Vol.
9, No. 8THE COMEBACK KIDS
The women’s golf team fought off a poor showing in the second round
to climb into fifth place at last weekend’s Midwest Conference Golf
Championships.
"We knew going in, we could finish anywhere from second to fifth,"
said Molly McNamara of the meet held at the Grinnell Country Club
course. "After Illinois College, the field was wide open. Every team has
a bad weekend, it was just unfortunate that ours came on the weekend of
the conference meet."
The Scots opened the meet tied for fifth with a 389, but slipped to
seventh after a 398 on Day 2. Monmouth’s four scoring players improved
their scores over the final 18 holes and their 380 on the final day
moved the Scots into sole possession of fifth place with an 1167.
Favored Illinois College took first with a 1028
– 50 strokes ahead of second-place Grinnell.
"We were in seventh place going into the final round," reported
McNamara. "We were paired with St. Norbert, so our thinking was to beat
who we were playing with and we would move up."
Nearly everyone improved their positions during the final round.
Lysney Barnard, the Scots’ lone returning all-conference player, was not
able to duplicate her all-conference performance. Her 54-hole 283 total
placed her 18th. Only the top 10 are awarded all-conference honors.
Senior Jessica Sackville remained consistent throughout the weekend,
her 96-96-95-287 placed her tied for 19th place. Kristin Humphrey and
Heidi Hartshorn tied for 29th with 302s. Humphrey’s 93 in the final
round was 14 strokes better than her opening 18 holes. Kendra Catterton,
who posted a scoring round on Day 1, placed 35th with a 319.
McNamara predicted everyone would post a score that would be valuable
and that proved to be true. Catterton’s first round score kept the Scots
in position early and Hartshorn’s 97 on the final day was crucial to
pulling the Scots into fifth place.
"The top three golfers for Knox actually had us beat, but our No. 4
score put us ahead," praised McNamara as the Scots pushed the Prairie
Fire into sixth place. "The women put the time in to be competitive
throughout the season and that showed in the final round. Heidi and
Jessica, our two seniors, did a lot of good things for our program. They
put in a lot of time to become two of our top three scorers."
This is the third year the MWC has used a 54-hole format for the
league championship. The Scots had placed fourth the previous two years.
"Obviously, the tournament didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to,"
said McNamara. "We’ll play a few matches in the spring so we can end on
a more positive note."
CIRCLING THE WAGONS
Many movies about the old west have pioneers circling the wagons when
the enemy is about to attack.
That strategy wouldn’t have worked last week when the Scots ran by
the Grinnell Pioneers 69-0. That’s right, we said "ran."
Clay Bricker’s 99 yards and two touchdowns led a ground game that
produced four TDs and 244 yards. The air attack got in on the act, too.
Alex Tanney’s 313 passing yards resulted in five scores.
"Clay ran very well," praised Steve Bell. "He ran hard and
determined. The offensive line did a nice job, too. They allowed him to
go untouched on a big run."
The Scots wasted no time, scoring in the first three minutes of the
game when Tanney hit Matt Shepherd for the speedy receiver’s third TD of
the year. The Scots’ 35 second quarter points set a new standard for
single-quarter scoring and they entered halftime with a 49-0 lead. At
that point it would have been easy for the Scots to let up in
anticipation of this weekend’s showdown with defending league champion
St. Norbert.
"Our guys really handled the game well," said Bell of the blowout.
"They handled the game the way we wanted them to. That shows a lot of
leadership and maturity. We harped at them –
‘Don’t overlook Grinnell. We’ll worry about St. Norbert when we play
them next week. Not a week before.’"
The Scots must have been listening to Bell, scoring on 11 of their 16
possessions and only allowing the Pioneers in the red zone once while
adding another 20 points in the second half.
The offense rolled to a season-high 571 yards despite throwing the
ball a season-low 28 times.
