This Week In Drury Athletics (November 2-8) ...
MEN'S SOCCER
Coach Ryan Swan's Panthers will take center stage again this weekend, when Drury - for the first time in five years as a Great Lakes Valley Conference member - will play host to the GLVC Tournament semifinals and finals on Friday and Sunday at Harrison Stadium.
The nationally fourth-ranked Panthers, now 18-1-0 after beating Missouri-St. Louis 1-0 in double-overtime Sunday on Micah Whorton's dramatic game-winning goal, are the top seed in the GLVC Tourney and will play fifth-seeded Bellarmine (11-5-1) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Harrison. Second-seeded Northern Kentucky (15-4-1) - the only team to beat Drury this season - will face third-seeded Lewis (13-3-1) in Friday's opening semifinal at 5 p.m.
Friday's two winners will meet for the GLVC championship at noon on Sunday at Harrison.
Drury needed overtime to beat Bellarmine 2-1 in Louisville, Ky., on Oct. 11, when senior Steve Wilczewski scored off a Whorton assist just over five minutes into the extra period, so the Panthers are expecting another tough battle with the Knights.
The Panthers are hoping the entire Springfield soccer community comes out to support DU and the tournament, with all youth teams 12-and-under admitted free of charge.
Drury had a big week off the field as well, as 10 Panthers earned All-GLVC recognition, including sophomore keeper Stephen Conner being named the Defensive Player of the Year and Swan garnering the league's Coach of the Year honors.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The Lady Panthers of coach Steve Harold will get their first extreme exhibition test when they travel to Nashville, Tenn., to take on NCAA Division I and Southeastern Conference power Vanderbilt in a 2 p.m. contest that can be heard live on one of the Meyer Communications stations (likely KWTO 560 AM).
Vanderbilt opened its exhibition slate with a 69-48 over reigning NAIA Division I champion Union (Tenn.) at historic Memorial Gym last Friday, getting 15 points each from junior Jence Rhoades and freshman Tiffany Clarke. The game was tied as late as 41-all before the Commodores finished the game with a 28-7 run.
Vandy is picked for fourth in the SEC preseason poll this season behind Louisiana State, Tennessee and Georgia. The Commodores finished 26-9 last season, losing to Maryland in the Sweet 16.
Drury opened its exhibition campaign by playing a half against the Alumni team on Saturday before switching to a variety of skills contests for what would have been the second half. Senior Lindsay Ballweg had nine points and junior guard Ja'Nell Jones added six points, five assists and four steals in the abbreviated action to lead the Lady Panthers.
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
The Drury squads of coach Jon Van Arkel are headed to Kenosha, Wis., this weekend for Saturday's NCAA-II Midwest Regional on the campus of Wisconsin-Parkside.
Drury is coming off a second-place finish in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships two weeks ago on the men's side and an eighth-place showing by the women. Junior Jaime Villa Zapatero paced the DU men by winning his second straight GLVC individual championship.
Villa Zapatero finished second individualy and the Panthers were fifth as a team at last year's NCAA-II regionals, while the DU women were 17th, led by a 53rd-place finish from current sophomore Katie Berkbigler.
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SWIMMING
Coach Brian Reynolds' squads are back in action on Saturday when the DU women play host to Kansas and the men entertain Missouri Science and Technology, both with 2 p.m. starts at the Breech Pool.
Drury's squads split a pair of dual meets last weekend, with the Panthers taking both halves of the Friday night home meet with Ouachita Baptist before, with a depleted squad, falling to NCAA Division I Missouri State on Saturday.
The Bears will return the favor when they visit Breech on Jan. 22, when the Panthers are gearing up for their run at a sixth straight NCAA-II men's title and second straight for the women.
Early standouts for the DU squads include senior diver Lauren Bader, senior Abbey Musch, juniors Yuan Qing "Apple" Li and Kelsey Ward, sophomore Erin Dolan and freshman Tiffany Van Dongen on the women's side, with senior Alex Protsenko, sophomore Jun Han Kim, sophomores Michael Winiewicz, Jason Bell and Gerrit Thomsen and freshmen Matt Maurer and diver Dwight Baker among the top performers so far for the DU men.
VOLLEYBALL
Coach Ashleigh Shear's squad closed out the home portion of its schedule with a 3-0 loss to Indianapolis followed by a 3-0 victory over Saint Joseph's on Saturday at Weiser.
The Panthers are now 15-12 overall and 7-5 in the GLVC, tied for sixth with Southern Indiana heading into the final weekend of the regular season. Drury will visit Lewis (26-3, 12-0) in Romeoville, Ill., on Friday and Wisconsin-Parkside (21-10, 5-7) on Saturday in its quest to make the eight-team field for the GLVC Tournament, which begins on November 13 in either Romeoville, Ill., or Indianapolis, Ind.
ALSO ...
The Drury women's soccer squad saw their season likely come to an end with a 1-0 loss at Bellarmine on Sunday in the opening round of the GLVC Tournament. The Panthers are 13-6-0, and had six players earn All-GLVC honors last week. ... DU men's basketball will participate in a closed scrimmage with another D-II opponent this week, then play their one and only exhibition game when they entertain Webster University in a 7 p.m. tipoff on Thursday, November 12 at Weiser. ... Mark your calendars for the second Panther Party of the year, coming up on Tuesday, November 10 at 5:30 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel at the corner of Kearney and Glenstone in northeast Springfield. We had an overflow crowd at last month's initial gathering, which features free appetizers, a cash bar and plenty of social time mixed in with a brief informational program updating DU fans on happenings in our athletics world. Scheduled to give brief season previews this time are basketball coaches Steve Hesser and Steve Harold and swimming coach Brian Reynolds, as well as post-season updates from soccer's Ryan Swan, volleyball's Ashleigh Shear and cross country's Jon Van Arkel. ...
DRURY ATHLETICS CALENDAR
FRIDAY
5 p.m. - GLVC Tournament, men's soccer at Harrison (Northern Kentucky vs. Lewis)
7 p.m. - Volleyball at Lewis, Romeoville, Ill.
7:30 p.m. - Men's Soccer vs. Bellarmine, GLVC Tournament at Harrison Stadium
SATURDAY
9 am.. - Men's and Women's Cross Country in NCAA-II Midwest Regional, Kenosha, Wis.
2 p.m. - Women's Basketball vs. Vanderbilt (exhibition), Nashville, Tenn.
2 p.m. - Men's Swimming vs. Missouri Science and Technology, Breech Pool
2 p.m. - Women's Swimming vs. Kansas, Breech Pool
3 p.m. - Volleyball at Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, Wis.
SUNDAY
Noon - GLVC Tournament Men's Soccer Championship Match at Harrison Stadium