Scores, news and more from Lawrence University Athletics
WRIGHTSTOWN, Wis. — The Lawrence University golf team grabbed third place at the St. Norbert College Fall Invitational on Thursday.
Playing at Royal St. Patrick’s Golf Links, the Vikings fired a team score of 348. Anton Olsson led the Vikings with a score of 85. Brad Scurfield carded an 86 and William Thoren checked in next at 87. Derek Brickan and Zach Joseph both shot 90 to round out the scoring for the Vikings.
The Lawrence University football team returns to action on Saturday when it hosts St. Norbert College in a Midwest Conference game at the Banta Bowl. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
The St. Norbert College women’s soccer team answered every challenge by Lawrence University on Wednesday, and the Green Knights went on to a 4-2 Midwest Conference victory at Whiting Field West.
St. Norbert answered a pair of Lawrence goals with scores of its own to earn the victory.
The Green Knights scored in the fifth minute, and the score remained 1-0 until Mallory Koula took a pass from Cadence Peckham and scored for the Vikings at the 55:11 mark.
The Green Knights answered immediately with a pair of goals from Katie Vanden Avond. She scored at 57:01 and again at 58:49 to give St. Norbert a 3-1 lead.
Koula brought the Vikings back when scored at the 79:06 mark off a pass from Ellie Galvin to trim the lead to 3-2. St. Norbert answered again with a goal at 83:10 to seal the victory.
The old coaching adage says you have to play good competition to get better.
Go ahead and check that one off the list for Lawrence University volleyball coach Matt Schoultz.
Schoultz’s Vikings have played a rigorous non-conference schedule and appear ready to make a run at the making the four-team Midwest Conference Tournament in November.
“Our pre-conference schedule helped us prepare for conference play,” Schoultz said. “We played four teams ranked in the top 25. The level we had to play at was high. We didn’t win those matches but were competitive. It helped us to get better and push ourselves to get better.”
Schoultz said the difference between the top teams in the nation and the Vikings is the peaks and valleys. The Vikings have found some peaks but have spent too much time in the valleys.
“We lost to a lot of those teams because they played more consistent volleyball,” Schoultz said. “I think it’s taught us we have to play more consistent and raise the level of our play. I think it’s definitely preparing us for what we will see in our conference schedule.”
Lawrence sports a 6-8 record after that early stretch, but the Vikings picked up a big win when they opened conference play on Tuesday with an impressive 3-1 victory over Carroll University.
“To get a win over (Carroll) was definitely a big step in the right direction for reaching the conference tournament,” Schoultz said.
The way the Vikings defeated Carroll was just as important as the win itself. Lawrence dominated the first two sets with impressive play before Carroll regrouped in the third set. But the Vikings turned it on again in the fourth set to wrap up the match.
“We have pretty high expectations of the way we want to play,” Schoultz said. “The way we played in the first two sets and the way we finished the fourth set, when we play at that level, we’re going to be pretty tough to beat at times.”
The Vikings have some firepower to play at that high level. Senior outside hitter Clare Bohrer is a three-time all-conference selection and averaged 2.67 kills and 1.02 blocks per set. Junior outside hitter Shannon McLain is right behind Bohrer at 2.27 kills per set.
Sophomore setter Diane McLeod has been a constant, averaging 8.92 assists per set, and piled up 51 in the match against Carroll.
“We have a lot of different weapons,” Schoultz said. “When things are going well like they were (against Carroll) at times, we’re pretty tough to stop. But again, it’s about consistency.”
If the Vikings continue to find that consistency, that goal of playing in the conference tournament becomes more and more of a reality.
“One of our main goals for this year is to make the conference tournament,” Schoultz said. “It’s something we haven’t done since I started here, and I think it’s an attainable goal for this year.”
McLeod setting pretty
McLeod has been named the MWC Offensive Player of the Week. The sophomore from Hartford, Wis., helped Lawrence to a 2-2 record on the week and was named to the all-tournament team at the Lawrence Quadrangular on Sept. 17. For the week, McLeod piled up 144 assists, an average of 11.1 per set, to go along with 43 digs, seven aces, six kills and seven blocks.
Burke takes defensive award
Lawrence women’s soccer standout Cassie Burke has been chosen as the MWC Defensive Player of the Week. The junior goalkeeper went 2-0 and posted a shutout as Lawrence swept a pair of matches. In a 1-0 win over the Milwaukee School of Engineering last Saturday, Burke made seven saves to post her first shutout of the season and fifth of her career. In a 4-1 victory over Lakeland College on Sunday, Burke played the first half in goal and made two saves to help Lawrence to a 2-0 lead at the break.
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.
The Lawrence University volleyball team downed Carroll University 3-1 on Tuesday at Alexander Gymnasium in the Midwest Conference opener for both teams.
