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Busy Sports Weekend for North Park
CHICAGO, IL (October 3, 2005) - The North Park Viking's defense was ranked
second against the rush among NCAA Division III teams going into
Saturday's game against Augustana. Unfortunately for the Vikings,
Augustana demonstrated why it is the top rushing team in the country as
it ran to a 50-6 victory.
The loss ended North Park's three-game winning streak and dropped the
team to 3-1 overall and 0-1 in the College Conference of Illinois &
Wisconsin. Augustana raised its record to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the CCIW.
Playing at home, Augustana rushed for 410 yards on 71 carries against
the North Park defense, which previously had been nearly impenetrable on
the ground. Quarterback Matt Roe threw the ball only twice, completing
one for 28 yards.
Augustana's defense also stymied quarterback Mike Haehn, who had entered
the game with the second best rating in the CCIW. He was limited to 118
passing yards while finishing 12 of 33 for the day. Augustana held the
Vikings to 62 rushing yards on 33 carries. Augustana controlled the time
of possession 33:56 to 26:04.
Augustana scored at 12:11 of the first quarter on a five yard run by
Aaron Kuzniar, who paced the team's ground game with 146 yards and two
touchdowns on 15 carries. The kick was good to put Augustana up 7-0.
Augustana scored again at 9:25 on Kuzniar's second touchdown, but the
extra-point attempt failed. A 26-yard run put another six points on the
board at 10:48 of the second quarter.
North Park followed with a 10-play, 52-yard drive that finished with a
four yard touchdown pass from Haehn to William Toussaint. The two point
conversion failed and left the score at 19-6. Augustana added 28
unanswered points in the second half.
North Park defensive leaders were Charles Thomas (7 tackles, 6 assists)
and Tim Rotenberry (7 tackles, 2 assists). Donte Cummings and Thomas
McCray each recovered fumbles.
Ahkeem Waterford led North Park rushers with 40 yards on 15 carries.
Sherman Gant led receivers with three receptions for 46 yards. Brandon
Watts, who was a recent CCIW special teams player of the week recently,
continued to shine, punting three times for an average of 41.7 yards
with a long of 54.
North Park returns home to play Elmhurst at 1 p.m. Saturday. Elmhurst is
4-0 for the first time since 1983 after beating Illinois Wesleyan 20-15.
In other sports news, the Lady Vikings rowing teams made strong showings
at their first home regatta over the weekend. In the varsity 8 event,
North Park finished in second of three crews, defeating Northwestern
University, but falling to Washington University by 15 seconds. Members
of the women's varsity eight include Annika Safstrom, Alli Koubsky, Kari
Anderson, Kelly Burke, Jenna Stromquist, Heidi Rosasen, Amanda Donnelly,
Becky Burright and coxswain Erikka Treatch.
The novice 8 team, who were rowing in their first race, soundly defeated
Washington University. Starting a minute after their counterparts, the
novice rowers not only caught up and passed the Bear crew, but added to
their time by finishing thirty eight seconds ahead of them. The women's
novice 8-person crew consisted of Lauren Harrison, Kristen Engebretson,
Britta Haussman, Rosalina Cintron, Marlise King, Stephanie Feijoo, Heidi
Bronczyk, Tia Gomez and coxswain Jill Ptaszyski.
The women's varsity 4 person team finished second to Washington
University, but defeated crews from Northwestern, the University of
Chicago, and a second crew from Washington University.
The women's second varsity 4 person boat finished second of three crews,
like their teammates falling to Washington University, but defeating
Northwestern University and a second entry from Washington University.
Members of the second varsity four include first year student Amanda
Donnelly, Heidi Rosasen, Heather Sowl, Becky Burright and coxswain
Linnea Nelson.
The Viking rowers wrap up their fall season next weekend, racing on
Saturday at the Quad Cities Classic Regatta in Moline, Illinois, and
rowing again on Sunday at the Head of the Rock Regatta in Rockford,
Illinois.
Both Vikings soccer teams won their recent games.
After struggling to find the net despite numerous shots over recent
weeks, the men's soccer team defeated North Central 2-1 on a late goal
Saturday. Matt Moncada easily put the ball in the net after getting an
assist from Kevin Gathje with four minutes left in the game.
North Park scored first on a header by Elvis Fikic in the 19th minute of
the first half. Coach John Born credited Adam Sinovic with a "perfect
cross." North Central tied the game with just under nine minutes left
when Mike Martino blasted a rebound.
The Vikings improved their record to one victory, no losses and one tie
in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) and 3-5-1
overall. North Central dropped to 0-3-1 in the CCIW.
The Vikings play powerhouse Wheaton (10-1, 3-0-1) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at
Wheaton.
On Thursday, the women defeated Rockford 5-0 in a non-conference
contest. Abbie Frank had two goals and two assists, and Abby Infante
scored her first collegiate goal. Also scoring were Grace Jops and Carly
Thomforde.
The Vikings improved their record to 6-3-1 overall and remained 0-2-0 in
the conference. They travel to Milwaukee Tuesday to take on the
Milwaukee School of Engineering. That game is at 7 p.m.
The cross country teams competed at the 33rd Annual Sean Earl Loyola
Lakefront Invitational in Chicago on Saturday.
The North Park University women's cross country team placed 15th out of
37 schools. The Vikings competed against schools that represented NCAA
Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, and Junior College categories.
Individual finishers for the 5 kilometer race were junior Shannon
McInnis who ran a personal best of 19:39 to place 39th out of 310
runners. Seniors Kari Thompson, Becky Gritter, and Allison Weller placed
in the top 100 with times of 20:30, 20:50, and 21:02. Newcomer Britta
Nylen placed 167th with a time of 23:37 to round out the top five. Other
North Park finishers include freshman Laura Papageorgiou (170th 24:34),
newcomer Donna Domingo (180th 28:17), and junior Amy Peters (181st 28:43).
"All in all it was a pretty good day for us." "We've had a hard week of
training and we were missing some of our top seven runners so I was
pleased that our team was able to compete so well," said Coach Tracey
Murnane. The Lady Vikings will be back in action 3:30 p.m. Friday at the
Benedictine University Eagle Invitational.
The men's cross country team finished 25th out of 35 teams competing.
First year runner Sidney Dichoso led the Vikings with 31:51 for the 8K
course. Senior and team captain Luke Johnson fought back after being hit
in the eye with a branch during the first mile. He finished second for
the team with 32:07. Rounding out the top five, sophomore Marcus Simmons
crossed the finish line in 33:15, freshman Daniel Jones finished in
34:40, and Joel Ylagan ran 35:42. Other North Park finishers included
Anthony King at 36:12, Daniel Michel at 37:15, and Matt Cappetta at 42:05.
The volleyball team dropped both of its matches at the Lake Forest
Quadrangular in Aurora, Illinois. The women fell to Aurora 3-2 on
Saturday and then lost 3-0 to Lake Forest.
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