Latest News and Notes:
- Concordia clinched their first outright MIAC championship since 1986. It marks the first MIAC championship for the Cobbers since the 1995 season when they shared the crown with St. John’s. Concordia has now won the MIAC championship on 18 different occasions.

The Cobbers finished the 2004 MIAC with a perfect 8-0 record. It is the sixth time in program history that Concordia has gone through the MIAC season with an unblemished record. The Cobbers become the sixth team in the past ten years to win the MIAC with a perfect mark.

The Cobbers are now 9-0 overall on the season. It is the third best start to a season in program history and best since the 1969 team that finished at 10-1-0. Concordia will play Menlo (Calif.) in their final game of the year on Friday, November 12 at 7:30pm in the Fargodome. If the Cobbers defeat the Oaks, it will tie the school record for most consecutive wins in a season.

- Concordia earned the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA playoffs. The Cobbers will be making their first postseason appearance since 1997 when they lost to Augsburg in the first round. It will be the fourth time that Concordia will play in the NCAA playoffs and eighth overall playoff appearance. The Cobbers won the NAIA national championship in 1964, 1978 and 1981. The farthest they have ventured in the NCAA playoffs is the semifinal round. In 1986 Concordia lost to Augustana (Ill.) in the Division III semifinals.

- Concordia remains the only undefeated team in the MIAC and one of only 10 schools in all of NCAA Division III to still have a perfect record. The Cobbers are also one of only 19 teams in all three divisions of NCAA football to remain unbeaten.

- The Cobbers continue to be ranked in the top five in two major NCAA Division III polls. Concordia is fourth in the Don Hansen Football Gazette poll and also fourth in the latest D3football.com poll.  Last week, Concordia was ranked seventh in the AFCA poll.

- Concordia senior wide receiver Andrew Passanante (Hawley, Minn.) has totaled over 100 yards in receiving in five of Concordia’s nine games this season. On Saturday, he had five catches for 154 yards and two touchdowns. It was the third multiple touchdown game of the year for Passanante.

He currently leads the MIAC in receptions and receiving yards per game. He has 57 catches on the year for 988 yards. He needs only 12 more receiving yards to become only the second player in Concordia history to break the 1,000-yard mark for a season. Head coach Terry Horan was the only other Cobber receiver to catch for 1,000 yards. In 1987, Horan had 72 catches for 1,132 yards. Passanante needs 145 yards to break Horan’s record.

- Cobber quarterback Brian Schumacher (Jr., Thompson, N.D.) leads the MIAC with 2,022 total offensive yards this season. He needs 275 yards to break Ryan Hebrink’s (’04) school record for total offensive yards in a single season.  Hebrink, who was a three-time, All-MIAC quarterback and owns the school mark for total offensive yards in a career, set the record last season. Schumacher also leads the MIAC in pass efficiency and is among the top six in rushing.

- Jordan Talge (Sr., Moorhead, Minn.) tied a Concordia school record for interceptions in a single season on Saturday. Against the Oles, Talge had two interceptions to bring his season total to eight. He is tied with Todd Twete (’90). Twete had eight interceptions in 1989. Talge has 16 career interceptions and needs one more “pick” to tie Terry Storm’s (’87) record of 17.  Talge currently leads the MIAC in overall interceptions and passes defended.

- Junior kicker Brian Halverson (Fargo, N.D./Fargo North HS) has made 10 field goals on the year and is 35-of-36 in extra point attempts. He leads the MIAC in both categories,as well as scoring by a kicker. He needs only one more field goal to tie the school record for 3-pointers in a season. The Concordia record for field goals in a season of 11 is held by Chris Reimertz (’91).
 

