100 Wins For Coach Fem – #3 Saint Xavier Cougars Head Coach Mike Feminis notched his 100th win yesterday as his boys closed out the regular season with a 30-6 win over the 7th-ranked Continue reading
Tag Archives: College and University
QUICK TAKES: FRIDAY STYLE
“Getcher Popcorn Ready” Dept – In the NAIA 6 of the 23 remaining undefeated football teams square off against each other this Saturday (Week 4 for NAIA football) – the # 2 Lindenwood Lions host the #8 Missouri Valley Vikings, the 7th-ranked Ottawa (KS) Braves travel to the 9-th ranked McPherson Bulldogs and the #11 Saint Francis (IN) Cougars host the #17 St Ambrose Fighting Bees. Like the cliche says, “Someone’s 0 will go!”
Volleyball Warriors: Taken By Force – The Lewis-Clark State Warriors volleyball team, ranked 11th in the latest NAIA poll, breezed past the Montana Tech Orediggers in a sweep by scores of 25-20, 25-17 and 25-9. The Warriors are now 12-1 and a perfect 3-0 in Frontier Conference play. The majority of the team’s kills came from 3 players: “Killin'” Kelli Tikker had 11 and hit .458; “The District Attorney” herself, Deddiy Alaimaleata had 10 kills and hit .400 and Nicole “The Gray Seal” Graybeal had 8 kills and a .467 mark. The next game for the Warriors is tomorrow against the Montana Western Bulldogs. To benefit the YWCA, anyone who brings 2 items of canned food gets in free.
Triumph Of The Tritons – UC-San Diego, cool team name, The Tritons, has been ranked the number 1 Division 2 institution in the country in the NCSA’s Collegiate Power Rankings. Not only that, but they were ranked # 23 overall, in a system that evaluates a college or university‘s student-athlete graduation rates, academic strength and athletic prowess. If you’re wondering they placed 6th in my list of NCAA Division 2’s 20 Coolest-Named College Sports Teams.
The Legend Of Brassy Braden Continues – Sioux Falls Cougars football kicker Braden Wieking (official Balladeer’s Blog nickname: Brassy Braden) was named the NAIA’s National Special Teams Player Of The Week. In the Cougars’ win last Saturday over the Midland Lutheran Warriors The Brassy One had 3 field goals, all from 40 yards or more, plus 4 extra points. Wieking holds the national record for consecutive PAT’s at 109 and also handled kickoffs and punts in Saturday’s game. The Fred Mitchell Award people have no doubt taken note.
Don’t Mess With The Q – Mariela “The Q” Quesada, of the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish volleyball team, was named the National Christian College Athletic Association Player Of The Week. The Q turned in an outstanding performance at the Cedarville University Invitational Tournament and was even named Tournament MVP with 51 kills, 16 digs, 6 blocks and 6 service aces. Mariela is a native of San Jose, Costa Rica.
Diplomats Immune To Green Terror – Yes, it’s an incredibly lame play on the expression “diplomatic immunity” to headline this bit on the Franklin and Marshall Diplomats women’s field hockey team. The Diplomats won 4-0 over Centennial Conference rivals the McDaniel Green Terror. F&M goalkeeper Sarah Dileo picked up her 4th win of the season. “Blastin'” Becky Willert scored the 1st 2 goals of the game by the 24th minute. Valerie “Sweet” Sauers made it 3-0 and the final goal of the game came from “Lady O” herself, Eileen O’Reilly, who also assisted on the 2 Willert goals. O’Reilly (who got the final goal off a pass from Diana Aulisa) has been having a stellar season so far and will be the subject of an upcoming interview here at Balladeer’s Blog.
Filed under college sports
OPENING VOLLEY: SEPTEMBER 16TH
The Indiana University Southeast Grenadiers volleyball team has won their last 3 games in a row, and hope to be in position to turn this season around. They are now 4-7 after recently defeating the Kentucky Wesleyan Cougars 3-1 and the Midway College Eagles in straight sets 3-0. The ladies will now begin conference play at the St Louis College Of Pharmacy Eutectics and the Berea Mountaineers this Saturday. Their next home stand will be Sept 24th against the Rose Hulman Fightin’ Engineers.
Amanda Allen, a junior middle-blocker for the Concordia (Chicago) Cougars volleyball team was named the Northern Athletics Conference Student Athlete Of The Week for volleyball. She led the Cougars with team-highs of .368 kill percentage, 5 solo blocks and 12 block assists. Amanda had double-digit kills in 3 matches last week with 11 (and a .588 attack percentage) against the North Park Vikings.