"The game dictated that we run a little more, especially in the third
quarter," said Bell. "Even though we have a talented quarterback, we
still have to be able to run the ball. I think we did a good job of
fine-tuning our game this week."
The defense got to experience something new, too, posting their first
shutout of the season, but recording no sacks for the first time this
year. Bell credits Grinnell’s offensive scheme to the zero sack total.
"They took our pass rush out of the game," explained Bell. "I don’t
think they ever truly dropped back. It was more of a quick throw
offense, some play action and roll outs. To our defense’s credit, they
played as they usually do. They bent a little, but never broke."
While the Scots were never able to record a sack, they did pick off
two throws and were able to hurry the freshman QB enough to hold the
Pioneers to 132 yards passing and an incredibly low 60 yards rushing.
Special teams got into the act, making two of three field goals
– Kyle Tuor’s 19-yarder in the third
quarter made it 52-0 and freshman Shane Reschke tried his hand, uh, foot
at his first collegiate field goal, nailing a 34-yard try for the game’s
final score.
"There were a few situations where I would have gone for it on fourth
down," said Bell. "But, I wanted our kickers to get some opportunities."
The Scots are hoping for plenty of opportunities for their kickers
this weekend when they travel to St. Norbert. The Green Knights are 48-1
in the conference since 2003. Care to guess who gave St. Norbert that
one loss?
The Green Knights’ last league loss was to Monmouth in 2005 when
Mitch Tanney guided the Scots to a 28-20 win at DePere. The Scots are
hoping Mitch’s younger brother, Alex, can duplicate that feat.
While speaking with the Galesburg Register Mail, St. Norbert head
coach Jim Purtill, didn’t quite agree with the coaches’ pre-season poll
that picked his Green Knights to repeat as league champions.
"Monmouth is an outstanding football team and they probably have the
best quarterback in the league," claimed Purtill. "I would say they’re
probably the favorites to be honest."
For his part, Bell isn’t buying what Purtill is selling.
"St. Norbert is the champ until someone knocks them off," said Bell
who dismissed any notion of a home field advantage. "I think it will be
a good game and it won’t matter where it’s played. It will be a battle.
They don’t make many mistakes. I don’t see this game producing many
turnovers, so it might just come down to one mistake and who can take
advantage."
The Scots and Green Knights have shown they can score, St. Norbert
leads the league, scoring nearly 49 points per game. Monmouth is right
behind scoring more than 46 points per outing. The teams are 1-2 in
total offense, averaging more than 400 yards per game.
Monmouth has the slight statistical edge defensively, holding
opponents to a little more than eight points per game. St. Norbert is
giving up more than 18 points per game.
The Scots defense will need to keep track of TWO quarterbacks this
weekend. The Green Knights Rob Berger and Bryan Stoppenbach share
quarterbacking duties. Berger has thrown for more than 500 yards and
rushed for 332 more this season. The duo has combined for 10 aerial TDs.
"They’re both exceptional athletes," said Bell. "They’ve always had
quarterbacks that have been good throwers and could run some. They’ve
got two quarterbacks now that are exceptional runners and they can
throw, too."
While the fans may spend the week getting pumped up for the Week 6
game that may decide the MWC champion, Bell is keeping this week’s game
prep low-key.
"Our players understand the magnitude of this game," said Bell.
"They’ve got to remember to stay even-keeled."
Good advice for the players, but for the fans a famous phrase uttered
by Baseball Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck comes to mind
– "Go crazy, folks!"
For those fans not able to "Go crazy" in DePere, a reminder that the
game will be available via pay-per-view on the web at
www.midwestconference.tv <http://www.midwestconference.tv>
.
WAITING FOR A RETURN
Running against some of the top teams in the nation at last weekend’s
Pre-National meet at Hanover, Ind., the Monmouth College women’s cross
country team placed ninth of 16 teams and the men were 17th of 20.
If any of the Scots advance to the NCAA National Championships next
month, they’ll run the same course as last weekend.
