By Paige Siewert
Many of the University of Saint Mary’s fall sports are winding down through the start of November while others are just getting started. Football has only one away game left, both soccer teams finished up their season on October 30th. Cross Country attended and won Conference Championships November 3rd and Volleyball finished up conference play over the weekend then they will head to conference tournament on November 8th.
Fall at a Glance
There are a lot of notable achievements that can be found throughout the fall. From record games to students earning the KCAC Athlete of the Week achievement on multiple occasions. Here is a list of some of them:
3-Time KCAC Women’s Runner of the Week: Kaitlyn Shoemaker (Oct 24th, Oct 9th, Sept 25th)
4-Time KCAC Men’s Runner of the Week: Phillip Lagemann (Oct 24th, Oct 9th, Sept 25th, Sept 8th)
Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week: Katy Koepke (Oct 9th)
KCAC Men’s Offensive Player of the Week: Rodney Smith (Sept 17th)
KCAC Defensive Player of the Week: Tavita Ploetz (Sept 11th)
KCAC Defensive Player of the Week: Nicholas Holmes (Sept 4th)
NAIA Five-Star Gold Award (Champions of Character): University of Saint Mary
#1 Ranking in the Division for Total Interceptions and Interceptions Per Game: Nicholas Holmes
#5 Team Ranking in the Division for Total Digs (2480): Women’s Volleyball
Men’s Cross Country Ranked 7th in NAIA Top 25
Women’s Cross Country Ranked 25th in NAIA Top 25
Exceeding 10,000 Career Passing Yards: Drew Cortez (November 3rd)
Final Showings
Spires football played their second last game on November 2nd and pushed past Southwestern with a 49-35 victory.
Women’s cross country captured the conference title for the second year in a row and will head to nationals.
Men’s cross country also captured the conference title but for them, it was the sixth season in a row and will head to nationals as well.
Men’s soccer finished their season with a 2-1 win over Avila University.
Women’s soccer finished up their season falling short 2-1 in a second overtime over Avila University.
Volleyball sweeps Avila University in three sets at home for senior night and secures their KCAC tournament qualification.
| Overall Record | Conference Record | |
| Men’s Soccer | 5-11-1 | 3-8-1 |
| Women’s Soccer | 4-14 | 3-9 |
| Football | 2-6 | 2-6 |
| Volleyball | 24-14 | 9-3 |
| Men’s Swimming | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Women’s Swimming | 0-4 | 0-4 |
| Men’s Cross Country | 1st in 3/6 races | 1st in 3/6 races |
| Women’s Cross Country | 1st in 2/6 races | 1st in 2/6 races |
Looking Forward
Men’s and Women’s basketball have gotten off to a start on their preseason games with their conference games beginning November 14th. Both teams have yet to put up a win in their scrimmages but are working to come together when it matters. Conference opener games will be played at home in the Ryan Field House with Women’s basketball kicking it off against Bethel at 6:00 p.m. and Men’s basketball following at 8:00 p.m.
Men’s wrestling kicked off November 4th at Baker University and Women’s wrestling began their season November 3rd at Eastern Illinois. Both teams will carry on until at least February based on conference standing.
Men’s and Women’s swimming is in midseason form and have at least six more meets leading up to the start of February.
The rest of the Spring sports will get going next semester but will take the time now to work on their offseason workouts.
For more information regarding Spire Athletics check out www.gospires.com
Paige Siewert is a Senior at the University of Saint Mary studying Digital Communications.
USM SPIRE-TIMES 