The UMass-Dartmouth Corsairs had their 2nd 3-game sweep against the Salem State Vikings this past Tuesday by scores of 25-10,25-19 and 25-18. The Ladies’ Head Coach Steve DeRossi had this to say: “We dug well and we served well, although we weren’t as dominant as we were last weekend. Everybody got into the match (Jimmy Durante: Volleyball Coach) and we worked a couple of things with different combinations that could help us down the road.” The ladies are now 8-0 and resume play tonight at home against the Pine Manor Gators.
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SOCCER POTPOURRI 2
The University of Science and Arts Of Oklahoma Drovers men’s soccer team is 4-0 and is now ranked #10 in the NAIA, the team’s highest ranking ever. This past weekend the Drovers defeated the Brescia Bearcats 3-1 and the St Thomas Celts 8-2. Nicolas “The Frenchman Freshman” Alberto (as I like to call him) has had 4 goals already on the season followed closely by the “NC Hammer” duo of Nikola Cakarevic and Niall Crick who have 3 goals each. Last year’s leading scorer David “Dr Drover” Otieno has had 2 goals and 4 assists in this young season. Goalkeeper Ryan “Force Field” Mcentee has played every minute of all 4 games so far and has allowed only 3 goals. The Drovers are the only Sooner Athletic Conference team in the NAIA Top 25 and are #1 in the conference standings.
You can’t cut it much closer than “Close Shave” Shelby Cummins did as she scored the winning goal for the Franklin and Marshall Diplomats women’s soccer team 3-2 over the Elizabethtown Blue Jays. Cummins scored the goal off an assist from “Kickin'” Carley Nicholson with just .9 of a second left in the game. The Diplomats are now 3-1 on the season. F&M had a 2-nil halftime lead which held up until the 71st minute of the game when the Blue Jays got on the board. They scored again less than 5 minutes later to knot the game up at 2 all and setting the stage for Cummins’ heroics. Diplomats goalkeeper Katie “Fort Katie” Golding had 4 saves and improved her personal record to 3-1. The ladies next play the Ursinus Bears on Sept 21st.***On the men’s side for the Diplomats Zach “Dr Z” Zamek became the all-time shutouts leader for F&M with 19 following a 3-nil win over the Lycoming Warriors. Dr Z is now tied on the all-time wins list for the Diplomats, too and can try to set the new wins record on the 19th against the Muhlenberg Mules.
For the 2nd straight week, Saint Xavier Cougars’ goalkeeper “Wild” Kyle Held has been “held” over as the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Defensive Player Of The Week. Wild Kyle had 8 saves in SXU‘s only game of the week, a 2-nil victory over the Goshen Maple Leafs. Held has had 26 saves and 2 shutouts for the season. He has a Goals Against Average of just .82 per game and the Cougars are 3-2 overall. SXU opens conference play this Friday on the road against the Saint Francis (IN) Cougars.
The Johns Hopkins Blue Jays women’s soccer team shut out the Stevenson Mustangs 2- nil this afternoon at Caves Athletic Complex. Sarah “The Sentinel” Gieszl scored her 1st career goal and “Power Puff” Pamela Vranis had the other JHU goal plus an assist. The Blue Jays have now posted back-to-back shutouts and at 5-1 are ranked 8th in the D3 women’s soccer poll. With the loss the Stevenson Mustangs drop to 3-3.
The St Ambrose Fighting Bees men’s soccer team won in overtime against the St Francis (IL) Fighting Saints 2-1 at the Davenport Soccer Complex. The Fighting Bees went into halftime leading 1-nil on a KEndrick Tyson goal but gave up the tying goal in the 2nd half. St Ambrose goalie “Mighty” Matt Tucker had 5 furious saves in the 2nd half which kept the FIghting Bees’ hopes alive. Wes Erickson fulfilled those hopes 4 minutes and 6 seconds into OT by slamming home the winning goal for the home team.
Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams for the Lincoln Memorial University Railsplitters registered wins today! The Lady Railsplitters improved their record to 4-0 with a road win over the King College Tornado (singular) by a score of 2-nil. Sarah “The Midfield Maniac” Taylor had both LMU goals, one in the 25th minute off an assist from Becky “Tigress” Thompson and the other barely 11 minutes later off an assist from “Lethal” Leslie Wilson. 3 of the ladies’ team’s 4 wins have been shutouts. ***The men’s Railsplitters team beat out their counterparts from King College 1-nil to move to 3-0 on the season. Just like the ladies’ team all but 1 of their wins have been shutouts. “Gentleman” Jimmy Vandenhurk scored the lone goal of the match 5 minutes in off an assist from Mackenzie “Aces” Wilde. Railsplitters goalkeeper Michael “Brick Wall” Watkins then did his part by crushing every Tornado scoring attempt.
Kelly “Sunstorm” Sunstrom propeled the Alverno Inferno soccer team to a 1-nil victory over the Robert Morris (IL) Eagles today. Sunstrom scored in the 80th minute off an assist from “Kosho” Kelsey Koshanowski (Fans of The Prisoner will get it). It was Sunstorm’s 1st goal of the season and Kosho’s 2nd assist. The Inferno are now 3-0 and will try to burn the feathers off another Eagles team this Saturday at Wisconsin-Lacrosse.
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COLUMBIA (MO) COUGARS UPSET THE D2 CHAMPS
The Columbia (MO) Cougars, the 19th-ranked team in NAIA men’s soccer, upset the defending NCAA Division 2 Champion Ft Lewis Skyhawks in a shutout 2-nil. The Cougars’ Yudai Yamaguchi, off an assist from Dylan “Thomas” Barduzzi put Columbia up with a goal in the 24th minute. The Cougs took that 1-nil lead into half-time. (By the way, it’s a little known fact that federal law requires 72 % of the teams in the NAIA to be called the Cougars. I’M KIDDING!) Minutes into the 2nd half Barduzzi got fouled in the box, becoming the force that through the green fuse drives the flower to the Skyhawks (Dylan Thomas fans will get it), sealing their defeat by putting Columbia up by 2. Cougars’ goalie Ken “No pasaran!” Searles recorded his 2nd shutout win of this young season, improving his team to 2-2-0. The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Cougars, who next travel to Kansas City to take on Division 1’s UMKC Kangaroos this coming Saturday.
To let the Columbia Cougars know you find their schedule insane click here: http://www.columbiacougars.com/
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SOCCER POTPOURI
The Lindenwood Lions men’s soccer team upset the Top-ranked Lindsey-Wilson Blue Raiders by a score of 2-1. The Lions led 1-nil at half-time off a goal by Hannes Backstrom. Two minutes in to the 2nd half Blue Raiders player Carnell Learmond tied the game up but in the 74th minute Simon Harrsen scored the game-winner for Lindenwood.
The 8th-ranked Johns Hopkins Blue Jays women’s soccer team went into Wednesday night’s game against the top-ranked Messiah Falcons undefeated at 2-0, but unfortunately came out with a 2-1 loss. Messiah (Insert your own “Where’s your Messiah now?” joke here) scored their 1st goal agains the Blue Jays in the 38th minute when Lisa Wingard one-timed a goal past JHU‘s goaltender Kristen Redsun. That was the first goal the Blue Jays gave up this season after 3-nil and 5-nil victories in their 1st 2 games of the year. Just 80 seconds into the 2nd half the Falcons made it a 2-nil game off a goal by Amanda Naeher.Just over 2 minutes later Sara Tankard cut the Falcons’ lead in half but it wasn’t quite enough.
In a week in which Saint Xavier Cougars goalie “Wild” Kyle Held was named Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Defensive Player Of The Week it seems appropriate that he should register his 2nd shutout of this young season. The Cougars won 2-nil against the Goshen Maple Leafs (You’re dying for a “Land’O’Goshen” joke but I’m not playing that game). Both goalies had rejected all shots on goal until the 80th minute when SXU’s Al Palar provided the 1st goal of the game. “Mighty” Matt Klancic provided an insurance goal 4 minutes later to improve the Cougars to 3-2 on the season.
Reece Harris, freshman goalie for the Park University Pirates men’s soccer team, notched his 2nd career win Wednesday night against the Lindenwood Lions by a score of 2-1. Harris blocked 7 shots and both Pirate goals were scored by striker Ramone Palmer, 1 of them off a pass from midfielder Simon Senfuka. For Park Pirates video highlights visit their Youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/parkathletics .
