Weekly Recap
Men’s soccer wins first conference game; swimming & diving beats Lions
MARI OLSON / SPORTS EDITOR / THE USD VISTA
Winning was the trend this weekend as men’s soccer found their first conference win and the golf team won their first tournament of the fall season. Swim & dive put on a first-place performance and football extended their winning streak to five games. Keep reading for updates on how it all happened.
Men’s soccer
With four games to go in the West Coast Conference (WCC) men’s soccer season, the University of San Diego Toreros faced off against the Loyola Marymount University (LMU) Lions on Wednesday, Oct. 27.
The Toreros were defeated by two goals to one at Torero Stadium.
USD’s all-time record against LMU is 15-12-3, but the Toreros are on a three-game losing streak against the Lions, with their last win coming in the fall of 2019.
LMU scored in the 19th minute to put the Toreros down 0-1, but they answered quickly with an equalizing goal scored by sophomore forward, Nicklas Clausen, in the 27th minute. The goal puts Clausen tied for first with Santa Clara University’s senior forward, Oladayo Thomas, for the most goals scored in the WCC this season at seven.
The game went into halftime tied at one, but the Toreros couldn’t find the win in the second half. LMU scored the game-winning goal in the 67th minute to hand USD their fourth conference loss of the season. USD’s conference record fell to 0-4 with the loss.
Junior forward, Mason Tunbridge, was given a red card in the 86th minute. Tunbridge had to serve a one-game suspension, meaning he was not available in their next game against the University of San Francisco (USF) on Sunday, Oct 31.
The Toreros finally found their first conference win of the season against USF, beating the Dons 2-1 after coming back from behind in the first half.
USF scored in the 15th minute, putting the Toreros behind 0-1. USD fought hard and found an equalizer before the half was over, when sophomore midfielder, Ross Johnstone, scored in the 40th minute.
First-year defender, Dylan Thompson, put the Toreros ahead in the 61st minute to complete the comeback and make the score 2-1. The goal was Thompson’s first of the season.
The Toreros defended well through the game, confining the Dons to just two shots on target.
USD looks to continue the winning momentum in their final home game of the season on Friday, Nov. 5 against the University of the Pacific at 7 p.m.
Golf
USD golf won its first tournament of the season last week, taking first out of 15 in the Hoakalei Country Club Invitational, hosted by the University of Hawaii, Manoa.
The Toreros posted scores of 287, 288, and 282 in the three rounds of the tournament. After the second round, the team was in third, behind Loyola Marymount University in second and the University of Louisiana in first.
USD played an excellent third round of golf and overcame both teams ahead of them to take first place with a final score of 857, seven under par.
In addition to the team win, redshirt junior, Charlie Reiter, took first place individually with scores of 70, 69, 69 to finish at 208, eight under par.
Redshirt senior, Harrison Kingsley, tied for sixth individually at three under par, and sophomore, Andi Xu, tied for eighth at two under to put three Toreros in the top 10.
Next up for the Torero golf team is the Saint Mary’s Invitational hosted by Saint Mary’s University in the Bay Area, starting Monday, Nov. 8 and concluding on Wednesday, Nov. 10.
Jaden Hauptman, The USD Vista
Football
USD football pulled off a comeback win on Saturday afternoon against Valparaiso University. The game ended in favor of the Toreros with a final score of 21-14.
Valparaiso scored twice in the first quarter to give themselves a 14-point lead over USD.
In the second quarter, senior running back, Emilio Martinez scored on a 15-yard pass from graduate quarterback, Mason Randall. Junior kicker, Brandon Eickert, converted the extra point kick to bring the Toreros to 7-14.
Eickert also scored two field goals to make the score 13-14 to Valparaiso at halftime.
The score remained unchanged through the third quarter and most of the fourth. With 1:15 to go in the game, Randall found redshirt junior tight end, Derek Kline, for an important 37-yard gain. Randall ran the ball in himself on a quarterback run on the next play, putting the Toreros up 21-14.
The defense hung on for the final minute to secure the win for the Toreros. Redshirt sophomore defensive tackle, Will Buck, had three sacks over the course of the game to keep the Toreros in it.
USD has a winning record for the first time this season, going 5-4 overall and 5-1 in conference play.The Toreros play their final home game on Saturday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. against Morehead State University.
Swim & Dive
The USD swim & dive team competed against Loyola Marymount University on Saturday, Oct. 30. The Toreros came out on top against the Lions, with 128 points to LMU’s 98.
USD athletes won 13 out of the 16 events in the pool.
Junior, Elena Elie, won the 200 yard breaststroke event with a time of 2:27.20, beating the second place finisher from LMU by over 10 seconds.
Junior, Sam Eason, put on an impressive performance in the 200 yard freestyle, posting a time of 1:58.61 to take first. First-year, Gigi Zinis, took second and senior, Haley Ohlson, took third to round out the top three for the Toreros.
The USD diving team competed in the one meter and three meter diving events against themselves since LMU does not have divers. First-year diver, Jane Riehs, took first in both events, scoring 265.43 in the one meter and 244.58 in the three meter.
USD swim & dive will compete next in the East Los Angeles College Invite Nov. 18 through Nov. 20.
Photo courtesy of USD Athletics Communications
Cross Country
Both men’s and women’s cross country competed in Concord, California on Friday, Oct. 29 in the WCC Championship race.
The women’s team ran a six kilometer race and finished eighth out of 10 teams on Friday, with a total time of 1:56:46.
Junior, Gianna Sbarbaro, placed the highest for Toreros, finishing 36th overall out of 94 athletes with a time of 22:20.0. First-year, Maddie Heller, was second for USD in 61st, running the six kilometers in 23:21.2.
The men’s team placed ninth out of nine teams for the eight kilometer distance. The team’s total time was 2:10:32.
Senior, Ethan Steiner, finished at 39th overall with a time of 25:07.3, leading the way for the Toreros. First-year, Walter Coleman, and sophomore, Will Stefanou, rounded out USD’s top three.
The Toreros will race next at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) West Regionals on Nov. 12 in Sacramento, CA.