Women’s Hockey at St. Thomas (Feb. 17, 2021)

W 4-3

The Hamline Women’s Hockey Team continues to dominate this season, adding another win to their record. Their matchup against Bethel that was set for the same day was postponed but there are more scheduled games left in their 2021 season. 

The team’s defense and smart offensive plays carved the Piper’s path to success on Wednesday. They took the lead quickly and early, and maintained it the entire game. Within the first three minutes of the first frame, sophomore Madison Davis earned a goal with an assist from sophomore Molly Garin. Davis played in all 26 games of her rookie season and is proving to be quite indispensable this 2021 season as well. 

She’s not alone in displaying effective attacking abilities. First-year Emme Nelson has scored in three of the past four games, with four goals total. She earned the second goal for the Pipers in the first 15 minutes of Wednesday’s game unassisted. 

After St. Thomas made the board in the last bit of the second frame, senior Olivia Arnkell retaliated. Despite being a defender, Arnkell returned the puck in less than 30 seconds and earned Hamline’s third goal of the game, ending the second frame with the momentum behind the Pipers.

Sophomore Ava Bailey in goal set a season-high number of saves, ending the game with 36 saves to add to her year’s collection. The second period of this game accounted for half of her saves alone. Bailey has now accumulated 83 saves in the past four games. 

Garin added another goal to the Piper’s score about three minutes into the final period, which ended up being the winning goal of the game. With less than 20 minutes remaining and the score of 4–1, the St. Thomas Tommies proved they still had some fight left. They scored twice within three minutes, but this was not enough to overcome the deficit the Pipers created. Despite pulling their goalie in the last minute, Hamline’s defense held and the game ended with a score of 4–3 in the Piper’s favor. 

Men’s and Women’s Track and Field vs. St. Thomas (Feb. 19, 2021)

Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams put up strong performances during their meet against the St. Thomas Tommies last Friday, with the women earning 19 top-three finishes and three event wins, and the men collected 7 top-three finishes and two event wins. 

Junior Alexandra “Lexi” Maddux won the mile event with a new PR of 5:04.41, smashing her previous time by 12 seconds. This time earns her a fourth place national ranking in this event. 

Senior All-American Helen Dolan followed Maddux, earning second place with a time of 5:12.63 that ranks 15th in the country. Both athletes are competing at completely different levels than they were coming into competitions at Hamline.

The Pipers continued to rank nationally as senior Joe Martin recorded the farthest throw in Division Ⅲ throwing competitions so far. His new PR and national record is 17.26 meters this season. Martin has returned for another season with Hamline after his senior season was canceled by the pandemic. He earned the title of best in conference after scoring low his first two years, and is now on the path to win nationals. 

Junior Christian Velishek won the high jump event with a height of 1.90 meters. Velishek is back competing this season after an intense injury his sophomore year. His first year was very successful and he is on the road to being just as, if not more, successful this season despite his sophomore setback.

First year Josh Lynch won the men’s pole vault competition with a height of 4.00 meters. On the women’s team, senior Shanoah Harren cleared 2.84 meters in the same event to earn third place and first year Andreiana Aurelius recorded a height of 2.24 meters to earn fourth place. 

First year Tisana Lowe finished only 0.01 seconds behind the first place finisher in the 60 meter dash with a time of 8.18. First years Ellie Logan and Raegan Carpenter also competed, earning fifth place with a time of 8.58 and eighth place with a time of 8.88, respectively. 

Director of Track and Field Operations and Cross Country Head Coach Devin Monson is excited about watching the younger athletes on the team develop. 

“We had some nice running by our young sprinters on both sides,” Monson said. “They are a young group but they keep getting better.”

Only one indoor track meet remains for the 2021 track and field season. Hamline competes against Bethel this Saturday and hopes to end the indoor season with even stronger performances than they’ve had so far.