"It’s a difficult course – very
hilly," reported Roger Haynes. "We ran well against some of the top
runners in the country."
Mary Kate Beyer again led the Scots’ women, placing 11th with a time
of 22:56.21 in the 6K event. Katie Staab (23:41.47), Amy Aghababian
(25:27.80) and Whitney Didier (25:30.98) each ran season-bests.
"Amy and Whitney had major improvements," said Haynes. "Katie also
ran a PR. It was nice to have those three with PRs. Those performances
will deepen up our women’s team."
Brianna Flynn (25:49.47), Jayme Ayers (25:33.66) and Ashley Szabo
(26:14.15) rounded out the Scots’ scoring runners. Haynes expects his
3-4-5 runners to make a difference as he looked ahead to the Midwest
Conference meet.
"St. Norbert beat us Saturday, but we had seven runners in front of
their five runners," reported Haynes. "On a conference-level race, that
will change the scoring substantially. I think the women’s race at
conference will be more even than it’s been in a number of years. I feel
reasonably good about our team’s ability to score."
Brad Begyn continued to lead the men, running a 27:02.45 over the 8K
course to place 60th. Clay Staley’s 27:19.98 placed him as Monmouth’s
No. 2 runner in 73rd position, followed by Jon Welty who clocked in at
27:53.81.
"Some of the guys who ran well last week were a bit slower this
week," said Haynes. "Some of the other guys, like Jon, were better this
week. It’s a matter of some of the runners being in an up cycle and
others are on the down side. Clay was able to knock down some time on a
very difficult course."
Geoff Bird (28:23.55), Scott Sheller (28:41.24), Matt Peharda
(28:57.59) and Alan Rosiquez (29:27.65) finished out the scoring for
Monmouth as the Scots ran on back-to-back weekends for the first time
this season.
"We’re not running on fresh legs right now," said Haynes of his squad
that is putting in high mileage while still recovering from illness last
month. "We’re at 100-percent of our mileage. Last week was our highest
mileage week of the season. We’ll begin tapering down next week and
we’ll see some improvement."
For a comparison, Zach Barr –
Monmouth’s two-time national qualifier –
ran the same course as a sophomore and was 1:20 slower on that
particular course than at the regional meet.
"Judging by Zach’s performance, we figured our times were a minute or
so slower than if we had been on a flatter course," said Haynes. "Based
on that, we didn’t feel too bad about the way we ran. There were a
variety of factors that made it a difficult weekend. In addition to the
difficult course, there was top level competition and you have to figure
in we’re still getting over the illness. We feel we’ll have much fresher
legs come conference time."
Conference time won’t be for four more weeks and the Scots will have
plenty of time to prepare.
Monmouth will take this weekend off before heading to Loras next
Friday for the Bob Tucker Invitational as the last meet prior to the
Nov. 1 championship meet.
RIGHTING THE SHIP
If men’s soccer team was an ocean liner, you could say they were
taking on water through the first half of the season, but after Monday’s
3-0 win at Eureka, George Perry’s crew may be setting sail for a strong
finish.
"I was pleased with the total team effort for 90 minutes at Eureka,"
praised Perry. "Everyone came to play. The players picked up on Eureka
putting an extra forward in late in the game. They recognized that and
made the adjustment without direction from the bench. That was great to
see."
Monmouth was coming off a pair of 3-0 losses last week to Millikin
and Westminster. In both games, the Scots were unable to get many
quality looks and those that were didn’t find the back of the net. All
that changed Monday.
The Scots, who outshot the Red Devils by a 3-1 margin and put nearly
half their shots on goal, broke through just 15 minutes into the game
when Josh Del Valle scored his first goal of the season with the assist
from Adam Buol and Pat Blazer.
Del Valle also assisted – in a manner
of speaking – on Joe Howell’s goal just
minutes before halftime.
"Josh’s pressure trying to free himself up created a foul in the
penalty area," said Perry. "That allowed Joe to take the penalty kick to
put us up by two at the half."
