Gophers Bowl Hopes Fall Again Against Ohio State

FOOTBALL: The Gophers bowl hopes took another setback on Saturday with a 37-3 drubbing by Ohio State University. The Gophers were able to keep it close early thanks to some spectacular punting by Mark Crawford who pinned the Buckeyes deep in their own end for most of the half. Ohio State was only able to muster a 13-0 halftime lead. The Gophers' offense struggled for the entire game Athan Kaliakmanis only threw for 89 yards and had an interception and lost a fumble.  The 5-6 Gophers will try to get back to 500 on Saturday when they take on Wisconsin.

-- 9^th ranked North Dakota State continued their winning ways with a 48-27 win over Northern Iowa. Cam Miller threw for 238 yards and two touchdowns in the win. Cole Wisniewski had a 75-year interception return for a touchdown to lead the highlight reel for the Bison. North Dakota is now 8-3 overall on the season and will find out if they make the 24-team postseason bracket today.

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MEN’S COLLEGE HOCKEY:  The University of Minnesota rebounded from their loss on Friday to secure a 4-1 over Notre Dame on Saturday. Rhett Pitlick led the Gophers with two goals, while goalie Justin Close made 37 saves. The Gophers will take on Michigan State next on November 24^th.

-- St. John’s University couldn’t find the net on Saturday and got shut out 3-0 by the College of St. Scholastica.  St. Scholastica’s goalie Eino Rissanen was impressive for them in the win, making 43 saves. The Johnnies outshot St. Scholastica 43-20 in the game. St. John’s is now 2-5 on the year and 1-3 in conference play.

--The Huskies edged the Bulldogs again 6-5 to stay unbeaten in conference play. The game was tight the entire way with St. Cloud holding a 6-4 lead late in the third. The Bulldogs used the extra attacker last in the third to narrow the game to 6-5 but SCSU's defense was able to withstand the late surge and hold on for the win. The six goals matched a season-high for the Huskies, and it was their first sweep of Duluth since 2021.

WOMEN’S COLLEGE HOCKEY:  The Gophers got goals from Abbey Murphy, Ella Huber, and Peyton Hemp in a 3-1 win over the University of Minnesota-Duluth to get a weekend sweep over the Bulldogs. The Gophers broke a scoreless game in the second period on Murphy’s goal to take an early lead.  They would take a 2-0 lead when Huber would score about seven minutes later. Goaltender Lucy Morgan stopped 28 shots in notching her forth win on the season. The Gophers have a Noon tip-off on Friday against Harvard next.

--Jojo Chobak would stop all 16 shots she faced and lead SCSU to a 2-0 win over St. Thomas. It was Chobak’s third shutout on the season. Maddy Peterson got her first goal of the season, and Emma Gentry picked up the second goal for the Huskies. SCSU’s goalie team of Chobak and Sanni Ahola held the Tommies scoreless for 120 minutes over the weekend sweep.

--The College of St. Scholastic game back in the third period to force overtime and take down St. Ben’s 1-0 in the shootout out. The Bennies took the lead 1-0 in the second with a goal by Brooklyn Johnson. St. Scholastica tied it up with a goal by Hannah Martin at the 7:10 mark of the third period. St. Ben’s is 3-0-1 in conference play and 3-3-1 overall.

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

-- The Gophers improved to 3-1 on the season with a 67-53 win over the University of South Carolina-Upstate on Saturday. The team got 14 points from Dawson Garcia, and 9 points apiece from Elijah Hawkins, Joshua Ola-Joseph, and Mike Mitchell Jr.  Pharell Payne had an impressive 7 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 block performance for Minnesota as well.  The Gophers trailed for the first half of the game before going on a 7-0 run in the second.  Minnesota will take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Tuesday.

--St. John’s got their first win of the season with a 77-64 victory over Stockton University in the SCB Champions Classic on Saturday. The Johnnies were led by Blake Berg’s 20 points. They also got 17 points each from Kooper Vaughn and Zach Longueville. St. John’s will kick off conference play on Tuesday when they take on Carleton at 7:00 p.m. in Northfield.

--St. Cloud State had a rough outing on Saturday falling to Minnesota State University-Mankato 78-61. The Huskies kept it close early, only trailing by 6 points a halftime. SCSU’s cool shooting in the second half, including a 1-11 from three-point range did them in. St. Cloud was led in scoring by Luke Taylor and Wyatt Hawks who had 10 points apiece.

WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL:  The Huskies would score 27 points in the fourth quarter to steal a win from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Trailing 47-44 entering the fourth SCSU but got red hot shooting 70% in the quarter and outscoring the Rangers by 10. St. Cloud was led in scoring by Jada Eggebrecht and Alana Zarneke who had 12 points apiece. Zarneke’s 12 points came in just 8 minutes of playing time.

 VOLLEYBALL:  SCSU stunned No. 1 ranked Wayne State in a thrilling 3-2 win Saturday (20-25, 25-23, 25-14, 19-25, 15-11) to advance in the NSIC conference playoff championship game on Sunday. The Huskies were led by Kenzie Foley with 27 kills and 14 digs. It was St. Cloud’s first-ever win over a No. 1 Ranked opponent in team history. They will take on Concordia-St. Paul at 3:00 p.m. today in the championship game.

JUNIOR HOCKEY:  The St. Cloud Norsemen rebounded from their 5-4 loss Friday to beat up on the Bismarck Bobcats 6-1 Saturday. The Norsemen got 3 goals from Tyler Dysart, and single goals from Andrew Cummings, Kyle Miller, and Hagen Moe in the win.

-- The Granite City Lumberjacks blanked the Minnesota Loons 6-0 Saturday to get their 12^th win of the year against only 4 losses. The Lumberjacks got single goals from Ashton Erickson, Parker Comstock, Cole Sieben, T.J. Lepisto, Edan Cho, and Joe Greniuk in the win.

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