With the Lindenwood swimming teams competing in their Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship and the men’s wrestling competing in a GLVC tournament, plus women’s lacrosse head coach Jack Cribbin being inducted into the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame, it was another big week for Lindenwood athletics. 

Read all about it in this week’s edition of the Lions Weekly Roundup.

Baseball

The weather was no longer an issue for Lindenwood baseball, besides a bitter cold, as they hosted Ohio Dominican over the weekend for their home opener. The Lions got off to a hot start on Saturday, sweeping the doubleheader with back-to-back shutout wins. 

Blake Beckmann tossed seven shutout innings in the first game, giving up six hits, two walks, and collecting six strikeouts for a 9-0 win. The Lions were led by third baseman Beau Collier’s two hit and four run battered in’s as well. The Lions got another gem in the second game, as Jacob Thompson went seven innings too, allowing just two hits with six punchouts. It was a 4-0 win.

The scoreless weekend continued on Sunday for Ohio Dominican, falling by a 4-0 scoreline yet again. On a four game winning streak, the Lions will remain at home next week, hosting Northwood University. 

Men’s Basketball

Lindenwood played their final two games away this past week, falling in both of them to Southern Indiana on Thursday and then to McKendree on Saturday. The Lions defense couldn’t stop the Screaming Eagles offense on Thursday night, allowing 101 points on 55.7% shooting from the field. Luka Radosevic led the team with 23 points, tied for his career-high. The final score against Southern Indiana was 101-77. 

McKendree was up next on Saturday, a game the Lions led with under 10 minutes left to go in the second half, but the Bearcats followed with an electric 22-0 run that put them in the driver’s seat, a position they would hold on to for the remainder of the game. The final score was 80-68. 

Now sitting at 9-15 overall and 3-13 in GLVC play, the Lions will get to play their final four games all at home to close out their 2019-20 season.

Women’s Basketball

It was a difficult start to the week for Lindenwood, traveling out to Southern Indiana for a rematch with the Screaming Eagles. Southern Indiana was able to earn the regular season sweep, holding the Lions to just 55 points as just two players scored in double figures (Kallie Bildner with 20, Lindsay Medlen with 14). The final score was 70-55. 

Saturday’s meeting with the McKendree Bearcats was a much different story, with many key contributors leading the way in a bounceback performance for the Lindenwood offense. The Lions scored at least 18 points in every quarter, capping it off with a 30-point fourth quarter. Medlen, Bildner, Devin Fuhring, Jamie Bain, and Ellen McCorkle all had over 10 points each. The final score against the Bearcats was 90-85. 

Still in sixth place in the GLVC, the Lions share a 10-6 conference record along with Indianapolis who sits in fifth over Lindenwood due to the GLVC point rating system. Their next game is on Thursday at home against Rockhurst.

Women’s Gymnastics

At the Family Arena, the Lions competed in the Gymquarters Invitational on Friday, consisting of LSU, Missouri and Iowa State. Lindenwood finished fourth in the competition with a score of 193.550. LSU was first with a 197.875 on the day, with Iowa State behind them in second.

Individually, it was Courtney Mitchell who led the Lions on Friday with a score of 9.825 in the bars. Ryan Henry was top in the all-around, beam, and was tied for first on the floor for Lindenwood along with Kyndall Baze. 

On Sunday, Lindenwood hosted Centenary College, Gustavus, and Seattle Pacific in Hyland Arena. This time around, it was a first place finish for the Lions as they put up a score of 194.475 overall.

Men’s Ice Hockey

Head coach Rick Zombo’s squad got off to a strong start in their weekend series at Oklahoma with a shutout victory on Saturday against the Sooners. Lindenwood had four different players find the back-of-the-net, with Hayden Dawes, Hayden Ursulak, Vegard Faret, and Nick Greene all scoring in the win for a final 4-0. 

A day later, the Lions put up an even more dominant performance with an 8-1 win to earn the sweep. Faret and Dawes both scored twice in the win, while Cooper Seedott tallied 12 saves.

Their record is now at 21-7 overall on the year, as the Lions head back home next weekend to host Iowa State.

Women’s Ice Hockey

For the second time this season, Syracuse swept Lindenwood in a series, this time in New York. After trailing 2-0 heading into the third period on Friday night, the Lions stormed back in the third to tie it up, courtesy of Sierra Burt and Cierra Paisley. Ultimately, Syracuse found a late-winner for a 3-2.

Saturday’s contest was a much different tale, with the Lions conceding eight in the game. The losses put them at 5-21-3 on the year, with four games remaining.

