Sonoma State Seawolves Insider Blog

Taylor Vigil: The Right First Steps

2011-11-21T15:58:00.000-08:00

Welcome fans, family and friends!! If you have been following Sonoma State women’s basketball, then I am sure you have been excitingly informed of our victory in overtime over the Colorado Mesa Mavericks with a 55-54 score on Saturday. Your support for our team has been greatly appreciated and speaking on behalf of the team and coaching staff, we only hope to see you in the near future at our upcoming home games!!

Starting this season off on the right foot has been key for our team collectively. In my last blog I talked momentarily about where success began for us and how the foundation, aka our pre-season, is vital. It is something to build on in hopes to potentially reach our destiny and it showed on Saturday that by building on everything we have worked for, victory becomes a reality.

Saturday's win over the Mavs felt immense. It was not until Saturday night that I recall back to the time during in pre-season when, not only my teammates, but my coaches constantly reminded me that with hard work comes reward. The times of hard training and conditioning, the times of working so hard that you had to look to your teammate beside you to try and pull that second wind out of you to go on, and the times of realizing how important it is to take care of the ‘little details’, that I realized and felt those times paid off. Apart of this reward of winning through hard work and perseverance to never quit, was the simplest fact that I was endowed with this win alongside my teammates and coaches. They were the people who helped me get to this point in time, who helped me push myself to get to gain such an accomplishment like beating the Mavs, who helped me to allow the mistakes of the game only be used as my incentive to bounce back and be a difference within the next play and who helped me instill the confidence that I needed to do so.

The wins we have accomplished and, especially the win over the Mavs, was never about one individual, nor one individual for one play; it was about all five individuals out on the floor working through each possession together. It was about the bench working as a unit talking about the flow of the game, being engaged in the game by cheering on their sisters, and by using words of encouragement to help them realize what needs to be done on the offensive end as well as the defensive end. It was about the coaches who helped us get set up in the right positions and who gave us the confidence to know we would, and could, be successful during the times we were. It was about the fight we had together to never give up for 40 minutes. This team has had a small taste in just a short time of what it is like to not only ‘talk’ about being successful, but actually become successful.

Before every game I like to write some words of encouragement to my teammates to remind them about what our main focus was on during the past week in practice. I let them know that myself, as well as the other girls on the team and the coaches all believe in them and that they are capable of bringing their talents to life during the game. This last game, I used a basketball quote by an unknown author to start off my letter. The quote says:

“Love the game. Love the game for the pure joy of accomplishment. Love the game for everything it can teach you about yourself. Love the game for the feeling of belonging to a group endeavoring to do its best. Love the game for being involved in a team whose members can't wait to see you do your best. Love the game for the challenge of working harder than you ever have at something and then harder than that. Love the game because it takes all team members to give it life. Love the game because at its best, the game tradition will include your contributions. Love the game because you belong to a long line of fine athletes who have loved it. It is now your legacy. Love the game so much that you will pass on your love of the game to another athlete who has seen your dedication, your work, your challenges, your triumphs and then that athlete will, because of you, love the game.”

I used this quote as a metaphor to implant this idea in my sisters that we are a team just like any other team out there, working for a common goal and doing what we love. With that, I went onto say that while mistakes are bound to happen throughout the game, it is how well we deal with those mistakes. It is our “love for the game” that takes away the possessions of frustration and miscommunication. Our love of the game is what brings us to where we are now, our love of the game allows us to compete and have this sense of urgency to simply get the job done and it is our love of the game that allows us to never quit on ourselves or one another and it is our love of the game that lead us to victory. I am so proud of my teammates for everything they have done, been doing and helped me with. I only look forward to what the future brings.

I hope all of you fans stay tuned for more information regarding SSU women’s basketball and come watch us play at our next home games. But, be sure to check us out when we travel to Humboldt to play the Lumberjacks on November 26!!

Taylor Vigil: A New Season, A New Opportunity, A New Family

2011-11-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Junior guard Taylor Vigil of the Sonoma State women's basketball team will be writing for the Seawolves' Insider Blog all season long. Be sure to check out her posts here to get an insider's perspective into the life of a student-athlete at Sonoma State.)

Hello everyone. Let me start off by saying thank you for tuning into the Seawolves' Insider Blog!

