Athletics Roundup: Volleyball, Men's Soccer Ready to be Home

Athletics Roundup: Volleyball, Men's Soccer Ready to be Home

Men's Soccer

Two University of San Diego fall sports teams will have their first opportunity to play in front of their home crowd this week. Women's volleyball, ranked 15th nationally, hosts its own tournament on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Men's soccer, which has only six home games on its 2016 schedule, will play Friday night and Sunday afternoon at Torero Stadium.

For both teams, having a familiar setting should be a welcome change. In their first two weeks, combined with the start of the academic year, the volleyball team has been to Palo Alto, Calif., and Madison, Wisc., for tournaments, earning a split both times for a 2-2 record. Men's soccer traveled to North Carolina for two games and then played in Santa Barbara last week. The team has a 1-1-1 record.

Volleyball, which has played Top 10-ranked teams Stanford, Minnesota and Wisconsin already this season, hopes that the home court and Torero fans will be an advantage in matches against UC Irvine (Thursday), No. 18 Colorado (Friday) and No. 7 UCLA (Saturday). The first two matches start at 7 p.m. while Saturday's match is at 6 p.m.

In addition to the matches, Coach Jennifer Petrie and the volleyball program will host the First Serve Luncheon on Saturday from 12 to 2 p.m. in La Gran Terraza, an event that is open to alumni, parents and friends of the program.

Men's soccer hopes its home base will be equally helpful as it prepares to host UC Davis in a 7 p.m. match on Friday, followed by a 2 p.m. contest Sunday against Sacramento State. USD is coming off a 5-2 loss Sept. 2 at No. 10 UC Santa Barbara.

Football Blanks W. New Mexico, Plays at Cal Poly Saturday

A balanced effort offensively and a highly effective defensive performance led the Toreros' football team to a 27-0 win over nonconference foe Western New Mexico on Sept. 3 in Torero Stadium, the season-opening game for both teams.

USD (1-0) got 211 yards passing and one touchdown from Anthony Lawrence and running back Jonah Hodges rushed for 106 yards and two scores. Lawrence's TD was a 16-yard reception by tight end Ross Dwelley. Kicker Patrick Murray made two field goals, too. Defensively speaking, defensive end Jonathan Petersen recorded two sacks, five tackles, 3 tackles for a loss and a pair of quarterback hurries to lead a dominant effort by USD. Other standouts include safeties Ray Clark and Colton Giorgi with six tackles each, an interception by cornerback Devyn Bryant and a field goal block by cornerback Jamal Agnew.

The team plays at Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo's Alex G. Spanos Stadium on Saturday. Kickoff is 4:05 p.m. Cal Poly is 4-0 lifetime against USD, 3-0 in SLO. Their last meeting was November 2014 at Torero Stadium.

Women's Soccer Wins, Draws

The USD women's soccer team blanked cross-town rival San Diego State, 2-0, on Sept. 2 and then played to a double-overtime scoreless tie with Cal State Northridge on Sept. 4. Both games were at home. The results improved USD’s season record to 2-2-1.

The Toreros' goals in the win over the Aztecs were first-half tallies by Jacqueline Altschuld and Rachel Conners. Caitlyn Kretzschmar assisted on Altschuld's goal in the 21st minute. Conners scored in the 27th minute on an assist by Kelley Carusa. USD then outshot Northridge 12-9 in the tie. Goalkeeper Amber Michel picked up her second straight shutout and third overall this season.

USD returns to action at 7 p.m. Thursday, hosting DePaul. The Toreros then travel to Westwood to face UCLA in a 5 p.m. match on Sunday.

Run with the Pack

The men and women's cross country seasons opened Sept. 3 at the Mark Covert Classic at Brea's Carbon Canyon Regional Park course.

The men finished seventh in the team category, led by three runners who finished among the first 36 scoring places. The women's team was sixth overall, finishing an impressive pack performance with six runners snagging spots 25-30 in the scoring places.

Andrea Hughes had the top USD result in the women's 5K with a time of 19:17. Two seconds later, Sam Mattice, Sarah Kepple, Julie Giannini, Lindsay Benster and Cassidy Kuhn crossed the finish line.

James Pedrotti was the top Torero male runner, finishing the 8K course in 26:10 for 33rd place. Mitch Manis was 41st in 26:16 and Patrick Bruce, 45th, in 26:20.

The Toreros' next meet is its own USD Invitational, which is also a West Coast Conference Preview, in Mission Bay on Sept. 17. The first race is at 8 a.m.

For more USD Athletics news, scores and information, visit the website and catch them on their social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.