Joseph Vanden Acker

Author: Joseph Vanden Acker

Felan scores twice as Vikings rally past Aurora

GENEVA, Ill. — Nick Felan scored a pair of goals Saturday as Lawrence University rallied for a 5-3 Northern Collegiate Hockey Association victory over Aurora University at the Fox Valley Ice Arena.

The Vikings trailed 2-1 entering the second period, but Felan scored twice in the second to help stake Lawrence (5-8-2, 4-4-2 NCHA) to a 4-3 lead. The Vikings added an insurance goal in the third.

Mattias Soderqvist played the final 45 minutes in goal and stopped 23 shots to pick up the win for Lawrence. Jared Rutledge gave up three goals in the first 24:10 before being replaced by Max Kirkwood. Kirkwood stopped 22 shots and took the loss.

It was a quick start for both teams as Brendan Logan scored just 1:10 into the opening period to put Aurora up 1-0. Carson Knop countered for the Vikings just 23 seconds later to tie it at 1-1. Aurora’s Tim Santopoalo scored with 5:27 left in the opening period and the Spartans led 2-1 after one.

The Vikings quickly tied it with the help of a power play. After Liam Stirtzinger was sent off for boarding 43 seconds into the period, the Vikings went on the man-advantage. Lawrence captain Brad Mueller scored off an assist from Blake Roubos a second after the penalty expired to tie it at 2-2.

Felan then scored his first goal of the game at the 4:10 mark off assists from Lane King and Josh Koepplinger to put Lawrence up 3-2.

Stirtzinger countered with a power-play goal for Aurora at the 10:12 mark, but it didn’t stay tied for long. Felan scored just 2:09 later off an assist from Matt Beranek and Lawrence led 4-3.

After matching penalties put each man down a skater, Matt Montemurro scored at 6:00 of the third as Koepplinger and King each picked up assists again. Aurora pulled Kirkwood for the final 1:52 but couldn’t draw any closer.

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Three-point shooting blitz sparks Lawrence victory over Blueboys

APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team opened the second half Saturday with a 3-point shooting blitz, and that sparked the Vikings to a 63-54 Midwest Conference victory over Illinois College at Alexander Gymnasium.

Lawrence made its first five 3-point attempts and seven of its first eight in the opening five minutes of the second half to turn 10-point deficit into a five-point lead. The Vikings went 8-for-15 from beyond the arc in the second half.

Pete Winslow had his second consecutive hot shooting night for Lawrence (6-6, 6-2 MWC). Winslow went 6-for-10 from the floor, including 5-for-7 from 3-point range, to finish with 17 points. Winslow went 5-for-6 on 3-pointers in Friday’s win over Cornell to finish 10-for-13 from long distance in the two games.

Jeremy Stephani led Lawrence and all scorers with 23 points and added six rebounds and three assists with no turnovers in 34 minutes.

Mason Speer scored the first 11 points for Illinois College (3-10, 0-8) and finished with 22. Mitchell Patterson added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Blueboys.

Lawrence struggled mightily in the first half and trailed 30-20 at the break. After the Vikings missed the opening shot of the second half, Winslow grabbed the rebound and Stephani drained a 3-pointer.

That started a 21-6 outburst for the Vikings over the first 4:52 of the half. Winslow then hit a triple and rookie Quinn Fisher followed with another 3-pointer. Winslow then buried back-to-back 3-pointers before a miss by Stephani. Stephani came right back to hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Lawrence led 41-36.

Illinois College recovered and tied the game for the final time at 43-43 with 11:26 left. The Vikings then inched away as Illinois College missed its next five shots from the floor and committed a pair of turnovers.

Connor Weas went 4-for-4 from the foul line, and the Vikings got baskets from Winslow and Eric Weiss to build a 51-44 lead with 6:25 left.

The Blueboys closed to within 53-47 on a pair of Tim Parks free throws with 3:29 left, but Winslow countered by draining another 3-pointer. Speer made a very long 3-pointer to get the Blueboys to within 57-52, but the Vikings sealed the win at the foul line.