Returning as a redshirt junior on the women's basketball team, I am excited as any one of my fellow teammates to get this 2011-2012 season started. Upon arrival, myself and eight crucial returning players are ecstatic to have an additional three transfer teammates, as well as three incoming freshman to begin this new season on our road to success. With these six incoming enforcers, we were grateful enough to have our senior from the previous year, Olivia Larkin, be one of our new student assistant coaches. With the departure of Annie Roeser, a great and fun-loving assistant coach also from the previous year, we were lucky to have our newest edition to our coaching staff, Amanda Hanneman. A former player from Missouri has transformed into becoming an assistant coach on the Cali side.

Our pyramid to success has started with only a few important building blocks; the foundation, aka, our pre-season. This starting path to our journey has encountered many familiar concepts along with some new, different and exciting training drills on behalf of the conjoining forces of Coach Rigby and Coach Hanneman. To the point in which the whole concept of conditioning and intensity has been uplifted to a whole new level: BEASTMODE! This level called ‘Beast Mode’ has been the perfect ingredient to Sonoma State women’s basketball. Precision, persistence and consistency have been our focus, in link with weight lifting, condition and actual practices. This new year is one that I feel to be an exceptional one filled with many opportunities in seeking our goal and, soon enough, reaching it.

While the season is only on the edge of taking off, who says you cannot dream big? Success has a re-defined meaning for this team; it is as John Wooden once stated, “a peace of mind as a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to becoming the best you are capable of becoming.”

Kicking the year off with our first exhibition game against Cal State San Marcos with a W and a locker room chant after the final buzzer (“check ya Cougars”) was a great feeling for our first step toward success. Yet, this game, as well as every other practice from that point on, is a building block we view as a lesson to learn from (regardless of the win) and be cautious of the road ahead.

Collectively, this team, from the players to the coaches, everyone is motivated, confident and eager to see what the future holds. The upside to the future is also known as our destiny, which is held in our hands. Consciously knowing the work that needs to get done is our ambition to stay motivated and always bring out the faith and fight we have within ourselves, but more importantly one another. This team is not just fellow peers that have come together to play basketball. Myself, along with 14 others, are fully capable to look to one another and see more than a teammate, but a friend and a sister. That is just one of the many greatest gifts a team can have that makes them so special.

This team expects many great things this year and with our newest additions, there is no doubt in my mind those ‘great things’ cannot become a reality.

Be sure to follow us online at Sonomaseawolves.com and stay tuned for more news in the near future about our team. Thank you for your support and interest! Also, be sure to watch us tonight at Santa Clara @ 7 pm, and then against Menlo on Thursday @ 7 pm in Rohnert Park.

Update From Europe: The Ajax Way and van der Sar's testimonial

2011-08-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

Coach Ziemer and his Seawolves are spending two weeks in Europe to train before the 2011 season begins. The trip is also an opportunity for team members and coaches to learn about the rich cultural heritage of Holland, Belgium, and Germany. Coach Ziemer was kind enough to send us his journal entries from the trip...

Tuesday, August 2

I forgot to mention that on Monday, August 1 before we went to Ajax, we went to watch the first team of ADO den Haag train. They train at Zuiderpark in Den Haag, which is where the first team stadium used to be. They tore down three sides of the stands, but the main stand is still there and they train on the former game field, which is beautiful. The youth complex of ADO is adjacent and the area is a bit run down, but due for a major renovation in the near future as soon as the economy picks up. ADO's next game is Thursday, so we were interested in seeing what type of training they would have. They are in the second round of the Europa League and they lost in Cypress to Nicosia 0-3 the week before, which meant that they had a big mountain to climb in the return game on Thursday. The team came out and knocked the ball around and then they went off the field to a small side pitch to do their running so that they wouldn't tear up the nice field. The coach proceeded to talk to the team for nearly 40 minutes, while we just sat in the bleachers and watch from 70 yards away. They then warmed up, did some running with speed ladders and cones and flags and then played a little Rondo (keep away) before heading back to the game pitch.

For the actual training, they did a great little passing exercise, and then they played 6v6 with GK's on a 40 x 40 yd field with 1 minute games with high intensity an then 1 minute rest. The training seemed to lack sharpness and urgency, which is the opposite of what I preach to my SSU players. Luckily we are going to Ajax the next day so that we can see the difference.

