Joseph Vanden Acker

Author: Joseph Vanden Acker

Monmouth rallies past Vikings

MONMOUTH, Ill. — The Monmouth College men’s basketball team rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half on Saturday to post a 74-57 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University at Glennie Gymnasium.

Andrew Mathison scored 25 points on 11-for-12 shooting from the floor to pace the Scots (9-3, 6-1 MWC). Will Jones added 12 rebounds to go with eight points for Monmouth.

Trace Sonnleitner led Lawrence (4-8, 2-5) with 12 points, and Ryan DePouw added 11. Connor Weas came off the bench to score 10 points for the Vikings and hit all four of his shots from the floor.

Lawrence trailed by as many as eight points in the first half, but the Vikings went on a 17-7 run over the final 7:51 to take a 32-28 lead at the break.

The Vikings then opened the second half on a 12-6 run, capped by a Jamie Nikitas free throw, to take a 44-34 lead with 14:37 remaining.

Monmouth then scored the game’s next 13 points to take a 47-44 lead with 9:19 left. The Scots edged away from there, and Lawrence never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

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Cobbers top Lawrence 5-1

MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Concordia (Minn.) College hockey team posted a 5-1 nonconference win over Lawrence University on Saturday at the Moorhead Sports Center.

The Cobbers (7-5-3) got a hat trick from Jordie Bancroft, and Lawrence (5-8-1) recorded only 14 shots in the contest.

Concordia got two goals in a stretch of 3:24 to take a 2-0 lead in the first period. Matt Moore then scored for the Vikings on the power play at the 16:39 mark, and Lawrence trailed 2-1 after the first.

Bancroft then scored his second goal of the game, a power-play tally, just 1:10 into the second period for a 3-1 lead. Bancroft completed the hat trick with another power-play goal at the 5:32 mark of the third, and the Cobbers led 4-1.

Concordia completed the scoring with a goal by Zach Doerring with just 21 seconds remaining in the contest.

Peter Emery, seeing his first action of the season, stopped 36 shots for the Vikings. Jordyn Kaufer made 13 saves for Concordia.

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Monmouth runs past Vikings

MONMOUTH, Ill. — The Monmouth College women’s basketball team jumped out to a big early lead and went on to a 96-41 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Saturday at Glennie Gymnasium.

The Scots (4-8, 3-4 MWC) led by double digits at 17-6 just six minutes into the game and increased their advantage from there. Monmouth led 47-19 at the half.

Kelsey Walsberg scored 15 points to lead five Monmouth players in double figures.

Olivia Hoesley came off the bench to pace the Vikings (0-11, 0-7) with a career-high 13 points and her first double-digit scoring game. Hoesley hit a career-best three 3-pointers.

Kassidy Rinehart picked up a game-high eight rebounds for the Vikings, and Natalie Kramer picked up four assists.

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Green Knights hold off Lawrence

APPLETON, Wis. — The 20th-ranked St. Norbert College men’s basketball team battled to an 81-72 Midwest Conference victory over a scrappy Lawrence University squad Wednesday night at Alexander Gymnasium.

St. Norbert big man Steven Hofacker paced the Green Knights (11-1, 7-0 MWC) with 19 points and seven rebounds. Austin Elliott added 18 points and six assists for the Green Knights, who shot 65.1 percent (28-for-43) for the game.

Trace Sonnleitner led Lawrence (4-7, 2-4) and all scorers with 21 points. Jamie Nikitas added 19 points, and Ryan DePouw had 10 points and a team-high five assists.

Like a pair of heavyweight fighters, the teams traded haymakers in the first half. St. Norbert shot 17-for-24 from the floor in the first half, but Lawrence was 15-for-29 from the floor and hit eight 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes.

Sonnleitner scored 17 points and went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc to keep the Vikings close in the first half. St. Norbert built a seven-point lead late in the first half, but Sonnleitner hit a jumper and Jamie Nikitas had a three-point play to trim the advantage to 43-39 at the break.