With a two-goal lead and dominating the first half, the Scots could
relax a little – Right, Coach?
"I don’t know that we’re at a point where we can relax," laughed
Perry. "I like that, actually. We had good focus for the entire game."
Eddie Martinez’s unassisted goal with 15 minutes left effectively put
the game out of reach, but it was the defensive effort that really stood
out. Goalkeeper Owen Robinson only had to make three saves.
"Garrett White, Bryan Jackson and Joe did a tremendous job," reported
Perry. "They not only won balls, they also got balls to players in
position to make some plays."
Daniel Medina also drew the coach’s praise for his ball control on a
less-than-smooth field.
"His technical skill certainly helped us keep the ball under
control," said Perry.
Next up, the Scots will need to control league favorite Carroll and
Ripon this weekend. Carroll, very good last year, is unbeaten in Midwest
Conference play this season and has a +7 goal differential through three
league games.
Ripon, much like the Scots, have struggled through the first month of
the season. Perry sees opportunity in this weekend’s home games.
"We don’t have any easy games left," said Perry. "I hope we bring the
game we brought Monday at Eureka – the
passion and intensity. With seven conference games remaining we have a
chance to right the ship."
If Monday’s performance is any indication, at least the ship is no
longer listing.
NOW THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
It might be hard to believe the volleyball team’s 3-0 win over
Illinois College Tuesday night was an entertaining match, but numerous
long volleys had fans on the edge of their seats. Even members of the
football team in attendance got into the act and offered their
semi-patented roar used for kickoffs on the Scots’ serves.
"We like it, but we didn’t expect to win in three sets," said Kari
Shimmin. "Illinois College was still playing very tough in Set 3.
They’re a good defensive team and never give up on balls. Several times
we would get a block only to have them make a couple of passes and
attack again."
The Scots looked dominant in the opening set, winning 25-16, but
found themselves trailing by a good margin in Set 2. Monmouth adjusted
their aggression at the net to rally and kept the momentum heading into
Set 3.
"I told the women that sometimes the set will not allow us to go to
the net aggressively," said Shimmin who borrowed a "controlled
aggression" philosophy from track coach Roger Haynes when he described
the mental preparation for the 400-meter dash. "We may not get the set
we want to really drive the ball, so we needed to lay back on those sets
and control our aggression at the net."
The Scots adjusted nicely, taking the Lady Blues setter out of the
offense with deep shots and hitting the corners off of any sets that
weren’t quite perfect.
When the Scots did get the set they were looking for, they pounded 41
kills into the hardwood. No one was better than Samantha Robinson who
drilled 11 kills with no hitting errors for an astronomical .611 hitting
percentage. Newly-crowned MWC Performer of the Week, Alyson Schroeter
drilled a dozen kills and Shimmin suspects her two hitters were having a
contest.
"It seemed like they were having a competition to see who could hit
the ball the hardest," claimed Shimmin. "They were both hitting the ball
with a lot of force. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them hit that hard."
The pair nearly had a fourth set to continue their rivalry. The Scots
were on the brink of defeat when a timeout allowed Shimmin to make a
service adjustment.
"I felt we were overly aggressive with our serves," said Shimmin. "We
had a lot of serving errors, so I told them, ‘No more missed serves.’ We
wanted to keep the ball in play."
It must have worked, with IC sitting on 23 points and senior Amanda
Boonstra serving, the Scots came back to win the decisive third set
25-23 to remain in fourth place in the MWC. Beginning this year, only
the top four teams will advance to the league tournament.
"I was very proud of the way we played against IC," praised Shimmin.
"We need to continue that level of play. IC is a contender for the
fourth (and final) conference playoff spot, so this was a nice win for
us."
The Scots travel to UW-Oshkosh for a two-day tournament Friday and
Saturday for some refining of their game as they prepare for the stretch
drive to the conference tournament. The drive will continue after an 11
day break following this weekend’s tournament when the Scots return home
to host Knox on Oct. 22.
