Athletics Roundup: Volleyball, Men's Soccer on a Roll; Cross Country, Football, Women's Soccer

The University of San Diego women's volleyball team is on a roll. Seven straight match wins, including one five-set win against nationally ranked USC and six three-game sweeps against both nonconference and West Coast Conference opponents.

The latter two victories came Sept. 26 and 28 during WCC opening weekend on the road in the Pacific Northwest. USD swept Portland, 25-18, 25-18, 25-11, in Oregon, and then took out Gonzaga, 25-17, 25-18, 25-9 in Spokane, Wash.

Against Portland, Thana Fayad led the way with 13 kills, two service aces, two blocks and 11 digs. Katie Lukes had 10 kills, Anna Newsome had four aces, seven digs and 17 assists and Grace Frohling had seven kills, an ace and four blocks to lead USD.

In the victory over Gonzaga, Megan Jacobsen and Fayad each had 12 kills while Lukes added 10. Newsome had 33 assists and 11 digs. Fayad added two aces and 11 digs as USD improved its records to 9-4 overall, 2-0 WCC.

The team will now have the first three-match week this week, all WCC matches, against Pepperdine (at home) and a Northern California trip to Saint Mary's and Pacific.

Volleyball Schedule: USD hosts Pepperdine, Tuesday, 7 p.m., Jenny Craig Pavilion; USD at Saint Mary's, Thursday, 7 p.m., Moraga, Calif.; USD at Pacific, Saturday, noon, Stockton, Calif.

Men's Soccer

The winning formula for the men's soccer team, which is now off to a 7-1 start, is a 1-0 victory in which Miguel Berry scores and Matt Wiher shuts down the opposition.

The 1-0 Torero win this time came on the road Sept. 27 at UC Riverside. Berry, who now has seven goals this season, tallied in the 49th minute and Wiher and his defense recorded their sixth shutout of the season. This marked the fifth time that USD has won a game 1-0.

Continuing its best start in 13 years, Berry's goal four minutes into the second half was huge as UCR had a flurry of shots in the second half. Wiher recorded three saves, but UCR had 11 shot attempts in the second half alone.

Berry's team-leading goal was assisted by Freddy Polzer. The men's team plays two more nonconference games this week before opening West Coast Conference play Oct. 12 at home against San Francisco.

Men's Soccer Schedule: USD hosts UC Santa Barbara, Tuesday, 7 p.m., Torero Stadium; USD at West Virginia, Friday, 4 p.m. (Pacific time), Morgantown, WV.

Men and Women’s Cross-Country

The men and women's cross-country teams traveled to St. Paul, Minnesota this past weekend to compete in the Roy Griak Invitational, hosted by the University of Minnesota, and the Toreros' results were similar to what the season has been like so far.

On the women's side, USD was led by Hannah Rasmussen, who finished 13th overall in a time of 21 minutes, 48.9 seconds. The women's race featured numerous top 25 nationally-ranked teams, but Rasmussen had a steady race and earned the Top 15 finish. Molly Klein was USD's second runner to finish, clocking a 22:42.1 for 44th overall. Madison Lambros was third for USD in 22:59.7 and 55th place. Cammy Manes and Beth Wade rounded out USD's top five. USD finished 11th in the team standings.

In the men's race, Jackson Pearce and Ian Converse were USD's top runners, finishing 57th (26:17.0) and 60th (26:21.2), respectively. They led a strong pack performance as Ethan Steiner, Josh Thompson and Patrick Bruce finished within the next 17 seconds. The men were 12th in the team standings.

Cross-Country Schedule: Both USD teams’ next meet is the Highlander Invitational, Saturday, Oct. 19, hosted by UC Riverside, 8 a.m.

Football

The annual USD Homecoming and Family Weekend game arrives this week it's a big one. First off, it's the annual Brian Fogarty Pioneer Football League Classic game and that happens when it is the Toreros' opening game of the league portion of their schedule.

USD will welcome the Marist College Red Foxes, who hail from Poughkeepsie, New York, to Torero Stadium for Saturday's 2 p.m. kickoff. The Red Foxes' record after four games is 1-3 and they've actually already played two PFL games, splitting against Stetson (Fla.) in a 26-23 Marist home win on Sept. 14, but coming off a 41-17 home loss to Drake on Sept. 28. Marist has also played Georgetown (a 43-3 loss in its opener) and at Cornell (a 21-7 home loss).

The Toreros, meanwhile, come into Saturday's game with a 1-2 mark after their second bye week of the season and a 31-23 home win over Harvard on Sept. 21. USD's two losses are against scholarship teams Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (a 52-34 road loss Aug. 31) and UC Davis (a 38-35 heartbreaking home loss on Sept. 7).

Good news for USD, as far as history is concerned, is that the Toreros hold an 11-0 lifetime record against the Red Foxes. Last year, USD won 31-14 at Marist.

Football Schedule: USD hosts Homecoming and Family Weekend/Brian Fogarty PFL Classic vs. Marist, 2 p.m., Torero Stadium.  

Women's Soccer

The Toreros, after having some time off from game action after playing nine games so far this season and having a 4-4-1 record to show for it, will open their West Coast Conference schedule this Saturday night in Spokane, Wash., against Gonzaga.

USD, which has not played since a Sept. 22 1-0 loss at Utah — completing a two-game trip to Utah and the fourth of five straight road contests — looks to make its first step in WCC play better this year. The Toreros went 0-3 to open conference play, including a double-overtime 3-2 defeat at Torero Stadium against Gonzaga. The good news is USD has a 4-1 record when playing at Gonzaga in recent history. Milan Moses and Katie Lapomarda, who each scored a goal in last year's tough game are back for another go against Gonzaga.

Women's Soccer Schedule: USD plays at Gonzaga, Saturday, 7 p.m., Spokane, Wash. 

USD Athletics

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