The UMD Bulldogs have had several all-victorious weekends this fall, but last weekend was not among them. There were, however, some incredible happenings right up there on campus.
Sure, the UMD women’s hockey team suffered a 4-0 and 6-3 sweep at the hands of arch-rival and top-ranked Minnesota -- which extended its record winning streak to 55 games with the games at AMSOIL Arena. The UMD men’s hockey team opened play in the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference by losing 3-1 at Colorado College, but the Bulldogs bounced back to beat the Tigers 5-1 in the rematch, and come home this weekend to face Notre Dame in a nonconference set. But the most startling events happened at Malosky Stadium and at adjacent Romano Gym in a five-hour span last Saturday.
First, in the drizzle and chill and wind, the UMD football team disposed of Minot State 52-0. But the game wasn’t as close as the score indicated. You have to go back to the start. UMD kicked off and Minot started on its 19. After an incomplete pass, Zac Cunha dropped back to pass and incredibly, while he’s a right-handed passer, he failed to notice a maroon-shirted blur coming at him from his right. Kenny Chowa, a senior linebacker, had a clear path and jolted Cunha to pop the ball loose. Chris Vandervest recovered the ball on the Minot 1-yard line. On first down, Austin Sikorski barged into the end zone and UMD led 7-0 after a mere 16 seconds had ticked off the clock.

Andrew Brees kicked off again, for a touchback, and this time the Beavers gained a first down before stalling and setting up for a punt, but the snap sailed over the head of punter Brian Gutierrez. He chased it, grabbed it, and turned to try to get off a punt, but UMD’s David Boegel arrived just about then and completely smothered the punt attempt, then recovered it at the Minot 1. Again Sikorski knifed through the line for a touchdown, and UMD led 14-0 just 1:56 into the first quarter. Sikorski had scored 12 points while rushing for a total of 2 yards.

Brees kicked off again, for another touchback, and on first down, Randel Barber gained 5 yards before Ryan Peterson knocked the ball away from him, and Yusef Hassan recovered for UMD at the Minot 25. The Beavers defense stopped UMD that time, so Brees kicked a 35-yard field goal and UMD led 17-0. Only 4:06 had expired in the first quarter. “I remember once three years ago we turned three touchdowns around like that,” said Chowa. “If making the playoffs depended on how many points we scored today, and our offense was clicking, we could have scored 75 today.”

On its next turn, Minot started at its 20, and on fourth down from the 18, Gutierrez managed only a 12-yard punt into the wind. UMD started on the Minot 30 -- the farthest from its goal that any snap in the game had occurred -- and quarterback Drew Bauer brought the Bulldogs in, scoring another touchdown on a 3-yard pass to Taylor Grant. After 8:17 of play, UMD led 24-0. The first quarter ended that way, but the game was virtually over.

VOLLEYBALL SHOCKER

For those of us who have watched the UMD volleyball team over the last few years, teams coming to Romano Gym usually find themselves climbing on the bus and heading home after a quick defeat. In Minot coach Brent Aldridge’s three years, Northern State had done exactly that. “In the last two years, we’d come up here and get blown out,” said Aldridge. “The 7-hour busride home seemed longer than that.” This time, Northern State was ready, able and willing to challenge the Bulldogs, who came in ranked No. 2 in the nation among Division II NCAA teams. Usually, the Bulldogs will find ignition from a big kill, and run off a string of points to subdue opponents. But Saturday afternoon, every time the Bulldogs seemed to get that sort of a big point, the Wolves would counter by getting the next point. Still, the ’Dogs looked good, up 21-18 in the first set, but Northern ran off the next five points to take the lead, and when UMD came back to trail only 24-23, Northern closed out a 25-23 victory.

UMD scored the first two points of the second set, but Northern ran off seven of the next eight points and cruised to a solid 25-15 victory to go up 2-0. When the Bulldogs came back from the break and won the third set, they had to battle to get a 24-18 lead, then had to battle harder after four straight Wolves points before getting that elusive 25th point for a 25-22 victory.
With Kate Lange leading the way, the Bulldogs gave it a run in the fourth set, but again the Wolves blockers repeatedly turned back UMD kill attempts, gaining the upper hand with an early 8-2 lead. That left the Bulldogs in the rare position of having to dig deep to fight for their lives. They closed it to 13-11, and later 20-18 and 21-19, but Northern wouldn’t falter, and the Wolves captured a 25-20 victory and the match by three games to one.

