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Building a 19-0 lead on the way to a 39-20 win while recovering two fumbles and picking off a pass in the first half might make some coaches feel pretty good about their team.

Not so for the Scots’ Steve Bell.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” said Bell after the Scots – ranked 14^th in this week’s D3footballl.com poll – won their season opener over Loras. “We were inconsistent offensively from play-to-play in the first half. We left at least 14 points out on the field in the first half. The defense was another story. I was EXTREMELY pleased with the first half. (Defensive coordinator) Coach (Chad) Braun called the first 23 minutes of the game probably some of the best defense we’ve had since we got here 10 years ago.”

That’s saying something when you consider numerous defensive records have fallen since the 2000 season. Four team defensive takeaway records have been rewritten, two defensive backs from the last 10 years (Justin Oertle and Ryan Bast) are among the career interception leaders, and the individual tackle records for a season and career have fallen a combined six times since Bell and his staff arrived.

One thing that hasn’t fallen has been the Scots drive for excellence.

Speaking of drives, the Scots scored on their first drive against the Duhawks when Kyle Tuor’s 20 yard field goal capped a 67 yard, 14 play drive. The next two possessions ended with three-and-outs.

That’s when the offense began to find themselves. The Scots scored on six of the next eight possessions and can thank the defense for part of that. Monmouth’s defense gave the offense the ball via two fumble recoveries and an interception – in the first half. Cory Bishop’s interception (the Scots’ fourth takeaway of the game) at the Scots’ 33 yard line with six minutes left in the game sealed the Scots win.

Clay Bricker’s two yard TD run and Kyle Wantland’s TD catch combined with another Tuor field goal gave the Scots a 19-0 lead with 7:24 left in the first half. Nick Wright’s two TD grabs – one a juggling catch in the end zone – and Matt Shepherd’s TD catch rounded out the scoring.

Shepherd hauled in 13 catches – or nearly a quarter of all his receptions from a year ago. Alex Tanney continued to be an equal-opportunity QB, hitting six different receivers for 341 yards.

“The offensive line played well,” said Bell. “We still need to run the ball better. We won’t throw the ball every down. Besides, we’ve got too good of a set of running backs to throw all the time. Overall, we were just a bit too inconsistent offensively across the board.”

Defensively, four linebackers claimed the top four spots in tackles: Marcus Ruff (10), Adam Hoste (9), Matt Morman (8) and David Milroy (7). That’s just the way Bell likes it, sort of.

“You want your linebackers to be your top tackles, obviously,” said Bell. “As long as they’re not tackles way downfield.”

Good point, coach. Guess that’s why he’s the head man.

Bell also pointed to two key factors in the Scots’ win: +4 in turnover margin and the Scots’ 50 percent third down conversion mark. On top of that, the Scots had ZERO turnovers. No interceptions, no fumbles. Only Wright’s juggling reception had fans holding their collective breaths. That may just be a continuation of last season when the Scots were No. 2 in the nation in turnover margin.

“Teams will win a lot of games by staying +4 in turnovers and converting half of their third downs,” claimed Bell. “We continuously stress taking it away on defense and the players have bought into it. That game was a good gauge to see where we are in terms of preparing for our conference season. We found out the new defensive guys are ready to compete. We got some answers to some questions, but I don’t believe we got THE answer.”

“THE” question heading into this weekend’s conference opener at Lawrence may be “What will they do?”

The Vikings didn’t play last weekend, instead opting to play Minnesota-Morris the last week of the season. That’s a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, the Vikings jump right into the fire. On the other hand, the Scots have no film or scouting report on anything Lawrence may have changed from a year ago.

What DID change for the Vikings is the graduation of first team all-conference running back Craig Ebert, who gained more than 80 percent of the Vikings’ rushing yardage in 2008 and had more than half their carries. He gained 85 yards against the Scots last year, but six other ball carriers were stuffed for minus 51 yards.

The Scots’ defense dominated in last year’s contest, surrendering just 82 offensive yards while the offense rolled to 444 yards on the way to a 47-2 win. The only blemish on the scoreboard came when the Scots recovered their own fumble in the end zone, giving the Vikings a safety.

“We’ll have to go into the game based on what they did last year and anticipate any tweaks in their system,” said Bell. “We have room for improvement with our game. We need to do what we do a little better and more consistently.

“I don’t ever want to get comfortable,” said Bell. “I have an understanding of how good this team can be, and we’re not even close to that level right now. We’ve got to go out there every week and every day and work on getting better.”

