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Women’s soccer coach Dan Schmidlin.
Women’s Soccer Win Conference Title By RACHEL MOORE
The CMU women’s soccer team faced several challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic this fall, dropping two out of their first three games of the season. Afterwards it was full steam ahead for the Eagles, as they rattled off nine straight wins to finish the year with a 10-2 overall record. With a victory over Clarke on Nov. 14, the women clinched their second-straight Heart of America Athletic Conference regular season championship. Senior forward Anika Kallash became the program’s all-time leading goal scorer, passing teammate Judith Sainz (71) for the most goals scored all-time. Kallash now has 77 career goals in 72 games. She also becomes the program’s career leader in assists, collecting 33 total during her four-year playing career. Like the men’s team, the women have solidified their spot atop the regular season standings and will host throughout the duration of conference tournament, which is set to begin on April 3, 2021. Football Eagles Climb Above .500 The Central Methodist football team concluded the 2020 season with a 5-4 record. It marks the first time since the 2014 campaign that the Eagles have been above .500. Signature wins included a season opening victory at Graceland and a thrilling 14-12 win over William Penn on Homecoming weekend. The Eagles also defeated arch rival Missouri Valley College 23-13 on Oct. 17 in Marshall, marking the third-straight win over the Vikings.
44 The Talon | Fall 2020
Central closed out the regular season with back-to-back wins over Evangel and MNU on senior day, putting an exclamation point on the year with a convincing 45-2 win over the Pioneers on Nov. 14, sending its senior class out on a high-note.
in Fayette, before falling in five sets, (25-15, 25-16, 25-27, 22-25, 13-15). CMU has earned the No. 2 seed in the South Division for the conference tournament and will host the No. 3 seed from the North, William Penn on Tuesday, March 2 in the quarterfinals.
Kemboi Qualifies For Cross Country Nationals First year head coach Kenny Anderson completed his inaugural season with the CMU men’s and women’s cross country teams, as the men competed in five races while the women participated in four. Both squads concluded the regular season at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships, hosted Nov. 7 at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan. The women posted an eighth place finish out of 14 teams, and the men were 10th. Senior Radovan Kemboi became a three-time AllConference runner, placing fifth out of 122 runners in a time of 26:49.48 in the 8K. The fifth place finish was good enough to qualify Kemboi for the NAIA Cross Country National Championships, set to take place on April 9, 2021.
Golf Makes Noise In Return to Links The men’s and women’s golf teams returned to the course for the first time since the 2016-17 season. On the men’s side, CMU posted a Top-3 finish at the MVC Invitational on Sept. 15 and wrapped the fall season with a firstplace finish at the Trojan Fall Tri Match on Oct. 17 in Hannibal, Mo. Junior Matias Baccola recorded two Top-10 finishes, including a second-place finish at the Quincy Country Club Shootout on Sept. 21. Freshman Aaron Teece steadily improved as the season went along, earning a Top-2 spot at the Trojan Fall Tri Match, good enough to earn Heart Men’s Golfer of the Week honors. For the women, the Eagles finished in second place as a team at the Spring Lake Country Club Invite on Sept. 28 in Quincy, Ill. Freshman Cassandra Contreras earned Heart Women’s Golfer of the Week honors after placing fifth in the MVC Invitational Sept. 15 with a two-round score of 164, just seven strokes back from the top spot. Both teams will continue play in the spring of 2021.
Volleyball Wraps Up Regular Season 11-3 CMU volleyball finished the 2020 fall season 11-3 and 9-3 in Heart action. Ten of the Eagles’ wins came in straight set sweeps, and Central nearly upset the top team in the conference, Heart newcomer Park University on Oct. 30
