Joseph Vanden Acker

Author: Joseph Vanden Acker

Lady Blues top Lawrence

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — Reigning league Player of the Year Hannah McGinnis posted a double-double to lead the Illinois College women’s basketball team to a 70-41 league Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Saturday at Sherman Gymnasium.

McGinnis scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to go with four assists to lead the Lady Blues (4-2, 2-0 MWC).

Danelle Buck paced Lawrence (0-5, 0-3) with 10 points, and she grabbed seven rebounds. Jeannine Schulz picked up a team-high 10 rebounds for the Vikings.

Lawrence trailed by double digits twice in the first half before trimming Illinois College’s lead to 29-21 at the half.

The Lady Blues led 35-25 early in the second half after Buck’s jumper with 16:35 left. Illinois College then went on a 17-7 run over the next six minutes to expand the advantage to 52-32 with 10:48 remaining.

Lawrence never got closer than 17 points the rest of the way.

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Top-ranked Green Knights edge Lawrence

DE PERE, Wis. — Top-ranked St. Norbert College edged Lawrence University 3-1 Friday night in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association game at the Cornerstone Community Center.

The No. 1 Green Knights (9-0-1, 6-0-1 NCHA) got a pair of third-period goals to pull away from Lawrence (5-5-1, 4-3-0).

Lawrence goaltender Mattias Soderqvist kept the Vikings in it by stopping a career-high 54 shots. His previous best was 50 last season at MSOE. St. Norbert’s All-America goaltender David Jacobson was forced to make just 16 saves to pick up the win.

After a scoreless first period, the Green Knights got on the board when Tyler Zepeda scored 5:11 into the second period. The score remained that way until Erik Cooper scored on a two-man advantage on the power play just 59 seconds into the third period to put the Green Knights up 2-0.

Michael Hill gave St. Norbert a 3-0 lead with 3:29 left, but Lawrence did manage deny the shutout when Ryan Rumble scored with 1:01 remaining.

The teams wrap up the series Saturday night at the Appleton Family Ice Center.

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Vikings battle back to top Beloit in overtime as DePagter gets win No. 100

APPLETON, Wis. — Lawrence University men’s basketball coach Joel DePagter picked up win No. 100 on Wednesday night at Alexander Gymnasium, but it took some drama in regulation and a superlative overtime to get to the century mark.

Jamie Nikitas got a layup with 0.7 seconds left in regulation to tie the game, and he then scored the first four points of the overtime to lead the Vikings to a 64-53 Midwest Conference victory over Beloit College.

Nikitas finished with his fourth consecutive double-double to start the season by scoring 16 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Ryan DePouw paced Lawrence (3-1, 1-1 MWC) with 19 points, and Trace Sonnleitner and Troy Miller added 10 points apiece for the Vikings.

DePagter, in his eighth season as Lawrence’s head coach, became just the fourth coach in Lawrence history to earn 100 victories. He joins John Tharp (204), Arthur Denney (151) and Mike Gallus (147).

Steve McAfee led Beloit (2-4, 1-2) with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Rudy Bentley and Sean Fancsali added 13 points apiece for the Bucs.

Beloit led by as many as seven points in the second half, but Lawrence battled back to tie it at 48-48 on Sonnleitner’s 3-pointer with 5:49 left. Beloit finally took the lead back at 50-48 on a pair of Bentley free throws with 2:30 left.

Bentley could have sealed the win when he was fouled with eight seconds left, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one and Nikitas grabbed the rebound. He drove the floor and scored on a layup with less than a second left to tie it at 50-50 and force the overtime.

Lawrence then took control early in the overtime as Nikitas scored on another driving layup for a 52-50 lead, and he then knocked down a pair of free throws to put the Vikings up by four. After a Beloit miss, Sonnleitner’s athletic, high-flying tip-in gave Lawrence a 56-50 lead with 2:39 left. DePouw followed with a layup and Lawrence led 58-50.

Beloit finally got on the board in the overtime with a pair of Bentley free throws, but Lawrence went 6-for-8 from the foul line in the final 1:24 to seal the victory.

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Vikings go cold in loss to Beloit

APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University women’s basketball team endured a scoring drought that lasted nearly 12 minutes in a 51-31 Midwest Conference loss to Beloit College on Wednesday at Alexander Gymnasium.

Lana Wieseman led Beloit (3-3, 2-1 MWC) with 18 points and nine rebounds, and Laura Panicali added 13 points and nine boards.

Andrea Wilkinson came off the bench to score eight points for the Vikings (0-4, 0-2). The Vikings hit just 12-of-51 shots (23.5 percent) from the floor.

Lawrence had battled back in the first half and tied the game at 16-16 on Kassidy Rinehart’s jumper with 6:43 left in the first half. The Bucs would finish the first half on a 13-0 run, capped by Panicali’s layup with 28 seconds left, to take a 29-16 lead at the half.

Lawrence finally broke the scoring drought on a layup by Danelle Buck, who finished with six points, with 14:45 left in the game. That started an 8-2 run for the Vikings, capped by back-to-back baskets from Buck, that trimmed Beloit’s lead to 33-24 with 13:20 left.

