AN HISTORIC WIN

Women’s soccer coach Barry McNamara is whistling a happier tune this week than he was a week ago.

Last week at this time, the Scots’ boss was reeling after a 3-2 overtime loss to Central. He’s much happier guy this week after the Scots tied perennial power Grinnell 1-1 in double overtime last weekend at Grinnell. The Scots had dropped all 18 matches against the Pioneers…until last Saturday.

“To NOT lose over there was a big deal for us,” said McNamara of the team’s first non-loss to the Pioneers. “We battled for 110 minutes. It was a total team effort. We had a lot of tired players.”

Tired?

Brittany Parker, Whitney Ott, Hillary Broms and goalkeeper Sarah Wintersteen never came off the field and Emily Caron only sat for seven minutes – in the second overtime.

A Pioneer goal by Miki Nakamura – Grinnell’s top offensive threat – in the first 15 minutes put the Scots behind the eight ball, but the determined women came back and tied it up when Katie Fluegel put Kerry Kost’s feed into the upper post.

“Kerry did a nice job of heading a cross to Katie,” reported McNamara. “Katie’s defender forced her to the left away from her dominant foot. She just turned on it and hit it to the far side for the goal. To make that shot with the left foot is pretty impressive.”

Speaking of impressive, the Scots could have found themselves trailing again in the second half, but Wintersteen stoned Nakamura’s third shot on goal.

“That was a really nice save,” praised McNamara. “We really couldn’t be prouder of our back four defensive players. They played well in a game where we needed them to play well.”

The defense was put to the test, especially in the second half when the Pioneers fired off half of their 12 shots in the game. The team, as a whole, rebounded from the heartbreaking loss to Central a week ago and a 5-0 loss to Greenville just two days before the Grinnell match which stretched the Scots’ loss streak to six.

“We used the Greenville game as a learning experience,” claimed McNamara. “We came out incredibly flat. We had a long drive and a poor warmup. That was a good lesson. We got to Grinnell plenty early, had a good warmup and came out of there with a tie against a very good team. We were as prepared as we have ever been.

“The Grinnell match was a key matchup,” he continued. “They have always made the playoffs. We got a result that a lot of teams won’t get, so we feel like we’re ahead of the game.”

The Scots fell behind in last night’s game against Illinois Wesleyan University – the No. 5 ranked team in the nation. The Titans scored the only goal they would need in the fourth minute and added another just before halftime as IWU fired 19 shots and held the Scots to just one attempt on their way to a 3-0 win.

Saturday, McNamara’s troops will be back in the Midwest Conference with a chance to gain more ground in the league standings. They’ll head to Jacksonville to meet Illinois College in what may be a crucial early contest.

“We feel like this is a game we have to win if we’re going to consider ourselves a serious playoff contender,” said McNamara. “We’ll try to get healed up this week, but we’ll have our full roster for Saturday. Although it’s only the second conference match, we feel like it’s a crucial contest. We have to have it.”

Last week, the tune in McNamara’s head resembled a dirge, but this week, it’s more upbeat and he’s not just whistling “Dixie.”

CENTERSTAGE

You’d think Kiah Henry would be getting used to being the center of attention.

Two weeks ago, the freshman women’s tennis player was hooked up in the swing match of the Scots’ battle with Knox. Henry lost that marathon battle in double tie-breakers, but last Saturday, the story had a much happier ending.

Henry and No. 2 doubles partner Nicole Anson were locking horns with their counterparts from Ripon in the last match of the Saturday morning contest with the Red Hawks. Due to the threat of rain, the normal schedule of doubles followed by singles matches was reversed, making the doubles matches the finale.

The day began with the Scots’ top three singles players – Amy Unzicker (No.1), Kimi Wegner (No. 2) and Anson (No. 3) – each winning their matches. Anson took hers 6-0, 7-5, but Henry at No. 4, Sarah McLinden at No. 5 and Rachel Bognar at No. 6 fell in straight sets.

“Amy had a great match at No. 1,” said Patrick Montgomery. “Kimi at No. 2 won handily and Nicole had another great singles match.”