WEBCAST REMINDER

As a reminder to fans unable to make the games, you can still catch action on your computer by logging on to www.midwestconference.tv. All webcasts are free simply by logging on.

All football, conference volleyball matches and selected other events will be covered via streaming audio and video. Kickoff time for all football games are set for 1:00 p.m. with pregame coverage set for 12:45 p.m.

A GOOD FIRST EFFORT

Now that cross country coach Roger Haynes has had a week to think about it, last Tuesday’s opener at Illinois Wesleyan was a pretty good early season effort.

“Overall, it was a good meet for us,” said Haynes. “It was a lot of what we expected. The runners who put in the summer mileage ran pretty well, and the ones who didn’t need to work on their summer training.”

Mary Kate Beyers and Katie Staab picked up where they left off – Beyers winning the dual meet race and Staab placing sixth. A couple of newcomers – Brittney Frazier and Tori Beaty – had top 20 finishes.

“The significant thing for Mary Kate and Katie was that they were both faster than they were a year ago,” praised Haynes. “Overall, we had seven women run faster than four of them did last year. Brittney was a pleasant surprise running with Taryn Tang and Amy Aghababian, a couple of all-conference runners last year and Tori was in that mix as well.”

As bright as that news is, remember the Scots didn’t have full slate of runners available. Freshman Rachel Bowden – a high school all-stater in the 4x800 – and junior Lindsie Pettie who ran track for the Scots last spring could each add more depth when they compete.

The mix of a strong group of youngsters should help make the Scots pack times even smaller and that could spell trouble for the rest of the Midwest Conference in October.

Monmouth’s men didn’t exactly roll over, either, Geoff Bird and Jonathan Welty finished 1-2 and mirrored the improved efforts of the women.

“A big improvement for Geoff and Jonathan from a year ago,” reported Haynes. “They both shaved nearly a minute off last year’s time.”

Freshman Jake Barr – no relation to 2004 conference champ Zach Barr – led a strong underclassman pack of Connor Shields, Paul Davies and Nate Jones.

“We know we’ll have a pretty consistent 1-7 on the men’s team,” claimed Haynes. “We have a bunch of talented kids, but no super-low No. 1 or 2 runner at this point.”

Haynes’ youngsters will get a good test on their conversion from high school to college at this weekend’s Bradley Open. The 8K race is a bit farther than the standard high school distance.

“The 8K will be a big change for them,” said Haynes. “They’ll have to learn how to race the longer distance. The women will run a 5K at Bradley as opposed to 2 miles last week, but they’re training well and it won’t be a drastic change. We’d like the women to be a bit faster at midseason than we were last year.”

Any faster than last season and the Scots may have to make room for more conference hardware…and that’s OK with the Scoop.

STICKING WITH THE PLAN

The women’s golf team is sticking to coach Molly McNamara’s formula of steady improvement in the early season.

The Scot’s improved their team score by eight strokes from a week ago to card a 388 and place 11th of 17 teams in the rain-shortened Illinois College Fall Invitational Saturday. The Scots finished 22 strokes back of conference foe Grinnell in ninth, but bested MWC opponents Illinois College (on their home course) and Knox.

How did they do that?

Three of the Scots’ five scorers improved their performances while the remaining two were just one stroke higher than a week ago.

Sophomore Lanae Hoffman shaved the most strokes – 10 – off her initial score last week. Her 105 tied her for 79th. Freshman Nicole Hurst’s 95 was the Scots’ second-best score and placed her in a tie for 68th. Her round bettered her debut score from last week by eight strokes. The third member with an improved score – senior Kendra Catterton – logged a career-best 97 to tie for 72nd.

“Lanae and Nicole were much more comfortable,” praised McNamara. “Lanae had a good score despite taking a 10 on one hole. The course really plays well for her game. Nicole played better, but still not as well as she would like. She just needs to trust her swing a little more. Kendra has been steadily improving. She’s a good example of how you can consistently get better over four years of college golf.”

Senior Lynsey Barnard carded the Scots’ best round of the day – a 94 – to tie for 63rd. Junior Kristin Humphrey’s 102 placed her 77th.

“Everyone was anxious to get back out there and play Sunday,” said McNamara. “Our goal is to get better each round. We knew where we could make up some ground and get some strokes back. The weather moved in Saturday and they had to cancel Sunday’s final round.”

The Scots have a busy week this week, playing three tournaments in three days. Monmouth opens the stretch at Augustana on Thursday, before heading to Knox Friday. They’ll wrap up the 54-hole marathon hosting their own invitational Saturday at Gibson Woods Golf Course.