Volleyball Record: 9-2 MIAC (2nd Place), 23-3 (MIAC Tournament Champions!!!) National Ranking: 14th in the latest CSTV/AVCA Division III Coaches Poll Recent Results: MIAC Semifinals - St. Ben's 0 at Concordia 3 - Recap; MIAC Finals - Concordia 3 at Carleton 0 - Recap Upcoming Events: at NCAA Midwest Regional at UW-La Crosse on November 11-13; vs. Lakeland (Wis.) on Thursday, November 11 at 4:30pm; vs. TBA in Region Semifinal on Friday, November 12 at 4:30pm; vs. TBA in Region Final on Saturday, November 13 at 7:00pm Latest News and Notes: - The Concordia College volleyball team won the MIAC Volleyball Tournament for the second consecutive year. The victory earns the Cobbers the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. It will also be the Cobbers’ second straight NCAA tourney appearance and fourth in program history.  The Cobbers will play in the Midwest Regional at UW-La Crosse for the second straight year. Concordia is the third seed in the region and will play #6 Lakeland College (Wis.) on Thursday, November 11 at 4:30pm. Lakeland College is 25-13 on the season and earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament by virtue of their win in the championship match of the Lake Michigan Conference (LMC) Tournament. The Muskies also won the LMC regular season title. Lakeland is making their third straight appearance in the NCAA tournament. The winner of the Concordia/Lakeland match will play #2 UW-Stout (30-4) on Friday, November 12 at 4:30pm.  The other first round match of the regional will feature #4 UW-La Crosse (28-6) against #5 St. Norbert (Wis.) (31-8). The winner of that match will play #1 UW-Whitewater (34-5) in the other regional semifinal.  Four of the six teams in the regional are ranked in the top 25 in the latest CSTV/AVCA national poll. Besides the #15 Cobbers; UW-Whitewater is ranked ninth, UW-La Crosse is 14th and UW-Stout is 17th.  - Concordia has a record of 23-3 on the year. That is the highest winning percentage (.885) and least amount of losses (3) in any season in program history. The six seniors on this year’s squad have posted an overall record of 80-38. They also won 36 matches in league play in their four seasons.  - Cobber senior Jessica Walden (Hawley, Minn.) was named the MIAC Most Valuable Player last week. She becomes the first player in program history to earn the award. She is the current school record holder in assists in a career (4,354), assists in a season (1,278) and single match assists (68).  She has also been voted the MIAC Setter of the Week eight times during her career, which is an MIAC record for that honor.   In 2004 she finished third in the league in assists per game (11.81). She finished the regular season with 1,103 assists and had a season-high 68 assists against Loras College on October 8. She also set a school record for assists in a three-game match when she recorded 51 assists against St. Ben's in the final game of the season.  - Outside hitter Amy Fitzner (Sr., Valley City, N.D.) became the third member of the current Cobber team to record 1,000 kills in her career. Fitzner broke the barrier in Concordia’s first MIAC tournament match against St. Ben’s. Fitzner had 22 kills in the league tournament and was named to the All-Tournament Team. It is the second straight year that she was named to that team. She currently has 1,014 kills in her three years at Concordia. She leads the 2004 team in digs with 403.  - Kris Sather (Sr., Fosston, Minn.) passed another milestone in her career. In the Cobbers’ first MIAC playoff match against St. Ben’s, she recorded six service aces and became the school’s all-time record holder in that category. She now has 223 aces in her career.   In Concordia’s final regular season match against St. Ben’s, she surpassed the 1,000-kill barrier. She has 1,027 kills over her four years.

Women’s Soccer
Record: 10-1 MIAC (2nd Place), 13-6-1
Recent Results: MIAC Semifinals - St. Olaf 3 vs. Concordia 3 (Cobbers win 5-4 in shootout) - Recap; MIAC Finals - Concordia 0 at Macalester 2 - Recap
Upcoming Events: End of 2004 Season

Latest News and Notes:
- The 2004 Concordia women’s soccer team set school records for most overall wins and most conference wins in a season. The Cobbers finished the regular season with a 10-1-0 mark in conference play and a 13-6-1 record in all games. The previous records were seven MIAC wins (2003) and 12 overall victories (1996).

- The Cobbers advanced to the championship game of the MIAC Tournament for the first time in school history. In 2003, Concordia lost in the semifinals of the league’s postseason tourney and in 2004 they finished second.

- Concordia sophomore forward Morgan Bain (Hugo, Minn./White Bear Lake, Minn.) finished the year with 24 goals and five assists for 53 points. That is a new school record for goals and points in a season. She also broke the MIAC record for goals and points in a conference season.
 

Men’s Cross Country Recent Results: 9th Place at the MIAC Championship Meet - Recap Upcoming Events: at the NCAA Central Region Meet on Saturday, November 13 at 11:00am at Waverly Golf Course in Waverly, Iowa Latest News and Notes: - Concordia senior Nick Myran (Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo HS) will be looking to join Jason Trichler (1990-92), Mark Lingle (1987), Mike Pederson (1984) and John Mutschelknaus (1979) as the only Cobber runners to participate in the national meet in program history when he races in the NCAA Central Region Meet at Waverly Golf Course in Waverly, Iowa on November 13 at 11:00am.  Myran became the first Concordia men’s cross-country runner to earn MIAC All-Conference honors in back-to-back seasons since Jason Trichler (’93) accomplished the feat in 1991-92.

