Courtesy of Adam Hussman/MLC SID

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Eau Claire 42, MLC 6

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — The Martin Luther College football team traveled to UW-Eau Claire for its week four game on the road. MLC played hard, but had difficulty stopping the Blugolds’ rushing attack as UW-Eau Claire defeated the Knights 42-6.

Eau Claire’s ground game had a monster day, rushing for 390 yards from eight rushers. Nick Scott led the Blugolds with 123 yards, while Paxton Rothmeier scored two touchdowns.

The Blugolds got off to a quick start, returning the opening kickoff 98 yards to gain momentum early on. From there, UW-Eau Claire managed some long drives to go up 28-0 with just under seven minutes remaining in the first half.

MLC’s lone touchdown came from a 64-yard quarterback scramble from Brady Turriff near the end of the third quarter.

The Knights found some success on the ground themselves as Arthur Robinson rushed for almost 100 yards again (90). Robinson was also the leading receiver for the Knights, finishing with four receptions and 54 yards.

However, UW-Eau Claire made the MLC offense one-dimensional for the most part, taking away the passing game.

Thomas Balge led MLC in tackles (10), while Jeremiah Stanton recorded nine tackles and had a sack.

COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL

Knights drop 2 at home

NEW ULM — The Martin Luther College volleyball team hosted St. Mary’s and Luther College for the MLC Triangular on Saturday in the LSC gymnasium.

The Knights played both teams earlier in non conference tournaments, falling to St. Mary’s 3-0 and Luther 3-1. On Saturday, the Knights played hard in their home opener, but the Cardinals beat them 3-0 in the first matchup. Meanwhile, the Norse defeated MLC 3-0 in the later match.

St. Mary’s 3, MLC 0

The Knights battled in the first two sets before the Cardinals topped them 25-21, 25-16, 25-8. MLC had a good opportunity to win the first set, trading blows in the back-and-forth set before St. Mary’s buckled down to get a few more points at the end.

St. Mary’s improved its hitting percentage in the second (.250) and third set (.350) to complete the match in three sets. Kali Olson and Brenna Bruchert made a big difference for the Cardinals as Olson had a .522 hitting percentage with 12 kills and Bruchert had a .333 hitting percentage with 13 kills.

Lydia Feidt (8) and Greta Nolte (6) led the Knights in the kills category. Anna Kieselhorst had a team-best 10 digs, while Feidt picked up nine.

Luther 3, MLC 0

MLC almost came back in the opening set, but the Norse managed to hold them off and took the first set 25-23. The Knights had flashes of momentum in the second and third sets. However, Luther defeated them 25-18 and 25-19 and did it with few errors on the court, with just 10 miscues.

Azaria McDonough had an impact as a setter, dishing out 24 assists, and the Norse got many rallies started with Jenna Langen (11 digs), Ella Goodnight (10), and Victoria Gomez (10).

Feidt notched a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs, while Walz had 15 assists and a couple of aces.

Freshman Kourtney Zech recorded double-digit assists (10), and Nolte had nine digs for the Knights.

MEN’S SOCCER

North Central 3, MLC 0

NEW ULM — On Saturday, MLC men’s soccer celebrated Parents’ Day for its first conference home game of the season. The Knights took on North Central, and both teams were in a defensive battle for much of the game until the Rams put across three goals in the second half to come away with the 3-0 win over MLC.

The goal that broke the scoreless tie came in the 55th minute for North Central, and two more were added in the 59th and 81st minutes of action to ensure the victory for them.

Both teams were fairly even in the shot chart, with the Rams holding a 24-17 advantage in total shots and a 12-6 edge in shots on goal. North Central also had more corner kicks than MLC (6-2).

Johannes Bourman led the Knights with seven shots (3 on net), and Joshua Kallies recorded nine saves, filling in for Nick Russ, who is out for the season due to injury.

COLLEGE GOLF

MLC men, women compete

at Midwest Classic

KANSASVILLE, Wis. — The MLC men’s and women’s golf teams competed at the Midwest Classic in Southern Wisconsin on Friday and Saturday. The Knights were one of 45 schools in the region from D-III to participate. The men finished 40th (638 strokes), while the MLC women took 37th (832 strokes).

Benjamin Pearson had an impressive two rounds of golf over the weekend, placing in a T-45th overall out of almost 250 golfers. The sophomore shot a score of 77 on Friday and 72 on Saturday. John Martin T-140th overall with his score of 80 (Friday) and 77 (Saturday).

Meanwhile, Luke Latzke T-206th after he finished in 84 strokes (Rd 1) and 81 strokes (Rd 2). Aidan Berg placed in T-214th with his scores of 86 (Rd 1) and 81 (Rd 2).

For the MLC women, Myah Loberger was the top finisher, placing in 193rd after a weekend score of 103 and 92. Erin Pulice took 201st with scores of 106 and 99, while Chloe Berg came in at 203, finishing in 103 and 104 strokes for the two rounds.

COLLEGE CROSS-COUNTRY

Knight run at St. Olaf

NORTHFIELD — The MLC men’s and women’s cross country teams were a part of the St. Olaf Invitational on Saturday. The men placed 12th out of 16 schools in the 8K, while the women took 13th out of 17 schools in the 6K.

Eliott Heiderich was the first MLC runner to cross the finish line, coming in at 103rd overall out of over 200 runners. Heiderich ran the race in 28:22.2. Freshman Henry Schapekahm placed 122nd with a mark of 29:01.3.

The next fastest times from the Knights came via Alex Enslen (30:42.2) in 141st and Elijah Hutchinson (30:52.1) for 144th overall.

Jemimah Habben took 88th out of almost 200 runners (24:59.4). Yi Le Wang finished right around Habben, placing 131st (26.10.0), and Grace Hahm finished 140th (26:36.8). Another freshman, Elise Schwartz, clocked in at 27:09.8 for 151st, while Carys Wendland placed 173rd with a time of 28:11.9.