“We’re trying to simulate the conference tournament of 54 holes in three days,” claimed McNamara. “It will be the second time this season we’ve played the Augustana course, so we’ll see if we’ve improved. The Soangetaha Country Club course at Knox will be brand new to Lanae and Nicole, and of course we end on our home course. The three courses are a nice compliment to each other. They all have trees and hills so you can get in trouble in a hurry. We’ll have to manage our game to score well.”

Hoffman and Hurst may want to get some course management advice from Barnard when they play at Soangetaha. The senior fired a school-record 80 at last year’s Knox Invitational.

“Lynsey has good memories from that course last year,” said McNamara. “We should be more comfortable at Augustana and hopefully that will carry over to the Knox meet.”

Like last weekend, the Scots will get a look at three other conference schools – Grinnell, Knox and Illinois College.

“This weekend will tell us a lot about how we’re coming along,” said McNamara. “We need to have all five women play well to stay competitive with the conference teams, but we realize it’s still early.”

Maybe not THAT early. After this weekend, just four rounds remain before the conference tournament in October.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A FEW DAYS MAKE

The men’s soccer team experienced quite a turnaround after a 6-0 loss to Elmhurst in their season-opener last week.

After being outshot 13-4 and giving up goals on nearly 50 percent of the shots faced, the Scots had it clicking on nearly all cylinders Saturday to post a 3-0 win over Benedictine. Sixteen of the Scots’ 20 shots against the Eagles were on goal and the defense allowed just four shots – and only two of those were on goal.

“We opened up against a strong program,” said George Perry of the Elmhurst team. “They’re very well organized and we certainly were not. We had a number of giveaways. We were much better on Saturday.”

The Scots scored in the 18^th minute against Benedictine – their quickest goal since Lucas Knox drove one home in the fifth minute of last season’s match against Ripon. Saturday, Daniel Medina took a pass from Danny Davis after Davis got a nice feed from Pat Blazer to post the game-winning goal in the first half. Blazer added a “rocket” for an unassisted goal early in the second half before two sophomores and a freshman connected for the match’s final goal. Freshman Andrew Sheller scored his first collegiate goal with help from sophomores Josh Del Valle and Eddie Martinez in the 72^nd minute.

But it was the defense that set up the Scots’ efficient offense.

“Joe Howell organized the back group really well,” praised Perry. “Owen Robinson was talking more from goal. We certainly didn’t give the ball away like we had Wednesday.”

Leading just 1-0 at halftime with a narrow 5-2 edge in shots, the Scots picked up the offensive pressure in the second half when they fired off 15 shots – 11 on goal.

“We did a better job of possessing the ball and creating more scoring opportunities,” reported Perry. “We have a very strong midfield. Pat, Danny, Adam (Buol), Bryan (Jackson) and Daniel – all those guys – they’re very talented. Of course, our backs did a much better job of not forcing the ball. If the pass wasn’t there, they simply brought it back and found a better time to get it up front.”

Monmouth’s defense Saturday showed a quality Perry had been hoping to see – patience. He’s also stressing patience when looking at the season as a whole and cautions it’s early in the season with the toughest part of the schedule yet to come. Perry is looking forward to hosting Cornell Sunday with a well-rested team – and no snow.

“I actually like having a week off,” said Perry. “The time off from games allows us to work on some problem areas. We’ll train very hard this week. We lost to them at their place last year. It was cold and windy. It actually started snowing in the second half last year.”

The only snow Perry wants to see this weekend is the Scots’ success to begin snowballing.

DOWN, BUT NOT OUT

When junior hitter and team leader Alyson Schroeter went down with an injury early in the first set of the day at last weekend’s Monmouth College Invitational, Kari Shimmin knew she would find out what her young team was made of.

“I really didn’t know what to expect,” said Shimmin of her team that fields just two seniors and two juniors. “They exceeded my expectations. The freshman rose up and played at a higher level. It really surprised me how such a young team immediately stepped up. I’m very proud of the way they didn’t let the injury negatively affect their play.”

Just days after falling in straight sets to Cornell, the Scots came roaring back at their own tournament, defeating MacMurray 3-1, Rockford 3-1 and Aurora 3-0. That’s not being very nice hosts.

“We worked hard all week to improve in our problem areas,” said Shimmin. “It was very much a team effort.”

Not only did Shimmin see the squad raise their play as a unit, some individuals also came through.

Hitter Megan Creen was forced into a setter’s role in the Scots’ 6-2 offensive scheme. She responded with 36 assists in the three matches. The sophomore’s contribution didn’t end with just giving someone else the ball, she teamed with junior transfer Alicia Yeakey to shut down Rockford’s main threat. The Regent’s 6-foot-1 hitter was held to a miniscule .077 hitting percentage.

