SJU Beats Cobbers, Astros Best Twins, Tommies Spoil Homecoming

The St. Cloud State University women's hockey team shut out Mercyhurst to earn the weekend split, the University of Minnesota women's hockey team rolled over RIT to stay undefeated, the St. John's University and North Dakota State University football teams both notched wins, and the Minnesota Wild and Timberwolves were victorious in their preseason matchups on Saturday. Meanwhile, the SCSU men's hockey team came up short in overtime in their homecoming game against St. Thomas, the St. Cloud Norsemen were swept by Austin, the Granite City Lumberjacks dropped their series opener to Mason City, and the Minnesota Twins were unable to catch up to the Astros in game one of the ALDS. On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings will host the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs, and the Gopher men's hockey team will get their preseason underway at home.

RECAPS:

- The no. 12/13 SCSU women's hockey team got back in the win column and secured the series split with a 1-0 shutout of Mercyhurst University on Saturday. Emma Gentry scored the only goal of the game late in the first period to give St. Cloud the 1-0 lead. The Huskies outshot the Lakers 37-28 and SCSU goaltender Sanni Ahola earned her second shutout of the season. The Huskies improve to 3-1 and will return home next week to kick off WCHA play against Bemidji State. Puck-drop is set for 6:00 p.m. Friday at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

- The no. 4 Gopher women's hockey team stayed undefeated with a 5-1 takedown of the Rochester Institute of Technology on the road Saturday. Minnesota pushed out to a 1-0 lead in the opening period and extended that lead to 2-0 in the second. The Tigers got on the board after that, netting one to avoid the shutout. Minnesota widened the gap to 3-1 before the end of the middle period. Two more for the Gophers in the third locked up the win. It was a true team effort with five skaters scoring for Minnesota. Maggie Nicholson, Abbey Murphy, Madison Kaiser, Ella Huber, and Ava Lindsay each lit the lamp once. Lucy Morgan made 18 saves and allowed one goal. Minnesota outshot RIT 45-19. The Gophers are now 2-0 and will kick off conference play when they take on St. Thomas next week. Puck drop for game one is set for 4:00 p.m. Friday at Xcel Energy Center.

- The no. 7 Johnnies held off a hungry Concordia team to win 42-23 at home on Saturday. SJU scored first, pushing out to a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter. Concordia stayed close behind through the first half, leaving the Johnnies a 21-14 lead at the break. the Cobbers came out swinging in the third, closing the gap to 21-17. After that, St. John's managed to put more space between them, racking up two more touchdowns before Concordia could score again. Late in the fourth, the Cobbers made it a two-score game at 35-23 before SJU put it away for good. Aaron Syverson completed 44 of 60 for 498 yards and five touchdowns. Syverson's performance earned him the program single-game yardage record, passing the previous mark of 496 yards set by Jackson Erdmann in 2019. Nick VanErp had eight catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns, and Marselio Mendez added four catches for 50 yards and two touchdowns. The Johnnies improve to 4-1 and 3-0 MIAC, putting them in second place in the Northwoods Division behind only Carleton (5-0, 3-0 MIAC). On Saturday, St. John's will host the Knights in their homecoming celebration. Kick-off is set for 1:00 p.m.

- The no. 7/8 Bison returned to form with a 38-10 win over Missouri State on the road Saturday. NDSU rolled out to an early 14-0 lead and never trailed in the win. Cam Miller completed 16 of 20 for 256 yards and two touchdowns and added six carries for 33 yards and one rushing touchdown. Cole Payton completed two of four for one touchdown and had three carries for 41 yards and a rushing touchdown. Zach Mathis had six catches for 160 yards and one touchdown. The Bison are now 4-1 and 1-1 MVFC and will face UND (3-2) in Grand Forks on Saturday. Pre-game coverage starts at 12:00 p.m. on AM 1390 and 93.9 FM KXSS.

- The Wild earned a 4-0 shutout win over Dallas in their final preseason matchup of the year at home Saturday. Kirill Kaprizov, Jon Merrill, Jake Middleton, and Marco Rossi each netted one goal in the win. Filip Gustavsson made a perfect 22 saves. The Wild conclude the preseason with an overall record of 4-2. They will open up the regular season at home on Thursday against the Florida Panthers. Puck-drop is set for 7:00 p.m.