Tied 3-3 heading into doubles play, McLinden and Bognar fell at No. 3 while Unzicker and Wegner at No. 1, trialed 7-4. The Scots duo fought to a come-from-behind 9-7 win to tie the match at 4-4. That left the No. 2 doubles team of Henry and Anson playing in the last – and deciding – match of the day.

“They played a great match,” praised Montgomery of Anson and Henry’s 9-8 win. “The freshman jitters are starting to go away. The two freshmen played well under pressure. We’re beginning to show some improvement to close out the wins. The Ripon match was the best match of the weekend.”

Winning a tie-breaker 7-5 in the deciding game of the day might touch off wild celebrations by most teams. Not so for Anson and Henry.

“They were actually a bit subdued,” said Montgomery. “I don’t know if they were shocked or what, but I expected them to be a bit more jubilant. Kiah, I know, was just plain tired.”

The day before, the Scots fell 9-0 to powerhouse Grinnell who defeated Monmouth’s singles in straight sets.

“Grinnell has some fine players,” said Montgomery. “Amy and Kimi in doubles played a very solid match, and Nicole in singles was in the match every single game. She showed great composure. I was pleased with what I saw. Grinnell just has a great team and tremendous depth.”

The weekend wrapped up Saturday afternoon with an 8-1 loss to Carroll. Only Unzicker at No. 1 singles was able to break through – and she won when her opponent retired following Unzicker’s 6-0 win in the first set.

“We were all pretty tired by the time we played Carroll,” reported Montgomery of his team that played three matches in the span of 24 hours. “Amy actually had played a soccer match Thursday, so she had three straight days of hard competition.”

The Scots will have a week to rest up before their next match – a league contest at Lake Forest. The winner of the Monmouth-Lake Forest match traditionally has earned a berth in the MWC team tournament, but the Scots’ loss to Knox to open the league season coupled with Friday’s loss at Grinnell knocked the Scots out of contention.      

Despite Monmouth’s absence of chance for a team berth in the league tournament, there’s still plenty to play for. The final conference matchup will go a long way in determining the seeds in the doubles and singles portions of the MWC meet.

Unzicker, Henry and now Anson have all been the center of attention in critical final matchups this season, so the only question this weekend will be who will wind up in center court?

NICE WAY TO OPEN

Every Fighting Scots team wants to open their conference season with a win, but a win against arch-rival Knox is extra special.

That’s exactly what happened with the men’s soccer team who opened their Midwest Conference season with a 1-0 win over Knox last weekend. The win put the Scots in the upper half of the league standings – at least for a weekend – and gave Monmouth a much-needed win after a series of close losses.

“We had a very good 90 minutes with the sole exception of scoring only one goal,” reported George Perry. “Defensively the entire team worked for 90 minutes.”

Maybe the only person on defense who didn’t work very hard was Owen Robinson.

Wait a minute, before Owen’s entire family calls, let’s explain.

The Scots’ defense, led by Joe Howell, Garrett White and Jake Scimeca, only allowed the Prairie Fire three shots for the entire game…and only one of those was on goal. That means Robinson only had to make one save. That’s the kind of defense that makes goalkeepers – and coaches – smile.

With “Nothing to do,” Robinson figured he might as well get involved in the offense. Perry is glad he did.

Robinson’s punt to Lucas Knox in the 51st minute set up the Scots only – and winning – goal. Knox (our player, not the other team) headed Robinson’s punt to a hard-charging Josh Del Valle. Del Valle slipped by the Fire ‘keeper on his first touch and drove his second touch in for the winner.

“Good team work and a very strong challenge and calm finish by Josh,” praised Perry. “We continued to apply pressure and had good scoring opportunities by Bryan Jackson and Daniel Medina. We were able to attack on the flanks and get good serves into the penalty area.” 

Perry also pointed out Eddie Martinez, Andy Sheller, Daniel Medina and Bryan Jackson for their play on the flank, bolstered by Pat Blazer and Adam Buol at midfield.

The win ended a string of four straight losses that included three by one goal (one in OT) and another when Illinois Wesleyan scored two goals within 30 seconds.

Last Wednesday, the Scots fell 1-0 at home to Central despite a dozen saves from Robinson (guess maybe he did deserve a bit of a break in the Knox game after all). The game played out much like the previous losses, a relatively solid game, but one lapse cost the Scots a win.

