Game 31: UMD at St. Cloud State

ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- The Bulldogs know what needs to be done, and they're running out of time to do it.

UMD has just two weekends left in the regular season, and while the nerds say UMD is still in the at-large race (barely), the Bulldogs just need to start winning some games.

I've seen a lot of comparisons made to past Bulldog teams that didn't meet expectations. That's all well and good, guys, but this season is different than any other.

If you've watched this team for any length of time, you can't possibly argue that the effort isn't there, or that players aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing. Absent of perfection that no one is able to bring to the table, UMD has not been foiled by a lack of effort. As I said on Twitter after last Saturday's North Dakota game, the Bulldogs have been good to very good in probably 24-26 of 30 games this season.

(The four games I know weren't nearly good enough were the two against Bemidji State, along with Friday home games against Denver and St. Cloud State.)

A team that has shown that kind of consistency in its effort certainly deserves a better fate than this team has seen to this point. Call that whining or whatever you want, I don't care. I'll stand by it as the truth.

And I still believe this can get turned around. I'll believe it until we're completely out of games to play.

For UMD, senior Austin Farley is back. Senior Austyn Young (upper body) is out.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Iafallo - Toninato - Johnson
Farley - Cameranesi - Kuhlman
Osterberg - Thomas - Mackay
Sampair - Decowski - Exell

Welinski - Pionk
Soucy - Raskob
Corrin - Kotyk

Kaskisuo - McNeely

SCSU
Eyssimont - Kossila - Russell
Benik - Morley - Newell
Storm - Peterson - Murray
Jackson - Winiecki - Benson

Schuldt - Prow
Widman - Borgen
Nevalainen - Lizotte

Lindgren - Reijola - Zevnik