Here’s hoping for another entertaining match…any maybe even a three
setter.
FIRE AT WILL
Barry McNamara’s women’s soccer team has been on a binge
– a scoring binge.
In the Scots’ last three games, the team has scored a whopping 11
goals. In layman’s terms, that’s A LOT of goals.
The Scots went 2-1 over the three-game stretch, falling only to
Millikin last Thursday 5-4. Through the first 45 minutes it looked like
the Big Blue would leave the Scots with noting but black and blue marks
for their effort. Millikin had a 4-1 advantage at halftime and were well
on their way to blowing out Monmouth.
The Scots battled back and halved the deficit on Becca Baur’s goal
off a corner kick by Lauren Vana just four minutes into the second half.
Millikin answered with 13 minutes remaining to make it 5-2, but the
Scots refused to roll over. Amy Unzicker and Hillary Broms scored in the
87th and 88th minutes to make it interesting before Millikin was able to
stave off the Scots comeback bid.
Saturday’s game with league opponent Illinois College looked like it
could be a nail-biter. The Scots led just 1-0 after the first half
despite controlling the first 45 minutes and outshooting the Lady Blues
12-2.
"We were concerned," said McNamara of the Scots inability to gain a
scoring cushion. "IC nearly scored on a corner kick in the first half,
so we weren’t comfortable by any means."
The Scots finally broke the ice in the first half on Megan Meeke’s
first goal of the season just minutes before halftime. Last season’s
points leader, Meeke was moved to midfield this season and saw her
production drop. She may want to consider a career as a lobbyist.
"She asked us if she could play forward a little bit," said McNamara.
"We put her up there about 4-5 minutes before she scored our first goal.
That was a pretty quick return on our investment."
The Scots got some breathing room in the second half when Sarah
Kisner headed in Vana’s corner kick to make it 2-0 in the 56th minute.
Two minutes later Unzicker scored and Baur added the final tally in the
83rd minute as the Scots won easily.
Not to sound like Yogi Berra, but it was déjà vu all over again
Monday night in a 3-0 win at Eureka. Monmouth controlled the first 45
minutes, outshooting Eureka 16-2, but only led 1-0 at the break.
That’s when Niki Sue Williams took a page out of Meeke’s playbook.
Williams had been nursing an injury and McNamara’s plan was to rest her
in advance of this weekend’s conference double-header.
"She was really hurting during the Millikin game," reported McNamara.
"Our plan was not to play her against IC or Eureka and get her ready for
conference. She begged us to play her against IC, and now she’s begging
to play at Eureka. I told her ‘If we’re only ahead by a goal with 20
minutes to go, I’ll put you in.’"
With two kids of his own, McNamara should have known better than to
make a promise he really didn’t want to keep.
With 20 minutes to go, it’s still 1-0 and McNamara made good on the
promise – as did Williams. Five minutes
later, Williams scored an unassisted goal to put the Scots up 2-0.
Unzicker added the icing on the cake three minutes later with her second
goal of the game.
The Scots host Carroll and Ripon this weekend in a pair of games that
could boost Monmouth’s playoff chances.
"We’d like to have the Carroll game," said McNamara. "We HAVE to get
the Ripon game. We should match up fairly well with Carroll, but they’re
very athletic and are clearly a playoff caliber team. We’ve said we need
to beat one of those teams to have a chance. Ripon won’t be easy,
they’ve got a lot of dangerous offensive players."
Considering the Scots’ propensity to score lately, "dangerous" might
be how the league’s coaches are describing McNamara’s team.
TENNIS…EVERYONE
Don’t tell the men’s tennis team fall is their "short" season.
Chad Braun’s charges may have only played in one tournament this
fall, but it was a big one.
