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The Week in Review…
Fall Finale – All ten MIAC men’s golf teams finished up the fall portion of their season at last weekend’s Twin Cities Classic. The three-day event was shortened to only 18 holes at the Links at North Fork in Ramsey on Sunday, October 11. Three MIAC golfers (Concordia’s Pat Deitz, Saint John’s Mark Giorgi, and St. Thomas’ John Young) were among the nine golfers who tied for medalist honors after shooting two-under par 70. Saint John’s, ranked sixth in the nation, won the event with a team score of one-over par 289.
Seven Straight, but Tough Tests Await - After shutouts of Bethel and UW-Platteville last week, the Carleton men’s soccer team (9-3, 6-1 MIAC) has now won seven consecutive matches, outscoring the opposition by a 20-1 margin over that stretch. The two-time defending MIAC regular-season champs are ranked No. 6 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of American (NSCAA) North Region poll released on Tuesday. Carleton holds the top spot in the standings but hits the road this week to face a pair of hungry challengers: St. Thomas on Wednesday followed by a prime-time matchup at Augsburg on Saturday. A win in either of those games would go a long way toward securing another trip to the MIAC Playoffs for the Knights. Since the four-team post-season tournament began in 2003, no team with seven conference victories has been left out.
Mac’s Big Fundraiser - Macalester’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) raised over $1,700 to help fight breast cancer last Friday (Oct. 9) at volleyball’s “Dig Pink Night” match with Augsburg and the women’s soccer “Kick Cancer Night” match with UW-River Falls. Dig Pink Night contributions totaled over $1,300 for the Side-Out Foundation, and a silent auction for pink game balls and contributions at the gate at Kick Cancer Night brought $400 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Be like Mike – St. Thomas sophomore men’s soccer forward Mike Hutton contributed to all four goals in last Friday's surprising 4-0 road win over a once-beaten St. Olaf team. Hutton had two goals and two assists to hand St. Olaf its first four-goal MIAC loss since 2002. The last time a player contributed to four goals in one MIAC game was in 2002 when Bethel's Pepe Jon Chavez accomplished it. Hutton has 49 points (21 goals, seven assists) in 26 career games. UST is 18-7-1 over the last two years with Hutton in the lineup, and 1-3-1 when he's been out. The Toms (7-4-1 overall, 3-1 MIAC) are 13-1 at home over the last two seasons, but will be tested Wednesday against first-place Carleton. The Toms are 0-2-2 in the last four meetings with Carleton, which is 9-1-1 in its last 11 games vs. conference opponents. UST is 5-1-1 in its last seven games and has outscored opponents 17-3 in that span.
Gamble Pays Off Despite Flat “Tire”- Despite a wardrobe malfunction, Charlie Gamble (Sr./San Diego, Calif./La Jolla) finished fourth overall and led the Carleton men’s cross country team to a fourth-place showing at the Dan Huston Invitational in Waverly, Iowa last weekend. He took the lead at the 5K mark, but shortly thereafter he had another runner step on the back of his foot, causing his shoe to partially come off. Gamble stopped to try to fix his footwear but ended up relenting to the situation and ran the last 2,000 meters with his shoe out of alignment. He still managed to capture fourth place and crossed the line one second behind a racer from Augustana College. Gamble’s performance helped the Knights edge a pair of regionally-ranked squads. The three teams finishing ahead of Carleton are each currently ranked among the nation's top 20.
Auggies on the Rush - Augsburg has been known as a passing team in football, which made the 304 rushing yards produced in the Auggies' 31-28 win over Carleton on Saturday quite a surprise. Another big surprise was the rushing effort by quarterback Marcus Brumm (SO, Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville South HS), who rushed for 162 yards (including a 77-yard touchdown) as part of a 368-yard total offense performance, earning him MIAC Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors. A transfer from Division II Minnesota State-Mankato, Brumm is currently averaging 340.4 yards of total offense per-game -- a total tops among MIAC players in overall statistics by 87 yards per-game over the second-place total. He is also leading the conference in passing in overall games, with a 295.0 yards-per-game average. In conference games-only, Brumm also has league highs of 328.3 total offense yards per-game and 262.0 passing yards per-game.
Piper Power – Hamline swept the race titles at the St. Kate's Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Invite this past weekend. Ian Bauer (Roseville, Minn.) took the top spot in the men's race, finishing in 12:19.6. Margot Branigan (Roseville, Minn.) crossed the line first in the women's race in 14:34.3.
Preseason Honors – St. Thomas men’s basketball guard Joe Scott (SR-St. Anthony/DeLaSalle) was named second-team preseason All-America by the Sporting News magazine. Scott was one of 10 players named to the first and second teams in Division III. He's the only Minnesota collegian among 45 players named to the Sporting News' All-America teams in Division I, II, III or NAIA. Scott was voted MIAC Player of the Year in 2008-09 when he helped St. Thomas storm to a 30-1 record. Scott led the undefeated Tommies in scoring with 13.4 points a game, despite playing less than 28 minutes a game. He made 71 treys at a 41% clip in 31 games. He shot 70% from the foul line, and in MIAC play shot 52% from the field and 44% from 3-point range, while leading the conference with 1.75 steals a game.
