Class is in session! Everyone get out your tablets, notebooks or smart phones and take notes as we go through the 5 things we learned on Judgment Saturday.
5 Things We Learned On Saturday, Oct. 29
1. Champions find a way to win
There is a difference between teams that have championship pedigree and those that are just struggling to get into that elite status. We came across this three times on Saturday.
1) The Cobber volleyball team took the best shot of St. Ben’s and then ran away with the match in the fifth set when the conference championship was on the line. The Blazers have always been a thorn in the side of CC – especially in St. Joseph but this year was different as the four Cobber seniors “refused to lose” and picked the team up and carried them to the No.1-seed-clinching win. For the record, they will be making their 11th consecutive trip to the league playoffs.
2) The Cobber women’s soccer entered the week needing two wins to earn a spot in their ninth consecutive MIAC playoff tournament. Guess what happened? That’s right, two straight wins and another trip to the postseason. The defending conference tournament champions are at their best in pressure situations and Saturday they dominated league-leading St. Ben’s to clinch the No.3 seed in the MIAC Tournament. Anyone going to bet against them next week? I didn’t think so.
3) The Bethel football team – fresh off a trip to the NCAA semifinals in 2010, found a way to earn a hard-fought victory against the Cobbers. The Royals made several key plays when the game was on the line to earn the win.
2. Seniors lead, everyone else hops on the bandwagon
There were several stars from Saturday and all were seniors. The four Cobber volleyball seniors (Ashley Beseman, Jenna Green, Amy Sykora and Katie Vohnoutka) were their usual shining selves, the women’s soccer team got two assists from senior Kelsey Swagger and the men’s cross country team watches senior Tom Sederquist shake off an injury-plagued season and post his second straight top 5 finish at the MIAC Meet.
3. It’s nice to have everyone back.
The Cobber men’s hockey team won their season-opener 3-2 over Gustavus on Saturday. CC returns all but two players from last year’s conference title game team. Against the Gusties they skated to a ho-hum win. It is the type of win they would have found a way to lose just two years ago. They have suddenly found the confidence to believe they will win every game and it shows in one-goal games against quality opponents (last year the Gusties made the playoffs and this year they were picked to finish second in the preseason poll).
4. Senior Days are emotional rollercoasters
Every season the final regular-season home game is dedicated to the seniors. And every season we are constantly amazed at all the emotion and pride that goes into the pre-game and post-game celebrations. From the flower ceremonies to the hugs and tears after the game, there is no better way to bring out emotion like the finality of playing in your final college games.
5. The power of the newspaper press is still strong
Despite the rumors that newspapers are on the way out, they are still one of the most powerful media outlets out there. We found out first hand on Saturday as the Cobber SID was profiled in the “My Saturday” feature in the Fargo Forum. The amount of people that stopped me on Saturday to say they had read the article was staggering. We are thankful for all the compliments and well wishes!
And that is what we learned on Saturday.
You can now put dow the tablets, notebooks or smart phones – here endeth the lesson.
