Some thoughts on this weekend in Augsburg sports:FOOTBALL: What a game!!! I can safely say that in my 12 years as SID here at good ol' Augsburg, Saturday's 30-24, two-overtime win over No. 20-ranked Wartburg ranks up there with the greatest Auggie football games I've ever seen (that list might be a future AugBlog post). Great atmosphere, night football under the lights in "The Cage," and an exciting, back-and-forth battle. Augsburg jumped out to the early 10-0 lead with a dominating first-quarter performance, then held on as Wartburg rallied. But the Auggies came back with some great plays -- a Jordan Berg-to-Royce Winford TD pass, a blocked field goal by John Leibfried and Alex Glasenapp, another Berg-to-Winford TD pass in the first OT, a defensive stand to force a missed Wartburg field goal, and finally, Jason Potts' 23-yard scamper for the game-winning score.
How about the play of Royce Winford? Perhaps one of the few two-way players in all of college football this year, the veteran wide receiver added defensive cornerback duties to his repertoire this season, and played most of the 163 plays against Wartburg. Defensively, he had three tackles and a key interception in the fourth quarter.
This may be a very special Augsburg team. It's looking like the tools are coming together -- offense, defense and special teams -- for a deep run this year. Will the Auggies contend with the usual suspects (St. John's, Bethel, etc.) for the MIAC title? Time will tell, but the fun of the MIAC season starts on Sept. 27 (Augsburg is idle this coming Saturday), with Augsburg's Homecoming game against St. Olaf.
MEN'S SOCCER: The beat goes on for the Auggies, now 4-0-1 after a solid 2-1 win over Hamline in the rain on Saturday in St. Paul. Another team that's coming together in a good way, with a nice mix of veterans and solid newcomers. Eight different Auggies have figured in the scoring with goals or assists this season, showing the team's good balance. And 2006 All-American goalkeeper Pascaul Venter, who missed most of last season due to injury, is back in good form. He's started the last three games and has a 3-0-0 record with one shutout.
A big test for the Auggies will come this Wednesday at 4 p.m., when they travel to face St. Thomas in St. Paul. The Tommies are 6-0-0 on the season and, like Augsburg are considered one of the favorites to claim the MIAC crown.
WOMEN'S SOCCER: Another start, another shutout for Augsburg goalkeeper Maggie DeGroot. With the help of one of the best defenses in the MIAC, she did it again on Saturday, blanking defending NCAA tournament team St. Scholastica 1-0 in Duluth, with five saves. Consider this little nugget: in her career, DeGroot is 32-16-13, with 31 shutouts (an Auggie career record) among her 32 wins and 13 ties. She's allowed just two goals this season, playing all but 13:20 of the Auggies' 560 minutes in goal, and she already has five shutouts in six starts this year.
Augsburg has its first home game in a couple of weeks this coming Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., when Hamline visits Edor Nelson Field. If the defense continues to hold firm, the Auggies could be primed for a solid run towards an MIAC title.
VOLLEYBALL: If you understand volleyball statistics, check out this linescore from Augsburg's four-set win over Simpson (Iowa) at the Wartburg (Iowa) Invitational over the weekend: 17 kills, 0 errors, 21 assists, .810 attack percentage. Those are incredible numbers, folks, and that's what Julie Jenkins put up at the net against the Storm on Saturday. Most good hitters will hit in the .200s to .300s on average, with outstanding performances in the .400 range. But .810? That's not human!!! Julie hit .303 on the weekend, and she's hitting at a solid .248 clip on the season.
Another solid hitting performance came from Laura Harms, who netted a career-high 29 kills and hit .444 in a five-set loss to a very good Nebraska Wesleyan team on Friday night. In her first run of extended action since dealing with early-season injuries, Harms had a great performance in the Wartburg tournament, with 67 kills, a .292 attack percentage and nine blocks. She earned All-Tournament Team honors on the weekend.
The Auggies are off to a very impressive 8-5 start after the first three weeks of the season, and open conference play this Wednesday at 7 p.m., with a match at Gustavus. If this team continues to play well together, they have a legitimate shot at an MIAC postseason playoff berth.
CROSS COUNTRY: How about the effort of Augsburg junior Brent Haglund? In hot and humid conditions on an unfamiliar, wet and muddy course in Massachusetts, Haglund puts together a meet-winning 26:42.76 effort over 8,000 meters to lead the Auggies at the Tufts (Mass.) Jumbo Invitational on Saturday. And four Auggie men finish in the top 50 overall to give the team a fourth-place overall placing. In all, a very good effort for coach Dennis Barker's Auggie men. And on the women's side, sophomore Jennifer Lovering continues to impress, as she took 26th overall with a 21:25.71 effort over 5,000 meters to lead the Auggies to a sixth-place team finish.
This Saturday, the Auggies compete at the St. Olaf Invitational in Northfield. With a familiar course and a good week of training back in Minnesota, the Auggies are primed to shine.
MEN'S GOLF: Colby Anderson is having quite a year. In the past two weekends, he's had multiple top-five finishes, including a 1-over-par 73 for a third-place finish at the rain-shortened St. John's Fall Invitational on Sunday. He's averaging a 3-over-par 75.0 so far this season, seventh-best among all MIAC golfers.
At the St. John's meet, the Auggies finished sixth as a team, finishing better than five teams ranked ahead of them in the Golfstat rankings. A big test will be this weekend, when the Auggies compete at the Wisconsin-Eau Claire Invitational.
WOMEN'S GOLF: Tough conditions for Augsburg this weekend at the Carleton Division III Midwest Classic in Ham Lake, as the Auggies had to battle rain in both rounds. Sophomores Stefani Zappa and Johanna Frykmark are having good seasons, and should continue to improve. The Auggies are now idle until the MIAC championships Oct. 4-6 at Bunker Hills in Coon Rapids.
-- Don Stoner
