Vol.
10, No. 6ROCKIN’ AND
ROLLIN’
To say
the Fighting Scots’ football team was rolling in last week’s 58-0
shutout of Beloit might be an understatement.
The Scots
scored on each of their first eight possessions, outgained the
Buccaneers 555-190, picked off one pass and recovered two Beloit
fumbles. Not bad for a day’s work. We can say that, because even head
coach Steve Bell was happy with
the performance.
“We
played really well,” said Bell on Monday. “We’re STARTING to play at the
speed we’re coaching. The key word there is ‘STARTING.’ We’re taking
what we’re doing in practice and transferring it to the game. We’re not
where we want to be, yet, but we’re getting closer.”
The Bucs
were getting close to something no other team had done this season –
score in the first quarter. Beloit took the opening kickoff deep into
Monmouth territory and was on the move when Adam Hoste’s
hard hit knocked the ball loose at the Scots’ 16-yard line. Luke
Reschke pounced on the pigskin, ending
Beloit’s chance to score and setting up the Scots’ first TD of the game.
“That was
a huge play,” said Bell of the fumble and recovery. “They put together a
nice drive. If they score, they would have had some momentum. That’s
what we’re built on – creating turnovers and taking care of the ball.”
Eight
plays and 94 yards later – including a 60-yard run by Caleb Pratt
– AlexTanney hit Michael
Blodgett with a 5-yard scoring pass to
set the new TD pass record with his 84th TD toss. The mark eclipsed
Rob Purlee’s mark set from
2000-03.
“Caleb’s
long run set the tone for the game,” praised Bell of the run that began
at Monmouth’s own 17-yard line. “It was our first possession.
Percentages are you won’t score when you start that deep in your own
territory. You’ve got to give Caleb and our offensive line credit for
busting that one into the secondary, then our receivers made some nice
downfield blocks.”
Tanney
went on to connect on two more touchdown passes as the Scots waged a
balanced attack. Even the scales of justice couldn’t have balanced the
Monmouth offense any better.
Rushing Attempts
Passing Attempts
47 42
Rushing Yardage
Passing Yardage
257 298
Rushing
TDs Passing TDs
5 3
“I’m VERY
pleased that we’ve run the ball well two games in a row,” said Bell.
“That takes pressure off the quarterback and our passing game. We have
talented running backs and we had five rushing touchdowns. That’s key.”
Receiver
Kyle Wantland had his second multi-TD
game of the young season, hauling in two short passes for scores. He got
the most out of his grabs, two TDs on just 31 yards receiving. Blodgett
became the third receiver in three games to lead in reception yardage.
He racked up 101 yards and one TD.
While the
aerial show gets most of the hype, it was Clay Bricker’s
three TDs and 91 yards that stole the show. Well, actually the
show-stopper was his second score, a 41-yarder.
Just 1:12
before the half, the Scots faced a 2nd-and-10 from the Beloit 41.
Bricker took the handoff from Tanney and broke to his right for the
sideline. After a roughly 10-yard gain, a Bucs defensive back came in to
chop Bricker’s feet out from under him. It worked…almost.
Bricker
relied on assistant coach Nate Johnson’s
“Handspring” drill – the act of putting one hand on the ground to stay
upright – and kept going. The senior actually had BOTH feet in the air,
but was able to swing his left leg under him simultaneously with his
left hand and left the Bucs defenders in his wake.
Can
someone say “ESPY?”
“That’s
not exactly how we do it in practice,” laughed Johnson. “Clay has
incredible balance.”
Balanced,
too was the defensive effort. Sean Wells
led with seven tackles and backup lineman Nick Davis
recorded six in less than one half of work. Six Scots had
tackles-for-loss and seven different players combined on seven pass
breakups.
“The
defense really played well,” praised Bell. “Sean is doing a good job of
leading the defense and playing the way you’re supposed to play. Nick is
a tough kid and has a great motor. We’re still making some fundamental
errors that we need to correct, but I like the speed at which we’re
playing. We preach 11 guys to the ball. A lot of times there’ll be eight
or nine guys there, but we want 11 guys there. That’s what creates
turnovers.”
