Torero Athletics: Football Tops Dayton; Big Week for Volleyball

Torero Athletics: Football Tops Dayton; Big Week for Volleyball

USD Athletics Roundup - Volleyball

The University of San Diego (2-1, 1-0 PFL) football team earned a 34-22 victory over the Dayton Flyers (2-2, 0-1 PFL) in both teams' Pioneer Football League opener before 2,119 fans Sept. 24 at Torero Stadium.

San Diego needed two late touchdowns in the final 4 minutes, 31 seconds of the game to hold off the Flyers. The win was critical, even at the start of PFL play, because the Toreros hope to avoid a repeat of last year when these teams tied for the PFL title with 7-1 records, but the Flyers won the head-to-head contest to earn the league's automatic bid into the FCS Playoffs.

Dayton took its only lead of the game early in the fourth quarter on a special teams play, a 30-yard fumble recovery touchdown off a botched snap to USD’s punter. A blocked extra point landed into the arms of Dayton’s William Will and he threw the ball into the end zone for a two-point conversion to take a 22-21 lead.

But a 1-yard touchdown run by Tevin Heyward, his second score of the game, gave USD a 27-22 lead and a 62-yard pass play from Andrew Lawrence to Jonah Hodges sealed the win.

USD now travels to Indianapolis for a 10 a.m. (Pacific time) PFL game against Butler on Oct. 1. 

No. 6 Volleyball Plays at LMU on ESPNU; Hosts BYU Friday

Good things continue to happen for the women’s volleyball program and, as a result, others are taking notice.

USD’s national ranking is now sixth, up one spot from last week’s AVCA poll. Senior middle blocker Lauren Schad was named West Coast Conference Player of the Week for her performance in the Toreros’ three 3-game sweep victories against San Diego State and WCC foes San Francisco and Santa Clara. The volleyball team's win streak is now at 10 and tonight, in a WCC match at Loyola Marymount, the Toreros (11-2, 2-0 WCC) will play their 7 p.m. match on national television, ESPNU. 

Following that, USD hosts a highly-anticipated match this Friday against 11th-ranked BYU at 7 p.m. in the Jenny Craig Pavilion. The Torero Program Board will host a pre-game tailgate party at the JCP with free tacos at 6:30 p.m. 

Last-Second Win for Women’s Soccer; WCC Begins

The final seconds of a scoreless soccer match should only go one way. If you’ve got a chance to score, you do it. With 16 seconds left in its Sept. 23 game against Cal State Fullerton, Summer Mason’s cross pass went to Dannielle Gonzales who immediately bumped the ball into the net for a 1-0 USD women's soccer team victory.

The Toreros’ overall record improved to a 5-4-1 and closed out nonconference play. USD now turns its attention to West Coast Conference play with a pair of 7 p.m. home games on Sept. 29 against San Francisco and Oct. 1 against Santa Clara. 

Men’s Soccer Goes 1-1-1; Prepares for No. 1 Maryland

The men’s soccer team posted a 1-1-1 mark in road games against UNLV (a 4-3 win), Cal State Northridge (1-1 tie) and an overtime loss at #11 San Diego State (1-0) this past week.

Michael Turner tallied twice, including the game-winning penalty kick, against UNLV. Allen Luhrs’ goal in the 67th minute completed the scoring against Northridge. The overtime loss at SDSU moved USD to 0-1-3 in four extra-period contests.

The team, now 3-3-3 overall this season, has one more nonconference game — a trip to face No. 1-ranked Maryland in a 4 p.m. contest on Oct. 3 — before the start of West Coast Conference play on Oct. 9 at Loyola Marymount.

Cross-Country Teams Head East

The men and women’s cross-country teams return to action this Saturday, far from where their last meet — held Sept. 17 locally at Mission Bay — took place.

The teams will compete in the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, Penn., on the campus of Lehigh University. The men’s 8K race will take place at 8 a.m., followed by the women’s 6K race at 8:45 a.m.

 

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