St. Norbert went on a 12-5 run to open the second half as Hofacker scored six points during that burst. Lawrence chipped away at the lead and cut it to 68-62 on a pair of Sonnleitner free throws with 5:34 left.

Mitch Winter answered with a 3-pointer for St. Norbert and Andrew Schwoerer hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 72-62 with 4:17 remaining. Lawrence cut the lead to seven on a pair of occasions after that, but St. Norbert hit six consecutive free throws in the final 58 seconds to seal the victory.

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St. Norbert topples Vikings

APPLETON, Wis. — The St. Norbert College women’s basketball team pulled away early and rolled to an 88-34 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Wednesday at Alexander Gymnasium.

Regan Carmichael scored 16 points to lead five St. Norbert players in double figures. Heidi Van Sistine had a double-double for the Green Knights (10-2, 7-0 MWC) with 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Kassidy Rinehart, Elizabeth Arco and Patsy Kealey scored six points apiece to pace the Vikings (0-10, 0-6).

St. Norbert pulled out to a double-digit lead at 19-7 just 9:13 into the game. The Green Knights led by as many as 30 points in the first half and were up 40-10 at the half.

St. Norbert would lead by as many as 56 points in the second half on Megan McGoohan’s 3-pointer with 47 seconds left in the game.

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McCarthy chosen to lead Lawrence football program

Rob McCarthy
Rob McCarthy

APPLETON, Wis. — Rob McCarthy is the new head football coach at Lawrence University, Director of Athletics Mike Szkodzinski announced today.

McCarthy, the defensive line coach at Carleton College and former long-time defensive coordinator at St. Olaf College, becomes the 28th head coach in Lawrence’s 122-year football history. A native of Deer River, Minn., McCarthy brings 25 years of coaching experience to Lawrence.

“I just think it’s a great, great opportunity,” McCarthy said of coming to Lawrence. “During my visits, I found a great excitement for football and a passion for excellence among the administration, faculty and alumni. That made me really want to be part of Lawrence’s rich football tradition.”

McCarthy said his first priority will be to build the Lawrence football family, and he wants to see greater depth in the program.

“No. 1, we want to build a football family where I is replaced by we, team is replaced by family. We will provide Lawrence student-athletes with a great experience. Winning will be a byproduct of doing things the right way,” McCarthy said.

“In addition, recruiting will be a priority. We have to get the numbers up to provide a quality experience. We want to recruit young men who want excellence in their lives, both in academics and athletics. We will recruit the top student-athletes from the Fox Valley, the state of Wisconsin and the country.”

Lawrence President Mark Burstein praised McCarthy’s commitment to the student and the student-athlete.

“One of the distinctive aspects of Rob’s candidacy was his strong support of students’ interest to pursue more than one passion or – as we like to say – multi-interested students,” Burstein said. “To reinforce this commitment, Rob has served through most of his career as the assistant men’s and women’s track coach where his student athletes have had significant success.”

Szkodzinski said McCarthy emerged from a talented group of candidates to be the next leader of Lawrence’s football program. A committee consisting of Lawrence administrators, faculty, students, trustees and alumni considered more than 100 applicants identified in a national search.

“We are very excited to welcome Rob to our staff as the next head football coach,” Szkodzinski said. “The applicant pool was tremendously competitive and Coach McCarthy distinguished himself as one of the top recruiters in our pool.”

Szkodzinski added that bringing McCarthy to Lawrence serves the best interests of the program and will keep the team moving forward. With the hiring of the McCarthy and the renovation of the Banta Bowl taking place this year, Szkodzinski reiterated the administration’s commitment to football and the Department of Athletics as a whole.

“Rob’s connections throughout the Midwest, Florida and nationally will serve our program well,” Szkodzinski said. “Not only will he be able to attract tremendous student-athletes to Lawrence, as he has at other excellent institutions, his experience as a coordinator led us to believe that he has the tools to help us succeed on the field as well. We know Coach McCarthy will be an asset to the entire department and look forward to watching our program move back toward the top of the Midwest Conference.”

