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Sunday, December 9, 2012

Get Your Ya Yas Out

Senior wide receiver Adam Thielen helped
lead the Mavericks to a 13-1 record this year.
Some quick catching up to do here as classes wind down and we make the final sprint toward Christmas.

Needless to say, the incredible fall our teams have been experiencing has been soaked in success.

The football team hosted three NCAA play-off games, dispatching Northwest Missouri State and Missouri Western before falling in the national semifinals to Valdosta State (Ga.) this past Saturday. The Mavericks went undefeated, racking up 13 straight wins, before falling to the boys from the Peach State at Blakeslee Stadium.  Historic, indeed.

The women's soccer team, which advanced to the Elite Eight, finished an incredible 17-1-5 on the year.  The Mavericks staged an unbelievable comeback late in the national quarterfinal game at Grand Valley State to send the game into overtime, only to eventually fall in a seven-round shoot-out to the host Lakers.

Character, leadership, family. We heard these words constantly as the teams worked their way through their seasons.  Same thing for the men's cross country team which made it back to the national meet for the first time 2008 and posted a 20th-place finish. The women's cross country team, which made an appearance in the national top twenty poll for the first time in a while this year, finished seventh at the regional meet and with several youngsters leading the way, are trending upward. The Maverick volleyball squad finished 18-11 and spent much of the year in the national top twenty poll. Included was a MSU win over Concordia on September 18th, the program's first win over the eventual national champions since 2002.

And so on it goes with our winter programs now in full swing.  More on those programs the next time, with lots of success there, too, to expound upon.

A few other things we did want to mention.

A big congratulations goes out to softball coach Lori Meyer with the announcement that she has been selected for induction into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2013.  Meyer, who has been skippering the Mavericks since 1985, has racked up more than 900 wins during her outstanding career.  Simply no one better.

A couple of notes on former Minnesota State football coaches with Jerry Olszewski being named a finalist for the head job at Augustana and Chuck Martin coaching in the NCAA Division I national championship game as a member of the staff at Notre Dame.  Olszewski, who has constructed a 32-18 mark in the last five years as the head coach at St. Olaf, had two stints on the MSU football staff (1993-97 and 1999-02).  Martin was on MSU's staff as a graduate assistant in '92.

It looks like Bemidji State will be looking for a new director of athletics this spring with the announcement that Rick Goeb's contract will not be renewed.

How 'bout this great play by senior forward Eriah Hayes of the Minnesota State men's hockey team. A lot of people thought it might be ESPN Top Ten Plays of the Day worthy.

Lastly, want to point out that more than 25,000 fans attended MSU home events over the course of the past two weekends with Blakeslee Stadium, Taylor Center, Myers Field House, All Seasons Arena and Verizon Wireless Center all hosting Maverick competitions. 

Truly great and proud to be a Maverick the past 14 days.

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