Lange scored 20 kills and had 16 digs in a powerful performance, but she was the only UMD player to reach double figures in kills. Northern State had four players in double figures, led by sophomore Kelsey Chambers, from Jordan, Minnesota, with 17. Northern had the upper hand in hitting percentage 66-62 in the first set, a whopping 86-51 in the second, and 67-51 in the fourth, while the Bulldogs only outhit Northern 68-60 in the third-set UMD victory.

Perhaps the most telling statistic was that UMD was countered by Northern after only one point 11 times in the first set, 10 times in the second, 11 times in the third, and 7 times in the fourth, making it 39 times that Northern’s blockers prevented any sustained UMD momentum. Northern had an 18-4 edge in individual blocks, and a 9-4 edge in total team blocks. “I voted for Kate Lange as the best player in this league,” said Northern coach Brent Aldridge. “She’s 35 percent of their points. The best thing about her is that she’s a senior, so we won’t have to face her after this season.” Asked about his Wolves’ ability to quickly counter every UMD attempt at a momentum swing, Aldridge said: “That wouldn’t have happened the last two years. But we played a really good match and I’m really happy. It’s big for us to beat them in here -- to beat them anywhere, but especially right in here. This is the best match we’ve ever played since I’ve been here. This is my third year, and we haven’t ever played close to this.”

GOPHERS STREAK

A year ago at this time, I told Minnesota women’s hockey coach Brad Frost that his team wouldn’t lose a game all season. He didn’t want to hear that, and he tried to protest that it was too early, but the Golden Gophers did exactly that, running to their second straight NCAA championship with a 41-0 season. This year, I think the Gophers will lose a game...or two...but not many. They came, saw, and conquered UMD 4-0 and 6-3 last weekend, but the margins were more evidence of how much UMD’s young and rebuilding team has to grow to catch up to the No. 1 team in the country.

The Gophers played well, and UMD fairly matched them through two periods of the first game, with Sarah Davis’s goal standing for a 1-0 Minnesota lead. But Meghan Lorence scored at 0:09 of the third period, and freshman Dani Cameranesi and Rachel Bona added goals for the 4-0 score. Amanda Leveille got the shutout with 26 saves, while Kayla Black was outstanding in UMD’s goal with 40 stops. While UMD couldn’t stay with the Gophers in the third period Friday, they played three strong periods Saturday, but the Gophers scored twice in each period and UMD once for the 6-3 final, though the shots were a closer 37-30 for the Gophers. Davis and Cameranesi scored twice each while Maryanne Menefee and Kelly Terry added the others. UMD;s Hannah Bramm gave the Bulldogs an early 1-1 tie, and Jenna McParland closed the gap to 4-2 after two. Freshman Sidney Morin got the third UMD goal. “We got up 4-1, then they carried the play,” said Gopher coach Brad Frost. “They’ve got a nice squad, with veteran blueliners. They got the momentum at the end of the second period, and we knew we’d have to play our hardest in the third period. But this team has shown that the best way to weather a storm is to bring a storm.”

Cameranesi, the younger sister of UMD’s sophomore men’s star Tony Cameranesi, grew up playing a lot of boot hockey with her brother and his friends on their neighborhood cul-de-sac. She transfered from Wayzata to Blake “because Wayzata had a rule that didn’t allow girls to play varsity hockey in the eighth grade,” she said. “I played five years at Blake.”

Skating left wing on a line with center Kelly Terry and Kate Schipper, Cameranesi has made the adjustment from center smoothly, and adds the same sort of dynamic energy as her brother does to the Bulldog men. But while Minnesota opened with a sweep over Wisconsin and UMD lost twice at North Dakota, UMD played well against such a powerhouse. “We broke down in the third period (Friday night), but tonight we had the Gophers on their heels,” said UMD coach Shannon Miller. “I was proud of our effort, for 60 minutes.”