Catching up with Men's and Women's Soccer

The Luther Men's Soccer Team has had a challenging year up to this point but have made some great improvements since 2008. This time last season we were waiting for another team to determine the outcome of our season. This year we have already qualified for the Iowa Conference Tournament and with a win on Saturday against Coe College we will host a mid-week playoff game and finish in fourth place, two spots higher than the previous season. At this point in the season, the team is capable of winning every game we play. We have been in some very close games over the course of the season and have learned much about ourselves and the process of winning. A young team (starting four freshmen and four sophomores) being lead by All-Conference senior captain Adam Pyzdrowski can make a real run at the Iowa Conference Tournament.





With a current conference record of 5-1-1, the Luther Women's Soccer team anxiously heads into their final conference game against Coe. The Norse are tied with no. 13 Wartburg in the conference standings with 16 points, but their Oct. 24 win puts the Norse in the lead for the conference title.
The win over the nationally ranked Knights was key for the Norse. Luther got their eighth shutout of the year, with two-time IIAC defensive player of the week junior Hannah Wright credited with two big saves for the Norse.
A win over Coe College Saturday, Oct. 31 will secure the conference championship for the Norse, their first since 2004. Saturday's game will also serve as senior night-as the Norse honor their five graduating seniors, Kendra Dornfeld, Andrea Martinson, Ashley Meirick, Jill Nerka and Lisa Torgerson.

Catching up with Men's and Women's Tennis

The men’s fall tennis season ended with the doubles team of sophomore Scott Sundstrom and senior Utsab Rijal placing 7th at the Small College Championships in Mobile, Alabama. In route to the championships Scott and Utsab won the fall ITA regional tournament held at Gustavus Adolphus College. The win at the ITA was only the second time in men’s tennis history that a doubles team won the tournament. Scott and Utsab were awarded All-American status following their win at the ITA, there are only two other male tennis players in Norse history that have received All-American status. Scott also reached the semifinals of the singles draw at the ITA regional tournament before falling in three sets to Ben Guzick of Carleton College. Others performing well at the ITA included the doubles team of senior Max Busch and junior Harry Whiteley who reached the semifinals before falling to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The Norse head into the spring season looking to defend the conference title for the fourth consecutive year and hope to top their run last year to the round of 16 at the national tournament.


The women’s fall tennis season ended with its record 24th conference title and its first title since 2005 after an impressive win over Coe College. The Norse came into the conference tournament seeded #2 after falling to Coe earlier in the season 3-6. The Norse avenged there earlier loss with a 5-1 victory over the top seeded Coe Kohawks in the championship match. In the title match the Norse jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with a sweep of the doubles matches. Shortly after the completion of the doubles matches sophomore Cami Czech gave the Norse a 4-0 lead following her victory at #6 singles. The Kohawks got their lone point at #4 singles just before Luther senior Kelsie Allen won the title for the Norse with her victory at #1 singles. The Norse had a great weekend but was not finished yet as they headed the following weekend to the IIAC individual tournament held at Coe College. Overall the team had an impressive weekend with 4 singles players receiving all-conference status and 4 doubles players also receiving the honor. Senior Kelsie Allen took home the Flight A singles title after a win over Coe’s Hannah Jensen. Following her victory Kelsie was name IIAC MVP for the year, an honor which has not been awarded to a Luther women’s tennis player since 1999. In Doubles action Junior Fran Fairfield and freshmen Katy Lindstrom reached the finals of the Flight A doubles draw before falling to Andrea Schupbach and Michelle Schupbach of Coe. The Luther women will start up practice again in mid-February and will look to make their second consecutive run to the national tournament.

Catching up with Men's and Women's Cross Country

The Luther men’s cross country team is currently ranked 4th in the Central Region. They placed 11th out of 29 teams at the Jim Drews Invitational, hosted by UW-La Crosse, on October 17th. Seniors Karl Larson and Drew Burmahl were the top finishers for the Norse, finishing in 25:57 and 26:07 for the 8k course. Luther then hosted the 54th annual Luther-La Crosse dual on October 23rd. With each team holding out several runners, the Norse defeated the 3rd-ranked UW-La Crosse Eagles 23-35 in the muddy conditions. Luther put five runners in the top seven, led by Evan Neubauer’s 2nd-place finish. The Norse travel to Wartburg for the IIAC championships on October 31st. Luther will be looking to continue its streak of three-straight IIAC titles.


The Luther women’s cross country team is currently ranked 6th in the Central Region. They placed 8th out of 27 teams at the Tori Neubauer Invitational, hosted by UW-La Crosse, on October 17th. Senior Katie Dolan led the way with an 18th-place finish in a personal best 6k time of 22:28. Sarah Lundine, Kim Horner, Melissa Erickson and Sharon Heyer were the other scoring runners for the Norse, all finishing between 23:13 and 23:40. The Luther women compete at the IIAC championships on October 31st at Wartburg College. The Norse will be looking to challenge Wartburg, the 19th-ranked team in the nation, for the conference title.

Welcome to the NAA

Welcome to the new NAA blog. This has been created to keep our members up to date on the happenings of Luther College Norse Athletics. In the future we will be highlighting teams each week and the competitions they are taking part in. We will also be showing some great videos of the games and matches to get you into the action and hear a little bit from the athletes themselves.