| The Concordian
- November 3, 2000
| 2000
Cobber Football |
Football wins big, 38-14 over Carleton:
At halftime of Concordia’s game on Saturday, head coach Jim Christopherson and his wife, Sandy, were presented with Cobber jackets and a blanket. The gifts were part of a ceremony to honor the coach in his last home game. Then, in the second half, the Cobber players gave Christopherson a gift of their own. A win. Concordia put up 28 unanswered points in the second half, as they crushed Carleton 38-14 to send their coach out with the ultimate retirement present. "What a way to finish,” said Christopherson. “What a gift from our players, being my last game here on this field.” After a lackluster first half, the Cobbers exploded in the second. Senior
captain Joel Vettelson got things roling for the Cobs. Just a few
plays into the half, Vettelson picked off Carleton quarterback Jon Groteboer,
setting the Cobbers up in the Knights’ territory. Eight plays later,
Len Crouse scored from four yards out, to give Concordia a 10-7 lead. After
Carleton scored on a freak 53-yard fumble return to go up 14-10, Concordia
came right back to take the lead for good. Quarterback Jeff Hertel hooked
up with Raleigh Schmidt for a 33-yard touchdown and a 17-14 Cobber lead.
On the Knights next drive, the Cobber defense came up big. They sacked
Groteboer on three straight plays, forcing Carleton to punt deep in their
own territory. A punt return by Matt Palmen, along with an
In the fourth quarter, Concordia continued their domination. Hertel connected on a 10-yard fade in the back of the endzone with Adam Strainer, and Jon Doebler bulled his way in for a two yard TD run, as Concordia rolled to the victory. “It feels great,” said senior defensive end Mark Hankel. “We just decided to play out this last game for us, and the seniors, and Coach C. I think we had a lot of fun today.” Hankel was huge for the Cobbers. The senior was in the Knights’s
backfield the entire game, finishing with 3-1/2 sacks. For the game,
the defense finished with nine sacks. They also forced four turnovers.
“We just pinned our ears back and had some fun,” Hankel said. “We just
On offense, Oien took the most of a golden opportunity. Because of injuries, Oien, a third-string running back who has played sparingly in his four years at Concordia, got a chance to play. He took the most of that chance, rushing for 105 yards and a touchdown. “It’s been nice to step in this game and go out having the best game of my career on our home field,” Oien said. With the win, Concordia improves to 3-5 overall, and 3-4 in the MIAC. The Cobbers will play in the Metrodome on Saturday against Augsburg.
Kickoff is at 1 pm.
| 2000
Cobber Men's Soccer |
There is no article this week. | 2000
Cobber Women's Soccer |
Women's soccer season ends
The Concordia women’s soccer team ended their season on Saturday with a 2-1 overtime loss to Bethel. On that cold and blustery day, Concordia just wasn’t able to muster enough offense to close out their season with a win. Less than 24 hours earlier, the team played at MIAC champion Macalester and was beat by a count of 4-0. Posting a 3-7 mark in MIAC competition, the Cobbers ended the season with a final tally of 8-8. Although they didn’t have the record they’d hoped, the team was in many close games that it just wasn’t able to pull out, according to sophomore Kendra Lee. The Cobbers lost key seniors from last year’s squad, and also added new coach Jim Cella, who coached both men’s and women’s soccer this season. “It was a season of new beginnings,” said Lee. The Cobbers started the season in strong fashion, winning their first 3 games. Included in the streak was a big 1-0 win at Luther College. “Luther is a team that doesn’t lose much at home,” said Cella. The Cobbers first MIAC win came against St. Mary’s. Senior Jordi Kortan scored in overtime for the victory. Remarkably, it was the second straight year that she scored the game-winning goal in overtime to shut down St. Mary’s. In their wins this season, a central theme for the women revolved around the positive aspects of working together as a team to accomplish goals.“We accepted each other’s differences which allowed us to play as a team and do great things on the field,” said Kortan. Comparing a soccer team to individually talented musicians, Cella said
that a bunch of great musicians can be thrown together, but until they
learn to play together they won’t be any good.
“I think that we all liked playing soccer, and we were friends with everyone,” said Kortan, “it made going to practice and games more enjoyable.” The highpoint of their team play came when they captured the Concordia Invite. On their way to victory in this tournament, Lee matched her school record with 11 points in a game against Viterbo. Included were 4 goals and three assists. Whitney Ostrem and Kortan are the two seniors who ended their college careers on Saturday. Lee and Cella each noted the importance of the seniors to the team. “She’s been a leading scorer on this team for the last threeyears,” said Jim Cella when asked of Kortan’s importance to the team. Kortan was also named an All-MIAC performer her junior year. Cella added that Ostrem was a valuable contributor when other teams focused their attention on Lee and Kortan. “Whitney was probably the most improved player on the team this year,” said Cella. And so ends a college career for these two seniors, and another season
for women’s soccer.
| 2000
Cobber Volleyball |
Volleyballers lose three of four at River Falls
The Concordia netters started off slowly in their weekend play at the
University of Wisconsin-River Falls tournament, losing to UW-River Falls,
Bethel and UW-Eau Claire. But the team gradually excelled to its normal
standard of play, winning its final game against Hamline. The Cobbers are
now 17-15 overall.
Although the Cobbers fought hard, Bethel handed them their second loss
for the day. Davis again featured a team high with 13 kills and Freshman
Stacy Scheller boasted 39 assists for the match.
In their final game of the tournament, the Cobbers focused all their
energy on the task at hand, and that was beating conference opponent Hamline.
Concordia jumped out to the early game lead, winning the first game 15-13.
Hamline stuck with the Cobbers and took the second game 15-8. But Concordia
composed its attack and finished the match by winning the last two games
16-14 and 15-12. “Our enthusiasm and hard work will really show through
in the MIAC tournament,” Scheller noted. “Our team is like a family, we
really click. That will give us an advantage over the other teams.”
| 2000
Cobber Men's Cross Country |
There is no article this week. | 2000
Cobber Women's Cross Country |
Women's cross Country places second
Women’s cross country placed second at the 2000 MIAC Championship Meet,
Saturday at ComoPark in St. Paul.The women placed three runners in the
top nine, with senior Heidi Brendan taking second, senior Heather Brendan
fourth, and sophomore Katie Martin ninth. The three grabbed All-MIAC honors.
| 2000
Cobber Women's Swimming |
Seniors anchor swimming squad
The Concordia women’s swimming and diving team is gearing up for another
season, with a strong core of returning swimmers as well as a solid batch
of new athletes.
Among the strong returners are two-time national qualifier senior Shana
Letnes in the breastroke, senior Carrie Bunger in the distance events and
sophomore Andrea Ross in the diving events.
No team scores were tallied for the meet, so only scores for each individual
relay were reported.
She added that they also have team goals that focus on team unity, support
and spirit. This year, Lucier is using a different approach toward practices
and toward the overall team philosophy.
Her team will have their first home meet tomorrow against Minnesota
State University, Moorhead, and St. Olaf. Lucier said that it will
be hard to compete with two tough teams this early in the season, but hopes
to rise to the challenge. “St. Olaf has been the perennial leader in the
conference,” she said.
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