“I was very happy with the way we played although we had a mental lapse on their goal,” said Perry of the winning shot in the ninth minute. “I felt we came back after the goal and played well toward the end of the first half.  We played extremely well at the beginning of the second half.”

Blazer, Buol and Medina controlled much of the second half at midfield. While the Scots were only able to muster a handful of shots, they did hold the ball for long stretches, in effect limiting the Dutch’s opportunities. When Central did get a shot, Robinson turned them aside, including a “very good” save on a penalty kick.

The Scots hope to continue their league success when they travel to Grinnell for a Saturday afternoon contest. With their league-opening win, Monmouth will enter the Grinnell match among the upper echelon of MWC teams. Now, if they can just continue the good play that has put them there.

ON TRACK

Hold it, it’s not track season, but the women’s golf team is on track with coach Molly McNamara’s directive to steadily improve each week.

The team had their best back-to-back rounds of the season at last week’s Millikin Fall Classic. A 376-377-753 placed them 16th in the field of 19, but more importantly, the Scots were well ahead of Midwest Conference schools Illinois College – the defending MWC champs – and Knox, and the Scots were just slightly back of Grinnell.

“The scores are coming down the way we need them to,” said McNamara. “They’re a lot more confident and they know they left some strokes out on the course.”

Pleasant golfing weather Saturday was replaced by high winds Sunday, but the Scots still shot just a stroke higher under adverse conditions. Lynsey Barnard opened the meet with an 84, but ballooned to a 93 Sunday and Kristin Humphrey followed her opening round 86 with a 94. The rest of the Scots actually carded lower scores in the second round.

“Lynsey and Kristin scored the best they have all season,” praised McNamara. “They didn’t necessarily PLAY well, but they kept it together and SCORED well.”

Freshman Nicole Hurst opened with a 101, then shaved 12 strokes off on Day 2 with a career-best 89. Kendra Catterton dropped four strokes from her first round 105 to check in with a 101 on the final day and Kayla Winbigler – in her first year of competitive golf – carded a 110-108.

“Nicole is coming back from a slight injury,” explained McNamara. “Once she figured out the injury has healed, she played the best golf of her career on Sunday. Kayla is getting better every round and Kendra has made a huge improvement during her career.”

The Scots will have to be hitting on all cylinders this weekend at the 54-hole MWC Championship held at Aldeen Golf Course in Rockford, Ill.

McNamara figures averaging 360 for each of the three rounds should be enough to claim conference hardware. That might be in the ballpark, although since the tournament moved to a 54-hole format four years ago, the winning team has averaged 340. But there is a catch.

“The field is fairly wide open this year,” claimed McNamara. “Illinois College (who has won the last six league titles) had a lot of turnover. We finished ahead of two conference schools last week and were just strokes behind another. Our scores lately have been comparable with the other Midwest Conference teams.”

McNamara knows a thing or two about wide open fields. The coach was a senior on Monmouth’s only women’s golf championship team in 2002 when the Scots won the meet by a mere nine strokes.

“Somebody’s got to win it,” said McNamara. “It might as well be us.”

MAKING STRIDES

The cross country team didn’t seem to mind the wet, muddy course at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational held on Credit Island in Davenport, Iowa, last Friday.

Led by Geoff Bird’s 40th-place finish and the tandem of Mary Kate Beyer in seventh and Katie Staab in 15th the Scots men were 10th in the 26-team men’s field and women were 11th among 21 women’s teams.

Bird toured the men’s 8K course in 26:35.6, nearly a full minute ahead of Jon Welty in 89th with a time of 27:25.6. Paul Davies – who didn’t show up on the initial timing sheet due to a computer chip malfunction – clocked a 27:33.4, just two seconds ahead of Jake Barr. Connor Shields rounded out the top five, running a 27:49.0.

“The guys ran very well,” reported Roger Haynes. “Bird has done a nice job and the freshmen guys are coming through. The good thing is Davies, Barr and Shields have rotated through with a different guy leading that group in different races. Connor was solid at Bradley, Paul was nearly two minutes faster than two weeks ago and Jake was much improved this weekend, too.”

The upperclassmen didn’t run too badly, either. Alan Rosiquez, Damon Bautista, Craig Maher and Tim Bentz all ran sub-30 minute times as did freshman Matt Gatlin. That could be an indication of the Scots’ depth come conference time.

