Points & Prattle (Oct. 15, 2010)

Good morning sportsfans,

After a short hiatus for the sake of… being way too busy, Points & Prattle returns to the Voice of the Saints blog! My apologies to anyone who was looking forward to it (Mom?), and I’ll do my best to be more diligent about getting these blogs to you weekly. So, without further ado…

Cross Country
The Saints men and women both ran well in Iowa last week at the Wartburg Invite. This week, they’ll be competing at two meets – half of the team at the Brooks Invitational hosted by the University of Wis.-Oshkosh while the other goes to St. Bonifacius for the Crown Invitational. Now, the points:

• While we were out, Jessie Lovering won the Northland Invite. We never got a chance to properly congratulate here, so congrats, Jessie! She also paced the Saints with a top-10 finish at last week’s Wartburg Invite.
• On the men’s side, Nick Mangan has paced the men for two straight weeks, finishing third at Northland and 12th at Wartburg.
• This week will be the first time that the Saints will score as a team at the Brooks Invitational. Last season, they had six runners run four personal bests and two season-bests at the race. All in a days work…

Football
Saints football stumbled at home for the first time this season last week, but they were tripped up by a powerful Greenville squad, who remain undefeated in the UMAC with the victory. This week, the Saints are on a bye, so there’s not much to say, but let’s do a little house-cleaning from the past two weeks:

• Defensive end Chas Lemon was named to the D3Football.com Team of the Week for Week 5, making five tackles including one TFL and a batted pass. He also made an athletic tip-ball interception which he returned for a program-record 55 yards.
• Alex Thiry and Justin Trautmiller were named UMAC Players of the Week last week. Thiry was 20-26 for 265 yards while throwing four TDs while Trautmiller collected a program-record three interceptions against Crown.
• Next week, the Saints return to action against Minn.-Morris in Cougar country. The Cougars stumbled against Martin Luther last week, but will get a chance to rebound before they face the Saints, taking on Northwestern this week.

Men’s Soccer
It was a roller coaster of emotions for the Saints’ men last weekend, beginning Friday with breaking six offensive program records and ending Sunday with a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to the nationally-ranked University of Wis.-Oshkosh. Here’s the points:

• Cody Sveiven was named UMAC Player of the Week, and rightfully so. He scored 10 points last Friday against Northland, including four assists. Both are program records.
• His accomplishments somehow overshadowed Jermaine Dacres’ five-minute, 57-second natural hat trick, the seventh-fastest in NCAA history, and (obviously) the fastest in program history.
• Altogether, the Saints scored 13 goals in the win, as well as 20 assists, for 46 points. All of those statistics are also program records.
• Sunday, the Saints were forced to play a man-down for 30 minutes after a pair of yellow cards sent a player to the showers early, but played outstanding against a nationally-ranked Wis.-Oshkosh team. I’d argue that the Saints are beyond moral victories at this point, but at the very least, they definitely gained the Titans’ respect in that game.

Volleyball
I had the opportunity to watch last Friday’s volleyball match with Northwestern as a fan, and I must say, the Burns Wellness Commons was pumped up to see the Saints down the dreaded Eagles, and in three sets! The Saints are still at home this weekend, so be sure to head out to the BWC for more action tonight and tomorrow.

• After sweeping the UMAC awards for several straight weeks, the Saints volleyball team has gone a couple weeks without an honor from the conference, and I say: what gives? They just earned two sweeps last weekend, and they’re undefeated in the UMAC… But I’m just saying.
• CSS has not been undefeated through seven conference games since the 1999 season, when they were 8-0. They will look to match that tonight and extend it on Saturday.
• CSS will play Minn.-Morris this evening, and take on Presentation and Wis.-Oshkosh tomorrow afternoon. The CSS Saints are a combined 34-2 all-time against their conference opponents this weekend, including a perfect 19-0 against Presentation. It will be no cake walk, but the Saints definitely have a couple of victories within their grasp.

Women’s Hockey
We’re just 21 days from the start of the CSS women’s hockey season, and the Saints held their first tryout/practice this morning. You can see a photo gallery here.

Women’s Soccer
Since I didn’t link to it in the men’s section, the Saints men and women will both be on the road this weekend against Morris and Presentation (I’m noticing a theme here…), and may lock themselves into a high seed in the UMAC tournament with a pair of victories this weekend. It won’t be easy, but there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic.

• The Saints goalkeepers Bailey Mahlum (four) and Molly Bergmann (two) have shutout opponents for six straight contests, including last week’s 3-0 defeat of Northland College.
• The youth movement continues a-rolling as the Saints have eight first- or second-year players leading the team in scoring this season, none moreso than Shannon Carlson, who leads the team with 15 points via six goals and three assists. Right behind her are Rainee Eby (5 G, 3 A, 13 pts), and Taylor Cunningham (5 G, 1 A, 11 pts).
• The Saints will return home on Tuesday for a game against Augsburg.

Well, that’s all for this week. Thanks for reading.

Points & Prattle (Sept. 24, 2010)

Good morning sportsfans,

Time for an abbreviated edition of Points & Prattle for this week. We'll be back with plenty for next week's Homecoming spectacular, but I've been out of the office so much this week that I should probably get down to business on some actual work around here. So, without further adu, the points:

• Football will look to bounce back from its first loss of the season last week. The trip to Chicago was not as successful as hoped, but it’s a non-conference loss – since we’re heading into conference play this week, it’s time to look forward rather than back.
• Cross Country returns to action this week, as they will run the Roy Griak Invitational. It’s probably the biggest race they’ll run of the year in terms of volume, and probably second in terms of importance to the Conference Championship. It even has its own Facebook page.
• Men’s Soccer continues to roll, earning an overtime win off the foot of Jermaine Dacres on Tuesday afternoon over St. Thomas, their first victory over the Tommies since 1994. The Saints finally return to Saints Field for a six-game homestand starting this weekend.
• Congrats to Rob Johnson for being named UMAC Player of the Week. He was also the St. Scholastica student newspaper’s (The Cable) Athlete of the Week. Congrats, Rob!
• The Saints volleyball team is still off to their hot start, despite going 2-2 last weekend, and open UMAC play this week. The Saints start on the road, but they are road-tested, with no better proof than the fact that Paige Hardy, Nikki Hughes, and Sarah Kurtovich swept the UMAC Player of the Week honors this week.
• Women’s Soccer remained undefeated in conference play last weekend, going 1-0-1 on the weekend. They, too, return home this weekend for an extended stay. While the Saints have lacked offensive firepower, they have still been able to stay off the losing end the past couple of weeks, so things are looking up for the young Saints. We’ll see if they can start a winning streak back home.
• A reminder that I’ll be on the iFan Sports Network this weekend, lending my voice to the Saints soccer broadcasts, provided the weather holds up. You can listen/watch live here.

