Sports

Duhawks
boxed out of
postseason

Feb. 26, 2015

womens lacrosse

3rd times
a charm

Kutsch is honored
after opening weekend

Loras (10-15, 5-9 IIAC)

falls just shy of 6th and
final tournament spot

by Bill Barry | sportswriter

by Katie Truesdale | sportswriter

The Duhawks postseason aspirations

were cut short last week as Luther edged
them out for the sixth and final playoff
spot.
Due to struggles in conference play earlier in the season, the Duhawks needed a
strong showing in their last two conference games to stay alive.
Last Wednesday, the Duhawks went
on the road to face Central. The Duhawks
were down early after a quick nine point
run from the Dutch, but were able to regain control to close out the half with a
31-28 lead.
After a back-and-forth second half, the
teams were tied at 52 with 7:43 remaining in the game. Thats when the Dutch
caught fire.
Central went on a 22-11 run to close
out the game and defeated the Duhawks,
74-61, putting an end to any postseason
aspirations for Loras.
Senior Nathaniel Smith led the Duhawks with 19 points and seven rebounds.
Junior Mirko Grcic added 9 points and 12
rebounds in the loss.
Last Saturday, the Duhawks played
their game of the season against Simpson in Indianola. Loras came out and
took control of the game early, shutting
down the Storm offense and utilizing
their missed shots and creating scoring
opportunities to give the Duhawks a 3931 lead at half.
Grcic scored 15 of his team-high 23

The Lorian

photo by Maddy Cole

Junior Mirko Grcic faces a trio of Kohawk defenders during the Loras 71-66 loss
to Coe earlier this month.
points in the second half to keep the
pressure on for the Duhawks. With
a minute to play, the seniors took the
court together one final time, ending
their careers with an 89-71 win over the
Storm and getting their first conference
win on the road.
Smith and senior Aaron Schueller
each chipped in with 17 points in the
win.
With their season over, the Duhawks
will say goodbye to five seniors: Nathaniel Smith, Aaron Schueller, Bobby Harmening, Luke Barry and Regan
Takes.
Our seniors were always the rock of
this team, said Head Coach Greg Gorton. However, as they graduate there
is an energy to see what the returning
players can do in the off-season to prepare. We return a nice core of experience, but I would say its unproven. Its
completely up to us how good we will be
going forward.

After a season derailed by injuries,

the Duhawks have reason for optimism
moving forward.
We lacked consistency, Gorton
said. There were games we were good
defensively then bad the next game.
The same happened on offense. I like
our team coming back. We have the
pieces to compete, and we have to prove
we are capable.
The Duhawks finished the season
seventh in the Iowa Conference behind
Luther, who claimed the sixth and final tournament bid last week with a win
over Wartburg.
Looking ahead to next season, the
Duhawks will rely on returning starters Mirko Grcic and Justin Schneider to
provide senior leadership. Sophomores
Justin VanWambeke, Danny Quinn
and Domonique Criss are a few of the
emerging underclassmen who will look
to assume larger roles on the team.

Season statistics
(2014-2015 final statistics)
Player.................................. G Min. FG%

WE GOT

3% FT% Reb. Ast. Pts.

Nathaniel Smith........... 17 30.7 .478 .368 .769 4.9 2.6 14.6

Mirko Grcic..................25 33.5 .500 .214 .682 11.1 1.6 13.8
Aaron Schueller...........25 32.8 .390 .369 .627 2.9 1.0 11.4
Justin VanWambeke...25 29.1 .439 .375 .823 3.2 1.7 11.4
Bobby Harmening.......25 26.6 .348 .295 .804 2.8 2.0 7.2
Domonique Criss.........24 15.1 .419 .278 .722 1.6 1.3 5.6
Justin Schneider..........22 17.8 .531 .000 .605 3.2 0.8 5.0
Luke Barry................... 16 12.6 .460 .393 .727 1.6 0.7 4.1
Danny Quinn...............25 14.2 .419 .333 .577 3.2 0.7 2.7
Sean Bourke...................9 5.9 .714 .000 .571 1.0 0.1 2.7
Regan Takes...................8 8.3 .278 .333 1.000 1.3 0.5 2.1
Jake Brock..................... 5 2.2 .250 .000 .000 0.4 0.0 0.4
Dylan Humpal...............6 3.5 .333 .000 .000 0.3 0.3 0.3
Patrick Schmelzle.......... 5 2.2 .000 .000 .000 0.2 0.0 0.0
Parish Mason.................4 1.3 .000 .000 .000 0.3 0.0 0.0
Totals........................ 25 .439 .342 .709 36.0 11.4 70.5
Opponents................ 25 .454 .378 .693 35.0 12.0 73.9

