Saturday, August 30, 2008

Saturday's scores

Saturday's (8/30) Augsburg athletics scores (links are to game story/stats):

Women's soccer -- Augsburg 1, Northwestern-Roseville 0

Men's soccer -- Augsburg 2, Central (Iowa) 1

Volleyball -- Augsburg finishes in tie for 2nd at Ripon (Wis.) Early Bird Invitational:
Wis.-Superior def. Augsburg 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 26-24)
Augsburg def. Beloit (Wis.) 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-22)

Men's/Women's Cross Country -- Augsburg hosts dual meet vs. Bethel
Men -- Bethel 20, Augsburg 37; Women -- Bethel 17, Augsburg 46

Women's Golf -- Augsburg at Wisconsin-Eau Claire Invitational, Day 1 of 2

Friday, August 29, 2008

Friday's scores

Friday's (8/29) Augsburg athletics scores (links are to game story/stats):

Women's soccer -- Augsburg 1, Wisconsin-Stout 0

Men's soccer -- Augsburg 0, Simpson (Iowa) 0 (2OT)

Volleyball -- Augsburg at Ripon (Wis.) Early Bird Invitational, Day 1:
Augsburg 3, Ripon (Wis.) 1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-14, 25-14)
Augsburg 3, Milwaukee School of Engineering (Wis.) 2 (18-25, 25-8, 25-16, 23-25, 15-10)

MIAC football preview


The football season for Division III schools doesn't begin until next weekend, but the MIAC is out with its 2008 football preview. The 46-page PDF document is downloadable here.

The MIAC's football season is shaping up to be a very competitive one, as evidenced by the conference's preseason coaches poll. Coming off a 5-5 campaign, Augsburg is picked to finish sixth in the nine-team MIAC race, according to the conference coaches.

And in the preseason D3Football.com Top 25 national poll, five MIAC teams get a mention -- including Augsburg! Bethel is ranked No. 5, while St. John's is ranked No. 6. Three MIAC teams are in the "Others Receiving Votes" category -- St. Olaf (23 votes), Concordia-Moorhead (4 votes) and Augsburg (3 votes). And among other teams, Augsburg's Week 2 (Sept. 13) and home-opener opponent, Wartburg (Iowa), is ranked No. 23 in the national poll.

The other major Division III national poll, from the American Football Coaches Association, doesn't start until mid-September.

Click here for Augsburg's preseason football preview. It's just a week until Augsburg's season opener, at Crown on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 1 p.m.

One other reminder ... You can hear all 10 Augsburg football games online, via Stretch Internet. Twin Cities radio veteran Tom Witschen will return to do the play-by-play, with Chris Tubbs on analysis. Tom is a great friend of Augsburg sports, and we're glad to have him back with us after a two-year absence (he broadcast St. Cloud State football in 2006 and 2007). This will be Tom's 10th season behind the microphone for Augsburg football.

-- Don Stoner

The fun starts today!

Another year of Augsburg athletics starts today, with competition in several sports. For your friendly AugBlog proprietor, it's the start of my 12th year as sports information director here ... which means that our incoming first-year student-athletes (the Class of 2012) were just starting first grade in elementary school when I began my work here at the corner of 23rd and Riverside ... does that mean I'm old?

Anyway, enough of the old guy's ramblings ... onto this weekend's stuff.

The women's soccer team will host Wisconsin-Stout and Northwestern-Roseville in a two-game homestand this weekend at Edor Nelson Field. Augsburg faces UW-Stout tonight (Friday 8/29) at 7 p.m., and Northwestern on Saturday (8/30) at 7 p.m. Augsburg returns seven starters and 12 letterwinners to a team that has reached the MIAC playoffs each of the last four seasons. Meanwhile, UW-Stout has nine starters back from last year's 6-12-0 season, and Northwestern also has nine starters back from a team that went 8-9-1 overall.