“We have pretty solid depth,” said Haynes. “It’s good that we have good depth right now. That should give us an improved finish at the conference meet. We have a really solid group to work with for the next three or four years.”

The Scots will find out exactly where they stand in a couple of weeks when they travel to UW-Oshkosh and have their full compliment of runners on the same course.

The women have already shown their depth with last year’s conference title, but an influx of talented freshman could make the Scots an even better title threat. One of those newcomers – Rachel Bowden – led the pack after Beyer and Staab crossed the finish line of the 5420 meter course – originally set for 6K, but a missed loop made the course more than 500 meters short.

“We didn’t race as well as we have been,” said Haynes. “We were too conservative at the start. Katie ran a very solid race, but as a group we went out fairly conservatively and didn’t finish well. If we hope to do well at conference, we’ll have to improve at three through seven. We were just average on Friday.”

No. 3 Bowden’s 22:20.7 placed her 93rd, just six seconds ahead of Taryn Bautista (formerly Taryn Tang)…yep, she and men’s runner Damon Bautista tied the knot. The rest of Haynes’ three through seven target group – Briana Flynn, Amy Aghababian and Brittney Frazier – finished within 45 seconds of Bowden while Tori Beaty and Whitney Didier ran 23:42s.

The Scots completed their toughest training week of the season last week. Running the highest mileage and intensity weeks of the season will be replaced this week by the start of a new training interval.

“Their bodies should start to recover this week or next,” said Haynes. “We should see some improvement in the next few weeks.”

The Scots will get somewhat of a treat this Saturday at the Beloit Invitational. While they’ll still have to run a long distance, the terrain – uh, we mean obstacles – will be new, but old.

“It’s set up as an Old English Course,” reported Haynes. “They’ll have some straw bales and a creek to jump over. We’ll talk about how to approach that type of course this week. It won’t be the same course we’ll run for conference at Beloit, but it fits in well with our plan to run on back-to-back weekends.”

GETTING DEFENSIVE

The defense was the question going into the football season, but after allowing six points – TOTAL – in the last three games, reporters may want to try a new line of questioning for coach Steve Bell.

The latest defensive gem came last week in a 41-3 win over Carroll. After the Pioneers hit a 31-yard field goal to complete an eight-play, 44-yard drive on their fourth possession, the Scots’ defense took over. Carroll was only able to muster 121 yards the rest of the game.

“I knew going into the season that we had the talent level to be successful,” said Bell of his defensive squad. “The only question was how quickly we would jell as a unit.”

Ummmm, about one game.

In the last three games, the Scots have allowed a conference-low 148 yards per game. For the season, their 3.25 turnover margin through four games ranks them second in Division III and they’re ninth in total defense.

The Scots also moved up in one national poll and stayed put in another. In the latest AFCA poll, the Scots moved up a notch to No. 12 while D3football.com kept them 11th in their weekly rankings.

Against Carroll, the Scots forced fumbles on two of the Pioneers’ first four drives and intercepted a pass on Carroll’s possession after their field goal. Monmouth held Carroll to four three-and-outs, three other drives ended in turnovers and two more ended on downs.

“Other than that one drive, the defense did a good job of getting out of drives,” said Bell. “They did a good job of playing fast, getting to the ball and pressuring the quarterback. The key was not letting them run the ball. We made them one-dimensional.”

Carroll gained just 54 yards on 31 carries. The Pioneers picked up 127 yards through the air, but threw the ball 28 times, connecting on just 14 passes.

“That’s saying a lot when you can hold a team like Carroll to just 54 yards rushing,” said Bell. “We had seven guys up front stopping the run. Adam Hoste played terrific, our safeties and corners did a great job. Give credit to the defense, they played a great game and all around, we did a good job to take away their favorite phase of the game.”

The Scots’ favorite phase appears to be scoring, and they did that on seven of their 14 possessions. Yet, with a 48.5 point per game average, they’re only fourth in scoring nationally.

Again this week, the defense fed the offense. Nick Leffler forced a fumble and Hoste picked off a pass in the first quarter to start the scoring barrage. Three times in the first half the Scots began drives in Carroll territory and all three times they came away with points to take a 24-3 halftime lead.

