Bethel Royals on YouTube

Four months into the 2009-10 academic and sports calendar, there have been some outstanding plays and performances by Bethel Royals teams and individuals. On the list below, you will find links to the top 10 plays and performances captured on video from September - December, as well as a brief explanation about them.

#10 - Joel Quick's Four Touchdowns Against Concordia-Moorhead
After an impressive victory over Carleton the week before, the Royals were looking to get on a roll, and a win at Homecoming was definitely a good way to do that. Joel Quick (Sr., Johnston, Iowa) scored all four Bethel touchdowns in the Royals 29-10 victory over the visiting Concordia Cobbers. He caught touchdown passes of 53, 34, 10, and 35 yards from three different passers on his way to amassing 149 yards on just six total receptions. He was named the MIAC Offensive Player of the Week and was named to the D3football.com Team of the Week for his efforts.

#9 - Gretchen Hunt's 150th Career Victory
Bethel's volleyball team has been in existence for more than 30 years, and in that time, there have only been two head coaches to reach 150 wins with the program. On September 18, 2009, Gretchen Hunt became the second. Hunt became Bethel's head coach before the 2001 season, and went on to lead that team to the second round of the NCAA playoffs. She repeated the feat in 2007. In 2009, Hunt led a young Royals team to 14 wins, with seven of them coming in the last nine matches.

Bethel's men's soccer program experienced somewhat of a rebirth in 2009, winning 10 games during the season for the first time since 2004. One such victory was against the visiting University of St. Thomas on September 26. With the game tied at 1-1, Brandon Peplinski (Jr., Maple Grove, Minn.) scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal with less than two minutes remaining (and then proceded to take off his shirt in excitement - an act which earned him a yellow card). The win was Bethel's first over St. Thomas since 1999. Peplinski went on to earn All-MIAC Honorable Mention for the second season in a row.

#7 - Volleyball Team's Strong Finish
Nothing came easy for the Royals, especially at the beginning of the conference season, which they started 0-6. But in "better late than never" fashion, the tide began to turn and Bethel won seven out of its last nine matches, including five conference matches in a row. Nicole Wriedt (So., Pewaukee, Wis.) was named an All-MIAC player, as she led the team in kills as an opposite hitter.

#6 - Mason Swenson's Overtime Heroics
Of the 27 players on the Bethel men's hockey roster, only six are either juniors or seniors. But so far, the team's youth has been its strong point as three of the top four scorers on the team are first-year players. There are also some very good sophomores, including Mason Swenson (So., Eagan, Minn.), who spent some time on the injured reserve this season before returning to the ice against Gustavus on November 20. Swenson lifted the Royals to a 6-5 overtime win over the Gusties, last year's national runners up, and then did the same thing two weeks later against Concordia to give Bethel a 2-1 win in their last game before a long break.

#5 - Paige Lemieux's Game-Winning Goals
A young, but experienced women's hockey team has had to prove itself against some very good competition so far this season. Many of the teams Bethel has played have been nationally ranked, or have been perennial playoff teams in the MIAC, such as Concordia-Moorhead. On December 4, the Royals took on the Cobbers at home and with less than seven minutes remaining, Paige Lemieux (So., Fargo, N.D.) went coast-to-coast to score an unassisted goal for what would be the game-winner. The following week, she scored the lone goal in Bethel's 1-0 shutout of Saint Benedict on the road. The Royals have now won three of their last four conference games. Lemieux was also Bethel's top women's golfer at the conference meet in October.

#4 - Matt Wetherell's Game-Winning Field Goal
For the second season in a row, Bethel's game against Hamline has come down to the last few seconds of play. This season, like in the 2008 season, Bethel managed to get into field goal range with less than five seconds remaining, and like the 2008 season, the Pipers called back-to-back timeouts in an effort to 'ice' kicker Matt Wetherell (So., Glen Ellyn, Ill.). Their plan backfired as an exuberant Wetherell said the timeouts actually calmed him down and gave him a chance to focus on the task at hand. The 40-yarder was the second longest field goal for Wetherell during the season.

#3 - Brittany Griffore and the Women's Soccer Team
Records were meant to be broken, and that's just what happened all season long for the Bethel Royals women's soccer team. A big part of that was Brittany Griffore (So., Maple Grove, Minn.), who set a new single-season scoring record with 35 points. Griffore scored three goals in Bethel's last two games, including two in the Royals' first-ever victory over St. Olaf, on her way to helping Bethel set a new single-season record for wins and conference wins. The game-winner against St. Olaf came in the last 35 seconds of play, while the game-winner against St. Catherine came in the last 10 minutes.



#2 - Brian Holm's Overtime Game-Winning Goal
There are scoring droughts when a team doesn't score for a game or two, and then there are losing droughts when a team doesn't defeat another for a year or two ... or 15 as the case was with Bethel and Macalester. This year, with the game tied 1-1 in overtime, Brian Holm (Fr., Champlin, Minn.) ended the Royals' drought against the Scots by scoring off of a pass from Christopher Dirks (Jr., Excelsior, Minn.) to send Royals fans at the Ona Orth Athletics Complex into mayhem. Holm was smothered by his teammates and the women's soccer team in a dogpile after his dramatic goal, and Bethel went on to have its most successful season since 2004.


#1 - Marie Borner and Dan Greeno Win the MIAC Cross Country Championship
Bethel's cross country teams have risen to new heights in the MIAC thanks to runners like Marie Borner (Sr., Cottage Grove, Minn.) and Dan Greeno (Sr., St. Michael, Minn.). Borner won her third consecutive individual MIAC championship this year, and Greeno won his first, making it the first time in more than 10 years that the individual winners have both come from the same school. As for Borner, it was the first time in more than 20 years that a runner has won the MIAC women's individual championship three years running. Borner and Greeno would go on to win the Central Region championship two weeks later before Borner finished second at the national championship meet, while Greeno finished 10th making them both three-time All-Americans.