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THE FRESNO PACIFIC SUNBIRDS REMAIN AT THE TOP OF THE VOLLEYBALL WORLD
The Fresno Pacific University Sunbirds volleyball team is 8-0 and is at the top of the NAIA poll for the 36th straight week. The ladies received all 23 1st place votes and had 653 votes total. Half of the Sunbirds’ 8 wins came at the Asics-Crowne Plaza Labor Day Tournament in Irvine, CA. Fresno Pacific is performing phenomenally, with only 1 team this season, the 13th ranked Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Eagles , having avoided a 3-set sweep against the defending champs. The Eagles took the game to a full 5 sets before succumbing to the Sunbird juggernaut. (Am I the only one who wonders why no college sports teams are called the Juggernauts? Explain. Can’t you picture teams succumbing to them? Cite specific examples.)
The 2nd and 3rd spots in the poll are also held by Golden State Athletic Conference teams, the Concordia (CA) Eagles and the Cal Baptist Lancers, cementing the GSAC’s name for being to college volleyball what the SEC is to college football. The Lee Flames and the Northwestern (IA) Red Raiders round out the NAIA Top 5.
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TODAY’S COOL-NAMED SPORTS TEAM – ALVERNO COLLEGE
ALVERNO INFERNO
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Division: NCAA Division 3
Conference Affiliation: Northern Athletics Conference
Major sports: basketball, soccer, softball, volleyball
Site: http://athletics.alverno.edu/
Comment: There is absolutely no truth to the stories that Alverno’s teams used to be called The Disco Inferno and had a character in a Saturday Night Fever outfit as a mascot. Seriously, though, this Continue reading
Filed under Cool names and cool logos
QUICK TAKES – WIDE WORLD STYLE
Drovers Are Doin’ It For Themselves – The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma Drovers men’s and women’s soccer teams registered impressive wins over the Emmanuel College Saints. The 15th-ranked Drover men won by a score of 4-nil and the women won by a score of 5-nil. Drover sports have been on such a roll I understand people have begun to say “Drover Hat” and “Drover Boots” instead of Cowboy Hat and Cowboy Boots, and not just in Oklahoma!
Generally Great Student-Athletes – 6 Washington and Lee Generals players have been named to the Virginia Sports Information Directors Academic All-State Team. The honorees, with my own typically odd nicknames accompanying their real names, are as follows: Ben “Benny Stretch” Goetsch, basketball and track and field giant; Jenna “Aqua Woman” Worsham, swimming superheroine; “Gridiron” Greg Kurkis, football PhD; “Empress” Emmy Mathews, Lacrosse and Field Hockey royalty; Becca “The Wrecka” Bolton, basketball diva and Tamara “Rhiannon” Morse, riding team.
Diplomats Top Crusaders In Field Hockey – The Franklin and Marshall Diplomats field hockey team won an exciting game over the Alvernia Crusaders (not to be confused with the Alverno Inferno) 3-2. Becky Willert tied the game up at 1 apiece after the Crusaders jumped off to an early lead. The Diplomats then went up 2-1 on a goal from Allison McLaren. Alvernia knotted the game up at 2 all before Franklin and Marshall’s Eileen O’Reilly scored the game-winner for the Diplomats barely a minute later. F&M will be in action again Sunday against the Eastern Mennonite Royals.
The Association’s Greatest Hits – For newcomers to my blog I’ll point out that I refer to the Mid-States Football Association as “The Association”, like Jim Rome does with the NBA. Anyway, The Association’s MidEast League has bestowed Player Of The Week honors on 2 Saint Xavier Cougars. Defensive Tackle Ben “The Touz” Touzinsky was named Defensive Player Of The Week with 3 tackles, half a sack and a crucial interception against the Bethel (TN) Wildcats. Placekicker Tom “Tommy The Linchpin” Lynch (who is on the Mitchell Award watch list but was oddly left off of the Gallano and Mistretta Awards Watch Lists – bad movie fans will get it) was named Special Teams Player Of The Week for his performance against the Saint Francis (IL) Fighting Saints in which he was 7 of 7 on extra point attempts and had a career-long 47 yard field goal. This week the Cougars host the Trinity International Trojans.