Men’s Lacrosse

Men’s Lacrosse improved to 2-0 over the week, with a dominant performance on the road against Mars Hill. The Lions scored 23 goals in the victory, their most in a single game since March 4, 2017, when they put 30 against Ohio Valley. 

The Lions out-shot Mars Hill 56-28 in the win. Peter Covington paced the team with six goals on the evening, followed by Jake Campbell’s four and three from Leonard Jones and Andrew Hasz. Blake Nolan had five saves, while Connor Ciemiewicz had three of his own. Both allowed three goals.

Lindenwood will be out in Barbourville, Kentucky on Monday to face off against Lincoln Memorial.

Women’s Lacrosse

In back-to-back games, Lindenwood tallied 19 goals to earn another victory to start the season. This time, in their home opener, the Lions took down the Davenport Panthers on Sunday to improve to 2-0 on the year.

Lindenwood ran all over Davenport in the first half, leading 13-3 heading into the halftime break. They were lights-out defensively in the second, holding the Panthers to just one goal in the final 30 minutes of play. Hannah Doughty’s five goals were the most on the day, with Lexy Biller also grabbing a hat-trick.

The win wasn’t the only positive for the Lions this week, as on Thursday, head coach Jack Cribbin was inducted into the US Lacrosse St. Louis Chapter of the Hall of Fame. In his 15th season, Cribbin now has a career record of 239-63 leading the Lions.

Softball

Off to a hot start in their 2020 campaign was Lindenwood’s softball team, who opened up the season in Arizona with three wins out of a possible four in the Cactus Classic. Playing two games on Friday, the Lions won the first 11-2 over Western New Mexico before suffering their only loss of the weekend against West Texas A&M, 11-2. 

On Saturday, Lindenwood first defeated Texas Permian Basin before blanking Eastern New Mexico 5-0 in Tucson, Arizona. At 3-1, the Lions will next play in the Rosemont Dome Invitational, starting next Friday in Illinois against Saginaw Valley State.

Swimming and Diving

Lindenwood competed in the GLVC Championship this week in Crawfordsville, Indiana, as the men’s team finished fourth and the women’s team ended up in third. On the men’s side, Lindenwood’s 1233 score finished right below Drury’s 1299 in third. Indianapolis finished first with a 1452.

Maxime Eekhof was first in the 200 breaststroke for Lindenwood with a 1:59.13. The 400 freestyle relay team was third in their event, tallying a 3:26.53.

The women’s team had a strong 1599, as they had multiple finishers in the top fives of their events. One of those was Beata Maruszczyk who finished the 200 breaststroke with a 2:13.93, earning her second in the event. Maruszczyk was also named GLVC Freshman of the Year.

Track and Field 

Lindenwood went to Kansas this weekend for the Gorilla Classic at Pittsburg State. There, the men’s 4×400 relay team had a huge performance, producing the best time in the GLVC this season with a 3:17.78. This was also the fourth best time in program history.

Individually, Austin Crowe was 10th in the 5000 meter run with a 14:52.02. In the women’s mile, Rachael Morrison was 12th with a 5:10.53. Damaine Dixon, Armani Modests, Samuel Yaro, and Darian Leda made up the 4×400 team that delivered the GLVC-best time.

Next Saturday, Lindenwood will be in Columbia, Missouri for the Missouri Collegiate Challenge. 

Men’s Volleyball

There haven’t been many teams hotter than men’s volleyball as of late, winning each of their last six games. This includes their two wins over the past week against Purdue Fort Wayne and Loyola Chicago to start conference play. Lindenwood first was victorious over #9 Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday, earning a 3-1 win.

Then in five sets on Saturday, the winning streak was extended in a 3-2 win over Loyola. Diego Negron led the way for the Lions, tallying 23 of his team’s 63 kills in the game. The two wins put Lindenwood at 9-4 overall and 2-0 in conference play.

Lindenwood will finally play on the road for the first time this season next week, when they travel to Lebanon, Illinois to play McKendree on Thursday then Lewis on Saturday in Romeoville, Illinois. 

Men’s Wrestling

After a 44-0 victory over Kentucky Wesleyan on Tuesday night, the Lions competed in the GLVC tournament on Sunday where they took on Drury and Maryville. First against Drury, Lindenwood came out on top with an overwhelming 36-8 win. They followed this up with a 20-13 win over Maryville to finish the day.

Lindenwood finished second in the GLVC, as an undefeated McKendree earned the top spot in the conference. As the nation’s seventh ranked team, the Lions will now get set for the NCAA tournament starting in March.