, but Aycock sees her as a key offensive player. She’s played a lot of forward on the Terre Haute Flyers travel teams.
“She’s most explosive when she plays up front,” Aycock said. “She can make the difference in a match from the front as long as you have a system that can create opportunities. She’s a very good target player, a very good scorer, she’s going to help us a lot. She’s very quick.”
Aycock has a player that can make things happen in traffic.
“She’s very comfortable under pressure. When she gets the ball under her feet under pester, she can turn on people and make things happen,” Aycock said.
Pugh joins two Sullivan players, Paige Gill and Briauna Davis, as Wabash Valley players at The Woods. Gill was the Mother Theodore Guerin Scholarship winner, and Davis was the Top Ten on 10 Scholarship recipient, sponsored by WTHI-TV and St. Mary-of-the-Woods.
“We’re talking about three very good students here that we’re lucky to have,” Aycock said.
Aycock is hoping to build his program into a successful one, using the success the Woods’ softball program has had in capturing national championships in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association.
“This coming year will be a nice step for us,” he said. “We’d really like to have a good competitive experience, where we can play very good Division III and NAIA schools, tune our schedule.”
Aycock’s best team was in 2003 when the Pomeroys won seven games. At the end of the 2005 season — in which the program was host for the USCAA national championships — Aycock’s squad was close to bettering that 2003 team’s mark.
With a large class coming in next season, Aycock said he hopes his recruiting can be more focused in the next couple years to add to a strong base that Pugh, Gill and Davis should help build.
• More college choices — Turkey Run softball pitcher Chelsea Hanner will play softball at Hanover. It had already been reported, but Terre Haute North standout basketball player Molly Martin will play at Hanover. Martin signed last week.
Turkey Run first baseman Lacie Deplanty will play softball for Franklin College, and Terre Haute South’s Brett Arnold will play baseball for the Grizzlies.
Sports reporter Craig Pearson can be reached by email at craig.pearson@tribstar.com or by phone after 4 p.m. at (812) 231-4357. Read his blog at blogs.tribstar.com/craigpearson.
Given to Fly
May 18, 2007
Pugh ready to help revive Woods soccer
- Given to Fly
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GIVEN TO FLY: Come to expect new standards of excellence
Records are definitely meant to be broken; athletes today are faster and stronger than those in the past in many endeavors in athletics.
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GIVEN TO FLY: ISU women have solid recruiting class
The caliber of athletes that the Indiana State women’s basketball coaching staff is bringing in is on an upswing.
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GIVEN TO FLY: Major leaguers John, Dorsett meet up at tonight’s game
Terre Haute’s only two big leaguers of the last 50 years — Tommy John and Brian Dorsett — will catch up with one another today.
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FOOT NOTES: Valley natives perform well on national stage
Several Wabash Valley natives continue to shine on the national track and field scene.
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'Til It's Over: Sycamores ‘in a good place,’ but searching for more in MVC
Can Teri Moren lift Indiana State, last year’s seventh-place team in the Missouri Valley Conference, to one of the league’s contenders in her first year on campus?
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'Til It's Over: Two sets of identical twins should keep North Central baseball a contender
The last high school baseball team standing in the Wabash Valley was the North Central, the Thunderbirds falling short 4-3 in the Class A Semistate on Saturday just one game shy of Victory Field.
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'Til It's Over: Jarvis, Anderson confident Olney, hard work leads to Division I dream
Olney, Ill., population 8,000-plus and known for its population of white squirrels, might not be the dream destination for high school basketball players in Indiana.
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'Til It's Over: Robinson 7-footer more focused in postseason; 6-foot Jones keeps producing
Robinson 7-footer Meyers Leonard is not going to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA some day, but his odds of reaching the league are pretty solid if his game continues to evolve as it has during high school.
- 'Til It's Over: ‘Stepping stone’ game points Sycamores in right direction Whether the win comes against a top-25 team or a conference pushover, ending a four-game losing streak is always a relief.
- 'Til It's Over: Indianapolis ISU recruit rolling along in senior season As Indiana State recruit Anna Munn approached Christmas with the Decatur Central basketball team, the senior guard didn’t seem to need much of a wishlist.
- 'Til It's Over: Magic’s still there for '79 Sycamores For the former Indiana State players who visited the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in late November, the weekend was a chance to relive memories with teammates and see Larry Bird’s career with the Sycamores celebrated again.
- CRAIG PEARSON: North has strong history in cross country state finals Vigo County is home to just four IHSAA state championships in team sports. Most recently, Terre Haute South won girls titles in basketball (2002) and tennis (2001).
- 'Till It's Over: It’s been rough year but no need to break up Cubs' core Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry is only in the first year of a three-year contract, and aren’t back-to-back division championships enough to keep him around despite this year’s season filled with bad luck?
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- ‘Walking wounded’: ISU seniors return to provide spark All three ISU seniors will graduate in May, and all three will be in uniform today as Indiana State battles Bradley in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament quarterfinals.
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- Given to Fly: Schilli’s Rodman-like performance aids ISU With Indiana State’s women’s basketball team ranking eighth in the Missouri Valley Conference in field-goal percentage (36.5), the Sycamores need as many shot attempts as possible to maintain their standing on top of the league.
- Given to Fly: A classic in every sense of the word What tournament director and co-founder Gary Fears had in mind when creating the tournament came to fruition Tuesday. Marshall, with an enrollment of 438 students, became the smallest school to win the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic in the ninth season of the tourney.
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Given to Fly: ISU women should build confidence off strong outing
Indiana State did not pull off the monumental upset Saturday against No. 23 Kansas State, but the Wildcats are —aside from Connecticut in 2005 — the best team the Sycamores have played in the Jim Wiedie era.
- Given to Fly: ISU women's hoops team slides onto commercial radio Coach Jim Wiedie expects the Indiana State women’s basketball team to have a bit of a retro feel this season, meaning the Sycamores have the potential to get back to creating havoc with their full-court press.
- Given to Fly: ISU vets hope to prove pundits wrong Indiana State’s only two seniors were surprised to see they were picked ahead of just three Missouri Valley Conference women’s basketball teams Tuesday morning.
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Footnotes: In first marathon, former Sycamore comes out a winner
Indiana State graduate Dani Prince made her debut in the event with a victory in the Columbus Marathon on Sunday.
Prince’s goal was a time under 2 hours and 50 minutes, and she ran a 2:48.56. -
Given To Fly: ISU volleyball turning things around
It was an extremely busy weekend for Indiana State athletics this weekend.
- Footnotes: Here’s hoping perfect weather is still around for Nationals in November The weather made for a perfect fall afternoon Saturday at LaVern Gibson Championship Course. For what it’s worth, the Farmer’s Almanac calls for more sunny conditions from Nov. 20-24, with the NCAA Championships falling on the 24th this year.
- Terre Haute natives cherish memories of ‘House that Ruth Built’ Yankee Stadium was packed as usual on Easter Sunday in 1979. George Steinbrenner’s Yankees were one loss away from being swept by the Milwaukee Brewers to start the season. That was no way for the two-time defending World Series champions to perform, so the boss had a conversation with his new veteran left-handed starting pitcher prior to the game.
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Footnotes: Oregon men and women have strangehold on preseason NCAA cross countryrankings
The Oregon men and women were almost both unanimous picks as the No. 1 teams in the nation in the preseason cross country national rankings released recently.
- Given to Fly: Bronze medalist has strong ISU ties One of the remarkable American medalists of this 2008 Olympics thus far also provided one of the most sparkling stories in the brief history of the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course here in Terre Haute.
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