The next day we woke up and headed to Toekomst (the future), which is the where the youth of Ajax and the professional team train. Several years ago when we used to watch the first team train, they used to train right next to the Ajax Arena and the youth teams would train about a half mile away at Toekomst, but there was a disconnect between the youth and professional side of the club so they moved the pros over to the youth complex. Mind you, it is a pretty unbelievable complex with at least eight fields, locker rooms and a huge club house and canteen and a stadium that seats 5,000 people. The field that they used to train at has been turned into a parking lot!

In Holland (and actually most countries in Europe and the rest of the world for that matter!) soccer is organized differently. The game is built around clubs with each club having youth teams and a first team which, depending on the level of the club, could be professional or amateur or both. Nearly all of the clubs also have fields and a club house with a restaurant and bar and locker rooms and meeting rooms. Even some of the small clubs that we have been to, for example Escamp where were are training, have a beautiful game stadium with seating and sponsor boards around it and then they also have several training fields, some of which are usually artificial turf. Escamp also has 12 locker rooms so that they can handle a large number of teams at once and upstairs they have their offices and a bar/restaurant with a balcony that over looks the game field. They play at a low level, but they have a beautiful complex that 99% of all youth clubs in the US would love to have and they also have a first team. Players play for the club as youth players and when they turn 19, they can play for the first team or adult team, but if they are better than the level they can move to a higher level club, for example Quick den Haag, which is amateur or ADO den Haag, which is a professional club that plays in the Dutch first division. But I digress!

The Ajax players came out and warmed up with the conditioning coach and they did all kinds of movement prep, jumping and coordination, running with a harness while teammate connected to a teammate who offered some resistance for strength training. Once they got warm, the did some abdo work with the ball and some basic skills with the ball before settling into a great passing exercise. The training was a lot sharper than at ADO and it was great for our players to see. We constantly coach our guys to pass the ball harder, but after watching Ajax train, they now understand exactly what we mean! It helps that the head coach is Frank de Boer (former Ajax and Barcelona great) and his assistant is Dennis Bergkamp! (former Ajax and Arsenal star)!

After the passing, they quickly moved onto goal and played a 2v2 game in the penalty box with a gk behind the 2 defenders and two counter goals for the defensive team to attack when they won the ball. It was very quick and intense and there were come great goals. They built it up to 3v3, 4v4 and finally 5v4. They cooled down and then some players stuck around to hit some shots. It was also a treat that Edwin van der Saar was training with Ajax that day. He was in town for his testimonial game at the Ajax Arena the following day. The game is sold out, but luckily Jay van Veelen arranged for tickets several weeks ago so everybody is able to go.

Later that day we had two games. In the first game we played SV Erasmus and although it was a little sloppy, we won 3-2 on two goals from Justin Ferreira and a goal from Brandon de la Cruz. We moved the ball well and created a lot of chances and could have won by more if we had finished some sitters.

In the second game, we played Oranje Wit and they were impressive. They were all pretty skinny, but very quick and decisive and they know how to play the 1-4-3-3 and how to play against it. They really pressed us and it took us a little while to settle in. Once we did the game was back and forth and very exciting to watch. The first goal was unfortunate because they had the ball and Ebby Lombardi had some blood on his face and the referee waved him off the field in the run of the play and everyone was momentarily distracted and we lost our concentration and they scored. We came right back and Taylor Varnadore scored to tie it up. They scored right before half to make it 2-1, which was disappointing. In the second half they scored again to make it 1-3 and then again to make it 1-4. We regrouped and Varnadore scored again and Brian Angel scored on a brilliant free kick to make it 4-3 with about 5 minutes left. We had several chances to score and in the last minute we had a corner kick and pushed everybody up and they cleared it and countered and one of their strikers scored a brilliant goal from forty yards.

In Holland they have a particular way of playing. Most teams play a 1-4-3-3. They play ball possession soccer and they try to press and win the ball back right away when they lose it. If you have seen our SSU Men's team play, we play the same way. We have been bringing Frans Hoek and his Dutch staff over to the US for camps for 16 years and my brothers and I have traveled to Holland to learn for the last 12-15 years. Every team we played was very organized and could move the balls and play well as a team. Teams that were less athletic than us were very tough because they know how to pressure and make it difficult, but then they have the ball they work together to move the ball. When we pressed them up the field, if one guy was late to shift and mark then they would find the open player right away. Even when we had great pressure on the ball and our players were well positioned they would play back to their goal keeper and he would collect the ball and play a 50 yard ball to the weak side wing. We had moments of looking the same, but it was hard for us to keep it up for 90 minutes. It was a big eye opener for everyone, including the coaches. It also shows us how far behind the United States is. We headed back to the hotel to get some sleep so that we could enjoy the Van der Saar testimonial the next day.