It must
work. Monmouth is ranked third in the NCAA’s Division III statistics
this week in turnover margin, and just in case you’re wondering, their
51 ppg scoring average is fifth.
The Scots
– ranked 11th by D3football.com and 13th by the American Football
Coaches Association – will travel to Carroll this weekend. The Pioneers’
defense is ranked in the top half of the league after picking up a 28-21
win over Grinnell last weekend – a week after Grinnell narrowly lost to
St. Norbert 14-11.
“I really
don’t get into comparative scores,” claimed Bell. “A player or team can
get hot one week. Every week is different.”
Still,
Bell is hoping his outcome this weekend will be the same – rock solid.
SOUNDING LIKE A BROKEN
RECORD
Scots
Scoop realizes in today’s world of MP3s, iPods and CDs, the younger
readers might not get the correlation of broken records (i.e., LPs,
45s…the vinyl stuff your parents and grandparents listened to) with this
week’s football report, but try to focus on this anyway.
In last
week’s 58-0 win over Beloit, Alex Tanney’s
first TD pass of the game broke the career TD passing mark he shared
with Rob Purlee ’04. The 5-yard
strike to Michael Blodgett set
the wheels in motion for the Scots’ rout of the Buccaneers.
Lost in
the shuffle – at least momentarily – was Tanney tying two other Purlee
records and coach Steve Bell
tying a record as well.
Tanney
threw for 283 yards, the 14th straight game he has eclipsed the 200 yard
mark. It was also the 22nd time in his career he has passed for 200 or
more yards in a game – tying Purlee. Tanney also recorded his 958th pass
attempt, tying – you guessed it – Purlee.
As for
Bell?
With the
win, he picked up his 71st career win, tying his predecessor,
Kelly Kane, for the second-most
victories in Fighting Scots history. Only Bill Reichow’s
78 wins is higher.
“Nope,”
responded Bell when asked if he realized he had reached the milestone.
“Obviously, it’s quite an honor and says a lot about the players we have
had, but I really don’t pay attention to that stuff. I’m more concerned
with what we need to do to get better.”
Getting
better means Bell pays attention to the details of the game and his
players. In fact, Bell would rather talk about his current and past
players and their accomplishments that himself.
“Give
Alex credit because he broke the record of a pretty good quarterback,”
commented Bell of Tanney’s new record. “Rob was a tremendous player for
us and had A LOT of touchdowns. He did what we needed him to do with our
style of play at the time. You really can’t compare these two
side-by-side. They played at different times with different players and
demands. We made slight adjustments to the offenses to fit each
quarterback’s strengths. Both of them are incredible athletes. The thing
with records is, they will eventually be broken.”
If that’s
the case, the statistics crew had better start aerobic exercises for
their fingers.
A SNEAK PEAK
Before
all you proof readers out there send the Scoop an e-mail, we do mean
“Peak,” as in reaching the highest level.
Women’s
golf coach Molly McNamara was
getting consistency out of her team, she just wished the consistent
scores were lower.
September
19-20, wish granted.
The Scots
fired their season’s best 18 hole scores at last weekend’s St. Ambrose
Fighting Bee Classic, finishing eighth with a 36-hole 761. Monmouth’s
opening round 377 was followed by a 384. Not exactly in the 360s
McNamara wanted, but she’ll take it – for now.
The
tournament, played on two separate courses, provided a challenge.
Golfers teed off on Day 1 at Glynns Creek Golf Course in Parkview, Iowa,
then moved to Davenport and Emeis Golf Course for the final round.
The
change in venue didn’t seem to bother the Scots. Only Lynsey
Barnard’s score went up on Sunday, and
only by two strokes. The senior carded an 86-88-174 to tie for 14th.
Kristin Humphrey shaved 10
strokes off her score with a 98-88-186. A new career-low for
Kendra Catterton on the final day
propelled her to 36th. The senior checked in with a 99-93-192.