Women’s Cross Country
Recent Results: 8th Place at the MIAC Championship Meet - Recap
Upcoming Events: at the NCAA Central Region Meet on Saturday, November 13 at noon at Waverly Golf Course in Waverly, Iowa

Latest News and Notes:
- Like Concordia men’s cross-country runner Nick Myran, Natalie Hanson (Jr., Rogers, Minn./Elk River Area HS), the Cobber women’s cross-county team’s #1 runner, will be looking to earn a spot at the national meet when she competes in the NCAA Central Region Meet at Waverly Golf Course in Waverly, Iowa on November 13 at noon. Hanson finished seventh at the MIAC Championship Meet held at the Como Park Golf Course in St. Paul, earning all-conference honors for the first time in her career. If she qualifies for the national meet, she will be the first Cobber women’s runner to compete at nationals since Katie Martin (’02) qualified in 2001.
 

Men’s Hockey Record: 0-0 MIAC, 0-2-0 Recent Results: Concordia 4 at UW-Stout 5 OT - Recap; Concordia 2 at #4 UW-River Falls 6 - Recap Upcoming Events: at home vs. St. Scholastica on Friday, November 12 at 7:00pm; at home vs. UW-Superior on Saturday, November 13 at 7:00pm Latest News and Notes: - Concordia senior forward Matt Hansen (Fargo, N.D.) started the season by scoring three goals in the team’s first two games. Last year he tied for the team lead in goals (11) and finished second on the team in scoring with 18 points. Hansen broke the 50-point barrier for his career with his four-point weekend. He now has an even 26 goals and 26 assists in his 3+ seasons with the Cobbers.  - 2004-05 Men's Hockey Preview: The 2004-05 Concordia men’s hockey team will have to punch the clock and bring their hard hats to the rink every game. This year’s edition of the Cobbers will not have any superstar or game-breaking playmaker, but will have a boatload of players who have MIAC experience and the work ethic to keep Concordia in every game. Steve Baumgartner begins his 19th season behind the bench for Concordia. He will be hoping to bring the Cobbers back into the playoffs after missing the MIAC postseason last year for the first time in six seasons. Baumgartner will have to rely on the team’s depth and a much-improving defensive corps to get back into the top five in the conference.  The biggest question mark for Baumgartner’s Blue Collar Bunch will be between the pipes. The Cobbers have four goalies on the roster, and not one has any game experience for the Cobbers Three of the four are freshmen and the fourth is a transfer from UM-Crookston. The preseason favorite to win the starting job is Josh Hand (Fr., Temple, Pa.). Hand played for Thunder Bay in the SIJHL last year and his 6-2, 205 frame will be an imposing wall for opposing shooters. Mike Dowers, (Fr., Thief River Falls, Minn.), Drew Dvorak (Fr., Litchfield, Minn.) and Lee Baldwin (So., Horace, N.D) will all push Hand for playing time. Baldwin played in eight games last year for UM-Crookston, and Dvorak was the #1 golfer on the Cobber men’s golf team this fall.(More)

Women’s Hockey
Record: 0-0 MIAC, 0-0-0
Recent Results: Robert Morris (Club Team) 2 at Concordia 1 - exhibition game - no stats or win/loss counts on season record.
Upcoming Events: at home vs. UW-Stevens Point on Saturday, November 13 at 2:00pm; at home vs. UW-Stevens Point on Sunday, November 14 at 2:00pm

Latest News and Notes:
- 2004-05 Women's Hockey Preview:
The last of the Arizona Connection is gone, the days of outscoring opponents 7-5 are in the past and the Cobbers are coming off a season where they missed the MIAC playoffs for the first time in three years. Those facts might cause Concordia head coach Kerry Norman to feel nostalgic, but she is firmly rooted in the present and optimistically looking towards the future.

When Norman looks at her team on paper, she sees a group of players who will not have one top line that has TNT-like capabilities when it comes to putting the puck in the net, but will have two-three lines that can score goals at opportune times. She also sees a team that will be committed to playing defense and making their opponent earn every goal they score.