Wednesday, August 3rd

We arrived at Ajax at 11:30am and the whole place was crazy. It was Ajax Open Day and there were activities all day. There were clinics, an Old Timers game with past stars from Ajax playing against a team put together by the club's sponsor company, the Ajax Arena was open to look around, they introduced the 2011-12 Ajax team and it was followed by the Van der Saar testimonial game. We brought Noma Lunch (deli meats, bread, fruit, potato salad and chips) so we met after a few hours and made plans. A bunch of us went to watch the Ajax Old timers game and it was a lot of fun. The Ajax old-timers beat the sponsor team 5-1 in front over 7,000 fans. Overall there were 50,000 fans that turned out for the days events and that doesn't include the ones that showed up later for the Van der Saar testimonial.

We went into the Ajax Arena for the testimonial game. As part of the festivities there were three games on the schedule. The first was the Under 14's of Ajax against the U14's of Manchester United, the second was the 1995 Champions League team of Ajax against the 98 Dutch National team and the third was the current Ajax squad against an all-star team of players that had played with Van der Saar during his career..

Van der Saar's son plays in goal for the Man U team and even though a lot of fans would show up later for the main games, there were at least 30,000 people cheering the boys on. Man U went up 1-0 before Ajax came back to got ahead 2-1 and the game ended with a late Man U goal and a 2-2 tie, which seemed fitting. The Man U team was bigger and very skilled individually with several outstanding players that caught the eye, while the Ajax team played brilliant football and seemed more tactically advanced. Once they settled in, they dominated the last 3/4's of the game and would have won if not for the counter goal in the waning minutes.

The second game was incredible. I won't name all of the players but Kluivert, Kanu, Finidi George, Rikyaard, Overmars, Danny Blind, the De Boer brothers and others (no Litmanen) played against the 98 team with Bergkamp, Cocu, Zenden, Van Bronkhurst, Van Hoidonk, and de Jong and others. Even though they were all older, it was a great game and the Arena was filling up and people were cheering and enjoying themselves. The Ajax team was coached by Louis Van Gaal and the Dutch team was coached by Gus Hiddink. For those of you that have been coming to the Hoek camps and clinics at SSU for a long time, both Frans Hoek and Gerrit van der Lem were brought onto the field with Van der Saar.

The final game was quite a spectacle. In Europe, after a top player retires their club throws a testimonial match and a bunch of their former teammates show up and play and in the old days when the players didn't earn much, it was a way for the club to raise some money for the retired player. However, this time the money from the game was going to Van der Saar's nonprofit foundation. They introduced the "Dream Team" and it included players from Ajax, Juventus, Fulham and Manchester United, including, Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Mark Vidic, Les Ferdinand, Phil Neville, Luis Saha, Michael Carrick, Edgar Davids, Dirk Kuyt, Hetiga and more. The Allstars went up 1-0 before Ajax tied it up. Dennis Bergkamp subbed in and even though he is in his early 40's, he got the ball wide and played a beautiful ball into Saha who layer it off and Bergkamp slotted it for the winning goal. He must have loved to be back on the pitch again and the day before he was giving tips to the Ajax players at training and here he was scoring against them in front of 55,000 fans! The hard core Ajax fans behind the goal kept serenading him during the game and he would turn around and wave and clap for them.

With about 8 minutes to go, the 4th official held up the substitute number with #1 on it and then the celebration started. Van der Saar came jogging off of the field and all of the players came in and everybody started going crazy. They brought his son out to take a penalty kick off of him and of course Edwin made the save and everybody was standing and cheering. The players lined up and they presented him with the European Cup that he had won with Ajax had won in '95 (I'm sure that he gave it back, but it was a symbolic gesture). His wife and son and daughter came out and he slowly walked around the field waving and thanking the crowed. Everyone was yelling and cheering and people were even crying. There were pockets of Man United fans singing Van der Saar songs in English and of course the Dutch and Holland fans kept singing for him. The lead singer from Simply Red came out and sang "Holding Back the Years" while he walked around and when they showed him on the big video screen you could see him holding back the tears. it was very emotional as 55,000 fans showed their love and appreciation for him.