Well, that is it. I told you it would be abbreviated. I confined all my ramblings into a few short paragraphs. Good job, Joe! Thanks for reading. We’ll see you next week.

Points & Prattle (Sept. 17, 2010)

Good morning sportsfans,

Seems like this week just flew by, and I was barely in the office all week, but I’m here now, which means a delicious new serving of Points and Prattle.

Football
I own a shirt from when football was first announced at CSS which reads “Undefeated since 1912.” Of course, we hadn’t played a game yet either, but as of this writing, they need to re-christen those shirts with “Undefeated in 2010.” That 2-0 record looks pretty good, but CSS has a pretty big test ahead of them. The points:

• I said 2-0, but the Saints are actually 3-0 in 2010 including that victory in the Can-Am Bowl against the Canadian All Stars in May.
• Defensive lineman Chas Lemon was named UMAC Player of the Week on Tuesday after a 2.5-sack performance on Saturday with a forced fumble. Congrats Chas!
• CSS had to come from behind to beat Eureka last week, but they did so handily, scoring 28 unanswered points after being down 21-10. Jake Olson led the offense primarily, but Alex Thiry did get the Saints on the board first with a 31-yard-lob to Travis Nehowig.
• The Concordia-Chicago Cougars are led by NAC co-offensive player of the year Mike Marotta, a senior who had 3,000 yards passing and 26 TDs last season. He already has 5 TDs this season.
• Don’t forget that the Saints can be heard on ESPN Radio 560-WEBC with Charlie Johnson on the call.

Men’s Soccer
What to say about the Saints men? They finally broke through and got their goalie a cushioned lead on Tuesday night, but they continued with the nailbiters on the weekend. It will be interesting to see how the team reacts entering tough conference play this weekend. The points:

• Last Saturday, the Saints held on for a road victory over Carleton, 1-0. Rob Johnson had the lone goal. On Tuesday, CSS fell behind early and then exploded for four goals by four different players to down Northland. Cody Sveiven, Greg Doornink, Jermaine Dacres, and Erik Trochimchuk had the honors.
• Goalkeeper Sam Reed finally got a much-deserved break in the waning minutes of that victory over Northland, as freshman Bryan Nyberg saw his first action of the season. He saw no shots on goal in 20 minutes, but his GAA is a pristine 0.00 for his career now.
• Doornink scored his goal on a penalty kick, so CSS is now 1-1 in that category after being simply diseased when it came to free kicks last season.
• The next test for the Saints will be another road trip, taking on Martin Luther and Bethany Lutheran in conference action this week. The Vikings are off to a hot 3-1-0 start while the Knights are at .500 (1-1-0) so far this season.

Volleyball
It’s pretty easy to be a Saints volleyball fan early in this season, as they are off to a 9-2 start with a victory over the then-16th-ranked team in the country (Carleton, last weekend), but have a tough schedule ahead as they are set to face the new 16th-ranked team in St. Olaf tomorrow afternoon. The points:

• With a four-match sweep, the Saints won the Gustavus Classic last week. Paige Hardy and Anna Zyvoloski were each named to the All-Tournament Team, the second time Hardy has earned that honor this season.
• From SID extraordinaire Jesse Robinson, the Saints have not had nine victories in their first 11 games since 1999.
• Along with being named to the all-tournament team, Hardy was named the UMAC Offensive Player of the Week last week. Her setter, Sarah Kurtovich, was also named Setter of the Week. Congrats, ladies!
• Next stop for the Saints: the Holiday Inn-vitational (clever), hosted by St. Benedict. CSS takes on the Blazers, the Wildcats, the Oles, and the Cougars this weekend (that’s host-CSB, St. Catherine, St. Olaf, and Minn.-Morris). CSS is off to the hottest start at 9-2, but the Oles are the only ranked team in the bunch (Hmm…). The Saints will look to continue their hot streak this weekend.

Women’s Soccer
The Saints women finally got off the schneid on Tuesday night, and the offense appears to be rolling on all cylinders as conference play continues this weekend. Congrats to the women on their first victory of the season, and let’s hope there’s more upcoming in the next two days.

• Taylor Cunningham sparked the Saints offense on Tuesday, scoring two goals in the victory to lead the Saints. A pair of Shannons, Carlson and Lee also netted their first collegiate goals in the victory.
• Megan Marolt had her first collegiate goal taken away as it was later ruled an own-goal on Northland, but she’s still got that score in the minds of Saints fans. Hopefully, she can pick up another this weekend.
• Saints goalkeeper Bailey Mahlum again saw her GAA creep lower with the victory, now at 1.50 on the season. If the Saints can keep on the offensive this weekend, perhaps we can see her first shutout of the season and it will take an even bigger drop.
• Like the Saints men, the women’s team will take on Martin Luther and Bethany Lutheran this weekend. Bethany’s women are also off to a hot start at 4-1-0 while the lady Knights have started the season 1-2-0.

Well, that’s all I got for you on this homeless weekend (no home games, get it?). Follow the Saints on the web at csssaints.com tonight and tomorrow, and hopefully, we can have another successful weekend. Thanks for reading.

Points & Prattle (Sept. 10, 2010)

Good morning sportsfans,

The school year begins, and so does another season of VOTS Points & Prattle. We’re going to have some fun again this semester, though I believe this will be the only returning feature. I’ve got to think up a good idea to keep the video-blogging continuing. I know we never actually got through all of our “Summer Sessions” videos, so maybe we can re-christen that and finish that for the early parts of the semester.

This past week has been rather busy for me, as you can see, which, along with school starting, means I haven’t had much time to devote to the VOTS. But with just a few games on the docket this weekend, it’s time to start thinking about the blog, so without further adu, the 2010-11 debut of Points & Prattle.

