Soccer, volleyball expected to excel after a successful season

Sports Editor|May 10, 2013

The volleyball team will lose six seniors and gain five players.

This past year was an extremely successful one for St. Edward’s University athletics, resulting in two Heartland Conference championships, multiple NCAA tournament appearances and a slew of All-Conference athletes.

Former Sports Editor Nolan Green reported on St. Edward’s sports for the past year and will lay out his predictions for the upcoming year for the Hilltopper soccer and volleyball teams.

Men’s Soccer

Losing only three senior players could mean the opportunity for a repeat Heartland Conference championship for the 2013 season.

The loss of senior defender, All-American, Heartland Conference player of the year Gavin Bruce leaves big cleats to fill on the defensive side of the field.

A diverse schedule faces Hilltoppers this fall. Look for them to finish this season in a similar manner as last, and will hopefully end with their sixth Heartland Conference title.

Women’s Soccer

Nine combined players were selected to the Heartland All-Conference team for the Lady Hilltoppers, only one of whom was a senior.

Additionally, the team only graduated two seniors from last season and holds a school-record of 18 wins.

This bodes well for the upcoming year as the team looks forward to revenge from the crushing loss in the Heartland Conference championship.

Volleyball

After a 10-4 conference record and a second place finish in the Heartland Conference tournament, the women’s volleyball team is looking to improve for the 2013 season.

The six graduating seniors are going to be replaced by five new freshman that were signed for the 2013 season.

Unfortunately, it will be hard to replace All-American, All-Conference Libero Michelle Hundt, but the five new faces are a good step towards a successful season in the fall.

St. Edward’s secures 2-1 LSC Tournament quarterfinal victory over UT Tyler with late penalty goal

Moments before the second goal was scored against the Patriots. “Those moments where you had to push yourself were a big highlight for me,” Reyes said. “This journey, this season, it was a moment. I think about how I started the season, focusing on things, on little things, and the things that were going to become big things too.”

Hilltopper Soccer seniors help lead comeback and LSC Tournament playoffs

Bailey Featherstone (21) and J.P. (1) celebrate a basket against Colorado School of Mines. Featherstone and J.P. were both named to last year’s Lone Star Conference All-Freshman Team.

Home sweet hilltop for women’s basketball, wins second game of home opener weekend 71-51

The women’s club basketball team poses after their first win of the season. “These girls come into practice and they work hard every single time,” Rae said. “They take their time out of their day outside of practice to work on their skills too, so they're not only coming to practice and working hard, but they're doing it on their own time too. They have a lot of dedication, they have commitment, and that's all I could ask for. They work really hard in practice. They help each other out. We're in practice, and if someone is struggling, whether it's a bad day or they just can't get a skill down, some of the other teammates are there to help 'em, pick 'em up, show 'em how to do it. We work as one unit and these girls have put in so much hard work, and even with just six of us, we have grown so much. And tonight we pulled off this win. And I think that it also wouldn't be fun without them. They have such great energy, especially in practice, keeping it lighthearted. We're always supporting each other, we're always making each other laugh, and it's just all making it worth it. And that's why I do this. That's why I want to manage the team, so that I can make the program possible for them to play.”

Women’s club basketball secures win in final home game of season

Irvin Abarca, who scored SEU’s first goal against Dallas Baptist University, dribbles against a Patriots’ forward. Throughout this season, Abarca has played all 17 games of the season, and accounted for four assists and scored his first goal during the Homecoming game.

SEU wins homecoming match against Dallas Baptist University 2-0

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