Here at the Horizon League, we like to think most weekends of competition are good weekends of competition.
But some are better than others.
At Valparaiso, sixth-seeded Loyola became the lowest-seeded team to win the Horizon League men’s soccer championship with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Wright State.
At Milwaukee, the Panthers’ women’s soccer team scored less than five minutes into its first-round NCAA tournament game and went on to beat Illinois State, 3-0 and avenge a regular-season defeat. The incomparable Sarah Hagen scored her 25th goal of the season, breaking her own league and school record.
In Toledo, Ohio, Butler sophomore Callum Hawkins won the individual title in the cross country regional, defeating more than 200 runners. By doing so, Hawkins advanced to the NCAA nationals.
And in Nashville, Tenn., Cleveland State’s men’s basketball team authored the signature upset of the first full-scale weekend of the season, defeating seventh-ranked Vanderbilt on its home court, 71-58.
Congratulations to all our Horizon League teams and athletes. That great weekend made for an outstanding Monday.