Clay Bricker racked up 104 yards on 15 carries and scored twice – his second straight multiple TD game. Alex Tanney spread the wealth through the air, as Matt Shepherd had a game-high 10 receptions and Michael Blodgett had a game-best 118 receiving yards – his second consecutive week leading the team in that category.

The Scots gained 537 yards of offense – the third straight 500-plus yard game – and it could have been more. A dozen penalties for 117 yards put the Scots in a precarious situation more than once.

“Penalties came at the wrong time and put us in long-yardage situations,” lamented Bell. “If we don’t get that fixed, they (penalties) will come back and bite us.”

Monmouth was still able to battle through the miscues and scored on Bricker’s 30-yard TD run just before the half. The Scots chewed up some clock at the start of the second half running on five of their first 14 plays, but was forced to punt on their first possession and didn’t score until Nick Wright hauled in a 20-yard pass from Tanney with 4:46 left to play in the third quarter to open up a 31-3 lead.

“I told them going in, that we had to be able to run the ball,” said Bell. “On defense, we want the other team to be one-dimensional. On offense, we CAN’T be one-dimensional.”

Carroll did hold the Scots to their lowest point total since Monmouth’s 39-20 Week 1 win over Loras, which prompted one TV reporter to ask “Have you guys NOT scored more than 40 points this year?”

As the offense puts up video game numbers, it might be easy to overlook the defensive side of the ball. Not so for Bell.

“For four games, I think our defense has been tremendous,” said Bell. “It sure makes it easier on the offense if we can start on a short field. Of course, we left some points on the field in the first half.”

The Scots won’t be able to leave points on the field this weekend when they host Grinnell for a 1 p.m. kickoff at April Zorn Memorial Stadium. The Pioneers have averaged nearly 24 points per game and held perennial conference contender St. Norbert to a mere 14 points in the conference opener…and they’re coming off a 42-0 win over Lawrence last weekend.

Bell is wary of the Pioneers despite their 1-3 record.

“The way they score is the problem,” claimed Bell. “They’re a multi-faceted team. We’ll have to stick to our assignments, be sound and play the way we’ve been playing – with a lot of speed.”

Judging by the start the offense and defense has had, playing with a lot of speed may not be the hard part. The hard part may be for the fans to avoid whiplash as they watch the Scots fly from end zone to end zone.

SPLIT ENDS

Forget the hair conditioner, volleyball coach Kari Shimmin changed the lineup, offenses and defenses to gain a split over the opening weekend of conference play.

A night after dropping a 3-1 decision to Beloit, the Scots fought their way past a tough Lake Forest team, winning 3-0 to earn the split. The change from a 6-2 offense to a 5-1 paid immediate dividends as the Scots downed Lake Forest 25-21 in the first set, then eeked out a 27-25 second set win and actually cruised to a 25-20 win in the final set. OK, so 25-20 is pretty close, but the Scots had the match under control until the Foresters’ late rally fell short.

“We took advantage of really good ball control,” claimed Shimmin. “Our hitters had really good timing with (setter) Alexis (Keller). We also didn’t want to go 0-2 for the weekend at home. After Friday, we NEEDED a split. That was the motivation.”

Alicia Yeakey, Chelsey Widdop and Kendra Newlon split the Lake Forest blockers, driving home nine, eight and seven kills each. Heck, even 5-foot-5 setter Keller got in the act with three kills and a solo block.

Yep, just call her Alexis Skywalker.

Meanwhile, back down here on earth…

“Alexis is a player who wants to find a way to win,” reported Shimmin. “She brings that energy onto the floor. That’s the type of energy we needed…someone to motivate and push them. If we’re going to continue to play a 5-1, she’ll have to continue to do that and be a threat at the net.”

Speaking of threats, Yeakey has drilled 18 kills in the last two matches after moving to a right side attacker. While it’s a new position, the junior transfer has adapted well.

“Alicia has played very well the last couple of matches for us,” praised Shimmin. “Kendra, also, has been more aggressive at the net. She’s getting more touches and is actively making herself part of the offense.”

Newlon blocks, too. Four stuffs against Lake Forest and five against Beloit gives her 40 on the season, just two back of team leader Claire Hermie.

