Inside LU Athletics: Soccer teams shooting for MWC Tournament titles

It didn’t take long for history to repeat itself.

The 2010 season marked the first time that both the Lawrence University men’s and women’s soccer teams had qualified for the Midwest Conference Tournament in the same year. Both teams are back in their respective four-team tournaments this fall.

The Lawrence men are the No. 2 seed and face third-seeded Beloit in a 1:30 p.m. semifinal on Friday in Waukesha. Top seed Carroll faces Lake Forest in the other semifinal. The winners meet on Saturday for the title and an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Lawrence women enter as the fourth seed and play top seed St. Norbert at 2 p.m. in De Pere. Carroll and Grinnell face off in the other semifinal, and the winners meet Saturday for the title and the automatic bid.

It didn’t look like the Lawrence men would be playing in the postseason after a rough start to the season.

“It’s more a factor of the kids persevering,” Lawrence men’s coach Blake Johnson said. “When you start 0-6 on the season, the mental side of things could take a turn for the worse. To their credit, they did not allow that to happen. We made some tactical changes midway through the season, and that has helped to put some players in their comfort zone on the field.”

Lawrence (7-9-1, 6-2-1 MWC) got that first win of the season back on Sept. 18 when the Vikings beat Lakeland. Lawrence, playing in the MWC Tournament for the third time in four years, then opened conference play with a win over Grinnell. The Vikings have really hit their stride over the last five matches with a 4-0-1 record. One of the games in that stretch was a 2-1 overtime win over Friday’s opponent, Beloit.

“It’s a funny thing, but after that first win, I think it helped the kids believe. From a mental side of things, it helped the kids believe they could compete,” Johnson said.

“With each passing game, there was confidence building and believing in themselves, in the unit and in the team. I would say that we are playing our best soccer of the season right now. That’s a good spot to be in heading into the tournament.”

Everything fell into place during the regular season’s final weekend to allow the Lawrence women to make the tournament for the third consecutive season. Ripon needed a win at Grinnell to get into the tournament, but the Red Hawks lost. Lawrence went out the next day and won at Illinois College to claim the final spot.

Lawrence (7-10-1) tied for fourth place with Monmouth with a 5-3-1 record, but a 3-2 overtime win over the Scots gave the Vikings the tiebreaker.

“I knew that it would be tight to get that fourth spot,” Lawrence women’s coach Lisa Sammons said. “Ultimately that win at Monmouth set us up. I’m just happy to be back in it.

“When we lost to Ripon, I had to really pick the team back up. Once we won the game in overtime against Monmouth, the goal we created at the beginning of the season was back within reach.”

Lawrence won the 2010 MWC Tournament as the No. 3 seed so the Vikings enter the tournament a bit undaunted. Lawrence lost tight matches to both St. Norbert and Grinnell and tied Carroll during the regular season.

“It was a pretty evenly matched game, and I think we are a better team now than when we played St. Norbert (in the regular season),” Sammons said.

One of the reasons Sammons believes the Vikings are better now is that they aren’t simply relying on star forward Mallory Koula, who has 20 goals on the season. Koula scored five of Lawrence’s six goals in last year’s MWC  Tournament.

“It’s a combination of everyone working together and not everyone just waiting for Mallory to score,” Sammons said.

“Because of how many new players we have, the majority of them haven’t experienced winning the tournament. The upperclassmen were telling stories about how awesome it was to get to the NCAA Tournament and that you don’t have to be the top seed to win it.”

Rivalry renewed

The state’s oldest college football rivalry is renewed on Saturday when Lawrence travels to Ripon. The teams are meeting for the 111th time when they kick off at 1 p.m. at Ingalls Field.

Ripon has dominated the rivalry in recent seasons and looks to keep the Doehling-Heselton Memorial Trophy for the 12th consecutive year. Lawrence hasn’t beaten the Red Hawks since a 25-22 win back in 1999.

Editor’s Note: Inside LU Athletics is a weekly notes package written by Lawrence University Sports Information Director Joe Vanden Acker. It will feature teams and individual players, recap weekly awards or highlights and take a look at what’s ahead for the Vikings.