The men's soccer team is on the road this weekend for two games in Iowa, facing Simpson today at 3 p.m. and Central on Saturday at 4 p.m. There are high hopes for this year's Auggies, with six seniors and 18 letterwinners returning, along with one of the most impressive recruiting and transfer classes in several years. Today's game against Simpson will be an interesting one, as the Storm are hosting Augsburg on their old grass-surface field, instead of their current artificial turf stadium. The Storm finished 3-14-1 last season. Meanwhile, Central is coming off a very impressive 14-4-3 record and third-place finish in the Iowa Conference.

The volleyball team is also on the road for the Ripon (Wis.) Early Bird Invitational. Every year has been an improvement for head coach Jessica Rinehart's squad, and her fourth season with the Auggies shapes up to be another year of improvement. Augsburg faces host Ripon (Wis.) and the Milwaukee School of Engineering (Wis.) today, and Wisconsin-Superior and Beloit (Wis.) tomorrow. Ripon was picked to finish third in the Midwest Conference; MSOE is a young squad that finished fifth in the Northern Athletics Conference last season; UW-Superior is coming off a 21-13 record last year (the best record in school history) and have nine letterwinners back; and Beloit was tabbed to finish sixth in the Midwest Conference this season.

The Auggie men's and women's cross country squad wakes up early on Saturday for the annual home time trial with Bethel. Action starts at 9 a.m. in Riverside Park. It's a good chance to see the Auggies in action on the 5,000-meter course. Both the men's and women's squads have deep lineups this season and should contend for improvement in the MIAC and regional standings.

The women's golf team is in action this Saturday and Sunday at the Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugold Invitational. All four regulars return to head coach Laura Patrick's squad, including Johanna Frykmark, who became the second Auggie women's golfer ever to earn All-MIAC honors, when she finished 10th at the 2007 conference meet.

Remember to sign up for eScores, and the latest scores from Auggie athletics will be just a cell phone text message away!

-- Don Stoner

Thursday, August 28, 2008

MIAC previews/polls

The MIAC has posted its season previews for volleyball, men's soccer and women's soccer.

In volleyball, Augsburg is picked to finish seventh in the 12-team MIAC by conference coaches. The MIAC is well-represented on the American Volleyball Coaches Association's Division III preseason national poll, with St. Thomas ranked No. 8, Concordia-Moorhead ranked No. 16 and both St. Benedict and Bethel in the "Others receiving votes" category.

In men's soccer, Augsburg is picked to finish fourth in the 11-team MIAC by conference coaches, in an effort to return to the four-team conference playoffs for the second time in a three-year span. In the major national polls, there are no MIAC teams ranked on the National Soccer Coaches Association of America preseason national poll, though one of Augsburg's opponents this season, Wisconsin-Oshkosh (Sept. 28), is ranked No. 16. The other major national poll, by D3Kicks.com, has not been released yet.

In women's soccer, Augsburg is picked to finish fifth in the 12-team MIAC by conference coaches, despite making the four-team conference playoffs each of the last four years and returning seven starters and 12 letterwinners. As in men's soccer, the NSCAA's Division III women's soccer preseason national poll also has no MIAC teams listed.

-- Don Stoner

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

eScores -- get Auggie scores sent to your cell phone/e-mail

More fun with technology ...

We're giving Auggie fans a new way to keep updated on their favorite sports. Augsburg is partnering with our live webcast provider, Stretch Internet, to provide fans with "eScores", for fans to receive scores and info via cell phone or e-mail.

eScores is a free one-of-a-kind instant messaging service that allows you to receive scores, news and other information from Augsburg athletics. You choose what categories or sports you're interested in, what type of messages you want to receive (for example, scores or headlines) and how you want to receive the information ... we take it from there.

You can either receive the eScores messages via your cell phone (with text messaging enabled) or by e-mail. Once an Augsburg event is complete (and our game story is posted online), we'll send out an eScore message, which you'll receive on your cell phone or e-mail. We'll also occasionally send out news and alerts via this service.

If you'd like more info or would like to sign up, follow this link: http://escores.stretchinternet.com/login.php?sch=augsburg. Click on the SIGN UP NOW link to sign up. More details are on the Frequently Asked Questions link on that page.

-- Don Stoner

We want your input!