Football
I did not have a chance to see the Saints’ football game last weekend, but I look forward to seeing this defensive-minded squad in action soon. It’s my understanding that the preseason billing was correct: a strong defense and an offense that will put up enough points to win, and they did just that, edging Lawrence by one score in their first season-opening victory. Points:

• Nick Thiry blocked a punt, and Don Anderson scooped it up for a touchdown in the waning seconds of the first quarter, and it’s been voted Play of the Week on D3Football.
  Kicking has long been a bane for Saints football, but they seem to have the problem solved:
• Cole Karsky put the Saints up 3-0 followed a five-play, 52-yard drive with a 35-year field goal, the first in Saints history.
• CSS will look to make it two-in-a-row against Eureka College. The Saints faced off against the Red Devils in last season’s Metrodome game, with Eureka rallying to a 21-20 victory, something the Saints will not look to let happen again.
• And please, anyone attending the game on Saturday at Malosky Stadium, I know there’s a joke here, but try to stay classy.

Men’s Soccer
The Saints’ men have started their season 1-2; since I’ve been here, I’ve been used to early season success from the men’s team (they were 8-0-1 before their first loss last season), but I’m not too worried. What I saw on the field was a team that played hard against three strong opponents, and took a couple on the chin. Dealing with adversity can only help in the long run.
Points:

• Despite a losing record, goalkeeper Sam Reed is off to a strong start, with one shutout and a goals against average of 1.00. Sure, it’s more than last season’s 0.65 GAA, but there’s still plenty of time for it to go down.
• The Saints offense did not seem to be hitting on all cylinders offensively until Sunday afternoon when Dustin James and Toby Peter each netted a header, but freshman Ben Wallace scored his first goal of the year, a nice shot, on Friday to give the Saints a chance.
• The Saints play Carleton tomorrow: a tough opponent, but one they can beat, if their veteran leaders bring lead them to victory. Coach Barry Chastey’s squad last faced off against Carleton in 2005, and his only meeting with the Knights was a 2-1 loss.

Volleyball
Despite previous reports (by me) that the Saints volleyball squad went 1-3 last weekend, they actually split 2-2 (sorry, coach Dana Moore). CSS is off to a hot start, despite a slip-up against Augsburg last weekend, they have played strong and only (otherwise) lost to a very strong Saint Mary’s squad. Maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised the Saints got pegged first in the UMAC this season. Points:

• Paige Hardy made the All-Sugar Loaf Classic tournament team last weekend after a stellar weekend offensively and defensively for the Saints, with 40 kills in the Saints first three matches and 22 digs in the finale.
• Sophomore transfer Anna Zyvoloski has lived up to the hype and played strong for the Saints as well, but it’s been a team effort. Here’s some video I shot at last week’s season-opening tournament.
• The Saints compete in the Gustavus Classic this weekend, and looking at the records, CSS is riding the most steam entering the weekend, while Gustavus also has a strong 3-1 record. CSS plays conference rival Martin Luther (in non-conference action), host-Gustavus, Carleton, and Wis.-River Falls.

Women’s Soccer
Zero wins in their first three games looks bad for a Saints squad that was picked to finish first in the UMAC, but CSS has looked strong in those three losses – especially defensively, as Megan Flesvig, freshman Logan Williamson, and the Saints defense have held opponents to just seven shots-on-goal per game, giving their goalkeepers a chance. Points:

• Speaking of goalkeepers, the Saints’ Bailey Mahlum was named to the 2010 Advantage Emblem Cup All-Tournament team for her performance against a strong Concordia-Moorhead squad last Friday.
• Joining her on the team was Andrea Beatt, the only Saint to net a goal on the season so far. With the defense playing as strong as it is, the Saints will need to turn up the offense if they want to move in the right direction.
• The Saints women also take on Carleton on Saturday, so the schedule doesn’t get any easier for CSS this weekend. The Knights knocked off the Saints in the 2008 NCAA Tournament, and CSS is looking for some payback.
• I forgot to mention in the men’s game, but video for both games will be available online here. Of course, it will be lacking my commentary, but you can’t have it all.

Well, that’s all for this week’s Points & Prattle – a little new format (a little better format, I’d argue). Thanks for reading and enjoy the weekend of Saints athletics as well as the start of the NFL season.

SUMMER SESSIONS w/Men's Soccer Coach Barry Chastey

Summer Sessions Episode #6

w/Saints Head Men's Soccer Coach Barry Chastey

Short and sweet to close out the week with Coach Chastey. We've now finally wrapped up the Fall season of Summer Sessions. Next week, we'll dive back into the winter sports. I would again like to get in two videos, but that is highly dependent on which coaches are around. Thanks for watching, and as always, enjoy:

-jh

Points and Prattle, Vol. 9 - Nov. 20, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Good morning, St. Scholastica!

On one of the biggest college hockey weekends in the city of Duluth, Minn. in the 2009-10 season, the Saints are on a bye week, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have plenty to get excited about here at St. Scholastica with men’s and women’s basketball well underway and the fall sports teams still racking up the accolades for an impressive season!