On the same weekend Washington University in St. Louis hosted the
vice-presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, Wash U. also
hosted the ITA Fall Central Region Men’s Championships. While the
politicians were raising a racket in the debate hall on Thursday, the
athletes were preparing to raise a racquet in the tennis center for the
next three days.
The tournament had no affect on the Midwest Conference standings, but
did give the Fighting Scots’ faithful a chance to see the old and the
new.
The old (it’s a relative term) –
sophomore Sam Graf teamed with the new –
freshman Tyler Lampe (Metamora, Ill./Metamora)
– to form the most successful doubles team of the meet for the
Scots. The duo battled their way to the consolation finals before
falling to Albion’s Billy Sessions and Chris Tapping 8-6. Graf also
reached the singles consolation third round but fell in straight sets.
"I was really proud of the fact that Tyler and Sam made it to the
consolation finals," said Braun. "This was the first time that they
played together and they played extremely well for not playing together
before last weekend."
Senior Kyle Korb teamed with freshman Chris Utterback (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie
Valley) to reach the third round of the doubles consolation. They were
clipped by Augustana’s Kurtis Carl and Kyle Doyle.
Eric Brandhorst and Ben Morrow were edged in the first round of the
doubles consolation bracket, but Morrow reached the quarterfinals of the
singles consolation bracket where he was eliminated in a three-set loss
to Calvin’s Jon Goorhouse.
A pair of freshmen, Dan Pitts (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) and Matt Smith
(Oswego, Ill./Oswego) advanced to the doubles round of 16 before moving
to the consolation bracket.
Freshman Brian Miller (Eureka, Mo./Eureka) got his collegiate career
off to a dramatic start. Miller posted a 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 singles win in
the opener before falling in straight sets in the round of 32.
Graf’s three combined doubles and singles wins were the most by the
Scots at the meet. All things considered, a good weekend for the Scots
at the tournament that hosted nearly 200 student-athletes.
"I really thought this was a great experience for our young team,"
said Braun. "We had a chance to get five freshmen involved in their
first college matches. I know they were extremely nervous, which is to
be expected, but this tournament should help their confidence level when
we start up in the spring."
Braun, who was busy with his other duties as the defensive
coordinator with the Scots unbeaten football team, had to miss seeing
the action in person and turned the coaching duties over to former
players Brian Jordan and Greg Bouslog.
"They did a great job coaching the team in my absence," said Braun.
"I was continually pestering them for updates throughout the weekend."
At least now we know what Braun was doing on those football headsets
last weekend – or should we say the
cleverly disguised cell phone?
WHEN THE END IS A GOOD START
The men’s golf team made the most of their seven hour drive to
Dearborn, Mich., for Tuesday’s annual Red Poling Classic with their
highest finish in the history of the event.
Competing in their final meet of the fall season, the Scots’ 318
placed them in a tie for second with Hope College, 12 strokes back of
Malone University.
Newcomer Ted Starkey led the Scots’ scoring carding a 77, one stroke
in front of Ryan Tapscott. Rodney Clayton’s 80 and Joe Hoffman’s 83
rounded out the scoring rounds. Jake Kilberg toured the TPC course with
a 93.
"This was a good outing to wrap up our fall season," said coach Dave
Ragone. "Our guys faced some good competition on a very tough course.
This should set us up well for our traditional spring season."
A quick recap of the fall season shows the Scots fired a season-low
305 at the Scot-Fire-Viking Classic where Starkey took medalist honors
with a season-low 72. Kilberg and Tapscott also enjoyed the Hawthorne
Woods layout, firing their best rounds of the season as well with a 78
and 75, respectively.
"It was a good fall season," reported Ragone. "We gained some
experience and played pretty consistently. We feel we’re well-prepared
for the spring season and have set the goal of qualifying for the
Division III nationals in Port St. Lucie, Florida."
TIME MANAGEMENT 101
Freshman Amy Unzicker could teach us a thing or two about time
management.
