Box Score

Enough was enough.

After clinging to a 17-14 lead at the halftime break Saturday afternoon in Bismarck, N.D., the University of Minnesota Duluth regrouped and proceeded to reel off 15 unanswered points while putting a clampdown on the University of Mary offense during the final two quarters of play. That resulted in a 32-14 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division victory for the No. 5 Bulldogs and extended UMD's winning streak to seven games -- its longest since the 2010 season (when it went 15-0 en route to capturing the second of two NCAA Division II championships).

With the triumph (their seventh in as many lifetime games with the Maruaders), the Bulldogs upped their overall record to 9-1 and also kept them just one game back of league-leading Minnesota State University-Mankato in the NSIC standings with one week to go in the regular season.

UMD, which never trailed the entire afternoon, jumped out to a 10-0 first-quarter lead on freshman quarterback Drew Bauer's  two-yard touchdown pass to senior tight end Jeremy Reierson and on a 31-yard field goal by sophomore placekicker Drew Brees. Six minutes after the Marauders moved to within 10-7, UMD junior Aaron Roth gathered in a Mary punt and raced 83 yards into the end zone with 5:40 to go in the half. It marked UMD's first punt return for a touchdown since Roth turned the trick against the University of Minnesota Crookston on Nov. 5, 2011. On its ensuing possession, Mary answered by mounting a five-play, 45-yard scoring drive to cut the deficit to just three points in the waning moments of the first half.

The Bulldogs, who had managed only 124 yards of total offense (compared to 175 for the Maruaders) to that point, tacked on six more points on its first possession of the third quarter when junior running back Austin Sikorski bowled in from four yards out for this team-leading 13th touchdown of the season. The Bulldogs then added a three-yard touchdown run by Logan Lauters midway through the third quarter and another Brees field goal early in the fourth to cap off the win. They also held Mary (5-5) to a scant 51 overall yards in the second half while generating 321 yards themselves on the day.

Sikorski rushed 21 times for a game-high 113 yards (for the ninth 100-yard outing of his career) while Lauters finished with  91 yards on 12 carries. Bauer completed only four of 14 passes for 27 yards while battling extremely windy conditions at the MDU Resources Bowl. Senior inside linebacker Colby Ring paced the Bulldogs defensively with seven tackles (giving him a team-leading 51 stops for the year) and senior strong safety Travis Nordhus was in on six.

UMD will remain on the road next Saturday (Nov. 16) to take on Northern State University in the regular season finale for both clubs.



UMD-Mary Highlights