“I was very happy with Megan’s performance,” praised Shimmin. “It took her a while to get going as a setter, but she settled in. Megan really stepped up and ran the offense well and connected with every hitter. Not only did we have her setting, she and Alicia were responsible for blocking Rockford’s big girl.”

Did we mention Creen also attacked well? When she wasn’t blocking or setting up a teammate, the 5-foot-9 hitter was drilling 26 kills – second on the weekend to freshman Chelsey Widdop’s 31.

“She seemed to get stronger the longer she played,” said Shimmin of the lanky Widdop who was named to the All-Tournament team. “Chelsey seemed to really get warmed up as the day progressed. She attacked around the block and made some nice digs.”

Forty-one digs for the weekend to be exact, just behind defensive specialist Sara Schoon’s 52.

“Sara had her best ball control on defense and on serve-receive in the time she’s been here,” said Shimmin. “I also saw her develop as a leader on the court. She talked to the hitters, made adjustments on defense and really came into her own.”

The Scots hit the road this weekend, playing in the two-day, five-team Grinnell Invitational. By a fluke of the schedule, the Scots will play the Pioneers – a conference opponent – no less than three times this year.

Of course, that might not be a problem if the Scots continue to play at the level they reached last weekend.

CLOSE, BUT…

Patrick Montgomery’s debut as the women’s tennis coach didn’t come with a “W,” but it did come with a bit of satisfaction.

“The match was much closer than the score indicated,” said Montgomery of the Scots’ season-opening 7-2 loss to Lawrence last Thursday. “A few of the matches could have gone the other way with a break here or there. Nos. 4, 5 and 6 singles were very close. Overall, I was very pleased with the play of the women.”

Opening with doubles play, the Scots’ No. 3 tandem of senior Sarah McLinden and freshman Kiah Henry posted Monmouth’s lone doubles win. The opening day win is already halfway to the win total at No. 3 doubles for the entire season last year.

“That was a pleasant surprise,” claimed Montgomery. “Sarah really showed her senior leadership, both with her play and the way she helped Kiah pull through in her first college match.”

Another freshman who pulled through was two-sport athlete Ashley Reynoso. Four days after scoring the winning goal for the women’s soccer team in a 3-0 win over MacMurray, Reynoso dominated at No. 3 singles, winning 6-0, 6-0.

“Ashley wasn’t able to spend a whole lot of time with the tennis team prior to the match,” said Montgomery. “The fact that she won without dropping any games says a lot about her individual play.”

Speaking of individuals, anyone watching the No. 1 singles match between a pair of sophomores was in for a treat. The Scots’ Amy Unzicker – the Midwest Conference 2008 No. 2 singles champion – and the Vikings’ Elizabeth Larson – the MWC 2008 No. 1 singles champ – staged a slugfest. The two hard hitters battled in the afternoon’s longest match before Larson won 6-2, 6-3.

“Just a few points made the difference in the outcome,” claimed Montgomery. “Amy hates to lose, but I suspect those two may meet again. It’s just a case of making a few tactical changes. They’re a couple of hard hitters who really went after it.”

Also getting after it was Nicole Anson at No. 4 singles. The freshman narrowly lost 6-1, 2-6, 11-9.

“Nicole suffered from a bit of inexperience in the college game,” said Montgomery. “She played very well in the second set and the tie-breaker. I was very pleased with how she came back and finished the match.”

Rounding out the Scots’ singles, Kimi Wegner fell at No. 2 6-3, 6-2, Henry dropped a 6-0, 6-3 decision at No. 5 and McLinden dropped a close one at No. 6, 7-5, 6-1.

The Scots get back in action this afternoon, hosting Illinois College in a conference match before heading to the Quincy Invitational Friday and Saturday.

“We approach the tournaments as a good way to work on our individual games,” claimed Montgomery. “There is no team portion, so we can focus on what we need to work on as an individual. Obviously, we’d like to win, but the wins and losses aren’t that big of a deal in this setting. It’s all about preparing for the dual and conference competitions.”

The Scots’ rookie coach already sounds like a seasoned veteran.

JUST SHORT

In sports, sometimes a team can play well and not win.

That was certainly the case in two losses last week for the women’s soccer team. The Scots opened the season last Tuesday with a 3-0 win at MacMurray, but fell 1-0 at Coe Saturday and 3-2 in overtime Monday at Hannibal-LaGrange.

