Katlyn and Zach take on senior Tim Kelly in this week’s Sports Challenge

The men’s basketball team completed the season series sweep of Coe last week, defeating the Kohawks 70-68 in a game that came all the way down to the last shot.

Going into the game Wednesday night Coe stood one game back in the Iowa Conference standings with an impressive 9-3 record in the league. However, one of those three losses came at the hands of Loras’ 77-65 victory back in mid-January.

The Duhawks have been enjoying success against the top teams in the conference as of late, as they also have beaten conference-leading Luther and the University of Dubuque, which sits in third place. They hoped to continue their success against another strong conference foe as they faced the Kohawks for the last time this season.

The Duhawks came out hot in the first half and opened the game with an 11-0 run. Twice in the half, Loras led by 15 points, as the Duhawks connected on five first-half 3-pointers. Loras went into the locker room with a 8-point lead at halftime.

The Duhawks pushed the lead up to as many as 17 points in the second half, but Coe came on strong toward the end of the game, especially during the last 5 minutes, and the Kohawks cut Loras’ lead down to 2 with a 3-pointer with 29 seconds to go.

“It was 35 minutes of some very strong basketball,” said Coach Greg Gorton. “The last 5 minutes, they made a run and we lacked some aggressiveness. They are one game away from a conference championship, so you expect them to make a run.”

The Duhawks also missed all four of their free throws in the last 36 seconds, allowing Coe a chance to win the game. With 4 seconds left, Coe first-year Andrew Wirth, who already had connected on three 3-pointers, threw up the potential game-winner, but it bounced off the rim. Senior Mike Gleason secured the rebound and preserved the 70-68 win.

“We were very good on defense, which leads to offense for this team,” said Gorton. “We played well enough to win at home and continue on our path to the playoffs.”

The win improved the Duhawks record to 9-14 overall on the season and 6-8 in conference play.

“We played hard and responded well to a tough stretch of three games in five days. Our two ‘5 men,’ Danny (Pawelski) and Ryan (Coon), held their starting center scoreless,” said junior Tim Kelly. “Unfortunately, we almost let it slip away at the end. We need to work on finishing games when we have a lead like that.”

Kelly led the team with 18 points in just 23 minutes of play. Gleason and junior Dan Pawelski each added 10 points and junior Brian Gaughan recorded five assists for the Duhawks. Loras also rebounded well, outscoring Coe 12-2 in second-chance points.

“We’re still fighting for our playoff lives at this point, so both games mean everything to us,” Kelly said. “It’s been a crazy year in this league, so we know that we have to be at our best every night.”

The Duhawks travel to play Cornell on Wednesday and then will host Wartburg in their final regular-season game of the season. Both games have become must wins in order to reach the conference playoffs.

“Wartburg has two of the five best scorers in our conference and they beat us fairly easily on their home floor a month ago,” said Gorton. “We definitely will need the student section on Saturday at the AWC to help us.”

Tim Kelly
Published: October 8, 2008

DUBUQUE- 50 Degrees isn’t exactly softball weather, but the Duhawk Softball team has been working hard this fall.

“We’ve been going harder at it this fall. Some of us seniors have been running practices on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We’ve gotten pretty good workouts in too,” said senior captain Kim Chalekian.

The hard work will be much needed as the Duhawks lose all conference pitcher Kate Earleywine, but head coach Kate Koopman is still optimistic about her team’s chances.

“You know, the Iowa Conference is one of the toughest conferences in the nation, but I expect us to finish around the top half and be as competitive as we were last year,” Koopman stated.

The Duhawks pride themselves on being an aggressive team that capitalizes on the opportunities presented to them.

“We just try to stay positive and get the lead runners in,” Chalekian added.

Tim Kelly can be reached at Timothy.Kelly@loras.edu

A cold, rainy, day did not dampen the spirits of the men’s and women’s cross country teams, because this year both teams have high expectations going into the season.

Last year the women came to the brink of a national tournament, and the players are ready to achieve that, this year.

They are coming into the season ranked twentieth in the nation and third in the region.

Mary Bridget Corken, women’s cross country captain, said. “Last year we were six points away from qualifying so its like nothing so I think we’re just really working hard to improve and be our best that we can be and make at the end of the season.”

Head Coach Shultz shares the same aspirations as Corken, “So I expect our women to be competing for the top two in the conference, and a trip to the national championships, which the Loras women have not done in about twelve years.”

The men’s team may come in with less hype.

However,with strong transfers and freshmen,  they are just as determined to make some noise and prove people wrong.

Shultz said, “we just have some new energy this year that I’m excited about, despite losing three of our top seven, we have a team that will finish high er in the conference and higher in the region than any of the teams I’ve had my four years here.”

The men’s team comes into the season embracing their role as a dark horse in the Iowa Conference.

Alex Eischeid, the men’s captain, said, “We’ve got a lot of new faces this year so there’s kinda of a chip on our shoulder we’re going to have.We’re going to have to really come in and make a name for ourselves this year.”

Catch both teams as they race into action this Saturday.

Tim Kelly can be reached at Timothy.Kelly2@loras.edu