This past fall was McCarthy’s first at Carleton after spending the previous 12 seasons at St. Olaf College. While at St. Olaf, McCarthy was part of a coaching staff that put together the best 12-year record in school history with a 73-47 mark. McCarthy was responsible for bringing a number of stellar players to St. Olaf, including one (Horace Gant Jr.) that went on to play in the NFL, a number of All-Americans and many All-West Region and first-team All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference picks.

McCarthy served in a variety of roles, most notably as defensive coordinator, for the Oles. He also worked as the special teams coordinator and recruiting coordinator for St. Olaf, which won eight games in four different seasons during that 12-year span.

McCarthy began his coaching career at Concordia (Minn.) College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree with a double major in English and speech, communications and theater arts in 1989. A standout defensive lineman for the Cobbers, McCarthy earned All-MIAC honors and helped his team to conference championships in 1986 and 1988.

After serving as an assistant coach at Concordia for the 1989 season, McCarthy moved to the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) in 1990. He served with the Tommies for five seasons and helped them win the MIAC championship in 1990. McCarthy then coached at Northwestern (Minn.) College and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire over the next five seasons. He helped Northwestern win the 1995 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference title and was part of the UW-Eau Claire team that took the 1998 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship.

McCarthy earned his Master of Science of Education in learning disabilities from UW-Eau Claire in 2000. He then returned to coach for one season at St. Thomas and one season at Pensacola (Fla.) High School before moving to St. Olaf.

After coaching for most of his career in Minnesota, McCarthy said Lawrence provided him exactly the opportunity he was seeking, both for himself and his family. McCarthy and his wife, Angie, have three children.

“It’s a great place to raise a family,” McCarthy said. “I wasn’t just going to leave. It needed to be the right program. When this came up and everyone raved about Appleton and Lawrence, we knew this was the one.”

Lawrence has been playing varsity football since 1893 and ranks third in Midwest Conference history with 16 league championships. The Vikings have won 496 games during their storied history, and that includes the distinction of being the first Midwest Conference team to host, and win, a NCAA Division III playoff game.

Lawrence has nearly 450 All-Midwest Conference selections since the league began choosing teams back in 1937. The Vikings have 66 All-America selections, starting with Claude Radtke in 1949. Lawrence also is the only school in the Midwest Conference to have a player, Scott Reppert in 2003, selected for the College Football Hall of Fame.

Pioneers pull away late to top Lawrence

GRINNELL, Iowa — The Grinnell College men’s basketball team pulled away in the final minutes and posted a 126-116 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Saturday at Darby Gymnasium.

Jack Taylor led Grinnell (5-6, 3-3 MWC) with 21 points but hit just 5-of-15 shots from the floor.

Trace Sonnleitner led Lawrence and all scorers with 23 points as he hit 9-of-12 shots from the floor. Freshman guard Jeremy Stephani added 22 points for the Vikings (4-6, 2-3). Stephani went 6-for-7 from the floor, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, and was 7-for-8 from the foul line.

Jamie Nikitas added 19 points and Ryan DePouw had 18 for the Vikings, and both players had eight rebounds.

Lawrence shot 69.4 percent from the floor and shot 68.4 percent from beyond the arc as the Vikings hit 13-of-19 shots from long distance.

Grinnell led by as many as 16 points in the first half before Lawrence cut the lead to 63-54 at the half. Lawrence opened the second half on a 12-2 run and took a 66-65 lead with 16:38 left on Andrew Borresen’s 3-pointer.

The teams traded the lead before Lawrence built a 94-86 advantage with 10:10 remaining. Grinnell rallied and took the lead back for good at 101-99 on Julian Marx’s 3-pointer with 7:06 left.

Lawrence trailed 104-101 after Nikitas’ layup with 6:32 left, but Grinnell hit its final seven shots from the floor to pull away for the win.

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