When he finished circling the field, they gave him a microphone and he spoke for about 5 minutes. It was in Dutch, but it was on national TV so Jay told me the next day that he had thanked a bunch of people and the fans and spoke a bit about his career. After he left the field, we all filed out of the Arena and headed back to the vans to return to Den Haag. What a day and I think that Ajax has 26 new fans!

Coach Ziemer's Update From Europe

2011-08-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 29

This has been quite the tour! It seems like we haven't stopped moving since we got here. We arrived in Amsterdam on the morning of Friday, July 29. Our tour coordinator, Jay Van Veelen, met us at the airport and took the players and coaches back to the hotel. We are staying in Scheviningen, which is a beach town on the outskirts of Den Hague (The Hague), Holland. Our place is called The Skotel and it a hotel school that is closed for the summer so they rent out the dorms. It is in a great location and it is very reasonably priced, which is very important, especially with the weak dollar against the Euro! Basically 10 dollars will buy you 7 Euros, so everything is really expensive for us. The Skotel is also the same place that we stayed with the team in 2006 on our last Euro tour.

The first day we got settled in and then went to Escamp, a local soccer club and trained to loosen up and get the travel out of our legs. After training, we took the tram into downtown Den Haag and went to dinner. Afterwards we gave everyone a curfew and let them walk around down town before returning home on the tram. They key to surviving in Europe is to get on their sleeping patterns. We left SFO at 2:00pm and arrived in Amsterdam at 9:30am, but for us it was actually 12:30am, so everybody was tired. We didn't let anyone nap all day and they couldn't go to sleep before 10:00pm. We made it and went to bed and most of us were able to get to sleep.

Saturday, July 30

We woke up on Saturday and had breakfast in the hotel and then went to Escamp to train. We had a really sharp training because we had to prepare for games the following day. Although the guys were still a little jet lagged, the energy was good and everyone was in good spirits. The original plan was to go on a quick bike tour of Den Haag, but it started raining a bit and we had been going non-stop since we had arrived so we gave everyone a couple of hours of free time to get their lay of the land. We met in the lobby and piled into our four mini vans and drove to Breda for a friendly game between NAC Breda and Olympiacos, from Greece. We went to downtown Breda and had dinner before heading to the Rat Verlegh Stadium, where they play. It is a perfect soccer stadium and although there were only about 10,000 people at the game, it was very loud and the atmosphere was lively. The game was a little slow, with NAC Breda keeping the ball well, but not creating many chances. Olympiacos played a bit on the counter and went ahead 1-0. The game crept along until NAC subbed in Alex Schalk, a local product who led the Erie Divisie U19 age league in scoring the previous year and was sought after by several domestic and foreign clubs, Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen. He grew up in Breda and always wanted to play for the first team, so he stayed, but I am sure that we will hear from him again. Anyway, within minutes of subbing in, he scored a goal to tie it up and then then he scored the game winner with five minutes to go and the Breda fans went home happy. It is no secret that we play a Dutch Style of soccer with a 1-4-3-3, building up from the back and playing a possession game with wingers so it was great for our players to see NAC Breda play the same way. On the way back to the Skotel after the gam,e the players and coaches in each of the vans were talking about what we each noticed. It was a great learning experience and it will continue for the entire trip.

Sunday, July 31

Game day! We woke up and had breakfast at the Skotel and then headed to Quick den Haag, a local amateur club that has strong ties to Sonoma State Soccer. Beginning with Chirs Carniato living in Holland in the early 90's and attending the KNVB coaching school, many players played at Quick den Haag including Andrew Ziemer, Jeremy Sweet, Brett Cook, Mason Hill-Harrill, Carl Edwards, Eric Parish, Ross Middlemiss, Brandon Deshazier and former assistant coach Ian Mork. A good friend of ours, Pieter Fischer is our contact at Quick and we always feel very welcome there. We played two Quick teams and in the first game we started slow, going down 0-3 before we woke up and created a lot of chances. We didn't capitalize until the 80th minute when Brandon dela Cruz scored a nice goal and then Aaron Glover scored to make it 2-3 and we pressed for the equalizer. We though that we had it, but the linesman called offside and the game ended with a 3-2 loss. After 15 minutes we played well and if we had finished our chances we could have won by several goals.