- The Timberwolves held off the Mavericks to earn a 104-96 preseason win in Saturday's international matchup. Minnesota outscored Dallas in every quarter but one. Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid each tallied 14 points and three rebounds for Minnesota. Anthony Edwards added 13 points and two rebounds. The Wolves improve to 2-0 in the preseason and will continue the exhibition period with a road matchup against the Knicks on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

- The no. 8/7 SCSU men's hockey team fell 5-4 to St. Thomas in overtime in their Homecoming season opener at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center on Saturday. The teams traded goals in the opening period, with St. Cloud leading 2-1 after the first 20 minutes of play. The back-and-forth continued in the middle period, with the teams tied 3-3 at the end of two. The Tommies took their first lead of the night early in the third, but the Huskies came back to tie it at 4-4 a few minutes later. That score stood through the end of regulation, sending the game to overtime where St. Thomas came out on top. Barrett Hall, Dylan Anhorn, Zach Okabe, and Veeti Miettinen each scored one goal for St. Cloud in the loss. Dominic Basse made 25 saves and allowed five goals. The Huskies fall to 0-1 and will look to rebound when they take on the Tommies in St. Paul in game two of the home-and-home series. Puck drop is set for 4:00 p.m.

- The Gopher football team suffered their first home loss of the season against no. 2 Michigan on Saturday. Minnesota floundered early, giving up a pick-six on the second snap of the game. The momentum given to the Wolverines with that early score never swung back the other way, causing Minnesota to play from behind all game. The Gophers fell behind 10-0 but managed to score one field goal and one touchdown to trail 24-10 at the half. Michigan held Minnesota scoreless in the final two quarters while tallying 28 points of their own to secure the win. The Gophers drop to 3-3 and 1-2 B1G. The team will have next Saturday off and then look to turn things around when they travel to Iowa on October 21st.

- The Norsemen got swept by the Bruins with a 4-2 loss in Austin on Saturday. The Bruins took a 2-0 lead in the first period. St. Cloud found their footing in the second, scoring two of their own to tie it up 2-2. The Bruins scored again in the third to lead 3-2. In the final two minutes, the Norsemen pulled goalie Max Weilandt from the net to have all hands on deck in an attempt to tie it up and head to overtime. Instead, Austin scored an empty net goal to secure the win. Gavin Gunderson and Michael Coleman each netted one for St. Cloud in the loss. Weilandt made 28 saves and allowed three goals. The Norsemen are now 3-3-1-2 and drop down to fourth place in the Central Division. They will host the no. 2 Bobcats (5-3) on Friday. Puck-drop is set for 7:00 p.m.

- The Lumberjacks gave up four late goals to fall 5-2 to the Toros on the road in game one of the weekend series on Saturday. Mason City took a 1-0 lead in the opening period. In the second, Carson Strapon and Hayden Johnson each scored a goal to give Granite City the 2-1 advantage. Mason City roared back in the third, netting four more goals, and ran away with the win. Sam Schowalter made 18 saves and gave up five goals in the loss. The Jacks fall to 3-3-0-1 and sit in third place in the West Division behind the Grizzlies (5-0-1) and the Toros (5-2). Granite City will close out the series with game two against Mason City on Sunday. Puck-drop is set for 7:10 p.m.

- The Twins were unable to come back from an early deficit and dropped game one of the ALDS to the Astros 6-4 on Saturday. Bailey Ober started on the mound for Minnesota and gave up a lead-off solo home run in the first inning, followed by a two-run homer in the bottom of the third. Kenta Maeda came in as a reliever in the fourth and struck out two while giving up two more runs in his two innings, leaving the Twins down 5-0 after five innings. Minnesota turned things around in the seventh inning with a three-run homer from Jorge Polanco and a solo home run from Royce Lewis to close the gap to 5-4. Unfortunately, that was all the offense the Twins could muster, and Caleb Thielbar gave up one more run to Houston in the bottom of the seventh to put the game out of reach. The Twins drop to 0-1 on the series and will face Houston in game two on Sunday. First pitch is set for 7:03 p.m. on AM 1240 and 95.3 FM WJON.

PREVIEWS:

- The Gopher men's hockey team will start their season at home with an exhibition game against Bemidji State on Sunday. Minnesota leads the series 20-2-1 over the Beavers. Puck drop is set for 6:00 p.m. in Minneapolis.

- The Vikings (1-3) will look to upset Kansas City (3-1) and earn their second win of the season when they host the Chiefs Sunday afternoon. Minnesota could see the return of starting center Garrett Bradbury who has missed all but a few snaps this season due to a back injury. Pre-game coverage kicks off at 2:30 p.m. on AM 1240 and 95.3 FM WJON.