Set it Up – Saint Mary’s volleyball player Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) dished out a career-high 61 assists vs. No. 16 Saint Benedict last Thursday, then followed that up with a 55-assist effort vs. Concordia two days later. Cherwinka now has a team-high 769 assists, including four matches with 50 or more.
Cardiac ‘Cats - The St. Kate's women’s soccer team went 1-0-1 last week, and picked up their first ever victory over Macalester. The Wildcats defeated the Scots 3-2 in overtime at St. Kate's field. The Wildcats had a string of close contests this year. Three of the Wildcats’ past four games have gone to overtime. That raises their season total to five overtime games, of which they have a record of 1-1-3 overall. All of the close games have put first-year goalie Bridget Berry atop the MIAC list in minutes played with 1133 minutes in 12 games this season.
What 2 Watch 4…
Tommie-Johnnie Showdown - The St. Thomas-Saint John's game Saturday in Collegeville should provide another lively chapter in a football rivalry that began in 1901. The 15th-ranked Tommies are 5-0 overall and have won seven games in a row -- the fourth longest win streak in Division III. The sixth-ranked Johnnies are 6-0 and are the reigning MIAC champs. Both teams share the MIAC lead at 4-0. The last time the teams came into this meeting unbeaten in the second half of the season was 1942. The Toms' last football win in Collegeville was 1986, and their last win over St. John's was in 1997. UST lost 12-9 to the Johnnies last year in St. Paul. Saturday's game will include five of this fall's six recipients of the MIAC Special Teams Player of the Week honors -- Tommie PK Brady Beeson, who was a backup at Saint John's last season, a two-time honoree; Johnnie PK Russell Gliadon and DT Jack Daggett; and UST kick returner Fritz Waldvogel.
Title Hopes in Alabama – Carleton women’s tennis player Kathryn Schmidt (So., Hopkins, Minn.) and the Gustavus doubles team of Samantha Frank (Jr., Mahtomedi, Minn.) and Sierra Krebsbach (Sr., North Oaks, Minn.) will play at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Small College Championships, which will take place at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Alabama beginning Thursday and ending Sunday. The three MIAC representatives earned the opportunity to play at the ITA Small College Championships by winning the ITA Midwest Regional in late September at Gustavus.
Battle for the Top - Two nationally-ranked teams will play Wednesday night in MIAC volleyball as No. 9-ranked St. Thomas faces No. 20 Saint Benedict. It's a Tommie home match and will be played at 7:30 p.m. at Concordia University's Gangelhoff Center. The Toms (17-4 overall, 6-0 MIAC) edged the Blazers in five games last month in the Augsburg tournament and beat Saint Benedict twice in four- and five-set decisions in 2008. St. Thomas puts its 36-match conference win streak on the line.
Here We Go! – With men’s and women’s basketball and hockey practices starting on this Thursday, October 15, MIAC institutions are entering one of the busiest times of the year. Golf teams are wrapping up their fall seasons, but cross country, soccer, volleyball, and football teams all have a few more weeks to go. Add in swimming and diving teams which began practicing on October 1 and athletic facilities (and staffs) are being pushed to their limits during this exciting crossover period.
Gustie Hall of Fame Induction – Eight individuals will be inducted into the Gustavaus Athletics Hall of Fame at a ceremony on campus this Saturday evening at 6 p.m. The 2009 inductees include Kerri Pool Foss '94 (Soccer), Dan Dohmeier '86 (Baseball), Bob Klindworth '93 (Cross Country/Track and Field), Leisha Johnson Ronning '90 (Basketball), Scott Anderson '92 (Football), Jon Lindquist '92 (Golf), Amy McCrea Morrell '91 (Tennis), and Steve Wilkinson (Men's Tennis Coach).
Inside the Numbers…
5 - The Concordia-Moorhead women’s soccer team is one of only five unbeaten and untied teams in the 414 schools that make up NCAA Division III women’s soccer. Of those five teams, the Cobbers have the most wins. Concordia is currently 12-0-0 on the season and ranked 14th in last week’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll which is the highest the team has ever been ranked in the national poll.
5 – Number of St. Olaf fall teams regionally and/or nationally this week. The Ole volleyball team has won 13 in a row and remained 25th in the latest AVCA national poll for the second straight week. The St. Olaf men's soccer team dropped five spots to No. 21 in the national poll while remaining third in the North Region. The St. Olaf women's soccer and men's cross country teams are each fifth in the region while the St. Olaf women's cross country team is eighth.
5 - The Concordia-Moorhead men’s soccer team has won five straight games, including four consecutive conference games and is now tied for second place in the MIAC standings. The four-game conference winning streak is the most since the 2001 season. During their five-game win streak, the Cobbers have only conceded two goals and have three consecutive shutouts.
Did You Know?
Carleton came in eighth in the latest power rankings for Division III institutions and 12th for all divisions by the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA). Other MIAC institutions in the top 100 of the Division III listing included: St. Olaf (30th), Gustavus (43rd), Macalester (51st), St. Thomas (59th), and Bethel (76th). Overall, St. Olaf was 49th, Gustavus was 73rd, Macalester was 89th, and Saint Benedict was 93rd. Each year, NCSA assess the academic and athletic accomplishments of all universities and colleges across the country. A complete list of the rankings are available at http://www.ncsasports.org/about-ncsa/power-rankings/(year)/2009/(tab)/1.