Lawrence (6-8, 1-0 MWC) won 25-14, 25-19, 32-34, 25-20.
Shannon McLain paced Lawrence with 20 kills and a .319 hitting percentage. Clare Bohrer added 16 kills and seven blocks for the Vikings. Diane McLeod piled up 51 assists and picked up 21 digs. Kathleen Rowland had a team-high 27 digs for the Vikings.
Lawrence’s Sam Nimmer recorded nine digs and passed 1,000 digs for her career.
Emily Cecka led Carroll (7-9, 0-1) with 14 kills, Samantha Derynda picked up 39 assists and Michelle Eberhardy had 30 digs.
Lawrence rolled through the first two sets, but Carroll survived three match points for the Vikings and came back to win the third set 34-32.
The Vikings then trailed 11-8 in the fourth set, but six of the next seven points to grab a 14-12 lead. After Carroll cut the lead to 14-13, Lawrence went on a 7-2 run to grab a 21-15 edge. The Vikings led 22-20 before three consecutive attack errors by the Pioneers gave Lawrence the win.
Lawrence University volleyball standout Diane McLeod has been named the Midwest Conference Offensive Player of the Week.
McLeod (Hartland, Wis./Waukesha Catholic Memorial) helped Lawrence to a 2-2 record on the week and was named to the all-tournament team at the Lawrence Quadrangular on Sept. 17. For the week, McLeod piled up 144 assists, an average of 11.1 per set, to go along with 43 digs, seven aces, six kills and seven blocks.
In a 3-0 win over Mount Mary College on Sept. 14, McLeod had 34 assists and 14 digs to go along with three aces and a pair of blocks. At the Lawrence Quad, she finished the three matches with 110 assists, 29 digs, five blocks and four aces. Her top totals of the day were 42 assists and 14 digs against Edgewood.
Lawrence returned to action on Wednesday with a 3-1 victory over Carroll University. McLeod piled up 51 assists to help Lawrence to the victory in the Midwest Conference opener for both teams.
This marks the second consecutive week Lawrence has earned MWC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Clare Bohrer (Eau Claire, Wis./Regis) picked up the honor last week.
Lawrence University women’s soccer standout Cassie Burke has been chosen as the Midwest Conference Defensive Player of the Week.
Burke (Golden Valley, Minn./Hopkins) earned the award after not allowing a goal in Lawrence’s two victories during the past week. The junior goalkeeper went 2-0 and posted a shutout as Lawrence swept a pair of matches.
In a 1-0 win over the Milwaukee School of Engineering on Saturday, Burke made seven saves to post her first shutout of the season and fifth of her career.
In a 4-1 victory over Lakeland College on Sunday, Burke played the first half in goal and made two saves to help Lawrence to a 2-0 lead at the break. Burke also got into the game in the second half and played the final 10 minutes in the midfield.
For the week, Burke had a 0.00 goals against average and 1.000 save percentage.
Lawrence returns to action on Wednesday when it opens Midwest Conference play by hosting St. Norbert College.
WEST CHICAGO, Ill. — Anton Olsson shot an 8-over par 80 to pace the Lawrence University golf team at the Benedictine Invitational on Sunday.
Led by Olsson, the Vikings finished tied for 20th with a team score of 352 on the par-72 layout at St. Andrews Golf and Country Club.
The Lawrence University men’s soccer team scored very late in the first half and that goal was enough as the Vikings beat Lakeland College 1-0 in a nonconference game on Sunday at Whiting Field West.
The Vikings scored with just 21 seconds left in the first half when Vince Butitta found Hashim Allah-Morad open across the field. Allah-Morad collected the pass and dribbled around Lakeland goalkeeper Alex Piekarski and buried the ball in the back of the open net. It was Allah-Morad’s first goal of the season.
The Lawrence defense posted its first shutout of the season and limited Lakeland to 11 shots. Steve Solomon made five saves to record the shutout, the third of his career.
Keli Muchowski scored her first two collegiate goals to lead the Lawrence University women’s soccer team to a 4-1 nonconference victory over Lakeland College on Sunday at Whiting Field West.
Muchowski, a freshman from Neenah, Wis., gave the Vikinga a 1-0 lead when she took a corner kick and hooked it into the net at the 39:23 mark.
Muchowski scored again less than five minutes later, with just 46 seconds left in the first half, to give Lawrence a 2-0 lead at the break. Mallory Koula and Cadence Peckham picked up assists on the goal.
Koula made it 3-0 just over two minutes into the second half when she scored off passes from Natalie Jin and Anita Babbitt.
Lakeland trimmed the lead to 3-1 at the 50:37 mark, but Lawrence got that score back just six minutes later. Jin scored off a corner kick from Koula to give Lawrence a 4-1 lead at 56:33.
Cassie Burke made two saves in the first half to pick up the win. Dani Glass took over in net for the second half.