The Bucs responded by scoring 16 of the game’s next 20 points to grab a 49-28 lead with 6:07 left. Lawrence didn’t get closer than 18 points the rest of the way.

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Hockey series preview: Lawrence vs. No. 1 St. Norbert

APPLETON, Wis. — Lawrence University faces a huge challenge this weekend as it takes on No. 1-ranked St. Norbert College in a home-and-home Northern Collegiate Hockey Association series. The Vikings travel to De Pere, Wis., on Friday for a 7 p.m. game at the Cornerstone Community Center, and Lawrence then hosts the Green Knights at the Appleton Family Ice Center at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Preview

Soderqvist picks up second Player of the Week honor

Mattias Soderqvist
Mattias Soderqvist

APPLETON, Wis. — Lawrence University goaltender Mattias Soderqvist has been named the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season.

Soderqvist (Stockholm, Sweden) picked up a win and a tie against a pair of tough opponents in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Thanksgiving Showdown. Soderqvist also was named the NCHA Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 5 after picking up two wins in a sweep of Concordia (Wis.) University.

In last Saturday’s 3-3 overtime tie with Gustavus Adolphus College, Soderqvist made 42 saves, his second-highest total of the season (44 vs. Concordia, Wis.), including stopping 32 shots in the second, third and overtime periods combined.

In Sunday’s 4-3 win vs. St. Olaf College, Soderqvist made 37 saves to give Lawrence just its second win ever in the Thanksgiving Showdown. Soderqvist made 15 saves in the third period to preserve Lawrence’s lead and the win.

For the two games, Soderqvist stopped 79 of 85 shots for a .929 save percentage and 2.88 goals against average.

On the season, Soderqvist improved his record to 5-3-1. He now has a .924 save percentage and 2.76 GAA.

Lawrence returns to the ice this weekend when it faces No. 1-ranked St. Norbert College in a home-and-home series. The Vikings will face the Green Knights at the Appleton Family Ice Center at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Rumble scores twice as Vikings top St. Olaf

ST. PETER, Minn. — Ryan Rumble scored Lawrence University’s final two goals Sunday to lift the Vikings to a 4-3 nonconference victory over St. Olaf College in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Thanksgiving Showdown.

Rumble gave Lawrence (5-4-1) a 3-2 lead late in the second period and then broke a tie early in the third, and that proved to be the difference against the Oles (2-8-0).

Rumble gave Lawrence the lead when he scored off assists from Ryan Robertson and Jake Roeper with 1:30 left in the second period. That lead didn’t last as Matt Guerts scored on the power play with just 19 seconds left in the period to tie it at 3-3.

Lawrence grabbed the 4-3 lead when Rumble scored 3:45 into the third period with Roeper and Robertson picking up assists again.

Lawrence goaltender Mattias Soderqvist made that lead stand up as he stopped all 15 St. Olaf shots in the final period. Soderqvist finished with 37 saves.

The Vikings also had to kill off a pair of third-period penalties and held the Oles to 1-for-5 on the man-advantage for the game. St. Olaf pulled their goaltender for the final 1:22 but couldn’t get the equalizer.

Lawrence trailed 1-0 when Brendan Vetter scored with 9:00 left in the first period. The score remained tied at 1-1 until Roeper scored his first collegiate goal, a power-play tally, at the 5:58 mark of the second. The Oles tied it at 2-2 on a short-hander by Brian Hickey at the 14:21 mark of the second.

Luke Andriuk made 27 saves and took the loss for St. Olaf.

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Lawrence, Gusties skate to 3-3 tie

ST. PETER, Minn. — The Lawrence University hockey team skated to a 3-3 overtime tie with Gustavus Adolphus College Saturday night in a nonconference game at the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Thanksgiving Showdown.

Lawrence (4-4-1) scored a pair of second-period goals to grab the lead, but Gustavus (3-2-4) got the equalizer at the seven-minute mark of the third. Gustavus had three power-play opportunities later in the third but couldn’t cash in.

The Gusties went 0-for-6 on the power play, and Lawrence was 0-for-2.

Jake McCann gave Gustavus a 1-0 lead with his goal at 8:36 of the opening period. Lawrence tied it at 1-1 just over two minutes later when Brendan Vetter scored off a pass from Matt Moore.

Gavin Tufte gave the Gusties a 2-1 lead when he scored at 3:47 of the second, but the Vikings scored twice in a two-minute span to take the lead. Ryan Rumble scored off a pass from Brandon Boelter at 8:47 to tie it, and Jake Kreutzer scored off a pass from Austin Frank at 10:44 to give Lawrence a 3-2 advantage.

Andy Pearson then scored at 7:11 of the third for the Gusties to tie it at 3-3.

Mattias Soderqvist made 42 saves for the Vikings, and Erik Johnson stopped 20 shots for Gustavus.

Lawrence takes on St. Olaf College on Sunday afternoon to wrap up the Thanksgiving Showdown.

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