Kayla Winbigler’s 118-115-233 rounded
out the Scots’ scoring.
Good
timing for the Scots to begin peaking. Just one weekend tournament and
then it’s off to the Midwest Conference Championships.
Monmouth
will travel to Decatur for the Millikin Invitational this weekend before
heading to the 54-hole MWC meet next weekend. For the first time, the
women’s league meet will be held at Aldeen Golf Course in Rockford,
Ill., the same course the men play on for their conference meet.
The Scoop
wonders if the women have taken a peek at Aldeen as they try to reach a
new peak?
WINNING IN A LOSS
It may
have been a loss, but all is not lost for the women’s tennis team.
The
Scots’ 5-4 loss to Knox last Thursday may have significantly damaged
their hopes of qualifying for the conference team tournament, but
Patrick Montgomery can take heart in
the fact that his young team gained some valuable experience and battled
to the very end.
Amy Unzicker
and Kimi Wegner cruised to an
8-1 win at No. 1 doubles, but the No. 2 team of Nicole Anson
and Kiah Henry and the No. 3
duo of Sarah McLinden and
Rachel Bognar each fell 8-3.
“We came
out of doubles, down 2-1 and that’s never a good situation,” reported
Montgomery. “We were hoping to get a win at No. 2 with Nicole and Kiah.
I really feel they can beat that doubles team.”
Playing
your arch rival in the conference opener can be a daunting task,
especially for a young team. Montgomery’s squad features just two
seniors – McLinden and Bognar at No. 5 and 6 singles – and until this
season, they had seen limited action.
“I really
feel that we had some nerves in the doubles,” said Montgomery. “Because
it was Knox, I think some of the women put a little extra pressure on
themselves. No one wants to go back to campus with a loss to your rivals
and I’m sure that factored into it. They did settle down once we got
into singles and played very well.”
The Scots
won their upper level singles matches easily. Unzicker – for the first
time this season – didn’t have the day’s longest match. The No. 1 player
cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win. Wegner and Anson also won convincingly in
straight sets at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively. McLinden at No. 5 and
Bognar at No. 6 fell in two straight.
“Nicole’s
dominance at No. 3 was a pleasant surprise,” said Montgomery of Anson’s
performance after an injury to Ashley Reynoso
moved Anson from No. 4 to No. 3 singles. “I knew she had it in her
because she hits the ball so darn hard. Looks can be deceiving, she
doesn’t look that strong, but she really is.”
Tied at
4-4, that left the No. 4 singles match as the swing match. Henry battled
in the day’s longest match – an hour longer than the other singles
matches – but was outlasted 7-6, 7-6.
The
freshman – moved up to the No. 4 spot due to the Reynoso injury – was
down 5-1 in the first set, but came roaring back. Despite losing the
first set tie-breaker, Henry had the momentum and kept the pressure on
in the back-and-forth second set before succumbing in another
tie-breaker.
“It’s
tough losing a tie-breaker,” said Montgomery. “It’s even tougher when
it’s back-to-back tie-breakers. We were running out of daylight and had
planned to move to the country club courts with lights if Kiah had won
the second set.”
With the
entire entourage watching – and knowing the outcome of the No. 4 match
would determine the outcome of the entire match – Henry showed composure
beyond her years.
“It’s
never easy being in a spot like that,” said Montgomery. “Kiah handled
quite well the added pressure of all the players and parents right there
on top of her watching her every move. She played FANTASTIC tennis. Her
play has gone up a level.”
The Scots
will need to raise their play another notch this weekend when they
travel to Grinnell on Friday prior to Saturday’s home matches with Ripon
and Carroll.
“Grinnell
will be another battle,” predicted Montgomery. “We fell to them 6-3 last
year. I’d like to win or at least close the gap to 5-4 this year.”
While the
Scots face three conference opponents this weekend, only the Grinnell
match will count in the team standings for the league’s team tournament
next month. Of course, the Scots will need some young players to step
up, but judging from last week, that may not be a problem.
