By Travis Akin 20

Most of the SIUC sports clubs spent the weekend on the road. While some came home winless, the majority of the clubs had strong finishes at tournaments, and some came back to Carbondale victorious.

The SIUC Cycling Club finishes strong in Memphis

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Several SIUC cycling club members finished in the top 10 at the Tour De Wolf in Memphis, Tenn., a cross country mountain bike race.

Ivan Sagel led SIUC with a fourth-place finish in the beginning junior men’s division. There were about 45 racers in the beginning men’s division.

Todd Johanson (sixth) and Eric Wiecek (seventh) added the other top-10 finishes.

SIUC had strong finishes in the sports men’s division. Alan Zullo placed 15th in a field of 53 racers. Mike Tripp finished behind Zullo at 16th and Dru Brooks placed 29th. Also placing was Steve Nguyen, who came in 31st.

The women fared well as Joellen DeSanto led SIUC with fourth in the beginning women’s competition. Lori Johanson came in behind her in fifth place.

Tripp, Cycling Club president, said the wide paths on the raceway made it a challenge to avoid losing ground.

It was pretty wide open, and I was worried about getting passed, Tripp said. It was constant peddling. There were some treacherous sections. Some guys ended up hitting trees.

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The club will be competing in a tournament at the University of Kentucky this weekend.

Men’s rugby loses close match at Eastern Illinois University

The SIUC men’s rugby team lost 17-5 in a close match against Eastern Illinois University Saturday in Charleston.

Club president Marc Bechler said SIUC played better than the score indicates.

They played us tough, Bechler said. At halftime, the score was 10-5. The last 20 minutes of the game they stopped us at 10 meters, and with a few minutes left, there was a fluke play and they got a try on us.

The next game will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the SIUC Sports Club Playfields.

Women’s Rugby team wins big at ISU

The SIUC women’s rugby team defeated Illinois State University 22-12 in Normal in a game that was won by an improved performance of rookies.

Coach April Beardsley said there was some confusion as to where the game was going to be played, but the rookies were able to overcome some of the frustrations and play well.

They (ISU) sent us to two different fields, and things were a big mess, Beardsley said. But we were able to pull together as a team.

The team will play the University of Illinois Saturday in Champaign. That game will decide the union championship. The union championship allows the team to go on to a regional championship.

Club president Peatt Raftis said the game is an important one for the team because not only is it a match for the union championship, but it also is a game against SIUC’s toughest rival.

We have only beaten them once, Raftis said. It will be a tough game, and it will be pretty evenly matched. They typically have a good team.

The SIUC men’s soccer team narrowly wins in Centralia

Men’s soccer club president Adam Kaiser said he underestimated the skill of the prisoners at the Centralia Correctional Facilities, but the team managed to win 4-3 Saturday.

They had a weak defense, Kaiser said. But this one was a close one. They were a little better than I thought.

The team has a solid effort from Yannick Abgrall, who had three goals, while Chris Reif added the other.

The club moves to 8-1 on the season, and will play Vincennes, Ind., this weekend on the road.

Lacrosse team drops two over weekend

Injuries to several key players was the key to a pair of SIUC lacrosse team losses at the Western Illinois Fall Invitational last weekend.

SIUC fell to Western Illinois University 6-5 and lost to Illinois State University 11-5.

Club president Mike Kizaric said the team would have done better, but the injuries weakened the defense.

We had a lot of injuries because a couple of guys got hit pretty hard, Kizaric said. There were a couple of defensemen who got hurt early. It was a pretty rough day.

Kizaric said the team should be completely healthy by this weekend’s match at Northern Illinois University.