UW-SP football looking for victory No. 1 of season, faces Titans It's homecoming for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point football team and the Pointers are looking for their first win of the season, hosting UW-Oshkosh. UW-SP has lost each of its previous three games by one touchdown. Last week, it was a 16-8 loss at UW-Stout that dropped the Pointers to 0-3 overall. The Pointers have had tremendous success against UW-Oshkosh (1-2) in recent years, having won 16 straight over the Titans since 1983. UW-SP was held to minus-10 yards rushing for the game and just 110 total yards last Saturday at UW-Stout. However, the defense kept the game tight in the second half, holding the Blue Devils to 79 total yards and forcing them to punt on all nine possessions of the half. Sophomore Dillon Maney had 18 tackles to lead the defense. Chad Valentyne caught an 18-yard touchdown pass and a two-point conversion pass from Scott Krause with seven minutes left in the game for the Pointers' lone score. The Titans have forced 12 turnovers in the first three games, including eight fumbles. UW-Oshkosh features one of the league's top receivers in Shannon King, who caught nine passes for 151 yards last week. UW-Oshkosh's six touchdowns have all come through the air this season as Alan Beversdorf has thrown for 187 yards per game. The Titans are averaging just 98.7 yards rushing per game. The Pointers outscored opponents 96-45 in the fourth quarter of games last season and that trend is continuing again this year. Through three games, the Pointers have outscored foes 31-7 in the final 15 minutes. However, the Pointers have been outscored 54-20 in the first half of games. UW-Oshkosh, meanwhile, has been much the opposite. The Titans have been outscored 27-7 in the second half of games and have not scored a point in the fourth quarter this season. Cross Country The Pointer women's team had an impressive showing at the University of Minnesota Invitational and the men's team dominated for the third straight week as the cross country teams continued their strong starts to the season. The Pointer women are ranked seventh in the country, and the men are ranked ninth. Leah Juno finished ninth and Becky Lebak was 10th of 489 runners as the women's team placed sixth at the 41-team Minnesota Invite. The Pointers finished third among Division 3 schools as Division 2 North Dakota won the meet. Juno finished with a time of 18:39 and Lebak posted a time of 18:40. The women also had several runners at the UW-Whitewater Invite with Nicki Van Gheem (Green Bay) leading the team in 23rd place with a time of 21:27. The Pointers were fifth of five teams at the invite. Jesse Drake (Rhinelander) won for the second straight week to lead the men's team at the Carthage Invite to a team title for the third straight week. Drake posted a time of 26:01 as the men had five of the top seven finishers. Casey Cook (Lena) was third in 26:24 and Mark LaLonde (Park Falls) was fifth at 26:33. Soccer Despite outshooting the University of Chicago 19-5 and having 18 corner kick opportunities, the UW-SP women's soccer team fell short in a 1-0 non-conference loss Tuesday at home. Chicago scored at the 16:11 mark of the first half. The Maroons packed in their defense thereafter and attempted only three shots the rest of the match. Chicago handed the Pointers two of their four losses last year, including a defeat in the first round of the NCAA Division 3 tournament. UW-SP hosts UW-Stout Thursday and travels to UW-Superior Friday. Stevens Point Area Senior High graduate Marie Muhvic scored two goals in the Pointers' 10-0 rout of UW-River Falls Saturday and needs just one goal to tie Susie Lindauer's career goal-scoring school record of 55 goals. Muhvic now has 10 goals this season and could eclipse the record in just three seasons with the Pointers. Molly Cady (Cottage Grove) and SPASH grad Margaret Domka also scored two goals in the win over UW-River Falls. The Pointers outshot the Falcons 53-0 and led 9-0 at the half. Tennis The Pointers will take a week off after playing three matches in four days last week. The busy schedule paid off for the Pointers, however, in a successful week as they went 2-1 with wins over St. Norbert and UW-Stout and a tough loss to UW-River Falls. UW-SP beat St. Norbert 7-2 and UW-Stout 9-0, but lost to UW-River Falls 5-4. Jen Derse (Portage) and Laura Henn (Columbus) both had perfect weeks for the Pointers as Derse was 6-0 and Henn was 5-0 for the week. Each went 3-0 in singles and they teamed for No. 3 doubles victories on Friday and Saturday. Violet Adams (Menasha) also posted two wins at both No. 1 singles and doubles, pairing with Aimee Strebig (Appleton) for the doubles wins. Anne Hildebrandt (Stevens Point) and Heather Janssen (Kimberly) also were 2-1 in both singles and doubles for the week. Volleyball The Pointers fell short in three conference matches last week, but battled ninth-ranked UW-River Falls to a tough match on Saturday, holding late leads in all three games before eventually falling 15-10, 15-8, 15-10. UW-SP also lost in three games to UW-Stout on Friday and in four games to UW-Oshkosh Wednesday. In the match with UW-Oshkosh, the Pointers trailed 13-1 in the third game and scored 14 straight points to win 15-13. Chrissy Klipstine (Denmark) had a solid week with team-highs 27 kills, six blocks and a .333 hitting percentage in the three matches. The Pointers play in the UW-Eau Claire Invite over the weekend. UW-SP is scheduled to meet Beloit, Southwestern (Texas) and UW-Eau Claire in the tournament. Golf UW-SP has its final tune-up of the season for the WIAC championships at the UW-Oshkosh Invite this weekend. The WIAC meet is set for the following week in Janesville. The Pointers dominated their own invitational on Tuesday with the top six finishers as they finished 87 strokes ahead of both St. Mary's (Minn.) and Ripon. Rachel Sime (Tomah) and Andrea Miller (Sheboygan) each shot an 88 to share medalist honors. Miller's effort came one week after becoming the first Pointer golfer ever to shoot under 80 with a 78 on the opening day of the Illinois Wesleyan Invitational.