While most of the students arrive a few days before school starts, most of the athletes have been here at least a week longer. Fall sports begin immediately when school starts and right now they are in full swing. Biola’s fall sports are off to a great start.
The women’s volleyball team is leading the way by posting a perfect 14-0 record, defeating everyone in their path at the APU Cougar Classic early in the season and more recently sweeping Vanguard, Westmont and Point Loma in dominating fashion, winning 3-0. They are ranked number four in the polls and could climb even higher if they continue their winning ways.
The Lady Eagles are led by seniors Jessica Buffum and Meghan Warkentin and also have great young talent, namely, freshman standout Joy Talcott who had 11 kills in the game against San Diego Christian. Buffum earned GSAC player of the week honors for the week of Sept. 8-14. The expectations are very lofty this year for the women’s volleyball team, but at this pace a championship title is definitely attainable.
Men’s soccer also got off to a scorching hot start going 5-0 before recently losing to Embry-Riddle University of Arizona. It was the first time in the program’s 48-year history that the team had started 5-0. The Eagles are a young team fielding only three seniors: captain Brandon Gonzalez, Nick Bautista and Joshua-Paul Robles. Among the talented newcomers are freshmen Cody Shelton and sophomore Kennedy Chongo.
Biola sophomore goalkeeper Tyler Higgins was named the first GSAC defensive player of the week for the 2008 season, earning the honor for his play Sept. 1-7. Higgins, an Albuquerque, N.M. native, made eight saves in a pair of games, posting shutouts in Biola’s first two games. The men are looking forward to GSAC competition, which will really give them a chance to prove themselves.
The GSAC conference will be tough this year but coach Bryan Kuderman expects the men to make the conference playoffs. “I am 100 percent, dead set on making the conference tournament,” he said. “When we do that I really think we can surprise ourselves and others.” The men’s next game is Saturday at Biola against The Masters College at 7 p.m.
The women’s soccer team have gotten themselves off to a good start posting a 3-1 record. They only won three games all of last season, which makes this start even more gratifying. The women’s team is similar to the men’s in that they are a young team. The lone senior on the team is forward Brittany Neill. Neill had a big goal earlier this season against William Penn University (Iowa) when she chipped a shot over the goalkeeper from 27 yards out in the 56th minute to lift Biola to a 1-0 win. Sophomore defender Caitlin Peterson has also started the year well, scoring the game winner on a 23 yard blast against Oregon Tech to give Biola the 2-1 win. The women’s next game is Saturday at Biola against The Masters College at 4:30 p.m.
Cross country is off and running, as well. The women’s team was ranked number 5 in the NAIA preseason poll, and expectations are high for the talented ladies’ squad. The ladies ran well in the opening race of the year at UC Irvine placing eighth out of 13 teams in the A race. This race was against much bigger schools like UCLA and UC Irvine. Sophomore Katie Thede led the way finishing 21st, followed by four of her teammates: junior Kristin Schmidt, sophomore Kelsey Gasner, and freshmen Carissa Bowman and Nychele Fischetti, who all finished in the top 50. The women also finished eighth out of 17 teams in the women’s invitational race at the 64th Annual Aztec Invitational hosted by San Diego State University at Balboa Park. Thede led the pack again placing 26th, and behind her Kristin Schmidt placed 44th, Nychele Fischetti in 53rd, and Kelsey Gasner in 64th. The women are off to a fantastic start, and are poised to do great this year.
The graduation of Brian Ball does not seem to be affecting the men’s team negatively; they picked up right where they left off. Freshman David Ricksecker led the way at the UC Irvine invitational where the men finished 11th place. Junior Kyle McNulty was not far behind as he crossed in 74th place.
At the Aztec Invitational the men won the eight kilometer open race. The men scored a low 26 point total to cruise to a win in the open race as Ricksecker, McNulty, and Robbie Cracknell went 1-2-3 in the team scoring.
Coach Jonathan Zimmerman said that the cross country runners make their year by the work they do over the summer.
“The team mileage over the summer is the equivalent of running from Biola to Beijing to Berlin,” said Zimmerman. “This is going to be a great fall campaign for all of them.”