To recap – the Scots faced a packed-in defense against MacMurray and didn’t score until the 53^rd minute. Lauren Vana had two assists and two Scots – Ashley Reynoso and Katie Zeter – scored their first collegiate goals.

“The frustrating thing was it took so long to score,” said Barry McNamara. “They packed in on the defensive end and had a good goalkeeper which made it difficult. It was nice that Katie scored. She’s from that area, so she had a lot of people there.”

Vana’s assist on Reynoso’s goal made McNamara feel good about the team’s chances this season. The cross headed in by the freshman Reynoso was a goal the coach felt was as good as any he’s seen.

“That play would have scored against a lot of teams,” said McNamara. “That was a high-caliber goal and one to be proud of. Ashley put it in against a good goalie in traffic. Lauren really was the catalyst for us in that game with two assists.”

The Scots could have used something to ignite the scoring in the one-goal loss to Coe Saturday – the Kohawks first win over the Scots since 1996. Monmouth outshot Coe 16-5, putting 13 attempts on goal, but Coe made the most of a few chances, scoring the game’s only goal in the 67^th minute.

“We got off a lot of shots, especially after we got behind,” reported McNamara. “The goalie made some nice saves and they scored on the one good chance they got in the second half. We played hard until the end, but that was a tough one to take.”

It looked like the shoe might be on the other foot in Monday’s overtime loss. Hannibal-LaGrange outshot Monmouth 24-5, but the Scots were the efficient ones, putting all five shots on goal and scoring twice.

Kerry Kost netted her first collegiate goal to give the Scots the lead just before halftime. The Scots led until the 70^th minute when the Trojans scored two goals within a minute to take a 2-1 lead.

Two sophomores – Kelly Russell and Molly Ball – combined for the game-tying goal with less than a minute left in regulation. The tying goal came when Russell headed in Ball’s corner kick to send the game into OT.

“Kerry made a really nice play to score our first goal,” reported McNamara. “She made a hustle play to beat the keeper to a loose ball and made them pay. Kelly’s goal was another nice play. Once again, we played hard until the final whistle but came up just short.”

Close losses can be disheartening, but the Scots are trying to take a philosophical approach.

“We learned we can rally back if we get behind,” said McNamara. “I can’t fault the effort. We’re trying to play tougher and tougher competition to get ready for the conference race. We’re expecting our next couple of games to be even tougher. Our level of play has been good. It’s just unfortunate that we haven’t been rewarded with better results.”

McNamara and his troops are hoping for better results this weekend when they’ll be at Elmhurst Sunday before entertaining Dubuque for their home opener on Tuesday.

LEAGUE HONORS

Freshman Chelsey Widdop (Reynolds, Ill./Rockridge) made quite a collegiate volleyball debut last week and was named the season’s first Midwest Conference Performer of the Week.

Through the Fighting Scots’ first four matches, Widdop – a 5-foot-9 hitter – is averaging 2.64 kills per set with a .286 percentage. She’s also added in a team-high five sets by non-setters and leads the team with six ace serves.

Widdop is also doing the job defensively. Her 54 digs ranks her second on the team and her six blocks are third. She has either led, or tied for the lead in kills in every match this season. At last weekend’s Monmouth Invitational, Widdop recorded a career-high 12 kills with a .440 percentage against Aurora. She was also named to the all-tournament team.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Thurs., Sept. 10
Women’s Golf – at Lady Viking Invitational, 9:00 am
Women’s Tennis – hosts Illinois College, 3:00 pm 

Fri., Sept. 11
Women’s Golf – at Knox Invitational, Noon
Women’s Tennis – at Quincy Invitational, 2:00 pm
Volleyball – at Grinnell Tournament, 4:00 pm
Cross Country – at Bradley Open, 5:30 pm

Sat., Sept. 12
Women’s Golf – hosts Fighting Scots Invitational, 9:00 am
Volleyball – at Grinnell Tournament, 11:00 am
Football – at Lawrence, 1:00 pm
Women’s Tennis – at Quincy Invitational, 2:00 pm 

Sun., Sept. 13
Men’s Soccer – hosts Cornell, 1:30 pm
Women’s Soccer – at Elmhurst, 3:30 pm 

Tues., Sept. 15
Men’s Soccer – hosts Dubuque, 3:00 pm
Women’s Soccer – hosts Dubuque, 5:00 pm
Volleyball – at Lincoln Christian University, 7:00 pm

 SCOTSIVATIONAL

“It's not whether you get knocked down. It's whether you get up again.” – Vince Lombardi