“Amy is
playing well and we expect Kimi will have a tough match,” said
Montgomery. “Nicole and Kiah can step up their games even more. I’d like
to think we have the personnel to give them a run.”
The Ripon
and Carroll matches will only matter in the conference’s singles and
doubles seeds.
While it
IS a crucial weekend for the team as individuals, it’s not exactly
do-or-die for the Scots as a whole. It’s more a weekend Montgomery would
like to see his youngsters turn the corner toward a bright future.
THE REAL SEASON BEGINS NOW
Good
thing last weekend’s volleyball tournament didn’t count in the Midwest
Conference standings.
“It was a
learning experience for our young team,” reported Kari Shimmin
of the team’s 3-0 losses to the University of Chicago and UW-Stevens
Point. “We were making mistakes that a young team makes.”
The Scots
were optimistic heading into the weekend with the return of
all-conference hitter Alyson Schroeter.
That good feeling was quelled when the outside hitter went down with an
injury in the second set of the Scots’ opening match.
“That
kind of took the wind out of our sails,” reported Shimmin. “We talk
about a good percentage of the game being mental and to be confident in
yourself and your teammates. We have some really good, talented
individuals. Because of injury and academic commitments, we haven’t had
our full lineup and our play has been hindered by inconsistency in our
lineups.”
An injury
to a key player and the revolving door on lineups has rained a bit on
the Scots parade in 2009, but there IS a rainbow.
Senior
libero Sara Schoon, who played
behind four-year starter Crystal Myers,
has developed into a floor leader and sophomore Megan Creen
has taken charge with a team-high 77
kills, just two ahead of freshman Chelsey Widdop.
Creen was also forced into action as a setter, giving the Scots
additional setting options with regulars Alexis Keller
and Laura Anton – all three
have between 81 and 89 assists.
“With the
exception of Alyson, we’ll have everyone back and healthy for the start
of conference play,” reported Shimmin. “It’s also great that we’re
starting the conference season at home. Our next eight matches are
conference matches and four of them are home.”
We now pause for this commercial message:
“A reminder to Fighting Scots fans unable to make the games, all Midwest
Conference matches will be webcast via MWCTV. To access the games, log
on to
www.midwestconference.tv
for live streaming coverage of Fighting Scots volleyball.”
We now return to our regular programming.
The Scots
open with Beloit Friday. The Bucs were tabbed as league co-favorites
with St. Norbert in the preseason coaches’ poll, Monmouth was picked
third.
“They’re
playing well and have good team chemistry,” said Shimmin. “They have a
strong middle and a lot of returning all-conference players. Beloit is
rolling right now.”
Rolling?
They’ve won 10 of their last 11 matches and have gone more than three
sets jut four times during that run.
“We’ll
need to do the little things this weekend,” claimed Shimmin. “We’re
working on a few adjustments to counter what Beloit does. Of course,
playing at home always helps.”
Saturday,
the Scots face Lake Forest, a team Shimmin feels is a mirror image of
her squad.
“Their
record is a bit deceiving,” said Shimmin of the Foresters who have a
single win – over St. Norbert. “They’ve played an extremely tough
schedule – and they’re young.”
The young
Scots have played an extremely tough schedule, too, and learned some
lessons. Lesson No.1? Finish.
“Last
weekend we felt like we were close, but didn’t finish the set,” said
Shimmin. “We need to focus on winning that moment – just win this rally,
win this set. A few of those smaller victories will add up to winning
the match. We’re young and sometimes we don’t play to win, instead we
play not to lose.
“If we
can play as well as we have prior to last weekend, we should be able to
regain our momentum,” she continued. “We just need them all to play well
at the same time.”
HAVE DEFENSE, WANT OFFENSE
Last
Friday’s 2-0 men’s soccer loss to Illinois Wesleyan University was not
indicative of the Fighting Scots’ overall play.
Two Titan
goals within a 30 second span of the first half was all it took to hand
the Scots their third straight loss. Two of those losses were one-goal
games.