The Scots made some blocks the night before against Beloit, but the Buccaneers also drilled 41 kills in the four sets. The Scots took the opener 25-22, but it was all Beloit after that.

“We played well in the first set,” said Shimmin. “We had good ball control, the setters were very aggressive and the offense was in sync. Beloit got into a rhythm and attacked the ball well. We didn’t have good enough ball control after that to change up offensively.”

The Scots’ flexibility to change on the fly could be put to the test this weekend with a couple of tough matches in Wisconsin. Friday, the Scots face Ripon and Saturday they travel to Carroll.

“There should be some separation this weekend,” predicted Shimmin of the conference race. “This is an important weekend for all the teams to try and stay in the top half. Only the top four teams make the conference tournament, so there isn’t much margin for error.”

The Scots can ill afford any errors this weekend. Ripon is a traditionally strong team and, according to Shimmin, is an incredibly tough place to play. After the Scots football team beat Carroll last weekend 41-3, the Pioneers volleyball team may be looking to exact some revenge.

“It’s a big road trip for us,” said Shimmin. “We have played well on the road, but we’ll have to separate ourselves from the rest of the teams this weekend.”

JUST WARMING UP

Fall can be a busy season for many people, especially Chad Braun who serves as football’s defensive coordinator AND the men’s tennis coach.

While Braun was in Wisconsin with the football team last weekend, assistant coach Brian “Big Red” Jordan and recently graduated player Kyle Korb took five Scots to St. Louis for the ITA Central Regional. It’s a yearly tradition for the Scots to get some fall competition under their belts against some different opponents.

“I’ve got to give some props to Big Red and Kyle,” said Braun. “They volunteered to fill in for me when I have other duties in the fall. They did a great job last weekend.”

Braun isn’t too focused on the scores of the matches during the fall, he’s more interested in getting his players experience. They got plenty of that last weekend.

“The tournament gives us a chance to see some different competition,” said Braun. “It gives our freshmen an opportunity to experience the college game before we hit our traditional season in the spring.”

Freshman Gabe Cheng joined returners Chris Utterback, Tyler Lampe, Brian Miller and Matt Smith for the year’s first formal competition.

Utterback had the most success of the group. After dropping a hard-fought 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 decision in the open draw, the sophomore rolled to a 6-4, 6-1 win over Eric Hane of Knox before falling in the next round.

Hold the phone, didn’t Braun say the tournament allows us to see different competition?

“Sometimes it just happens that way,” said Braun of the matchup that could have taken place just 15 miles away. “There are a lot of talented players at the tournament that we would never see otherwise, but it is always nice to beat a rival regardless of the setting.”

Utterback wasn’t the only Scot to face a familiar foe. Miller fell in straight sets of the open draw to Lake Forest’s Chris Paterakos. Cheng and Lampe also fell in straight sets in their opening matches.

Cheng then teamed with Smith in the doubles competition while Utterback and Lampe formed the Scots other doubles. Both teams fell in two matches.

So, what will Braun take from the tournament?

“Chris played so well at the end of last year,” praised Braun. “He’s come back this fall more confident and physically fit and that will only help his game. Gabe played very well and got his feet wet in the college game. He should have a good year for us.

“Gabe and Matt teamed for doubles,” continued Braun. “We think that might be a combination we’ll use in the spring. Tyler played well. He and Chris did a good job in doubles. Matt and Brian are gaining experience and should be confident heading into spring.”

Braun will be a little less busy, but no less inspired by the potential of a young, but talented team when they begin their season in earnest come February.

JUST COOLING DOWN

Like his tennis counterpart, Dave Ragone does double duty in the fall as the football team’s offensive line/special teams coach and the men’s golf coach.

Ragones’ golf charges hit the links Sunday and Monday for the Iowa Wesleyan Fun City Classic. The Scots shot an “acceptable” 311 for the opening round, but ballooned to a 335 on Day 2. After sitting in second place through 18 holes, the Scots finished third with a 646.

“We played very well on Sunday,” said Ragone. “I was very pleased with a 311 since some of our guys had never seen the course. Conditions were awfully rough for the final day. The wind really picked up, but we should have faired much better than we did. I’m disappointed that we dropped from second to third.”

