Both the LU Women’s Soccer team and the LU Volleyball team ended their seasons this past weekend at the MWC Tournament. Carroll College eliminated the soccer team, and Illinois College and Knox eliminated the volleyball team.The LU Women’s Soccer team’s season came to a close with a 2-0 loss to Carroll in the Midwest Conference Semifinals. The loss brought their record to 8-8 on the season. The Vikings had a good season going 7-2 in the MWC and tying for second. The Vikings had the fourth seed in the tournament due to the tiebreakers. Carroll went on to defeat St. Norbert in the championship game, and now advances to the NCAA Tournament to take on St. Thomas University in St. Paul.
The Vikings had four players named to the all MWC team, including the player of the year. LU goalkeeper Katie Wilkin was named the MWC Player of the Year in a vote by all of the coaches. This marks the second year in a row that a Lawrence player was given that title. Megan Tiemann was Player of the Year last season. Also making the first team with Wilkin was LU junior defender Katey Hoyme. On the second team was Vikings leading scorer Greta Raaen, and their second leading scorer, Alissa Spyksma.
The Lawrence University Volleyball team finished their season this past weekend at the MWC Tournament as well. The Vikings lost in the first round of the double elimination tournament to Illinois College 3-2.
The fifth game was a hard fought battle, with the Blueboys squeaking it out 22-20. First team all MWC Lis Pollock was amazing as usual, accumulating 25 kills for the match. The loss put LU in the loser’s bracket, where they faced Knox, who had lost to Ripon in three games earlier.
The match against the Prairie Fire wasn’t as close. Knox won the match in four games 3-1. Second team all MWC Shannon Arndt led the Vikings with 13 kills in the finale.
While both teams will be missing crucial seniors next year, most notably Wilkin and Pollock, both the women’s soccer team and volleyball team should be in place to compete for the MWC title next fall. Many key players will return, so watch for the Vikings to be near the top of this list next fall.