MVC Vikings Student-Athletes Are Anything But Hacks – The Missouri Valley College Vikings had 3 of their student-athletes honored as HAAC (or Heart of America Athletic Confernce) Players Of The Week. The 3 are: Ryan Buster, “The QB Buster” as I call him, who was named football’s Defensive Player Of The Week with 9 tackles and 2 1/2 sacks in the Vikings’ win over the Baker Wildcats. The QB Buster is a Criminal Justice Major; Chris “The Punting Czar” Heale, HAAC football’s Special Teams Player Of the Week, who had 6 punts for 283 yards in that same game. The Czar majors in Exercise Science; Juliana Castro, “The Unstoppable JC” herself, was named HAAC Women’s Soccer Offensive Player Of The Week. The Unstoppable JC AVERAGED 2 1/2 goals per game last week (more than some entire teams managed) and has scored 7 goals total in the first 3 games of the season. JC’s major is undeclared. She’s been too busy scoring goals to decide.
Sioux Falls Women’s Golf Puts Their Morningside Up! – The USF women’s golf team placed 3rd out of 10 teams at the Morningside Invitational today in Sioux City, IA. The ladies had a team score of 366, just 12 strokes behind the runners up, the Midland Lutheran Warriors and 18 strokes back from the winners, the Dakota Wesleyan Tigers. As for individual scores Allison “The Diabolical Dr Z” Zeller placed 2nd overall with 82 strokes over 18 holes (I have coworkers who would have a stroke if they ever shot as well as 82), Kali “K-Gott” Gottsleben shot a 91, “Dangerous” Davee Johnson shot 92 and Jordon “The Razor” Wilkinson had a 101.
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THURSDAY NIGHT’S NAIA FOOTBALL RESULTS
(#2)LINDENWOOD LIONS over the Evangel Crusaders 68-7 – Last night’s Victory Sports Network Game Of The Week was delayed by 4 hrs because of lightning. The Evangel Crusaders may well have wished the delay never ended in a game which the Lions led 49-0 by halftime. The only touchdown for the Crusaders came when an incomplete backward pass by Lindenwood was returned for the score. VSN gives us a double-shot of our NAIA love this week with a second webcast Game Of The Week on Saturday when the Top-ranked (and defending champs) Sioux Falls Cougars play at the Northwestern (IA) Red Raiders.
St Francis Fighting Saints and (#4)St Xavier Cougars – Mother nature wreaked havoc with this game, too, which was postponed to this Saturday the 4th.
ARKANSAS TECH WONDERBOYS over the (#7) Lambuth Eagles 34-19 Don’t be deceived by the score. The Wonderboys are NCAA Division 2. Lambuth is sure to bounce back when they begin NAIA play.
(#22) TAYLOR TROJANS over the Anderson Ravens 42-20 Taylor is NAIA. The Ravens are NCAA Division 3. To impartial outsiders these divisions are often considered equal but never to their partisans! This game’s outcome is definitely ammo for the NAIA boosters.
GEORGIA STATE PANTHERS over the Shorter Hawks 41-7 Remember what I said about Lambuth? Well that goes double here. Georgia State may have been playing their first ever football game but they are in NCAA Division 1AA, so you know everything, from money and facilities on down, favored the D1 school with more bucks to throw around AND playing at home.
AUSTIN PEAY GOVERNORS over the Cumberland Bulldogs 38-6 Another predictable outcome in a 1AA vs NAIA game. The Bulldogs are sure to come tearing back. At least the school fed the fans who made the trip to Governors Stadium!
TIFFIN DRAGONS over the Malone Pioneers 31-21 Malone did the best job of last night’s NAIA teams up against D2 competition. The Association better be ready to deal with the Pioneers when league play starts.
S ILLINOIS SALUKIS over the Quincy Hawks 70-7 On the flip side this was one of the most lopsided games of the night as the Hawks were crushed by 1AA Southern Illinois. As Quincy, ME might have said, “How many people have to die before they institute a slaughter rule when schools are playing 2 divisions above their own?”
GLENVILLE STATE PIONEERS over the W Virginia Tech Golden Bears 44-10 Another D2 over NAIA game. This was in no way a barometer of the Golden Bears program.
OUACHITA BAPTIST TIGERS over the Texas College Steers 70-0 Poor Texas College! They’ve only managed 3 points in their first two games. This loss may have been to D2’s Ouachita Baptist, but last week they lost by 50 to fellow NAIA team the Belhaven Blazers.
MINNESOTA-CROOKSTON GOLDEN EAGLES over the Mayville State Comets 37-6 Yawn! Another D2 school beat an NAIA team. They’re supposed to, just like 1A teams are supposed to beat 1AA teams. (I know we’re not supposed to say 1A and 1AA anymore but I feel like a wild man when I do it!)
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