Lawrence made 6-of-8 free throws in the final 48 seconds and went 13-for-18 from the line in the second half.

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Illinois Tech downs Lawrence swimmers

APPLETON, Wis. — The Illinois Tech swim team topped Lawrence University in a dual meet Saturday at Boldt Natatorium.

The Illinois Tech women downed Lawrence 120-96, and the Scarlet Hawks posted a 159-48 win over the men.

The Lawrence women won four individual events and captured one relay victory.

Elise Riggle took the 1,000-yard freestyle for the Vikings in 11:29.60. Paige Witter won the 100 butterfly in 1:03.04, and Danielle Millin raced to first in the 100 backstroke in 1:03.88. Emmi Zheng grabbed first in the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.41.

The 400 medley relay team of Millin, Witter, Zheng and Eryn Blagg swam to first in 4:13.40.

On the men’s side, Liam Wulfman was the lone winner for the Vikings as he took first in the 100 backstroke in 57.97 seconds.

Results

Second-quarter burst sparks Lady Blues past Lawrence

APPLETON, Wis. — A second-quarter run Saturday staked the Illinois College women’s basketball team to a double-digit lead, and the Lady Blues went on to an 83-44 Midwest Conference win over Lawrence University at Alexander Gymnasium.

Illinois College finished the first half on a 16-5 run to grab a 47-30 at the break and pulled away from there.

Carly Cameron led Illinois College (9-4, 6-2 MWC) with 14 points.

Leah Reeves paced the Vikings (2-11, 0-8) with 12 points, and she pulled down seven rebounds. Olivia Hoesley added 11 points for Lawrence, and Aubrey Scott grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.

The Lady Blues built a 13-point lead at 29-16 late in the first quarter when Lawrence rallied. Scott hit a jumper at the first-quarter buzzer, and Hoesley opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer to trim the lead to 29-21.

Lawrence’s Nicole Cummins and Cameron traded baskets before Reeves’ jumper trimmed the lead to 31-25 with 6:41 left in the second quarter.

Brielle Greenleaf then hit a 3-pointer for the Lady Blues, who outscored the Vikings by 11 over the remainder of the quarter. McKenzie Skaggs’ layup at the buzzer gave the Lady Blues the 47-30 lead at the half.

Illinois College steadily pulled away and led 61-39 after three quarters, and the Lady Blues’ biggest lead was the final margin.

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Janusiak, Shea pick up wins in season opener at UW-Oshkosh

OSHKOSH, Wis. — Josh Janusiak and Noah Shea each picked up event victories Friday night as the Lawrence University track teams opened the indoor season with a dual meet at UW-Oshkosh.

Janusiak edged teammate Joe Kortenhof at the finish of the 3,000 meters. Janusiak took first in 8:51.59 and Kortenhof was just a whisker behind in 8:51.63.

Shea, making his collegiate debut, powered to a big win in the triple jump. Shea grabbed first with a leap of 43 feet, 10.5 inches, to win by more than two feet. Oshkosh’s Jared Benson finished second at 41-2.25.

Rookie Gabe Baker and senior Jackson Straughn had a strong showing in the shot put and weight throw. Baker took second in the shot put at 39-8 and Straughn was third at 38-7. In the weight throw, Straughn took third with a throw of 45-7.

On the women’s side, Molly Doruska was second in the 3,000 in 11:58.83. Amy Hutchings grabbed third in the 800 in 2:43.75, and Hallie Sogin took third in the 60 hurdles in 11.39 seconds.

The Oshkosh men defeated Lawrence 97-42, and the Oshkosh women topped the Vikings 105-28.

Men’s results

Women’s results

Vikings skate to overtime tie at Aurora

GENEVA, Ill. — Lawrence University posted a 2-2 overtime tie at Aurora University on Friday night after neither team was able to score for the final 19 minutes at the Fox Valley Ice Arena.

