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Elmhurst Defeats Vikings in Homecoming Action
CHICAGO, IL (October 11, 2005) - The North Park University Vikings lost their
homecoming game Saturday to the Elmhurst Blue Jays 28-12 at the Holmgren
Athletic Complex.
Both teams entered the game looking to improve their records beyond what
they had accomplished in many years. The Vikings hoped to win four games
in a season for the first time since 1973. Elmhurst aimed to improve to
5-0 for the first time since 1981.
North Park's chances were hampered from the first drive when Jon Harris,
who holds many of the Viking receiving records, went out with a sprained
ankle and was unable to return. The senior star receiver and special
teams player had missed only one game since coming to North Park.
Both teams struggled with turnovers early. Viking linebacker Charles
Thomas intercepted quarterback Chris Kudyba's pass in end zone after
defensive back Mujahid Aziz had gone into the air to tip the ball. The
Vikings began marching down the field, but Elmhurst intercepted in the
end zone when Mike Haehn and Sherman Gant miscommunicated on a route.
Elmhurst, which had averaged 30 points a game, made the Vikings pay by
putting together an 80-yard drive that finished with Kudyba hitting
Terence Young at 5:30 in the first quarter. The extra point was good to
put the Blue Jays up 7-0.
Elmhurst intercepted at the Viking 38 on the next set of downs. After
driving down the field, Eric Luna scored on a 10-yard run. The extra
point was good and Elmhurst led 14-0.
The Viking offense wasn't about to concede the game. Early in the second
quarter North Park moved the ball 51 yards on 10 plays. The drive
finished with a six-yard strike from Haehn to William Toussaint.
The Viking defense was able to shut down the Elmhurst offense for most
of the second quarter until Kudyba connected with Young again on a
33-yard strike for a touchdown. The extra point was good and it appeared
that the Blue Jays would go into the locker room with the momentum.
With less than two minutes to play, Haehn engineered a drive that took
the Vikings to the Blue Jay three yard line. The Vikings almost missed
their opportunity when Haehn was sacked for a nine-yard loss. He was
able to rush back to the line and spike the ball, however, with 2.1
seconds left. On the next play he rifled a completion to Brandon Watts
on a crossing pattern with time running out. The two-point attempt failed.
The rest of the game proved to be largely a defensive struggle. The only
other score came in the third quarter on a Kudyba pass to Robert
Kosciuk. The extra point was good and the score would stay 28-12.
Charles Thomas led North Park's defense with 14 tackles (11 solo) while
Tim Rotenberry added eight stops. Gant led all receivers with nine
receptions for 122 yards. Watts carried the ball 10 times for 40 yards.
Haehn finished 17 for 38 attempts for 258 yards and three interceptions.
For Elmhurst, Kudyba completed 22-of-38 attempts for 279 yards and three
touchdowns. Luna led the Bluejay ground attack, rushing 20 times for 88
yards and a touchdown. Young was the Bluejays' leading receiver hauling
in six passes for 88 yards and two TDs. Evans finished with five catches
for 83 yards and Michael Cooley, Jr. added five grabs for 74 yards.
The loss dropped North Park to 3-2-0 overall and 0-2-0 in the
conference. The Vikings travel to Decatur next Saturday to take on
Milliken at 1 p.m. Milliken has an identical record to the Vikings after
losing 41-35 to Wheaton in triple overtime.
In other sports news:
- Forward P.J. Ericksson was named CCIW Men's Soccer Player of the
Week for leading the team to victories against Wheaton 1-0 and then over
Carthage 3-1 on Saturday. In Saturday's game, Ericksson contributed to a
goal by Elvis Fikic with an excellent cross, and then later scored
himself. Fikic also scored a second goal in the game in less than two
minutes. The victory increased the Vikings record to 3-0-1 in the
conference and 5-5-1 overall. Carthage dropped to 1-2-1 and 4-7-1. The
Vikings next take on Augustana College Saturday at Rock Island.
- In the second soccer match of the homecoming evening, the women fell
to Carthage 2-0. The Vikings record dropped to 0-3-0 in the conference
and 7-5-1 overall. Carthage improved to 3-0-0 and 7-3-1. North Park
travels to take on North Central in Naperville on Wednesday
- The Viking Women's Cross Country team continued to make itself known
Friday with a third place finish at the Eagle Invitational in Lisle,
Illinois. The women (111 points) competed against 24 other schools from
all NCAA divisions, the NAIA and junior colleges. Northern Illinois took
first (34 points), followed by Bethel (76 points). "Friday was a
breakthrough meet for us" said head coach Tracey Murnane. "We were
extremely competitive as a team and we had great individual
performances." Among those individual performances was that of junior
Shannon McInnis, who was runner-up in the 5K with a time of 19:23, which
was a personal best. Allison Weller also recorded a personal best of
19:58 as she finished ninth. Becky Gritter narrowly missed the top 25
placing 26th with a time of 20:41. Kari Thompson placed 34th with a
time of 21:03 and Tiff Schwartz rounded out the top 5 placing 54th with
a time of 21:52. Other North Park University finishers were Laura
Papageorgiou (23:54 102nd place), Donna Domingo (27:29 133rd), and Amy
Peters (28:14 137th place).
- The men and women's cross country teams will be racing at the
"Millikin Classic" in Forsyth, Illinois, on Friday.
- The men's cross country team also continued to show improvement over
last year, with several runners achieving personal bests. The men
finished 15th (397 points) out of the 23 schools represented. North Park
individual finishers for the 8K race were senior and team captain Luke
Johnson , who ran his season best 29:48. First-year runner Sidney
Dichoso and sophomore Marcus Simmons ran personal bests with 31:18 and
31:42. Also running personal records with major improvements were
freshman Daniel Jones in 32:37, sophomore Joel Ylagan in 34:49 and
Daniel Michel in 35:57. Other North Park finishers included Weston
Gleffe in 40:12 and Matt Cappetta 41:18.
- Despite strong performances by Shannon Zoll and defensive specialist
Dana Wilson, the Viking volleyball team dropped three matches over the
weekend, including two to Augustana. In a hard fought match at home
Friday, the Vikings fell to Augustana 3-1 (30-21, 30-16, 23-30, 30-17).
The evening featured lengthy rallies that drew applause from the crowd.
In a tournament on Saturday, North Park lost in a closely fought match
to Dominican 3-1 (30-21, 30-25, 29-31, 33-31) in the morning match. In
the afternoon contest, the Vikings fell to Augustana 3-0 (30-27; 30-23;
30-21).
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