As the ol' AugBlog springs forth to life, we want to involve you in the process. One of the features we will be doing on a regular basis will be "Ask the A.D." We want you to ask questions about Augsburg athletics and college sports in general of our athletic administrators -- Athletic Director Jeff Swenson and Assistant Athletic Directors Paul Grauer and Marilyn Florian. Send me an e-mail at stoner@augsburg.edu with "Ask the A.D." in the subject line and we'll do our best to answer the question. Heck, if it's a question that you need your humble SID or your humble assistant SID, Kelly Anderson Diercks, can answer, we might even take a shot at it.

A couple of other regular features planned for the blog:
- In-game blogging: We're going to try to do some in-game blogging, so if you can't make it to an Auggie event, this just might be the next best thing.

- Coaches Corner: In-season coaches will provide weekly updates on their sport, with news, updates, fun stuff, etc.

- Player blogs: We're going to ask some student-athletes to write season-long diaries about being an Augsburg student-athlete.

- SAAC Corner: Our Student-Athlete Advisory Council is an active bunch, and we want you to learn about what they're doing around campus.

- Behind the Scenes: What goes into an Augsburg athletic event behind the scenes? We'll take you there.

If there are other features you'd like to see in the AugBlog, feel free to let me know (stoner@augsburg.edu). We want this blog to be very interactive, so the more input we can get from you, the better!

-- Don Stoner

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Auggie men's soccer on YouTube

The Augsburg men's soccer team has its own channel on YouTube. You can get to it by clicking on this link. Coach Greg Holker has aleady posted some highlights from last night's scrimmage against the University of Minnesota club team. Here's a link for last year's highlights, along with the now-famous "shout out" for the Auggies by the anchors on the Fox Soccer Channel. Greg says that the team will post highlights from this season's games ASAP after their completion, so it will be like watching SportsCenter, only with Auggie men's soccer!

-- Don Stoner

Devean George '99 to remain a Dallas Maverick!

It's official. Augsburg alum Devean George '99 will remain a member of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. Read the release here. He's going to enter his 10th season in the NBA this fall -- amazing considering that only SEVEN players who played Division III basketball have ever played in the NBA, much less lasted for a decade.

Please allow your SID host a little personal indulgence here ... I remember Devean when he was a player here at Augsburg (I started my work at Augsburg just before Devean's junior year), and how he developed into one of the best players the MIAC has ever seen. In his final two years, he dominated the conference, and Augsburg went on a magical ride to consecutive conference championships and berths in the NCAA national playoffs.

But even after dominating the MIAC and Division III (he averaged 27.5 points and 11.3 rebounds per game his senior year), and earning the attention of some pro scouts, there was still a "small-college" stigma attached to him as he attempted to take his game to the next level. Our coaches lobbied hard for Devean to be invited to the first pro tryout camp, the Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational, but the organizers declined. "We already have a D-III player," was the quote one organizer gave to our coaches, since another Division III player was already invited to the camp.

But just before the Portsmouth tournament began, a player pulled out, leaving the 64th and final roster spot available. Somehow, Devean was invited, and he shined, making the all-tournament team and earning some serious attention. He tried out for several teams, and eventually, the Los Angeles Lakers made him their first-round draft choice (trivia ... Devean was Phil Jackson's first draft selection as coach of the Lakers!). Yes, he was a role player, but he was also a part of three consecutive NBA title teams with Lakers.

He's developed into a reliable swingman off the bench throughout his career, and his defensive skills have drawn accolades. He's also become an experienced veteran, a commodity that's sometimes hard to find in the NBA.

I have worked on the freelance statistics staff for the Minnesota Timberwolves for the past nine years, so I usually get to see Devean the two times his teams play at Target Center each year. Granted, the postgame meetings are short, as he's always meeting with family (including his wonderful mother Carol) and friends for a few minutes before he has to leave with the team, but my impression of him has always been the same -- a grounded, down-to-earth guy who works hard and enjoys his life.

As I was writing my news release on Devean yesterday, I went back to look at some of the stuff I wrote on him in past years ... from everything I see, Devean is the same guy now has he was a decade ago, when he was just an Auggie player trying to make it at the next level. I'm so glad to see that he continues to succeed in pro basketball, and represent Augsburg College so well.

