The Highlights

Scores, news and more from Lawrence University Athletics

Green Knights top Lawrence in MWC Tournament semifinals

DE PERE, Wis. — The St. Norbert College women’s soccer team broke a tie late in the first half and went on to a 4-1 victory over Lawrence University in the semifinals of the Midwest Conference Tournament.

The Green Knights had jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Katherine Larson’s goal at 28:09, but it took the Vikings only 2:23 to answer back. Freshman Keli Muchowski scored off a pass from Mallory Koula on a breakaway to tie the game at 1-1 at 30:32.

St. Norbert took the lead for good on Katie Vanden Avond’s penalty kick in the 39th minute. The Green Knights then added goals in the 67th and 72nd minutes to seal the victory.

Box score

Beloit shuts out Vikings in MWC Tournament

WAUKESHA, Wis. — The Beloit College men’s soccer team jumped on Lawrence University early on Friday and went on to a 4-0 victory over the Vikings in the semifinals of the Midwest Conference Tournament.

Jackson Wilkins scored in the 13th minute to give the Bucs the lead, and Marc Robinson scored in the 34th minute and again with just a minute left before halftime to give the Bucs a 3-0 advantage.

Beloit enjoyed a 13-5 edge in shots.

Box score

Lawrence swimmers edge, tie Falcons

The Lawrence University men’s swim team edged UW-River Falls on Friday night at Boldt Natatorium, and the Lawrence women tied the Falcons in a nonconference dual meet.

The Lawrence men edged the Falcons 125.5-123.5, and the Lawrence women tied River Falls 143-143.

Peter Brengel led the Lawence men with victories in the 50-yard freestyle, the 50 backstroke and the 100 backstroke. Pat Vincent took home wins in the 50 butterfly and the 100 butterfly.

On the women’s side, Taylor Winter won the 100 butterfly, 500 freestyle and 1,000 freestyle. Helen Noble swam to victories in the 50 backstroke and 100 backstroke.

Results

Vikings fall to UWGB in exhibition game

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team dropped an 87-56 decision to the UW-Green Bay in an exhibition game Friday night at the Kress Events Center.

It marked the first time since the start of the 2007-08 season that Lawrence had faced a NCAA Division I opponent in an exhibition game.

UWGB got 10 points apiece from Jarvis Williams, Alec Brown, Terry Johnson and Brennan Cougill. The 7-foot-1 Brown also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.

Sophomore guard Chris Siebert poured in  game-high 17 points for the Vikings. Siebert hit 5 of 8 shots from the floor, including 2 of 4 from 3-point range. Siebert also connected on 5 of 6 shots from the foul line.

Max Burgess came off the bench to add nine points, all on 3-pointers, for the Vikings.

The Phoenix used its size inside to dominate the smaller Lawrence lineup. UWGB, which led 44-30 at the half, scored 52 points in the paint.

UWGB limited Lawrence to just 40.4 percent shooting from the floor, including 34.6 percent from beyond the arc. The Phoenix hit on 46.8 percent of its shots from the floor.

Lawrence opens the regular season on Nov. 15 when it travels to traditional power UW-Stevens Point.

Box score

Lawrence skaters open season with victory over Concordia

The Lawrence University hockey team opened its season on Friday night with a 4-2 Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association victory over Concordia (Wis.) University.

The Vikings jumped out to a 3-0 lead and then scored midway through the third period to seal the victory.

Freshman Peter Emery, making his first collegiate start, stopped 33 stops to pick up the victory for Lawrence. Matt Hughes scored a pair of goals to pace the Lawrence offense.

Lawrence (1-0-0, 1-0-0 MCHA) got on the board at the 7:17 mark of the first period when Hughes scored just 27 seconds into the first penalty of the game against the Falcons. Hughes made it 2-0 when he scored with only 36 seconds left in the opening period.

The Vikings made it 3-0 on William Thoren’s power-play gola at 6:41 of the second.

Concordia (0-5-0, 0-3-0) cut the lead to 3-2 by scoring a pair of goals in a span of 4:09 early in the third period. Lawrence regained a two-goal cushion when Paul Zuke fired a shot past Concordia goaltender Josh Lehr at the 11:32 mark.

Lehr stopped 31 shots in the loss.

The team wrap up the weekend series on Saturday at the Ozaukee Ice Center.

Box score

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.

Vikings have questions and answers as hockey season approaches

The Lawrence University hockey team opens the 2011-12 season with seemingly as many questions as answers.

When the Vikings open play Friday night against Concordia (Wis.) at the Appleton Family Ice Center, Lawrence will need to replace a four-year starter in goal, two of the team’s top defensemen and one of the top-10 scorers in school history.

That being said, Lawrence returns an experienced group of forwards, two of the league’s top defensemen and a group of men fighting to be the top goaltender.

“We will continue to be a tenacious group that will look to be the hardest-working team in the MCHA,” Lawrence coach Mike Szkodzinski said. “As is the case every year, we are looking to get into the Harris Cup four and be at our best to challenge for the title.”

The Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association preseason poll chose the Vikings to finish fourth in the league. Adrian was selected to extend its streak of conference titles to five, followed by MSOE and Marian.

The Vikings reached the semifinals of the Harris Cup last season for the third consecutive year. To get back to that point and beyond, the Vikings need to rely on their experience and an influx of 16 newcomers.

The biggest question is in goal, where four-year starter Evan Johnson, the winningest goalie in Lawrence history, was lost to graduation. The Vikings return juniors Michael Baldino and Kevin Aslett but both have limited experience. Three newcomers, Anton Olsson, Adam Eno and Peter Emery, are also fighting it out for the starting job.

“All of our freshmen have been solid to this point and are really pushing for ice time,” Szkodzinski said. “It will take some time to figure out who is able to adjust to the college game the fastest.”

The Vikings also lost key defensemen Jon Sheridan and Corey Garrett to graduation, but Lawrence returns All-MCHA defenseman William Thoren to go with seniors Jameson Raymond and Jesse Byam-Katzman.

The Vikings also welcome nine new defensemen who bring added size to the ice.

“Our newcomers have given us more depth than we have had at any time over the past five years,” Szkodzinski said. “We think that we have upgraded our size and skill at defense, but again, adjusting to the college level can be very difficult for freshmen, especially on the blue line. We fully expect Jameson Raymond and William Thoren to be our most reliable guys to start the season.”

The Vikings have an experienced group of forwards, led by seniors Matt Hughes and Ben DiMarco. Hughes led the team in goals (13) and points (28) last season. The Vikings also return key forwards like captain Brad Scurfield, his brother, Nate Scurfield, Sam Johnson, Huck Saunders and Jon Bellotti.

Heading the list of newcomers are freshmen Gustav Lindgren and Phil Bushbacher, a transfer who led Lake Forest in scoring last season.

“Matt Hughes and Ben DiMarco have been excellent to this point,” Szkodzinski said. “We hope to complement them with production from Gustav Lindgren and Phil Bushbacher. We feel our strength up front is the small drop-off in skill from our first to our fourth line. On any night, any line could be the difference in the outcome.”

The Vikings open the season with three of its first four games at home. After a home-and-home series with Concordia (Wis.) this weekend, Lawrence hosts Northland on Nov. 11-12.