Thomas More men’s soccer tied for first in GMAC
It’s been quite a turnaround.
The Saints (5-2-1 and 3-0-1 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference) are in a three-way tie for first with Tiffin and Lake Erie after Thursday’s 2-0 win over Kentucky Wesleyan and Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Centerville.
And to think Thomas More started the season 1-2 after a win over Shawnee State and losses to Trevecca Nazarene and Point Park.
“We made mistakes. And … they were drastic mistakes that cost us,” head coach Scott D’Addario said, “but we learned how to do that in the non-conference.”
Since then, the Saints knocked off Wisconsin-Parkside, Malone, tied Lake Erie College and defeated Kentucky Wesleyan and Cedarville.
The Saints are also learning that having a double-figure scorer like Nick Phyllis and his 11 goals last year is not a necessity now – Will Fox, Luca Mammi, Anwar Benkandil, Ramzi Termanini and Cooper Walters all have two goals.
“We have a lot of guys that I think can score probably five goals,” D’Addario said.
Mammi scored both goals against Wesleyan, and Elliot Konsek scored against Centerville. Mammi and Fox each have two goals and two assists for the season, Edward Longhurst has five assists, and goalkeeper Joey Jones has a 0.73 goals-against average with 16 saves and three shutouts.
Thomas More finishes its five-game home stand against Ohio Dominican at 5 p.m. Thursday and Malone at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Jones was also named GMAC Defensive Player of the Week. It’s his second award this season.
Saints women’s soccer in third
Thomas More is 5-1-2 (and 1-1 in the G-MAC) and in third place behind Ashland and Cedarville after Thursday’s 3-0 win over Kentucky Wesleyan and Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Cedarville.
Josie Gruber, Andjela Popovic and Alexis Harden scored against Wesleyan. Ivy Hoffman leads the Saints with five goals, Popovic has three goals and three assists, and goalkeeper Emma Yeager carries a 0.77 goals-against average with 15 saves.
A (Crimson) Prideful performance
NKU’s women’s cross country team won the Crimson Pride Invite Saturday at Blue River XC Course in Shelbyville, Indiana.
Grace Biddle won her second race of the season and fourth of her career – she covered the 5K in 18 minutes, 32.75 seconds.
Six runners finished in the top 11: Sami Govey was fourth in 19:28.95, Emily Foley was fifth in 19:33.18, Carlie Condit was seventh in 19:36.13, Julia Verhoff was eighth in 19:49.16, and Brittany Arnold was 11th in 20:13.02.
The Norse men were third in the 8K race behind Indiana-East and Indiana-Kokmo. Nathan Ruth was NKU’s top finisher in eighth place in 26:45.98.
Thomas More cross country
The Saints men finished 13th of 16th teams at the National Catholic meet Friday at Burke Golf Course in Notre Dame. Grayson Dye finished 101st of 203 runners in the 8K in 26:51.0.
The women finished 12th of 16. Sophie Crider was 75th of 100 with a personal-best 19:46.6 5K.
New home for Horizon League basketball tournaments
The tournament brings 11 total teams – five men and six women – to the second round beginning March 7 at Riverview Health Arena at Innovation Mile in Noblesville, Indiana, which replaces Corteva Coliseum in Indianapolis.
Men’s first-round games will be played March 4 at campus sites, with a play-in game March 1 between the No. 10 and No. 11 seeds. (Detroit Mercy is not eligible due to issues related to NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) standards andother league operating regulations.)
There also will be reseeding for the men’s second round, with the top three remaining teams advancing to the March 8 semifinals.
The women’s tournament begins on March 3 at campus sites, followed by the second round March 7 in Noblesville. The top two seeds advance to the semifinals March 8.Both the men’s and women’s finals are scheduled for March 9.
Also, interviews with all 12 men’s and women’s basketball teams will be broadcast on ESPN+ beginning at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. Northern Kentucky men’s coach Darrin Horn and women’s coach Jeff Hans are scheduled for 12:20 p.m.
The NKU men’s season begins Nov. 2 against Texas-El Paso in the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The women host Midway University Oct. 29 at Truist Arena.
The ESPN+ Interview Schedule:
8:30 a.m. ET – Horizon League Commissioner Jill Bodensteiner
9:00 a.m. ET – Cleveland State
9:20 a.m. ET – Youngstown State
9:40 a.m. ET – Robert Morris
10:00 a.m. ET – Green Bay
10:20 a.m. ET – Oakland
10:40 a.m. ET – Milwaukee
11:00 a.m. ET – Purdue Fort Wayne
11:20 a.m. ET – IU Indianapolis
11:40 a.m. ET – Northern Illinois
12 p.m. ET – Detroit Mercy
12:20 p.m. ET – Northern Kentucky
12:40 p.m. ET – Wright State
NKU women’s volleyball sweeps Miami
The Norse beat the RedHawks, 3-0, Friday in Oxford, Ohio and 3-0 Saturday in Highland Heights. NKU improved to 5-6, including a 4-1 record over its last five matches.
Also, NKUs Sydney Bray was named Horizon League Player of the Week.
Bray recorded her 1,000th career kill in a Sept. 11 win over Notre Dame, including a season-best 15 kills on a .500 hitting percentage with 12 digs. In the Norse’s win against Duquesne the same day, she added 14 kills, 10 digs, four aces and five blocks.
Thomas More volleyball drops two straight
The Saints (5-6, 1-2) are third in the GMAC South Division after 3-0 losses to Ohio Dominican and Cedarville.
Reagan Martin leads the team with 117 kills, and Paige Stockhoff has 161 assists.
Thomas More begins a four-game road swing Friday at Northwood and Saturday at Hillsdale College.
TMU football struggles continue
The Saints fell to 0-3 and 0-1 in the GMAC after last Saturday’s 38-14 loss at Tiffin.
Perhaps the lone highlights were Thomas More taking a 14-7 lead less than four minutes into the first quarter on Ben Chesser’s 23-yard pass to Ben Fay and Chase Terrell’s 31-yard interception return.
Chesser threw for 67 yards with three interceptions and ran for another 74. Martavious Smith ran for 76 yards. Terrell, Tofa Luani, Josh Dugan and Tahj Meadows each had six tackles.
Thomas More finishes its four-game road schedule at 12 p.m. Saturday at Hillsdale (Michigan) College.