• The fall season came to a close for at least one team last week as the Saints women fell by a 3-0 score to the Macalester Scots in the NCAA tournament. There’s nothing to hang their heads about, they had a great season and battled back from some injuries. Congrats on a great season!
• With their season over, the CSS men’s team received a pair of prestigious awards this week as Toby Peter (Jr.) was named a Second Team Academic All-American by CoSIDA (College Sports Info. Directors of America) and ESPN (I think you know what this is), and Geofrey Kalanzi (Fr.) was announced as the recipient of the prestigious National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Lea Plarski Award. Read more about Kalanzi and the award here.
• Katelyn Meger (Sr.) will not let the fall sports season end. She’s off to Nationals for cross country, her second straight appearance, after finishing ninth in the NCAA Central Regional last week. Congrats, Katelyn! I know you’ll do CSS proud.
• Men’s basketball saw the nation’s longest winning streak come to an end in their season opener Sunday against Wis.-Eau Claire, but rebounded with an impressive victory over North Central Tuesday. The Saints will tip-off against Concordia-Moorhead tomorrow night, which can be seen live here.
• As discussed in this week’s “5 Questions,” Coach Stacy Deadrick has inched one step closer to 200 career victories with win #199 Tuesday against North Central. The Saints are at Wis.-Stevens Point for a tournament this weekend and will take on Concordia-Moorhead and Stevens Point or Rockford College. The tournament web site can be found here.
• Read some quick previews on this weekend’s basketball games here (men’s) and here (women’s), courtesy of my fellow sports information intern Chris Doran.
• As I stated earlier, the Saints men’s hockey team is off this weekend after a pair of ties that was as frustrating as it was exciting in last weekend’s series against Wis.-Stout. Despite the ties, the Saints jumped Stout in the rankings and are now No. 8 in the nation, according to the USCHO.com/NCAA Division-III poll.
• Next weekend, the puck drops on our Thanksgiving Classic as the Saints play host to Salem (Mass.) State on Friday night and Lawrence (Wis.) Univ. on Saturday night with a 7:05 p.m. start time each night. The No. 1 team in the nation, St. Norbert, will play the opposite team each day at 3:30 p.m. With the short week next week, we won’t have a 5 Questions, but Tuesday or Wednesday, I’ll be posting a preview of the tournament action, so stay tuned for that.
• Finally, the Saints Nordic Ski team starts this season this week in West Yellowstone, Mont. Good luck to them this season, and I hope they enjoy their trip!

That’s all I have for you on a relatively slow week in CSS athletics. Stay tuned for the aforementioned Saints Thanksgiving Classic preview next week.

Enjoy your weekends,
-jh
Go Saints!

Points and Prattle, Vol. 8 - Nov. 13, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Good morning, St. Scholastica!

A Happy Friday the 13th to you all! Sportscenter asked this morning who my favorite player who wore/wears #13 is – and I emphatically said NOT Alex Rodriguez, but that’s neither here nor there – which made me think of Saints athletes who wore number 13 in recent years. Here’s the list, as I can tell:

• Baseball: Adian Kummet (’09)
• Basketball: Kyle Allen (’09)
• Football: Drew Holm (So.)
• Hockey: Shawn Barlette (’08)
• Soccer: Abby Arrowsmith (Sr.), Geofrey Kalanzi (Fr.)
• Volleyball: Emily Lindquist (Fr.), Erin Niles (’09)

So, as you can see: a pretty star-studded group of current and former athletes, but still rather sparse in terms of numbers. It would seem that in the sports where players have the most leeway to choose their numbers, they aren’t taking 13. Superstitious? Maybe. With that out of the way, let’s review a busy week of Saints athletics with the latest edition of Points & Prattle:

• The week began with the crowning of three UMAC tournament champions, adding to our collection of five on the fall season, as men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball joined men’s and women’s cross country atop the conference.
• If you weren’t at any of these games, you missed some great action. You can catch the women’s soccer championship game (with commentary from yours truly) on demand by clicking here.
• Speaking of commentary from yours truly… Did you miss Saints hockey taking on Saint John’s last Friday? Check that here.
• …but back to the Fall sports, we saw an impressive second season come to an end for Saints football on Saturday as they fell to Martin Luther. But there is plenty of reason for optimism coming off a 4-6 season which saw the Saints finishing third in the UMAC. All-Conference football awards should be announced soon, and I suspect we will see more than a few Saints honored this year.
• Already this week, the Saints have had 11 athletes selected to the First Team All-UMAC in their respective sports, and six more chosen as Honorable Mentions. Check out the names, headed by two-time UMAC Player of the Year Toby Peter (Jr.), by clicking your favorite sport: Men’s Soccer, Volleyball, Women’s Soccer.
• Saints soccer isn’t done as of yet, because the Saints women’s team was selected for the third straight season to compete in the NCAA Tournament. They will take on Macalester tomorrow evening, and you can catch live video of it here, starting at 7:30 p.m.
• They are joined in NCAA competition this weekend by the cross country teams who will compete at the NCAA Regional in Grinell, Iowa. Coach Pfingsten previews the meet here.
• The 10th ranked Saints men’s hockey team returns to their home ice tonight against No. 9 Wis-Stout. A sweep could put the Saints alone atop the NCHA standings as fellow conference leaders No. 1 St. Norbert and No.8 Wis.-River Falls do battle with Wis.-Stevens Point and Wis.-Eau Claire, respectively. Coach Wick previewed the match-up in his first ShoutOut! Of the year.
• Saints men’s basketball goes to work on defending their own UMAC Tournament championship starting Sunday when they take on Wis.-Eau Claire. Coach Staniger sat down for 5 Questions with VOTS earlier this week, talking about his young team, who was picked to finish third in the UMAC this year, despite touting the nation’s longest winning streak at 11 straight games.
• The Saints women don’t start this season until next Tuesday when they take on North Central, but it was announced earlier this week that UMAC coaches tabbed them to finish fourth in the conference.

That’s about all that’s going on for Saints athletics this week. Stay current with CSSsaints.com, and click to proper links on the side to follow the Saints on Twitter and Facebook. We’ll be back next week with more.

Enjoy your weekend,
-jh
Go Saints!

Points and Prattle Playoff Preview (Vol. 7) – Nov. 3, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Good morning St. Scholastica,

It’s time for a special Tuesday edition of Points and Prattle, and not just because we missed it last week. We’ll have 5 Questions this Friday, and then return to our normal programming schedule next week. Today is an important day for the Saints because it’s the semifinals of the UMAC Tournament for three of our Fall sports. So, this is a Playoff Preview edition of Points & Prattle (gotta love that alliteration!)

Men’s Soccer

• Finishing second in the UMAC, the Saints men’s soccer team will play host to Northwestern College this morning at 11:30 a.m. In their two regular season meetings, the Saints swept the Eagles by scores of 5-1 on the road at 2-0 at home.
• The Saints come in on a four-game undefeated streak while the Eagles come off a loss to Crown College last Friday night.
• The Saints men have not lost a UMAC first round match since the 1998 season.