“We’ve
made great strides and I felt like the team played very well,” reported
George Perry. “Wesleyan’s first
goal came as the result of a communication mistake on our part. The
second was a quick goal when our guys weren’t as focused as they needed
to be right after a score.”
Scots
goalkeepers Owen Robinson and
Nicholas Vyncke turned aside
three shots each as IWU outshot the Scots 14-3. Monmouth’s defense
limited Illinois Wesleyan to just five shots in the second half.
“Owen and
Nick came up with a couple of good saves,” praised Perry. “We stepped up
our game and played very well. Our backs and midfielders did a
tremendous job of defending. In the second half, I feel we played
EXTREMELY well on both sides of the ball. We created some good chances
to score.”
Perry
also praised his bench players who logged time against the Titans in the
Scots’ first game without midfielder/defender Danny Davis.
Davis was lost to injury just prior to Friday’s matchup.
“Our
reserves did a VERY good job,” claimed Perry. “I thought our midfield –
Pat Blazer, Adam Buol,
Bryan Jackson and Daniel
Medina – did a very good job.”
The
Scots’ experience and depth took a bit of a hit with the Davis injury,
but still have some talented players waiting in the wings anxious to
prove their worth. Ryan Stransky,
Jordan Lankford and Tony
Swierczewski were named by Perry as
those players giving quality minutes.
“We have
certainly gotten better defensively,” said Perry. “We’re getting balls
into the penalty area and getting some scoring opportunities. Now we
just need to make sure we get players on the end of those crosses so we
can finish them off. It’s been a vast improvement over the past couple
of years.”
The Scots
have outshot their opponents 69-55 through the first five games, but
haven’t been as efficient scoring, averaging less than a goal a game.
The first half has been the demise thus far – the Scots have been
outscored 6-1 in the first 45 minutes of each match, but have been
nearly even over the last 45.
That was the case again last night in a 1-0 loss to
Central. The Scots put on a strong outing, but coming up just short.
Robinson stopped a dozen shots, but Central's Brett McKenzie put one in
from the left side in the ninth minute for the game's only score. The
Scots rallied late, but were only able to get one shot on goal despite
playing on the Dutch's side of the field for long stretches in the
second half.
“These
games help us prepare for the conference games,” said Perry.
Monmouth
opens conference play on the road Saturday at Knox. The Prairie Fire
clipped the Scots 2-1 last season at Peacock Memorial Athletic Park,
setting off a celebration by the Fire – a celebration Perry doesn’t want
to see duplicated this weekend.
“Of
course, you always get ready for your conference games, and it IS Knox,”
said Perry. “It’s never going to be an easy game no matter what the
records are. We’ll need to be on top of our game and hopefully get
started on the right foot in the conference.”
Here’s
hoping the right foot – and the left – finds some scoring punch.
AN EARLY START
The men’s
golf team took advantage of nice fall weather to open their shortened
fall season with their annual triangular meet with Knox and Augustana at
Hawthorne Ridge Golf Course in nearby Aledo, Ill.
“The good
news is we got a match under our belt,” said coach Dave Ragone.
“The bad news is we didn’t play well.”
Each
school brought two teams, making it a six-team field as the Scots “Red”
team finished second with a 314, three strokes behind Augustana. The
“White” team carded a 338 to place fifth between the Knox “A” and “B”
teams.
Wait a
minute. The Scots shot a 314 and coach isn’t happy? They AVERAGED 313.46
last season. So what gives?
“With our
experience returning, we expect to be in the 300s single-digits,” said
Ragone. “We need to shoot 310 or better. If we do that, we can be
successful.”
Rodney Clayton
carded a 4-over 76 to tie for second while Ryan Tapscott
and Ted Starkey both shot 78s,
tying for fourth. Tapscott could have been even lower, but he had to
rebound from a 10 on the second hole. Tappy did come back from a 43 on
the front side and carded a 1-under 35 on the back.
“He
really showed his mental toughness,” praised Ragone. “It’s encouraging
that he was able to salvage a decent round.”
