Media contact: Chris Blissett, blissett@stolaf.edu, Voice telephone: (507) 646-3834; fax: (507) 646-3033
September 12, 1999
For Immediate Release
NORTHFIELD, Minn. -- Despite an early lead and stretches of impressive defense, the St. Olaf College football team opened their 1999 season with a tough 21-14 loss to Carthage College (Wis.) at Manitou Field on Saturday.
The Oles opened the scoring early in the first quarter with senior Haakon Nelson (White Bear Lake, Minn) connecting on a 17-yard field goal to put the Oles up 3-0. Less than a minute later the Oles' Matt Lafferty (FY, Apple Valley, Minn.) and Sven Bjorklund (Sr., Edina, Minn.) made the score 5-0, wrapping up a Redman rusher in the Carthage end zone for the safety. Nelson struck again midway through the second quarter, splitting the goal posts with another 17-yard field goal to put the Oles up 8-0. Carthage had a chance to put themselves on the board late in the half, but a Ryan Masek field-goal attempt was partially blocked and fell short.
The third quarter saw the Redman put together an impressive drive, capped by Joe McFadden's 83-yard touchdown reception. Carthage missed the two-point conversion, but the Ole lead had been cut to 8-6. St. Olaf struck again early in the fourth quarter when Jake Rath (FY, Apple Valley, Minn.) returned an interception 32 yards for the touchdown. The point-after attempt was blocked, and the score stood at 14-6.
With 6:20 left in the game, Carthage wide-receiver Rob Garnes caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Sievers and, after the two-point conversion, the score stood knotted at 14-14.
Both teams made impressive defensive stands until Carthage's Sievers again found Garnes for a 40-yard pass play to the St. Olaf four-yard line. Sivers then kept the ball and followed his center into the Ole end zone to break the tie and put the Redmen up 20-14. The extra-point made the Redman lead 21-14.
The Oles tried to mount one last drive, but Beau Hodgen intercepted a Chris Nickel (Jr., Fort Collins, Colo.) pass and ended the Oles' hopes. Carthage then allowed the clock to run down, sealing a 21-14 victory.
After the game, a disappointed Ole coach Paul Miller said, "I thought we played three pretty decent quarters of football, and we had a lot of great chances today to put this one away. We just gave them too many opportunities to get back in the game."
The Ole defense was strong for the majority of the game, with fine performances by Bjorklund, Lafferty and Jason Carlson (Sr., Virginia, Minn.). Carlson finished the game with 10 total tackles, while Lafferty nabbed eight and Bjorklund five.
The Oles are 0-1 on the season and host the University of St. Thomas Tommies next Saturday at 1:00 at Manitou Field.
St. Olaf is a four-year, coeducational liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) with a student enrollment of 2,939 and a full-time faculty of 260. The college is nationally known for its art, music, science, pre-medicine, mathematics, pre-law, international studies and religion curricula. It ranks 13th on U.S. News & World ReportÕs list of "best values" among national liberal arts colleges. It is one of Money GuideÕs top 100 "elite values in college education today," and it leads the nationÕs colleges in number of students who study abroad.