Women’s Soccer

• The women’s team, who won their sixth straight UMAC regular season title this season, will play host to the University of Minnesota, Morris at 2 p.m. on Saints Field. CSS shut out the Cougars in each of their two meetings this season by scores of 1-0 and 4-0.
• Sophomore goalkeepers Bailey Mahlum and Erin Olejnicak each have two shutouts of the Cougars during their careers at CSS.
• The Saints women won the UMAC tournament in each of the past two seasons

Volleyball

• After getting the chance to watch the women’s volleyball team for the first time this past weekend, I can assure you that they can win any game against any opponent. They are extremely talented, but more importantly, they have a lot of fight in them.
• The Saints finished second to three-time defending champion Northwestern in this year’s regular season and will host Northland College on Tuesday evening (7 p.m. – Reif Gym in the BWC on campus). CSS swept the season series against the LumberJills, beating Northland in straight sets when they hosted them last week, but took five games in Ashland on Oct. 14 to earn the win.
• The Saints have not faced Northland in the postseason since the 2002 season, when the Saints swept the ’Jills 3-0.

Best of luck to each of our three teams playing today, and we hope that you will be able to get out to the games (despite the inconvenient timing of the soccer matches) to cheer on the Saints!

Enjoy your week,
-jh
Go Saints!

Points and Prattle, Vol. 6 - Oct. 23, 2009

Good morning, St. Scholastica!

It’s been a relatively quick week here at CSS Sports Information, but with men’s and women’s soccer home all weekend, it’s about to get busy for at least a few days. Even more importantly, we are just one week away from the start of hockey season. There’s no better feeling in the world.

• With winter sports starting next week, it’s a good thing I finished up the fall coaches in 5 Questions this week when we interviewed head women’s soccer coach Dave Reyelts. The interview went great, and it’s one of my favorites to date. (Who knew I was a poet?) So check it out.
• Dave’s lady Saints had their hands full last week with Crown and Northwestern colleges coming to town, but they escaped with a pair of wins thanks to late-game heroics and excellent goal-tending by sophomore ’keepers Bailey Mahlum and Erin Olejnicak.
• For her efforts, which included stopping three breakaway plays by the Storm in route to a shutout, Olejnicak was named the All-UMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday afternoon. Congrats Erin!
• Also named All-UMAC was volleyball’s Sarah Kurtovich, her second-such honor for setting duties in her freshman campaign. She averaged nine assists per set last weekend as the Saints swept Martin Luther 3-0 and edged Bethany Lutheran 3-1. They now have six straight wins going into tonight’s match-up with Minnesota-Morris, which can be seen on the Cougar Sports Network. And that has nothing to do with this sort of Cougar either.
• Men’s soccer had an interesting night on Wednesday as tempers flared against Augsburg. I wouldn’t say the chippiness was the reason, but the Saints did fall for the first time in five games by a 2-1 final. This weekend, Presentation and Minn.-Morris will get to face a frustrated Saints team, and I don’t envy the position. Goalkeeper Sam Reed is now third in the UMAC in goals against average and save percentage, as well as first in shutouts with seven.
• Football dropped their first conference game of the year last week to perennial conference power Northwestern by a 55-28 score. Senior Chris Henagin had another 100+ yard game on the ground as well as putting a pair of touchdowns on the board.
• I must first apologize because the last time I did one of these, I left out Cross Country. That was an accident on my part, and I want to say that the CC runners are just as important to us as any other sport. That being said, cross country competed at two different events last week, and did quite well for themselves.
• At the Concordia-Moorhead Cobber Invite, senior Tara Connolly ran third for the women who finished second overall while sophomore Jim Linn led the men to a third place finish, running 13th overall.
• Meanwhile, on the complete other side of the state (and even further, I suppose), six runners competed at the Wis.-Oshkosh Brooks Invite. Pat Bigaouette, Nick Mangan, and Tony Bye each ran personal bests that were good for second, fourth, and fifth all-time on the Saints all-time list. Katelyn Meger led the women with a 22nd place finish, while Jessie Lovering and Kristin Gronbeck each ran their season-best time.
• And I don’t know why I keep putting myself through this by posting the link, but I’ve certainly never been more “proud” of my hometown than I was upon reading this story.

While, that’s all for this week. Things will get pretty busy next week as fall and winter sports start to overlap, but I have something special planned to coincide with the start of hockey season, so stay tuned for that.

Have a fabulous weekend,
-jh
Go Saints!

Approximately 5 Questions ...with Men's Soccer Coach Barry Chastey

An abbreviated version of 5 Questions this week. Long story short, we had some issues with the last question, so it had to be edited out. Just four questions this week. The glory of technology is that we can work around the problems with technology, but I digress. I hope you enjoy the latest in the 5 Questions series:



And with that done, I can announce that next week, we will finish up the fall coaches as I sit down with Women's Soccer coach Dave Reyelts. The people have been waiting, and he's excited to do it. Stay tuned for that, and we'll see you on Friday.

Have a great week,
-jh

Points and Prattle, Vol 5 - Oct. 9, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Good morning, sportsfans!

After a long and busy week, VOTS returns for another exciting edition of Points and Prattle.

