The University men’s lacrosse club team tied with three other teams for second place this weekend at the Upper Midwest Collegiate Lacrosse League Championships at Fort Snelling State Park.
Minnesota went 1-1 in the tournament, finishing with the same record as St. John’s, St. Thomas and Bethel and behind Minnesota-Duluth, which ended up 3-0 in the round robin competition. St. Cloud State and Wisconsin-LaCrosse both finished with 1-2 records, rounding out the seven-team tournament.
Minnesota opened the tournament with a 9-4 loss to St. John’s before defeating Bethel 5-4 in its second game. Matt Ducharme scored three goals against St. John’s and two vs. Bethel. Steve Hennessy chipped in a goal in the first game and two in the second. Dave Grabowski tallied a goal in the Bethel game for Minnesota.
“It went pretty well. We played a better game against Bethel,” said club president Mikkel Hylden. “We are looking forward to next weekend. Hopefully we will do well in the tournament.”
Minnesota will compete in the Upper Midwest Collegiate Lacrosse League State Championships this weekend in Minneapolis.
“We are looking for a third- or fourth-place finish this weekend,” Hennessy said.
Minnesota finished third out of nine teams in the same competition last year and will face the same seven teams that participated in last weekend’s tournament, as well as Gustavus and St. Mary’s of Winona, Minn.
Club fencing
University fencers Michelle Mansfield, Amanda Tickner and Matt Cutler qualified for nationals at the sectional tournament held this weekend in Iowa City, Iowa.
All three fencing club members have been national finalists in the sport before. Mansfield took first out of 15 competitors in the women’s epee event. Tickner finished second in the same event for Minnesota, and Cutler placed eighth out of 30 in the men’s epee competition.
The top eight fencers in each event earned berths in the U.S. Fencing Association National Tournament, which will be held June 8-16 in Cincinnati. At nationals, the top eight competitors in each category automatically qualify for the U.S. Olympic fencing team.
The University fencing club will host the first annual Frazzini Fencing Open on May 18. The event is named after former fencing club coach Ron Frazzini.
Club rugby
The University women’s club rugby team took second place out of eight teams this weekend at the All Saints Rugby Tournament in St. Cloud, Minn.
Minnesota finished the tourney with a 3-1-1 record. It won its bracket Saturday by tying Mankato State 0-0, and beating Gustavus 10-0 and Macalester 17-5.
The team blanked St. Cloud 15-0 Sunday before losing to Minnesota-Duluth 10-0 in the championship.
Minnesota-Duluth avenged a 7-3 home loss from the previous weekend.
Captain Lori Most led Minnesota’s scoring attack, knocking in five tries during the weekend. Kelly O’Connor scored twice and Heather Vaughn added another try. Nancy Pomplun converted the team’s only two-point convergence kick in the five games.
The women play two games this weekend, one Saturday against Carleton at Fort Snelling and another Sunday at Macalester.
The men’s team didn’t fair quite as well, going 0-2-1 at St. Cloud during the weekend. Minnesota lost to an independent team called the Banshees, tied North Dakota State and lost to Mankato State.
Team member Nate Groneberg scored the team’s lone try of the tournament against North Dakota State, and Minnesota was unable to convert the conversion kick, leading to the 5-5 tie.
The Minnesota’s men’s rugby squad will compete against Carleton on Saturday at Fort Snelling.