MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota, Morris will play their first home football game of the year this Saturday at 1 p.m. but they are not the only team in action this weekend. Men's and women's soccer are also at home on Saturday starting at 2 p.m. Volleyball, men's and women's cross country and men's golf are also in action this weekend.
Football The Cougars (1-1, 1-0 UMAC) are coming off a big win over Greenville last weekend to start the UMAC season off on a positive note. They will look to continue the upward trend this weekend when they host Northwestern.
Morris will try to improve to 2-0 in the UMAC for the first time since 2012. Minnesota Morris is also looking for their first win over Northwestern since 2010 when they beat the Eagles 35-33 in St. Paul. It has been 12 years since the Cougars last beat UNW in Morris, in a game that featured seven touchdowns in the final 20 minutes of play.
Devan Griffin had both of the Cougars touchdowns last week. He was the first person to have a rushing touchdown and receiving touchdown in the same game since Todd Gramenz in 2010.
Volleyball Morris (5-5) is back in action at another weekend tournament. This Friday and Saturday they are in St. Paul for the UMAC Preview event. The weekend starts with a 3 p.m. match vs St. Scholastica. At 7 p.m. Morris will battle host and reigning UMAC Champion Northwestern. On Saturday the Cougars play back-to-back matches starting at 11 a.m. They take on Martin Luther and UMAC newcomer Wisconsin-Superior.
On the year UMM goes into the weekend with 5-5 record. They will look at this weekend as a chance to see what some of the top teams in the UMAC will have in 2015. These matches will not count as conference matches but are important for setting a tone in front of the UMAC opener next Saturday against St. Scholastica.
Cross Country The cross country team will be back in action this weekend at the St. Olaf Invite. The women race at 10 a.m. with the men to follow at 10:45 a.m. The women's race is 6K and the men's race is 8K. Last year 16 teams competed in the meet at Northfield.
It is the first of two meets in Northfield, on October 3 the Cougars will race in the Running of the Cows, hosted by Carleton College.
The women's team will look to build off a strong showing at the Auggie Twilight two weeks ago.
Laura Borkenhagen was the top finisher for the women at the Auggie Twilight. The men's top finisher was
Chalmer Combellick, who earned the UMAC Runner of the Week after taking eight place.
Men's Soccer The Cougars (1-6, 1-1 UMAC) men picked up their first win of the year on Tuesday afternoon, beating Martin Luther at 2-0 to even up their UMAC record. This weekend Northland comes to town for a 2 p.m. kickoff.
The Lumberjacks are also 1-6 on the year but 0-1 in the UMAC. They fell 12-0 to St. Scholastica on Tuesday. In seven matches this season Northland has given up 30 goals.
This season Morris have had trouble finding the back net but have been in almost every contest thanks to a strong defensive effort. In five of their six losses the Cougars have lost four by just a single goal
Women's Soccer The Morris (2-2, 0-2 UMAC) women's team is riding a two game winning streak after beating Martin Luther 6-0 on Tuesday. In that contest
Molly Hancuh scored four goals, tying a school record.
Northland is 2-3 this year and coming off a tough 3-2 loss to St. Scholastica on Tuesday, a match in which they had a one goal lead on two separate occasions.
This is a big game for the Cougars who can continue to help separate them in the UMAC race with a third win in their third UMAC contest. Morris will have six more UMAC matches after this coming weekend.
Men's Golf Minnesota Morris plays Sunday and Monday in the Jamestown College Invite starting at noon on Sunday. The Cougars will play four round in span of eight days starting with their round on Sunday.
Next Thursday UMM will host the Cougar Invite at Pomme De Terre Golf Club in Morris. On Wednesday the Cougars finished in a tie for third at the Northwestern Invite, a one day tournament that featured all nine UMAC teams.
Mike Campbell led Morris with a season best 76.
