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Women’s Soccer: Dons Bounce Back After Rough Season Opener

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John Holton Staff Writer

The Dons rebounded from their loss to UC Berkeley on Friday with a decisive 3-0 win over Nevada in Reno just two days later. This was USF’s second game of the 2014 season, and it brought their overall record to 1-1. Nevada was put at a disadvantage early when Kelsey Quintos, the Wolfpack’s starting goalkeeper, was injured while saving a shot by sophomore defender Jessica Nakae. The Dons started the scoring soon after when senior midfielder Jaciara Mello received the ball on a corner kick and sent it into the goal just out of the reaches of Nevada backup goalkeeper Devyn Bryer.

The Dons did not wait long to strike again. Just a minute later, Nakae notched her first goal of the season to put USF in the driver’s seat with a commanding 2-0 lead. From then on, both teams went for nearly the rest of the game without another goal, but the Dons struck for a third time in the 89th minute when freshman forward Maddy Glaser sent a shot into the top right corner, earning herself her first goal in collegiate play.

The Dons took 14 shots, with nine of them on goal. The Wolfpack, on the other hand, managed just six shots all game.

In their first game of the season, the Dons did not fare nearly as well, losing to UC Berkeley at Goldman Field by a score of 3-1.

Both teams were silent throughout the first half, but the Golden Bears did not wait long to strike in the second, with UC Berkeley’s Lorin Hom scoring the first goal of the game just after the break. The Dons would not go down scoreless, however, and sophomore midfielder Amanda Whittle managed to score her first goal of the season, evening the score to 1-1. Suddenly, the Dons were in prime position to leave Berkeley with a comeback road win.

Whittle’s goal was where the scoring ended for the Dons, though, while it had only just begun for the Golden Bears. A 64th-minute goal by Arielle Ship put UC Berkeley up 2-1, and Ifeoma Onumonu supplied the dagger in the 79th minute, scoring to cement the Golden Bears’ lead and guide them to eventual victory.

The Dons will play their home opener against Portland State on Friday, Aug. 29 at 7:00 p.m. at the USF Tournament. They will also take the field to play LIU Brooklyn on Sunday, Aug. 31 at 2:30 p.m. to round out the tournament. 

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Men’s Soccer: Dons Topple No. 7 UC Berkeley in Regulation

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Nicholas Welsh

Staff Writer

With a reshaped roster, a new coach, and a new year ahead of them, USF kicked off the preseason on a positive note, outplaying host UC Berkeley last Wednesday on its way to a 2-1 win in regulation. Although the match was only a scrimmage, it was a major win and confidence booster for the Dons.

The match was head coach Eddie Soto’s first game at the helm of the USF soccer program. Prior to being hired at USF, Soto was an assistant coach at UCLA, which he helped lead to a No. 1 ranking in the country last year. He had no trouble acclimating to life as a head coach in his inaugural game with the Dons, coaching them to a victory against the seventh-ranked team in the nation.

USF scored early in the preseason matchup, registering a goal in only the ninth minute of regulation. Freshman defender Manny Padilla passed the ball to cutting sophomore midfielder Davi Ramos, who headed the ball towards the UC Berkeley goal. The shot was deflected by the Golden Bears’ goalkeeper, but senior midfielder Jesus Del Toro was able to reach the deflected ball and place it in the back of net, vaulting the Dons ahead 1-0. 16 minutes later, UC Berkeley answered with a goal of its own to tie the game 1-1.

The match remained tied until the 72nd minute, when sophomore forward David Garrett found Ramos, who was presented with another scoring opportunity. This time, Ramos shot the ball into the bottom left corner of the net, ensuring that there would be no deflection.

The Dons led 2-1 at the end of regulation, but the teams’ coaching staffs elected to continue the game for another 20 minutes in an effort to give the reserve players some extra time on the field. In this additional period, UC Berkeley was able to tie the score at 2-2.

Even though the first game of the Eddie Soto era was only a scrimmage, USF’s performance against an elite team has set the bar high for the rest of the season. The Dons will look to improve upon last year’s 7-11-2 overall record, and the next step towards that goal comes when they travel to Madison, Wisc. to play the No. 21-ranked Wisconsin Badgers on Friday, Aug. 29 at 5:30 p.m. 

Sports

A Breakdown of USF Sports

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John Holton           

Staff Writer

USF, along with Santa Clara and St. Mary’s, is one of the founding members of the West Coast Conference (WCC). The WCC plays at the Division 1 level in the NCAA, which is the highest level of college sports in the nation. The school mascot is the Don, a man with a sword, hat, mustache, and mask wearing USF green and gold. While many incoming freshman might mistake him for the popular masked character Zorro, the Don is actually supposed to be a Spanish nobleman.

Since 1952, USF sports teams have won 42 WCC Championships and 12 NCAA Championships. Two of the NCAA titles were won by 11-time NBA Champion and USF alum Bill Russell, who led the men’s basketball team to victory in the 1955 and 1956 NCAA tournament. The 1956 season was also notable because the Dons went undefeated in the regular season, marking the first time in NCAA history a team went undefeated and won the national championship. The soccer program also has a standard of success set in place by legendary coach Stephen Negoesco, who led to Dons to four national titles from 1966-1980.