• A month into the 2009-10 school year, the CSS Cable newspaper returns with yours truly as one of the co-editors. We’re not online as of yet, so those of you away from campus are out of luck. Soon enough, you’ll be able to read all of the articles on a new-and-improved Cable website. I’ll keep you posted.
• The MLB postseason is underway, and I couldn’t be happier. Baseball on all day long? Seems too good to be true. Now, if only this were less ominous.
• Speaking of professional sports (and I promise this tangent will end soon)… the UFL debuted last night with the Las Vegas Locomotives edging out the California Redwoods. Off-putting names aside, I hear the quality of football was good, so let’s hope this doesn’t go the way of the AFL.
• Speaking of the AFL… Did you catch that great interview from Tuesday with a Arena-ball-coach-turned-CSS-head-coach Greg Carlson?
• Speaking of CSS football… Congrats to senior Chris Henagin on being named the UMAC North Offensive Player of the Week for his 272-yard, two-touchdown performance in the Saints’ third victory of the season on Saturday afternoon. The Saints have a two-game winning streak (for the first time, obviously) entering Saturday’s game against Macalester, who comes to Duluth on a two-game losing streak.
• Speaking of two-game win streaks (I promise, I’ll stop soon)… CSS volleyball is on a two-game victory binge after defeating Minnesota-Morris last night in the first game of Dig Pink week at the Reif Gym. Freshman Paige Hardy led the way with 15 kills and 24 digs in the five-set match which saw CSS come from two games down to win. Come out to the BWC tonight for another Dig Pink match-up, this time against Presentation College.
• Speaking of Presentation (it’s too easy)… Men’s soccer tied Presentation on Sunday afternoon in a thrilling 1-1 double overtime match, but not before suffering their first defeat of the season against Minn.-Morris on Saturday. It’s too bad to see the undefeated streak go, but 8-1-2 is an excellent record and there’s plenty of season left.
• The Saints women (see, I told you I’d stop) also tied in their last match, going to double overtime with Augsburg on Wednesday afternoon. Senior Beth Flesvig earned the game-tying score early in the second half, but the Auggie goalkeeper was able to keep the Saints out of the net for the rest of the game, making nine saves. Also deserving of a shoutout is sophomore goalkeeper Erin Olejnicak, who made six saves to keep her Saints in the game.
• Speaking of ShoutOuts! (sorry, I had to)… The ShoutOuts! continue to roll in on our YouTube account, so if you haven’t seen them yet, check out this week’s batch, starring coaches Carlson, Chastey, Reyelts, and Moore.
• Next week, I hope to have one of the soccer coaches on 5 Questions, but we’ll see which one is available. I know the anticipation will be killing you over the weekend, but hopefully, you can survive.
• If you can, let me advise you to come on out for volleyball tonight and football tomorrow! Or, if you’re down in the Twin Cities metro, go support the men’s and women’s soccer team against Bethany Lutheran and Martin Luther colleges. It should be an exciting weekend for CSS athletics.
• And on a completely unrelated note, was The Office last night excellent, or what?

Well, thanks for reading! It’s been a long week, and I am still busy with school work and Cable business, so that’s all I can offer you today.

Enjoy your weekends,
-jh

Points and Prattle, Vol. 3 – Oct. 2, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Good morning, St. Scholastica!

When I said I’d “try something new” this week, my intentions were not to forget about the VOTS audience, but it happened to end up that way. My sincerest apologies! I’ve been busy with school work all week. Professors, these days! Don’t they understand the need to please the masses with blogs? Oh well, next week will see the return of 5 Questions, so we need not worry about missing two weeks worth of Tuesday blogs. So, without further adu…

• Men’s Soccer continues on their hot streak with three straight shutouts from goalkeeper Sam Reed. He hasn’t done it alone of course, as his defense held Hamline, Bethany Lutheran, and Martin Luther to just nine combined shots on net in the three contests. Freshman Erik Trochimchuk and sophomore Brandon Stemwedel were the offensive stars over the past week, with two goals each in the three games.
• Speaking of soccer stars, junior Greg Doornink was named UMAC Defensive Player of the Week for his part in the pair of conference shutouts over the weekend.
• The Saints women earned a pair of shutout victories over Homecoming weekend as they prepare for an exciting run starting this weekend with games against Minnesota-Morris (Saturday) and Augsburg College (next Wednesday). Senior Angie Groh led the Saints with two goals and three assists on the weekend, and they’ll need that offensive firepower to continue going forward.
• But, even Groh’s scoring prowess was outshined as sophomore Molly Bergmann had her first start in net on Friday afternoon and earned her first collegiate victory and shutout en route to being named UMAC Defensive Player of the Week for women’s soccer.
• After a disappointing Friday evening for Saints volleyball, the women turned it around on Homecoming Saturday and swept their two opponents, Bethany Lutheran and the dreaded Wis.-Superior Yellowjackets. For their part in the weekend, Saints sophomore Nikki Hughes and freshman Sarah Kurtovich were also named UMAC Players of the Week.
• Hughes earned the honor of volleyball’s Defensive Player of the Week with 4.5 digs per set and a .946 receiving percentage. Kurtovich was Setter of the Week with 5.5 assists per set helping the Saints to a .219 attack percentage over the weekend. (And if you understand all of that, my hat’s off to you.)
• And in the biggest game in the short history of Saints football, CSS “brought home the Bacon” (hat tip to the real voice of Saints athletics, Dave Cook) and earned a 22-16 victory over Minnesota-Morris thanks to the late-game heroics of third-string freshman quarterback Matt Bacon. With sophomore starter Jake Olson out for the game with an injury, and sophomore back-up Alex Thiry injured on a two-point conversion try late in the first half, Bacon went 9-13 passing for 120 yards and a rushing touchdown in the second half and helped clinched the Saints’ second victory of the season. Chris Henagin had 156 yards on the ground and a score, while Jonny Bennett had 95 yards and one touchdown receiving. All in all, a great game for the Saints…
• … and in the great injustice of the week, NOBODY earned UMAC Player of the Week honors from the football team. The powers that be at the UMAC must not enjoy cured meat.
• Cross country ran an important race over the weekend, the University of Minnesota’s Griak Invite. Once again, Nick Mangan and Katelyn Meger starred for their respective teams. I'm beginning to sound like a broken record on that one, but they're both excellent runners.
• In coaching news, Chad Salmela, head coach of the Nordic Ski program, has been chosen to once again cover the Winter Olympic Games for NBC. He’ll do some color commentating in Vancouver, and since he did it in 2002 at the Salt Lake games, he can’t be any worse than me. Click here for the full story and here for the Vancouver Games’ official site.
• As for next week’s 5 Questions victim, you’ll just have to wait and see. Oh, the suspense!

That’s all for this week’s P&P. Thanks for reading!

Have a great weekend,
-jh

Points and Prattle, Vol. 3 - Sept. 25, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Happy Friday, sportsfans!

It’s time for an abbreviated edition of Points and Prattle, with a busy day ahead of me, and hopefully, an exciting Homecoming weekend for everyone here at CSS!

