Men’s soccer: MIAC Playoff Champion

• The Scots had a historic week, winning their first MIAC Playoff Championship since 2009.
• It started with a home game against Gustavus-Adolphus College on Nov. 6. Mac went up early off a Zach Liptzin ’27 goal in the fifth minute, only for the Gusties to notch the equalizer minutes later.
• Not content to go into the half knotted up, Milan Shah ’29 scored in the 38th minute to give Macalester the lead which it rode all the way to a massive semifinal win.
• In the championship game on Nov. 8 against St. Olaf College, neither team could find the back of the net during the first half. In the 50th minute, Ondieki Maina ’26 broke the seal. It was a show-stopping connection from Kasdan Blattman ’27 to Charles Wriedt ’27 to set up Maina for the score.
• Maina doubled up less than 15 minutes later with a put-back goal off his own rebound, and Blattman put the nail in the Ole coffin in the 73rd minute. A late Ole goal did little to stem the Scot tide, as Chris Frantz ’27 dropped in the empty-netter for the 4-1 win.

Men’s XC closes at Cannon River

• Mac finished the fall at the Cannon River Closer in a 42-18 loss to St. Olaf College. Chase Fitterer ’29 placed third in 16:14.6, followed by Jay Lebakken ’26 in seventh (16:24.0) and Ben Walton-Scott ’29 in ninth (16:30.0).

Women’s XC finishes season

• A handful of Scots traveled to Northfield, Minn. for the Cannon River Closer, where they lost 43-16 to St. Olaf. Tilia Iverson ’28 headlined the race for Mac with a fifth-place finish in a personal-best 19:53.0 on the 5-kilometer course. 
• Julia Castellano ’26 finished seventh (20:05.9), Anna Lendrum Fort ’29 finished ninth (20:22.9) and Lucy Taylor ’29 finished 10th (20:24.4) to round out the Scots’ top performers.

Men’s basketball drops two, wins one

• Men’s basketball opened up their season in Decorah, Iowa against Luther College of the American Rivers Conference. It marked the beginning of a new era for Macalester basketball as two head coaches debuted this week. For the men, it was the first game under head coach Rich Glesmann. 
• It took an extra period, but the Scots fell 70-80 to kick off the 2025-2026 campaign despite a double double from Noah Shannon ’26 who contributed 22 points and 14 rebounds. 
• Joaquin Aguillon ’28 added a career best nine points and seven rebounds. 
• Despite leading by 11 inside five minutes, the Scots couldn’t finish the job.
• The Scots stayed in Iowa for their second match of the season, playing away at Wartburg College. 
• Aguillon again provided a career-high effort for the Scots, but they couldn’t pull away and lost 86-67. Shannon fouled out and Aguillon recorded 14 points. 
• Guard Owen Walther ’29 also recorded 14 points, shooting four of six from three point land, Javier Diaz ’29 had 13 points and Ryan Brush ’26 had 10. Walther leads the MIAC through three games with 14 three-pointers. 
• The home opener was Wednesday night against the University of Wisconsin-Stout, in front of an orange-out crowd, where third time proved the charm in an 82-76 win.
• Shannon poured in a career-high 35 points to go with 12 rebounds and five assists.  Walther followed him with 14 points, five boards and two assists on a sizzling hot four-of-six from three.  

 Football fumbles

• Though it was an outstanding effort from the Scots on Saturday, a late touchdown razed the Scots hope of a splendid senior day as the football team fell to Concordia 14-17. 
• The Cobbers didn’t score until the fourth quarter, the score remaining 7-0 into the final quarter. The Cobbers scored a field goal early in the period to make it 7-3. The Scot defense was standing tall. The Scots then scored another touchdown to make it 14-3 with just over 10 minutes left. 
• The Cobbers then scored two touchdowns in the blink of an eye to go up 17-14. 
• An interception by Jack Scully ’28 on the penultimate drive was the killer for the Scots, as it allowed Concordia to take their first lead of the game with 32 seconds left. 
• Though the Scots got down to the 35 yard line of the Cobbers, they couldn’t find points to send it to OT and lost on the final play. 
• Paxton Boyd ’28 went for over 100 yards receiving and Brennan Litchford ’29 had a touchdown on the ground alongside 47 yards. 
• Dylan Jeppe ’28 recorded 10 tackles to lead the Scots, and Jay Green ’28 had three passes defended. 
• The Scots wrap up their season at noon next Saturday at Gustavus Adolphus College, and currently sit at 3-6. 

Women’s basketball opens season with two losses

• A new era of women’s basketball dawned in the Leonard Center over the weekend with Head Coach AD Donovan’s debut in a non-conference matchup with St. Catherine University on Nov. 8. While the Scots demonstrated a new run-and-gun mentality, it did not come with a win, as the Wildcats pounded Mac 68-49.
• Megan Matthews ’29 led the Scots in scoring with 10 points to go with four rebounds. Emma Karlin ’28 followed her with eight points and eight rebounds of her own.
• Matthews and Karlin again led the Scots in scoring in their 76-62 loss to the University of Minnesota Morris on Nov. 10. The Scots were up big at the half but couldn’t close it out. Matthews logged 13 points, four rebounds and two assists. Karlin logged 12 points and two rebounds.

Men’s swim and dive drowns

• The Carleton College Knights dominated the Scots on Nov. 8, winning 215-81. Kean Pajarillaga ’28 won the 100-yard breaststroke (53.72) and Will St. John ’26 won the 200-yard breaststroke (2:17.02).

Women’s swim and dive falls to Knights

• The women’s swim and dive team saw more success than the men this weekend but found the same result in a 166.5-129.5 loss.
• Izzy Uhlhorn-Thornton ’26 won the 100-yard breaststroke and butterfly. Molly Nuckolls ’28 won the 500-yard and 1,000-yard freestyle. Hannah Zurn ’26 won the 200-yard butterfly and Emma Henry ’26 won the 200-yard backstroke. 

Volleyball’s Concordia conclusion

• Macalester finished a season of hard-fought battles with a hard-fought win over Concordia College (Minn.), 3-2 on Saturday, Nov. 8
• After dropping the first set, the Scots found a flow, winning the next two, 25-23 and 25-18. The Cobbers came back to force a fifth set, but Mac closed the door with a resounding 15-8 slam dunk.
• Adonia Anene ’28 logged 21 kills and 20 digs. Anene earned an All-MIAC selection for her 261 kills (3.0 per set) — fifth in the MIAC this season. Congrats!