Men’s and women’s soccer will be the first sports to start this season, with a men’s game on Wednesday, Aug. 20 at UC Berkeley and a women’s game two days later at the same location.

The volleyball team is also starting its season near the start of the school year, with its first match coming on Friday, Aug. 29. The final two sports to start their seasons in August will be men’s and women’s cross country. Both will participate in the San Francisco Invitational for their first meet on Saturday, Aug. 30.

Moving on into September the men’s and women’s teams for both tennis and golf will start their fall seasons. Men’s golf’s first tournament will be the Gopher Invitational from Sept. 7-8, while the women will start a little later at the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic from Sept. 8-9. The men’s tennis team has its first match from Sept. 12-14 at the Napa Challenge and the women have theirs from Sept. 26-28 at the Cal Berkeley Invitational.

The last teams to start their seasons during this semester will be the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Basketball is USF’s only sport to start in the winter and conclude during March of the next year.

Last season, the men’s basketball team finished with a 20-10 record in the regular season and advanced to the WCC Championship semifinals, where they lost after going into overtime against BYU. The team lost its star Cole Dickerson to graduation, and starting point guard Avry Holmes, who transferred to Clemson. Dickerson was the team’s leading scorer with 15.1 points per game, and Holmes was just behind him with 12.5 per game. USF did bring in junior Montray Clemons, a former player at Pensacola College as well as freshmen Devin Watson, Frankie Ferrari, Chase Foster, and Nick Loew.

The women’s basketball team went 11-18 in the regular season last year, but managed to advance to the quarterfinals in the WCC tournament after a win over Loyola Marymount in the first round.

Come spring semester, the baseball and track and field teams will begin their 2015 campaigns, and tennis and golf will start their spring seasons. Sand volleyball, which became a USF sport in 2013, will get underway in March 2015.

USF Fall Sports Preview

Women’s cross country

Finished 18th at the NCAA National Championships last year (best finish in USF history)

Finished First Place at the WCC Championships last year

Head Coach: Helen Lehman-Winters (five-time WCC Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year)

Incoming Freshman: Catherine Clohesy, Haley Dorris, Kelsey Nielsen, Elise Tello, Erin Thomas

Key Departures: Eva Krchova, Maor Tiyouri, Kailey Ulland

Key Returning Runners: Elena Burkard (junior), Kate Jamboretz (senior)

track

Men’s cross country

Finished 5th at the 2013 WCC Championships

Head Coach: Helen Lehman-Winters (Two-time WCC Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year)

Incoming Freshman: Mohamad Aziz, Quentin Purtzer

Key Departures: Jimmy McManus, Gustavo Mena, Patrick Kunkel

Key Returning Runners: Eric Causey (junior), Jose Madera (senior)

volleyball

Women’s Volleyball

2013 Record: 13-15 (9-9 WCC)

Head Coach: Gilad Doron (winningest coach in USF Volleyball history)

Incoming Freshman: Kim Gutierrez, Jessica Gaffney, Oluoma Okaro

Key Departures: Malina Terrell, Rebecca Kopilovitch, Mackenzie Murtagh, Ester de Vries

Key Players: Valentina Zaloznik (senior middle blocker), Katarina Pilepic (senior opposite/outside hitter)

Men’s Soccer

2013 Record: 7-11-2 (4-7-1 WCC)

Head Coach: Eddie Soto

Incoming Athletes: Manny Padilla, Bryce Kaminski, KJ Ahlo, Jonathan Fabulich, Treston Kederer, Justin Schottenhammer, Mitchell McPartland, Kamron Crow, Ruben Duk, Aaron Lombardi, Sasha Boussina, Davi Ramos

New Staff Members: Eddie Soto (Head Coach), Alex Yi (Assistant Coach), Steven Sosa (Assistant Coach), Mike McNeill (Goalkeeper Coach), James Jaramillo (Director of Operations)

Key Departures: Vegard Karlsen, Liam Kelly, Mauricio Diaz De Leon, Michael Shaddock, Brady Jimison, Kyle MacLeod, Connor Gaal

Key Players: Miguel Aguilar (senior Forward), Chase Hauser (senior goalkeeper)

Women’s Soccer

2013 Record: 6-10-4 (1-6-2 WCC)

Head Coach: Jim Millinder

Incoming Athletes: Carissa Martine, Camille Wilson, Maddy Glaser, Samantha Jehnings, Allison Arriola, Kaile Johnson, Sonja Giraud, Jan van Hasselt, Charlee Garcia, Erica Cunningham

Key Departures: Tyler Campagna, Lexie Krueger, Katherin Woodrum

Key Players: Mackenize Krieser (junior forward), Madalyn Schiffel (junior goalkeeper)

Sports

Women’s Basketball’s Four Fresh Faces

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The habits, hobbies and past basketball careers of USF’s new freshmen hoopers 

WBB
(From left) Hashima Carothers, Rachel Howard, Kalyn Simon and Claudia Price. These four freshmen are set to make an immediate impact as the Dons get ready to rumble this season. (Photo Courtesy of Dons Athletics)

Kalyn Simon

The 5-foot-9-inch guard from nearby San Jose, Calif. said that the biggest reason she chose USF was because she has always loved the city for its diversity and beauty. Once here, she found that she liked the small classes and the small campus as it made the community here feel like a tight-knit one.