-- Don Stoner

Monday, August 25, 2008

So what did you do last summer?

Well, here's what some Auggies did ...

The volleyball team traveled to Brazil in May, played some matches against some local club teams, saw some incredible scenery, and took part in a community service project for underprivileged children in Rio de Janiero (Click here for more).

Four members of the wrestling team went to central Asia (specifically, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) for a training, competition, mission and service trip. They took part in a tournament, trained with local wrestlers and enjoyed the scenery (Click here for more).

Baseball coach Keith Bateman had fun with the minor league St. Paul Saints, volunteering to throw batting practice before several games, including the American Association All-Star Game in July (Click here for a Star-Tribune story about the All-Star Game; Click here for a photo gallery -- in the eighth photo on the gallery, you can see Bateman on the left edge of the photo, just hangin' out in the dugout with former major leaguer Daryl Strawberry). And speaking of the Saints, former Augsburg Campus Ministry pastoral intern (and yes, he was a St. Olaf baseball player, too) Charlie Ruud started the American Association All-Star Game and was one of the top pitchers for the Saints this year.

The Augsburg softball team, coming off an incredible season and a trip to the MIAC playoffs in 2008, was honored in August before a Minnesota Twins game as part of Lutheran Night at the Metrodome. Pitchers Sarah Green and Melissa Larsen threw the ceremonial first pitches before a crowd of 35,256 Twins fans.

The Augsburg men's and women's soccer teams hosted a unique Soccer Mom Camp in August, and more than 30 moms took part in the event, which was a fundraiser for breast cancer research.

Speaking of men's soccer ... 12 current and former Auggies were members of the MASL Minnesota Cup champion Inferno '98 team, winning the top title for amateur soccer in Minnesota.

-- Don Stoner

Welcome to the blog ... and the new school year!

Welcome to the 2007-08 school year! During the past week, 191 Auggie student-athletes reported to campus for preseason practice in our eight fall sports. The first competitions on the Auggie sports calendar will happen this weekend, when the women's soccer team hosts Wisconsin-Stout and Northwestern-Roseville on Friday and Saturday, the men's soccer team travels to Iowa for two games, the men's and women's cross country teams host Bethel in their annual dual meet on Saturday morning in Riverside Park, the volleyball team is on the road for a season-opening tournament at Ripon (Wis.), and the women's golf team competes at the Wisconsin-Eau Claire Invitational this weekend.

Auggie squads certainly have a lot to be excited about this fall. The football team is coming off a 5-5 season last year, which included a dramatic 4-2 run to end the year. Be prepared for aerial fireworks with this team; coach Frank Haege's offense is going to throw the ball a lot. The season opens on Sept. 6 with a nonconference game at Crown. Here's a link to the football season preview.

The volleyball team is coming off one of its best seasons in the past decade, and 13 letterwinners and five starters return. Coach Jessica Rinehart has this team optimistic about qualifying for the MIAC postseason tournament. Here's a link to the volleyball season preview.

Consistency has been the hallmark for the women's soccer team, with four straight appearances in the MIAC postseason tournament. Mike Navarre enters his 10th season as Augsburg's head coach, and hopes are high for a fifth straight tourney berth this year. With one of the most solid defenses in the conference back nearly intact, the "drive for five" could happen again. Here's a link to the women's soccer season preview.

And the men's soccer team also has high hopes. Coach Greg Holker's squad has his first complete recruiting class entering their senior seasons, and that group has helped change the Auggies into a consistent contender in a very tough soccer conference. Here's a link to the men's soccer season preview.

We'll have some updates and links for men's/women's cross country, men's golf and women's golf later this week.

Onto this blog ... We're going to try to update this every weekday during the school year. Along with the athletics website, this will be a prime destination for Auggie sports news. We'll link to stories on our athletic website, share some "behind-the-scenes" stuff and hopefully, have some fun along the way. Please send any suggestions, comments, or complaints to us (You can click here for the athletic department directory; most of these posts will be written by either SID Don Stoner or Assistant SID Kelly Anderson Diercks).

-- Don Stoner