The reason for Norman’s optimism is quality leadership and renewed commitment to work. Concordia senior captain Lindsay Czarnecki (Riverside, Calif.) will bring her no-nonsense brand of hockey to the forefront of the Cobber team. She led Concordia in scoring last season with 14 goals and eight assists, and was the lone Cobber representative on the MIAC All-Conference Team. Czarnecki, unlike past Cobber goal-scoring snipers, relies on getting in the right spot at the right time and working for every point she gets.(More)
 

Women’s Swimming and Diving Recent Results: Gustavus 158 at Concordia 127 - Recap Upcoming Events: at SDSU Invitational on Saturday, November 13 at 11:00am Latest News and Notes: - Concordia kicked off their dual meet portion of the 2004-05 season by hosting defending MIAC champion Gustavus. The Cobbers’ Cami Hendrickson (Fr., Thief River Falls, Minn.) finished third in the 50-yard freestyle. Her time of 26.20 was .39 seconds faster than last year's team MVP, Angela Renner's, time in the same event in the first home meet of last season. Hendrickson also placed second in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 57.25. That time was .47 seconds faster than Renner swam last year and is less than a second off the school record.  - 2004-05 Women's Swimming and Diving Preview: If the 2004-05 Concordia swimming and diving team was doing a guest appearance on Sesame Street, the letter of the day would be “D” – as in depth and diving.  The 2004-05 Cobbers have a roster of over 25 athletes, which is a 50% increase over last year, and have nine divers who all have a legitimate chance to score points in any meet.  The top two divers of the squad could star in a remake of the Odd Couple. They bring completely different approaches to the board. Senior captain Emily Hall (Minot, N.D.) is an experienced diver who has an impressive resume to the pool. She was named the 2002-03 MIAC Diver of the Year after capturing the 3-meter title and finishing second in the 1-meter competition at the conference championship meet. Last year, after spending the first semester studying abroad, she finished third in the 3-meter and fourth in the 1-meter. Hall’s partner in crime, Annie Cullen (Jr., Moorhead, Minn.), finished sixth in the 1-meter event last year after just starting to dive for the first time in her life. She was a standout gymnast at Moorhead High School and the year of initiation into collegiate diving should help Culllen climb even higher in 2004-05 and give her the confidence to compete on the 3-meter board.(More)

Wrestling
Recent Results: Start of the Season
Upcoming Events: at St. Olaf Open and NDSU Open on Saturday, November 13 at 11:00am
 
 

Please Note: The views written in this piece are the work of the writer and and do not necessarily reflect the views of Concordia College. They are not meant to harm or disrespect any of the athletes or school. It is merely an attempt to give the reader a different perspective into the world of Concordia athletics. Different Perspective Index: November 3 - October 20 - October 13 - October 6 - September 29 2003 Different Perspective Index November 10, 2004 Every once in a while the Cobber Sports Weekly staff has to take a break and focus on the action on the field, court, rink and in the pool. When those weeks occur we like to post an interesting e-mail that was sent. Most people get these messages in their box everyday, but some of them need to be repeated. This week's e-mail column comes from Cobber Co-Head Wrestling Coach Clay Nagel (He is one of the great hires the Cobber athletic department has made in recent history. Watch for further details about Clay and the Cobber wrestling program in 2005). Here is a message that Clay sent on why great athletes choose to play Division III athletics. We thought it was particularly timely since Concordia has a lot of top-notch athletes who are helping the Cobbers to the NCAA playoffs, and could have probably played DII or even at the DI level. Why We Play D-III Athletics It's not about getting a scholarship, getting drafted, or making SportsCenter. It's a deep need in us that comes from the heart. We need to practice, to play, to lift, to hustle, to sweat. We do it all for our teammates and for the student in our calculus class who we don't even know. We don't practice with a future major league first baseman; we practice with a future sports agent. We don't lift weights with a future Olympic wrestler; we lift with a future doctor. We don't run with a future Wimbledon champion; we run with a future CEO. It's a bigger part of us than our friends and family can understand. Sometimes we play for 2,000 fans; sometimes 25. But we still play hard. You cheer for us because you know us. You know more than just our names. Like all of you, we are students first. We don't sign autographs. But we do sign graduate school applications, MCAT exams, and student body petitions. When we miss a kick or strike out, we don't let down an entire state. We only let down our teammates, coaches, and fans. But the hurt is still the same. We train hard, lift, throw, run, kick, tackle, shoot, dribble, and lift some more, and in the morning we go to class. And in that class we are nothing more than students. It's about pride--in ourselves, in our school. It's about our love and passion for the game. And when it's over, when we walk off that court or field for the last time, our hearts crumble. Those tears are real. But deep down inside, we are very proud of ourselves. We will forever be what few can claim...college athletes. -Author Unknown From inside the box and dreaming of NCAA playoffs and the start of the winter sports season, that's this week's different perspective!

 
 

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