Kayln Simon was part of a state champion team with Archbishop Mitty High School, but even after facing the best high school teams, she had to adjust to the speed and skill of Division I college ball.

“College basketball is played at a much faster pace. The players are smarter, more athletic and stronger,” she said. “The hardest part to adapt to was the conditioning level and the tempo which we are expected to play with.”

Simon is prepared to work hard this season and hopes to make a run for the WCC Championship this upcoming season.

When she is not working out on the court or in the classroom, Simon likes to spend her free time exploring the city with her teammates or just hanging out with some friends.

“I love our team. Especially the fact that we are a mix of different personalities, which makes all the time we spend together really fun.”

Claudia Price

Basketball is a priority for Claudia Price, but so is quality education, which is why she made the choice to attend USF. The freshman biology major was placed on the academic honor roll for all four years of high school. After college, the she is considering a job as a dentist.

Along with excelling in her studies, the Mesquite, Texas native also performs on the court. As a high school senior, she averaged 16.6 points per game and led the state in rebounds, averaging 14.4.

For the season, the 5-foot-11-inch forward’s personal goals include contributing to the team in any way she can, being a threat on the court and being a team player.

Rachel Howard

Rachel Howard, a 5-foot-10-inch guard from Berkeley, Calif. was a three-time Northern California champion and three-time state runner-up with Berkeley High School. She chose to play at USF because she believes that the team and the coaching staff are the best in the country.

“My goal for the season is…to simply get better in every way,” Howard told USFDons.com. “Get stronger, smarter, quicker. I want to be a lethal shooter.”

When she is not playing basketball, the Bay Area native’s hobbies include dancing and playing card games.

Hashima Carothers

“Shima” is a kinesiology major originally from Las Vegas, Nev. The 5-foot-11-inch freshman forward not only played four years of varsity basketball, but also participated in two years of track and field and one season of varsity volleyball at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Calif. She averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds, which helped her win team and league most valuable player honors.

Carothers told USFDons.com that her goal for the season was “to become a better player by helping those around me, doing whatever is asked and needed of me and playing my role.”

In her spare time, she enjoys dancing, attempting to sing, doodling and eating.

Sports

Volleyball: Zaloznik Named WCC Player of the Week

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It was a close match, but team leader junior middle blocker Valentina Zaloznik, last week’s WCC Player of the Week, and the rest of the Dons were able to hang on for dear life to pull out a victory against the University of Pacific. USF defeated the Tigers (11-9, 4-5 WCC) in five sets, 26-24, 25-21, 19-25, 18-25, 15-8, on Saturday, Oct. 18 at War Memorial Gym.

The Dons, who are now 9-10 on the season and 5-4 in conference play, were coming off a big win against Bay Area rival St. Mary’s on Thursday. Senior outside hitter/ middle blocker Malina Terrell and freshman opposite/outside hitter Katarina Pilepic led USF to the four set, 25-21, 17-25, 25-23, 2518 victory against the Gaels. San Francisco is one of just four WCC teams above .500 so far this season. On Saturday, the first two sets were anything but controlled as the lead went back and forth, foreshadowing that the Dons would be in it for the long haul.  Sensing a distinct rhythm that USF got into time and again, Pacific called several timeouts in the first two sets, but this was to no avail as the Dons were able to outlast the Tigers to go up 2-0.

Whatever Tigers Head Coach Greg Gibbons said to refocus his squad before the third set did the trick, as they marched out to an early 6-1 lead that the Dons never overcame. The lead see-sawed back and forth again in the fourth set, with the Tigers eventually holding on at the end to tie it up at 2-2.

Sensing a change in momentum that included two questionable calls by the referees, the Tigers looked like they were in prime position to win in the fifth set. However, the experience and demeanor of the Dons were too much for the Tigers to complete the comeback.
“It was not the first time this year that we have faced the fifth set so we knew what we were heading into,” Zaloznik said. “We knew we had to set up our game and fight back.”

The Dons did just that, as they held off Pacific 15-9 in the fifth set. The Tigers were looking to improve to their WCC record to 5-4 with the win, but the defense and hitting power of the Dons was simply too much for the Tigers to handle, as the dynamic duo of Zaloznik and Terrell posted 36 kills, leading an unstoppable Dons attack. Blocks were key for the Dons as well, exhilarating the crowd and helping the team at pivotal moments.

“We got some huge blocks in perfect timings,” said Zaloznik.

With the help of these well-timed blocks, the Dons were able to pick up their fifth WCC win and gather some momentum heading into their next match, which will be against Santa Clara on Friday, Oct. 25 at 6:30 p.m. at War Memorial Gym.