Ryan Harvey’s
82 placed him 13th and Sean McNamara
rounded out the “Red” team with an 89 to tie for 26th.
Monmouth’s “White” team bunched their scores. Ben Olson
and Brandon Kemmerling tied for
16th with 84s. Zach Coles and
Logan Krople each fired 85s to
tie for 21st and Joe Hoffman’s
89 tied him with McNamara for 26th.
“As a
team, we didn’t putt well and that was our downfall,” said Ragone. “Our
biggest challenge for the spring season is to find two or three more
guys who will be consistent for us. Our strength has always been our
depth. We expect to have seven or eight guys to shoot in the 70s and
compete for a spot.”
As Ragone
likes to say, “Competition breeds excellence.”
Given
that philosophy, he should be happy Sunday and Monday when the team
travels to the Iowa Wesleyan Invitational at Spirit Hollow Golf Course
near Burlington, Iowa.
“I
believe we’ll be the only Division III school at the meet,” claimed
Ragone. “All of the other schools will be NAIA competition. We’ll work
on our short game this week and hopefully be ready to go.”
KEEPING YOUR CHIN UP
If
adversity builds character, the women’s soccer team will be fine,
productive members of society.
Saturday,
the Scots dropped their second overtime game of the season, falling 3-2
to Central at Peacock Memorial Athletic Park. An overtime goal in the
opening minutes of the extra session sealed the Scots’ fate.
“That
game was exactly what has happened to us so far this season,” said
Barry McNamara of his team’s
32-9 advantage in shots. “We had two or three good chances in overtime
and couldn’t get it past the goalkeeper. They got one shot and scored.
This was probably the most disheartening loss I’ve experienced.”
In
Monmouth’s five losses, they’ve actually outshot their opponents 78-60,
but haven’t been able to find the back of the net. That was the case
Saturday, although the team did answer each time the Dutch scored in
regulation.
Katie Fluegel’s
on-target shot in the first half would have given the Scots an early
lead, save for a save by Central’s ‘keeper – one of nine in the first
half and 14 on the day.
Goals
came in groups after intermission. Less than two minutes after Central
punched in the game’s first goal in the 53rd minute, Kerry Kost
took a pass in traffic from Lauren Vana
and found the corner.
“Kerry
did a nice job to get it past the goalkeeper,” praised McNamara. “That
tied it up and we were all pretty happy. We knew we would get chances to
score.”
Eight
minutes later, the Dutch took advantage of a free kick to take a 2-1
lead, but again the Scots answered – this time it was Amy
Unzicker’s goal that knotted the
score.
“She got
a great shot,” said McNamara of Unzicker’s goal in the 69th minute. “She
had been beating her defender and this time just wound up and went to
the post with a shot that was just too hot to handle.”
It looked
promising at the start of OT, but a Scots’ wide open shot missed its
mark and the Dutch took advantage for their first win of the season.
It won’t
be any easier today when the Scots travel to Greenville to meet a
Panther’s team that sports a 5-2 record.
“They’ve
got a good program,” said McNamara. “We feel like they’re in the same
talent range as the teams we’ve been facing. It’s a game that could go
either way. We’d like to get out and get some goals to give us a little
breathing room. We haven’t had that much this season.”
The Scots
will need to take a deep breath, today’s game will be the final tuneup
before conference play begins Saturday…and the Scots jump right into the
fire. McNamara is optimistic as his team prepares to face perennial
title contender Grinnell in Iowa.
“They
were hit hard by graduation,” reported McNamara. “They’re still good,
but I don’t believe as dominant as they once were. We’re playing well
defensively. We just need to be able to finish off our chances and
score. I do worry that the women will have some carryover from our close
losses, but they need to remember we ARE playing well. The start of
conference play is a whole new season.”
CONFERENCE HONORS
Football
Quarterback Alex Tanney (Lexington,
Ill./Lexington) broke the school’s career touchdown passing record in a
58-0 win over Beloit last week and picked up the Midwest Conference
Offensive Performer of the Week honor.