THIS

Team leaders
Points......................................................... Nathaniel Smith (14.6)
FG%....................................................... Sean Bourke (.714)
3PT%........................................................Luke Barry (.393)
FT%............................................ Justin VanWambeke (.823)
Rebounds............................................... Mirko Grcic (11.1)*
Assists................................................ Nathaniel Smith (2.6)
Steals..........................................Justin VanWambeke (1.68)
Blocks.............................................. Justin Schneider (0.77)
Minutes...................................................Mirko Grcic (33.5)

(Leads conference*)

JJ CATERING

The womens lacrosse

team began its third season
this weekend with back-toback games against Carthage
Kaitlyn Kutsch
and Augsburg. The Duhawks
fell in both matchups, but
showed signs of improvement from their first
game to the next.
In their first matchup, a quality Carthage opponent took the first match 24-3, despite a promising start for Loras. After the Duhawks scored
two goals in the opening minutes, the Lady Reds
of Carthage took control. After the encouraging
start, Carthage followed with ten unanswered
goals before halftime.
Some bright spots for Loras were the continued outstanding play of junior Kaitlyn Kutsch as
well as the emergence of several underclassmen.
Kutsch led the Duhawks with two goals, while also
dominating the draw controls, winning ten on the
night. Kutsch has been a scoring machine in her
first two seasons for the womens lacrosse team
and will provide leadership for this years squad.
The older leadership on the team has set a remarkable example of the values we want our program to represent, which are passion, grit and
commitment, Head Coach Emily Goetz said.
In her third season, Kutsch will serve as team
captain and hope to lead a more balanced attack
with the emergence of several improved upperclassmen and promising underclassmen.
I saw tremendous potential for all players
to emerge as team leaders in the preseason and
each one will contribute to the team in a number of ways, said Goetz. If not by stats, then by
enthusiasm and an unwavering commitment to
challenge our stat leaders to be better, smarter
players. Every player contributes to this team
and each person has a role in the successes of
this program.
First-year Haley Sundquist scored the third
and final goal for the Duhawks. Fellow first-year
Ashley McGee also stood out in her first college
performance, tallying nine saves while in goal.
In their second game, the womens lacrosse
team started strong once again, but came up
short to Augsburg, 22-9. The Duhawks played
a solid first half, keeping the deficit to one at
halftime. However, the Auggies steady attack
overcame Loras efforts in the second half. Six
different players scored for Loras.
We are working hard at spreading out our attack and making everyone a threat to goal, said
Goetz. This will make it much harder for teams
to shut us down on attack. We are also working
really hard at possessing the ball and playing a
more possession oriented game.
Kutsch continued to shine in the second
game, earning the honor of Midwest Womens
Lacrosse Conference Player of the Week. In just
two games, Kutsch impressively tallied 13 draw
controls, nine ground balls, six goals and four
caused turnovers.
While waiting for better weather, the Duhawks will have nearly a month to prepare for
their next game on March 21 when they travel
to Waukesha, WI, to play the Carroll Pioneers.

mens tennis

Duhawks winless after 2 weekends

Troge, Duhawks (0-4, 0-2 IIAC)
still in search of 1st win
by Dustin Dawson | sportswriter

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Fresh off the hiring of new coach Ryan Troge, the

Duhawks were looking to make an impact right away.
However, so far this season, the Duhawks seem to
have their work cut out for them. After two losses to
start their season in Waverly against Wartburg (90) and Bethany (7-2), the Duhawks headed to Cedar
Rapids to take on Carthage and No. 35 Coe.
The Duhawks were not able to capture that elusive
first win however, and fell 9-0 in both matches. So far
this season, the Duhawks have dropped 34 of their
36 matches. While it isnt the start that Coach Troge
and his team had in mind, the team has noticed some

improvement under its new head coach.

Thanks to Coach Troge, I feel that we are heading
in the right direction to create a new image for the
program, said junior Ulises Hernandez.
Senior Brian Falvey had a hand in both of the
Duhawks match-wins this season. Against Bethany
Lutheran, he won his individual match over Jacob
Kubler, as well as his doubles match alongside firstyear Zach Atzen.
Hernandez almost cracked into the win column at
Waverly, but fell short in the tiebreaker.
The biggest thing we need to do to get in the win
column is not getting hung over previous results,
Hernandez said.
The men return to the court this Sunday, March 1,
when they travel to Decatur, IL,. to take on Milikin.