• As predicted right here two weeks ago, my days of announcing Saints soccer were not yet over. My career continued with the Saints men’s match against St. Thomas on Wednesday afternoon.
• The men are off to their best start since 1985 – it’s confirmed now, 1985’s team was awesome – in going 5-0-1. They are still unbeaten, but lost their winning streak in the aforementioned tilt against St. Thomas. As I called it on the iFan broadcast, the game was a battle of attrition with neither team allowing any significant scoring chances outside of the two goals scored. Freshman Josh Odukomaya netted his fourth goal of the season for the Saints, a beauty, in that one.
• Speaking of ties, despite a tie last weekend against Northwestern, the Saints women have extended their regular season conference unbeaten streak to 60 consecutive games, dating back to Oct. 12, 2003. For a point of reference, a gallon of gasoline cost less than $1.50 in October 2003. The Saints also ‘stormed’ over Crown 5-0 last weekend, with sophomore keeper Bailey Mahlum earning her third career shutout.
• Despite taking a loss in Superior, football’s Chris Doran was honored as a UMAC Player of the Week for two fumble recoveries, his first collegiate sack, and double-digit tackles in the Saints’ game Saturday vs. Wisconsin Lutheran. Congrats, Chris!
• Cross Country also saw some athletes honored, as sophomore Jimmy Linn ran his personal record of 29:47 to earn UMAC POTW honors while senior Katelyn Meger finished fifth best among NCAA D-3 runners with a season best 23:23 at the St. Olaf Invite. Congrats, runners!
• Last, but certainly not least, volleyball split in their two games in Illinois, following to host Illinois Wesleyan before responding with a sweep of Webster University. Senior Rebecca Udermann led the Saints with 27 kills on the afternoon, while sophomore Nikki Hughes had 41 digs.
• As previously mentioned, it’s Homecoming weekend, so you have your pick of the litter for games: men’s and women’s soccer starting at 2 p.m. today, volleyball at 7 p.m. today, as well as soccer, volleyball, and football tomorrow afternoon. Cross country gets a much-deserved rest to enjoy the festivities, and I am envious.
• If nothing else, my mother is a fan of 5 Questions on VOTS. I continued to ask the tough questions when I sat down with Steve Pfingsten this week. Next week, we’ll try something new, but 5 Questions will return soon.
• Also on the multimedia front, ShoutOuts! received a blast of youth this week as some top student athletes joined their coaches to invite the fans out to the game. If you’re a fan of Angie Groh or Jonny Bennett, then today’s ShoutOuts! are perfect for you. You’ll also find some from earlier in the week on our YouTube channel, now located in the “Follow CSS” section over yonder. >>>

Programming note: I’ll be on the air again this afternoon, starting at 2 p.m. calling the action for the Saints men’s and women’s soccer team taking on Martin Luther College, on the iFan Sports Network. Click here and follow the appropriate links for that. Also, I’ll be writing game recaps for this weekend’s soccer matches if you are a big fan of my writing. Which, of course, you are.

Points and Prattle, Vol. 2 - Sept. 18, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Another week has come and gone. Time flies when you’re having fun, as well as when you're busy beyond comprehension. Nonetheless, it’s Friday, and Friday means another rousing edition of Points and Prattle here at VOTS, so without further ado:

• My new “show,” 5 Questions has received some excellent reviews, so that should continue here at VOTS next week, provided I get over this awful cold before early next week.
• My thoughts and prayers, this week, are with the family of the late-NCAA president Myles Brand. He was president for just six years, but did a lot in pushing the “student” part of the term “student athlete,” and that’s a good thing.
• In today’s digression of the day, The Office season premiere last night was excellent, as always. Now, if only I had realized It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was on as well…
• Congrats to four Saints on earning UMAC Player of the Week honors this week. In men’s soccer, freshman forward Joshua Odukomaya’s banner day did not go unnoticed as his seven points earned him the Offensive POTW, while sophomore goalkeeper Sam Reed earned himself a shutout and Defensive POTW. Football had senior RB Chris Henagin and his three touchdowns recognized, as sophomore FS Scott Greening’s two interceptions earned him the honor as well.
• On the subject of football, they earned their first road victory in program history, a 33-8 slashing of Maranatha Baptist (Wis.) College, last week, and are now, for the first time ever, .500 on the season. They will look for another first – an above .500 record – on Saturday against Wisconsin Lutheran. The game is a home contest for CSS, but it will be played on Superior’s Ole Haugsrud Field.
• As with last week, the Saints men’s soccer team is off to its best start in years. Now at 3-0-0, they’ve matched their start from 2004. One more victory will give them their best start on record, and it could come today against Northwestern. The Saints were 1-1-1 against the Eagles last season with just two goals scored by each team, so anything could happen in this rivalry.
• Women’s soccer, currently on a two-game skid, takes to the field for UMAC play – where they are undefeated the past six regular seasons – as well this weekend, taking on Northwestern today and Crown tomorrow. The same two teams were on the receiving end of the Saints’ frustration from two straight losses last season, an unenviable position.
• Cross Country was “home” last week… sort of. They ran the Campus Quest VI at Minn.-Duluth, where the women earned third and the men fourth. Senior Katelyn Meger once again impressed, finishing third, while junior Nick Mangan finished fourth on the men’s side, posting a personal best at 27:46.
• Last, but certainly not least, our volleyball team split the weekend with two wins and two losses at Wis.-Superior, including their first three-game sweep of the season over the YellowJackets. Freshman Paige Hardy was again the star of the weekend, with 50 kills in their four games. This young team seems very exciting, and I can’t wait to see them Homecoming weekend. Before that though, they will travel some 500-plus miles to Bloomington, Ill. to take on Illinois Wesleyan and Webster universities.
• On the web front, ShoutOuts!!! wasn’t a one-person show this week, with all five Fall coaches giving us a preview of the weekend. The CSS YouTube channel is filling up with great content already.
• If you don’t have plans Saturday night (after the CSS football game, of course), then camp out with St. Scholastica and the United Way at Night Without a Home. There’s live music, it’s for a good cause, and it’s probably your last nice night to camp out this year, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Well, that’s all I have for you this week. VOTS returns Tuesday with our next 5 Questions segment, featuring Head Men’s and Women’s Cross Country coach, Steve Pfingsten! We’ll talk about longevity in coaching, the difference between men and women student athletes, and maybe what makes a cross country runner tick. Should be fun.

Enjoy your weekends,
-jh

Points and Prattle, Vol. 1 – Sept. 11, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Eight years ago today, my friend Steve told me “I guess a plane crashed into a building somewhere…” as we walked into gym class. Little did I know at the time, that plane crash would change the course of history forever. We should all take a moment today to think about the people whose lives were affected by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. I know I will.