The Scots were led by two of their veterans – Rodney Clayton and Ryan Tapscott. Clayton carded a 77-79-156 to finish fifth and Tapscott was sixth with a 74-85-159.

“Rodney would have liked to have been in the 140s to low 50s range,” reported Ragone. “He’s gotten a lot of tournament experience over the summer, so his scores should be lower. All things considered, Rodney and Tappy played pretty well.”

With two of the Scots regulars unable to compete, freshman Brandon Kemerling, senior Zach Coles and sophomore Sean McNamara were given the nod. Kemerling shot a career-best 76 in the first round, but ballooned to an 86 on the second day. His 162 total placed him in a tie for 10th. Coles was 27th after an 87-85-172 and McNamara – like Kemerling, checked in with a season-low Sunday but added strokes on Monday. He toured the course with an 84-95-179 to place 35th.

“We’re giving some of our guys who we expect to be competitors a chance to gain some college tournament experience,” said Ragone. “The experience they get during our fall season is huge. These tournaments replicate the tournament pressure we’ll face in the spring season. That’s something you just can’t duplicate in practice.”

This week’s practice will simulate a bit of that pressure. The Scots will wrap up their fall season at next week’s Red Poling Classic in Dearborn, Mich. and Ragone hasn’t set the roster for the ending meet just yet.

“We’re still up in the air as far as who will travel,” reported Ragone. “We need to find three more guys who can play for us. Our depth has always been our strength. We’ll sort it all out this week.”

Of course, Ragone realizes he’ll have to do more sorting in the spring, but then, at least, he only has to concentrate on one sport.

CONFERENCE HONORS

Katie Fluegel (Rockton, Ill./Hononegah) scored the game-tying goal in the Fighting Scots’ 1-1 double-overtime tie with Grinnell in the Scots’ conference opener and was named the Midwest Conference Offensive Performer of the Week in women’s soccer.

Fluegel’s lone goal tied the game with perennial power Grinnell in Monmouth’s conference opener on Saturday. Monmouth had never beaten or tied Grinnell in 18 previous matches, but Fluegel’s goal in the 61st minute changed all that. She made the most of her opportunity, scoring on her only shot of the match. Fluegel has taken just six shots all season and has put four of them on goal.

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. This week it’s Christy Hickey Woodard.

Christy Hickey Woodard ‘97

When Christy Hickey entered Monmouth College from nearby Galesburg High School, she was joining a women’s track program that was coming into its own, having won its first-ever Midwest Conference championship in 1993. By accumulating 13 individual or relay crowns in MWC indoor and outdoor meets in her career, Hickey helped the Fighting Scots add to their collection with five more team titles.

One of the top sprinters in the program’s history, Hickey succeeded at the national level, too, running on three All-American 4x100 teams. She qualified for nationals in a total of nine individual events, including three times in the 100-meter hurdles, where her school-record of 14.74 seconds lasted 10 years. Her top 100-meter dash time was 12.31 seconds.

Hickey capped her career by winning the 100- and 200-meter dash at the 1997 conference outdoor meet, helping the Scots win the team title, before earning her final All-American relay honor.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Fri., Oct. 2
Women’s Golf – at Midwest Conference Championships, Rockford, Ill., 9:00 am
Volleyball – at Ripon, 7:00 pm 

Sat., Oct. 3
Women’s Golf – at Midwest Conference Championships, Rockford, Ill., 9:00 am
Cross Country – at Beloit Invitational (tentative), 11:00 am
Women’s Soccer – at Illinois College, Noon
Football – hosts Grinnell, 1:00 pm
Volleyball – at Carroll, 1:00 pm
Men’s Soccer – at Grinnell, 1:30 pm 

Sun., Oct. 4
Women’s Golf – at Midwest Conference Championships, Rockford, Ill., 9:00 am
Women’s Tennis – at Lake Forest, Noon

Mon., Oct. 5
Men’s Soccer – at Millikin, 4:00 pm  

Tues., Oct. 6
Men’s Golf – at Red Poling Classic, Dearborn, Mich., 9:00 am
Women’s Tennis – hosts Knox, 4:00 pm
Volleyball – at Grinnell, 7:00 pm

SCOTSIVATIONAL

“I'm not telling you it is going to be easy - I'm telling you it's going to be worth it.” – Art Williams