Unzicker has the unusual task of balancing two sports
– not all that uncommon in Division III,
unless you consider the fact her two sports are in the same season.
A two-sport star in high school, Unzicker faced a tough balancing act
if she wanted to continue to play two sports in college. Should she give
up a sport she loved – soccer
– and concentrate only on her other
love, tennis? An interesting dilemma since both are fall sports in the
college ranks.
Recruited by "10 or 12" schools –
most of which offered athletic scholarships –
Unzicker was seriously contemplating giving up soccer and attending a
Division I school on a tennis scholarship. Then, something happened
during her spring soccer season.
"I realized in the spring of my senior year that I wanted to keep
playing soccer," said Unzicker. "Both the soccer and tennis coaches at
Monmouth said we could figure out a way I could play both and that
really sparked the idea. I came for some visits, fell in love with the
campus and decided to come here so I could play both."
Tennis coach Kerry Frantz and soccer coach Barry McNamara
double-teamed the high school star and successfully sold her on the
idea.
"I thought if she had any interest in continuing both sports in
college, Monmouth would be the perfect place," said McNamara who gladly
shares his recruit with the tennis program. "A bigger school offering
her a tennis scholarship probably wouldn’t have allowed her to play
soccer, too."
Not all coaches would be willing to share a star player, but for
McNamara and Frantz, it’s been a match made in heaven. McNamara said it
best: "She NEEDS to play tennis and she NEEDS to play soccer. She’s that
good."
Unzicker faced the usual challenges of any freshman
– balancing academics and a social life.
But, unlike other freshmen – or other
students for that matter – Unzicker also
has to figure in time for two sports in the same season. That means
developing a keen sense of time management.
"My classes end at 2, so I usually have an hour or so before I need
to get to the trainer and then to practice," said a casual Unzicker.
"Around 6:30, I’ll eat dinner, then head back to my room and start
studying for the night. I do try to have a social life so it’s not all
sports and school ALL the time."
Thus far, the biology major has been successful in keeping all the
balls in the air – figuratively and
literally. In tennis, she’s a combined 20-4 in No. 2 singles and doubles
and in soccer she’s the team’s leading scorer.
The addition of Unzicker to the tennis team helped the Fighting Scots
reverse 5-4 losses to Lake Forest the two previous years, which kept
Monmouth out of the team portion of the conference tournament. Her
straight-set singles win and an 8-6 doubles win with partner Kimi Wegner
helped give the Scots a one-point win and put them in position to
qualify for the tournament for the first time in more than 20 years.
In a twist of fate, Lake Forest has likewise been soccer’s nemesis,
also beating the Scots by one the last two years to keep Monmouth out of
the league playoffs. The Scots and Foresters won’t meet on the soccer
field until the last game of the regular season and McNamara is hoping
Unzicker’s presence will result in the same outcome as tennis.
"You hear about players being ‘difference-makers’ in their sport,"
said McNamara. "What a great accomplishment it would be if she can
impact two sports in one season."
Despite her success and time split between two sports, there’s no
animosity among her teammates.
"Amy brings much experience and toughness to the team," praised
Frantz, who credits McNamara as the driving force to recruit Unzicker as
a dual-sport athlete. "Her high winning percentage in tennis leaves few
critics. Her teammates have little problem with her splitting time due
to her hard work ethic and competitive play. Most players know that
playing one sport takes commitment and playing two sports is quite a
sacrifice."
While Unzicker isn’t the only athlete in the nation balancing two
sports in one season, she is a rarity. Oddly enough, conference foe
Illinois College has their own "Unzicker." Lady Blues junior Candy
Norville does double duty as the No. 1 singles tennis player and as a
midfielder with the soccer team. In fact, Norville also plays basketball
in the winter and competes in track in the spring.
While Unzicker rivals Norville in the fall, there are no plans for
the talented freshman to add a winter or spring sport to her schedule
– yet.
HALL OF FAMERS
On Saturday, Oct. 18, 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.