The first week of classes for the 2009-10 school year has come and gone for CSS students. Hopefully by now, the freshman have adapted to their surroundings and have lost that confused look on their faces. Our sports teams are on the road this week, so no work for me this weekend. Instead, I’ll be focusing on homework! But without any further ado, here’s the first edition of Points and Prattle:

• I tried my hand at play-by-play for women’s soccer for the first time last weekend (vs. Wis.-River Falls). It’s a work in progress, but I think it turned out okay. I don’t believe I’ve been relieved of my duties yet, so I should get another shot soon.
• Speaking of women’s soccer, they picked up a pair of victories this week, including in the aforementioned Sunday afternoon meeting with the WIAC’s Falcons. First-year Saint Megan Stingle netted the overtime game-winner and then gave us a fantastic celebration photo. Wednesday’s 7-1 victory over the Northland LumberJills was a bit more understated, but still just as important, earning the Saints a current 1-0 record in the UMAC. As they say, you can’t win them all if you don’t win the first.
• Men’s soccer earned themselves a 6-0 win as well against Northland, and are now 2-0 to start the season, accomplishing a feat which, surprisingly, they have not done since 2004. Freshman Joshua Odukomaya earned himself seven points, including a hat trick and one assist. The Saints’ six-goal shutout was the largest margin of victory for the Saints since Oct. 12, 2007 when they defeated Martin Luther College by the same 6-0 score.
• While on that subject, congrats to Courtney Bonnick and Dustin James for sweeping the UMAC Player of the Week awards for Men’s Soccer! Dustin’s game-tying goal and Courtney’s game-winner made for quite an exciting game against Macalester last week.
• Football started their second season with a 40-19 loss to Concordia-Chicago, but not through lack of effort. The Saints had the lead – twice – and also made a late surge that fell short. Quarterback Jake Olson started the game, going 22-30 with 240 passing yards and 2 TDs including an 80-yard touchdown pass to Mike VanMassenhove before being relieved by Alex Thiry, who went 4-4 for 31 yards and a score. All in all, it was a disappointing loss but a good jumping off point for the young Saints.
• Women’s and men’s cross country finished third and fourth, respectively, in their first meet of the season, the Tom Barry Invitational. The meet was highlighted for CSS with impressive showings by Katelyn Meger, who finished third, and Tara Connolly, who finished eighth. Nick Mangan was the lone top-10 finisher for the men, but they all ran well.
• Last, but certainly not least, volleyball has gotten off to a slow start, but rebounded with their first victories of the season on Wednesday at the Augsburg triangular. Paige Hardy was the star of the day with 23 kills in two games against Augsburg and Wis.-River Falls. Their first win was all the 225th career win of volleyball head coach Dana Moore. Congrats!
• Speaking of Dana Moore, she was the second coach to do a Shout Out! for the CSS YouTube account. Check out hers or the first, starring head football coach Greg Carlson here.
• Not much for news this week at CSS, although men’s basketball and men’s track & field both added some impressive recruits for their upcoming seasons.
• If you haven’t already, become a fan of the Saints on Facebook and follow CSS or myself on Twitter. Warning: my tweets are often irrelevant and always random.

VOTS will return next Tuesday with the debut of my coach’s interview series, starting with head volleyball coach Dana Moore! We’ll talk about positive attitudes, slow starts, and how to truly appreciate volleyball. So, be sure to check that out!

Enjoy your weekend,
-jh

Brits bring world of experience to CSS soccer

Jermaine Dacres didn’t know where Minnesota was when he was contacted by St. Scholastica men’s soccer coach Barry Chastey in late July 2007 about an opportunity to attend the college and play for the Saints.

The Nottingham, England, native found out two days later after seeing news reports about the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Not long after that, Dacres headed for Duluth to begin his collegiate career.

An ankle injury ended his season after 10 games, in which he managed one goal and three assists. This season, however, the21-year-old midfielder is back in top form — with two goals and four assists in five games — and he brought a friend.

This year, Courtney Bonnick followed Dacres’ path to St. Scholastica via Nottingham. The 21-year-old striker has three goals and one assist for the Saints, second in team scoring to his friend of10 years. St. Scholastica (3-2 overall, 1-0 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference) hosts Northwestern (1-4, 0-0) in a UMAC game at 2 p.m. today.

“Jermaine has helped me out a lot,” Bonnick said of his transition into life at college and in the United States. “We stayed in contact via e-mail before I came over.”

Dacres assisted on Bonnick’s two goals in a season-opening 3-1 victory over Hamline on Aug. 30. Bonnick’s lone assist came on a goal by Dacres three games later. In the Saints’ latest win, 2-0 against Concordia-Moorhead on Tuesday, Dacres assisted on goals by Dustin James of Superior and Brandon Stemwedel of Grand Rapids.

“I feel like sometimes if I react quickly, I can almost play blind, because I can kind of sense where [Bonnick’s] going to be on the field,” Dacres said. “So, I can play that blind ball, and nine times out of 10 it’ll end up on his feet or remotely close to where he is.”

They aren’t the only Brits on the team. Freshman goalkeeper Sam Reed is from Eastbourne, England, and Chastey and assistant coach Dave Robinson also are English. Chastey, 33, moved to the U.S. in 2000, and Robinson, 50, has lived in Duluth for 21 years.

The Saints have another pair of international players, sophomore midfielder Toby Peter of Germany and freshman midfielder-defender Asos Amin of Sweden.

Chastey found Dacres through a recruiting service based in Nottingham and was able to get feedback on Dacres from a pair of coaches he knew from there. Soon after arriving in Duluth, Dacres encouraged Bonnick to follow.

The experience the international players have brought to St. Scholastica has improved the team significantly, Chastey said.

“They’ve obviously played, coached at a high level,” he said. “They’ve certainly helped people [on the team].”

Dacres played five games before his initial injury a year ago. He missed three games and returned for another five before suffering a season-ending setback.

“I think I came back way, way too early — way early. I felt maybe 70 percent; my confidence wasn’t there. I didn’t want to do certain things, turn. I couldn’t really cross [the ball]. So I lost a lot of confidence,” Dacres said. “This season I feel like I’m back to where I was at the beginning of last year.”

Here is the video to go along with the article

***Article written by Jimmy Bellamy-Duluth News Tribune***