Tanney took just three minutes of Saturday’s game
to set the Fighting Scots career touchdown pass record. His 5-yard toss
to Mike Blodgett broke Rob Purlee’s career TD mark
of 83 set from 2000-03. The score capped an eight-play, 94-yard drive.
The junior connected for two more TDs on the day, giving him 86 for his
career with more than a season and a half to play. Tanney, who played
just one series in the second half, finished the game with 283 yards on
27-of-36 (75%) passing for a pass efficiency rating of 168.53. It was
Tanney’s third consecutive game this season passing for 200-plus yards
and the 14 straight overall.
Women’s Golf
Senior golfer Lynsey Barnard (Pekin,
Ill./Pekin) had the best 36 holes of her season last weekend and was
named the Midwest Conference Performer of the Week for women’s golf.
Playing in the St. Ambrose Fighting Bee Classic,
Barnard finished tied for 14th in the field of 62. Playing on two
different courses didn’t adversely affect the Fighting Scots’ top
golfer. Saturday on the Glynns Creek Course in Parkview, Iowa, Barnard
fired a season-low 86. On Sunday’s final round at Emeis Golf Course in
Davenport, Iowa, she checked in with an 88 for a season-low 36-hole 174
total as the Scots carded a season-best 377-384-761.
HALL OF FAMERS
On Saturday, Oct. 10, four former Fighting Scots athletes will be
inducted into the Hall of Fame. The ceremony, held in the Huff Athletic
Center will begin at 8:30 a.m. Scots Scoop will profile each of the
inductees over the next four weeks.
Arnold Gonzalez ‘90
When Arnold Gonzalez joined the Monmouth College
baseball program in 1986, he posted four of the Fighting Scots’ wins in
an 11-9 season. By the time he was done with his stellar pitching
career, Gonzalez and his teammates were almost unbeatable.
Things really started to click in the southpaw’s
sophomore season, as the Scots won the first of two consecutive Midwest
Conference titles. Gonzalez recorded a win in each of the postseason
appearances, going 7-2 both years. Monmouth went 24-3 in his senior
season in 1989, and Gonzalez put an exclamation point on his career with
a 2.84 ERA that year and an 8-0 record, including another playoff
victory.
The four-time all-conference selection posted a
career record of 26-7, striking out 228, while completing 26 of his 31
starts.
He has served as head baseball coach at Galesburg
High School for 10 seasons.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Thurs.,
Sept. 24
Women’s Soccer – at Greenville, 5:00 pm
Fri.,
Sept. 25
Women’s Tennis – at Grinnell,
4:00 pm
Cross Country – at Augustana
Invitational, 5:00 pm
Volleyball – hosts Beloit, 7:00 pm
Men’s Tennis – at ITA Central
Regional, St. Louis, Mo., TBA
Sat.,
Sept. 26
Women’s Golf – at Millikin Invitational, 9:00 am
Women’s Tennis – hosts Ripon & Carroll, 9:00 am & 1:00 pm
Football – at Carroll, 1:00 pm
Women’s Soccer – at Grinnell, 11:00 am
Men’s Soccer – at Knox, 1:00 pm
Volleyball – hosts Lake Forest, 1:00 pm
Men’s Tennis – at ITA Central
Regional, St. Louis, Mo., TBA
Sun.,
Sept. 27
Women’s Golf – at Millikin Invitational, 9:00 am
Men’s Golf – at Iowa Wesleyan Invitational, 10:00 am
Men’s Tennis – at ITA Central Regional, St. Louis, Mo., TBA
Mon.,
Sept. 28
Men’s Golf – at Iowa Wesleyan Invitational, 8:00 am
Men’s Tennis – at ITA Central Regional, St. Louis, Mo., TBA
Wed.,
Sept. 30
Women’s Soccer – at Illinois Wesleyan, 7:00 pm
SCOTSIVATIONAL
“The will to win is important, but
the will to prepare is vital.” –
Joe Paterno