Aurora scored at the 5:51 mark of the third period to tie the game at 2-2 and that was it for the scoring for the final 14 minutes of regulation and the five minutes of overtime.

Lawrence (4-8-2, 3-4-2 NCHA) led 2-1 after two periods on the strength of a pair of goals in the second.

Matt Montemurro scored on the power play just 3:06 into the second period off assists from Austin Frank and Nick Felan to tie the game at 1-1. Lawrence grabbed a 2-1 lead at the 12:34 mark when Josh Koepplinger scored his fifth goal of the season with assists from Felan and Lane King.

Aurora’s Brendan Logan tied it early in the third period. The Spartans (3-10-1, 3-5-1) took a 1-0 lead on Anthony Pnewski’s goal with 2:19 left in the first period.

Evan Cline stopped 31 shots for Lawrence, and Jared Rutledge made 32 saves for the Spartans.

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Winslow’s 3-point barrage leads Lawrence past Rams

APPLETON, Wis. — Pete Winslow drained a career-high five 3-pointers Friday as the Lawrence University men’s basketball team rallied for a 60-56 Midwest Conference win over Cornell College at Alexander Gymnasium.

Winslow went 7-for-10 from the floor, including 5-for-6 from 3-point range to finish with a team-high 19 points. Ben Peterson added 12 points for the Vikings (5-6, 5-2 MWC), winners of three straight.

Jeremy Stephani added eight points for Lawrence and hit a pair of clutch 3-pointers in the second half, and Connor Weas had seven points with a pair of big 3-pointers in the first half.

Lawrence went 10-for-23 from beyond the arc. Cornell (5-7, 3-4) finished 4-for-20 from 3-point range after making three of its first four to start the game.

Corey Davis led the Rams with 20 points, including 16 in the first half. Grant Anderson added 15 points, and Lawrence held Cornell big man Jon Anderson to 13 points and eight rebounds.

Lawrence trailed 39-33 with 13 minutes left when Winslow drained back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 39-39. A layup by Winslow gave the Vikings a 41-39 advantage, Lawrence’s first lead since late in the first half.

After baskets by Grant and Jon Anderson put the Rams up 43-41, Stephani hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Lawrence a 47-43 lead with 7:05 left. The Rams battled back and tied it at 49-49 on Keegan Van Kooten’s jumper with 4:00 left.

Peterson, one the nation’s top 3-point shooters, then buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the Vikings up for good at 52-49. Abhishek Venkatesh followed with a layup and the Vikings led by five.

After a pair of Davis free throws trimmed the margin to 54-51, Peterson got a pair of free throws and a layup to push Lawrence’s lead back to 58-51 with 59 seconds left. Stephani then hit two more free throws for a 60-51 lead with 42 seconds remaining to seal the win.

Box score

Rams run away early, post win over Lawrence

APPLETON, Wis. — The Cornell College women’s basketball team jumped out to a big early lead Friday and posted an 80-41 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University at Alexander Gymnasium.

Sierra Bisso led first-place Cornell (9-3, 7-0 MWC) with 17 points as she hit 7-of-10 shots from the floor. Anne Visser added 16 points off the bench.

Shonell Benjamin paced Lawrence (2-10, 0-7) with eight points, and she pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. Aubrey Scott added seven points and six boards for the Vikings.

Cornell got out of the gate quickly by scoring the game’s first eight points. Lawrence didn’t get on the board until Benjamin’s layup with 4:30 left in the opening quarter. Nicole Cummins drained a 30-foot 3-pointer for the Vikings at the first quarter buzzer, but Cornell led 17-5 after one.

The Vikings hung with the Rams in the second quarter and were down 28-13 with 4:14 left, but Cornell pulled out to a 35-17 lead at the half.

Cornell opened the second half on a 12-2 run to build a 47-19 advantage. Lawrence didn’t get closer than 26 points the rest of the way.

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