MORRIS, Minn. – It is Homecoming 2015 week and the Cougars athletic teams are gearing up for a big weekend. Football and soccer teams are at home while golf, cross country and volleyball are on the road on Saturday. Fans should wear gold to home matches on Saturday.
Football: The Minnesota Morris defense is third in the nation with six fumble recoveries in 2015.
Jeremy Sloneker is first in the nation with four fumble recoveries in four games. Overall the team has forced 13 turnovers this year, which ranks fourth in the NCAA.
Morris enters Saturday having lost eight straight homecoming games. Their last win came Sept. 23, 2006 when the Cougars won 67-0 over Trinity Bible.
John Hoff earned the UMAC Special Teams Player of the Week Honor after going 7-7 on kicks last week. He was 4-4 in field goals, tying a school record for most made field goals in a game. Current UMM men's soccer coach
Scott Turnbull made four field goals in 1997. He is 5-5 on the year and ranks 27th in the country in made field goals per game.
MacMurray comes to Morris a week after beating Eureka 13-10. The Highlanders have a stout defense, allowing just 18.7 points per game. Their offense has had some trouble, scoring just 15 points per contest, similar to the Cougars (14.8 points per game).
The rushing attack has amassed 176 yards per game this year, resulting in four touchdowns. They have yet to find their passing attack, going 26-66 with one touchdown and five interceptions.
The defense has forced six turnovers this season, something they will try to do Saturday to slow down the Cougars.
Men's Soccer: Minnesota Morris welcomes St. Scholastica to town for a 2 p.m. showdown on Saturday. The Saints are ranked for the first time in school history, coming in at #25 in this week's poll.
Scholastica is 9-1 this year, outscoring opponents 52-9 on the season. In four UMAC matches they have outscored opponents 31-0. Two Saints have at least ten goals this season.
UMM is one game behind the Saints with a 3-1 record in conference play. Morris is looking to snap a 17 match winless streak against CSS. Morris beat St. Scholastica 1-0 in Morris in 2009.
Women's Soccer: The Cougars and Saints will meet in a game that does not feature a team in the top two in conference. One of the two teams has finished in the top two in the UMAC every year since UMM joined the UMAC in 2003.
Morris has lost two straight UMAC games for the first time since 2012; a loss on Saturday would mark a third straight conference loss since 2001. UMM has not lost three straight UMAC games in school history.
The Saints are 3-1 in UMAC play, have lost to Northwestern. Morris beat UNW 2-0 earlier this season. Northland had a couple one goal leads against the Saints but CSS was able to comeback each time and won 3-2.
Volleyball: This weekend the Cougars battle a pair of teams from Wisconsin. On Saturday Morris will play Wisconsin-Superior at 2 p.m. in a UMAC match before battling Wisconsin-River Falls at 4 p.m. in a non-conference match.
Morris is looking to rebound after a 3-1 road loss to Concordia-Moorhead on Tuesday evening. The Cougars will need to improve their attack percentage in order to pick a couple W's in Wisconsin.
Cross Country: After a week of rest the Cougars will head to Northfield to compete in the Running of the Cows Invite tomorrow. The UMAC Championships are about a month away which provides Morris with sometime to improve and take aim that conference title.
This meet will be the second full length race of the year for UMM.
Golf: Both the men's and women's teams will be in Buffalo Lake on Saturday to compete in the Viking Invite. It will be the final tune up for each team before the UMAC Championships which begin next Thursday in Alexandria.
The women are looking to win their third straight tournament after winning the Cougar Invite and the Mid County Invite.
The men have also been playing well finishing in the top four in the last two meets.