In the second game we played very well and also created more chances than Quick. The game was back and forth and it looked like a heartbreaker when they scored with 5 minutes left, but Nico Spann scored shortly after, so the game ended up with a fair 1-1 draw. I was really happy with the way that we played, especially in the buildup and possession in the defensive and midfield thirds. In both games we need to be sharper in the attacking third, but we will continue to work on that.

After the game, they hosted a BBQ for us and we enjoyed a meal of steak, coleslaw, and potatoes with a nice dessert of ice cream, fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Each of the clubs over in Holland have a stadium field, several training fields and locker rooms and a club house with a restaurant and canteen. The players and coaches from both teams were able to hang out and talk before, during, and after dinner and it was a great way to learn about other cultures. In Holland everyone speaks English so it was easy for everyone to socialize. It is funny, but if you ask someone in Holland if they speak English, they will actually say "of course"". It makes you feel kind of stupid for asking and I usually don't, I just ask the question in English and they answer!

After the game we returned to the Skotel and went to the beach for a mandatory session in the North Sea. The water is a little cold, but not nearly as cold as Bodega Bay! We made the players stay in for 15 minutes and the waves weren't bad so we 't actually had a good team body surfing contest. That evening we finally had some free time and we let the players walk around and eat dinner on their own.

Monday, August 1

On Monday, we trained at Escamp again and the players were pretty sore, but we got them loosened up and worked on finishing, hoping to improve on our poor shot to goal ratio from our first two games. After the training we showered and headed to Amsterdam to visit Toekomst, the home of Ajax FC, the top team in Holland. The training grounds are impressive with 8 fields (some turf and some grass) and a club house and canteen that looks over the training fields. We got a quick picture and saw Mike Massewinkle, a goalkeeper coach at Ajax that has come over a few times to work the SSU/Hoek Camp in the summer. He was excited to see us and we made plans to visit him again.

We parked the vans under the Ajax Arena and headed to Amsterdam on the train. We arrived at Central Station, gave the players some rules and a meeting time and everyone headed out for some sight seeing. Amsterdam is a beautiful city with the canals and old buildings and it a great walking city because it is so flat. Of course everyone knows about the red light district, but there is much more than that. The coaches didn't stop walking for four hours as we hit the Leidseplein, Rembrantplein, walked by the Van Gogh museum before circling back and walking through the red light district. It was day time so a lot of the curtains on the windows were closed, but it is still a must see for anyone visiting for the first time. We obviously have nothing like it and it is interesting to walk through and see a different culture at work. We met at 8:00pm and headed back to Den Haag. As expected, all of the players had worked their way through the red light and everyone had funny stories and experiences. Everyone fell asleep on the vans on the way home (except the coaches who were driving!) and we pulled into the Skotel and headed to bed.

We are getting ready to head to a game so I need to end here. I'm sorry that I am behind in the blog, but the schedule has been extremely hectic. We are at the Skotel for an hour or two here and there, but I have been shopping at the super market for lunch and some dinners to save money so it seems like I never have a moment. I will get caught up so that you can experience our trip with just a slight delay. The players are having a blast and learning a lot. As always, I have scheduled too much (games, watching professional teams train, Van der Sar's testimonial game and more!), but I figure that this is a once in a lifetime experience so we are going for it!

The Highest of Highs...and the Lowest of Lows

2011-05-31T22:11:00.001-07:00

(Written by Tyler Lobe, Sports Information Something at Sonoma State University)

Well, I didn't expect to be the only one contributing to this blog, so I apologize for the lack of posts during this trip to North Carolina.

Don't worry, I'll make up for it.

Well, where do I start? Between my last post (Friday) and now (1 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday)... Wow, okay, that's quite a while. This post goes out to you, Brad Byrne.

Again, I apologize. Being that it IS in the wee hours here in North Carolina, please forgive my scattered mind, especially after that heartbreak of a game a couple of hours earlier.

I'll start off with Saturday's uplifting clinic that the team ran for the Boys Club of Wake County here in Raleigh. About 30 boys, anywhere from age 5 to age 13, came running from all directions as soon as our team bus arrived in the parking lot. The Boys Club had been ravaged by a tornado just a few weeks prior and the roof was clearly under reconstruction. It seemed that having the Sonoma State baseball team there to lead the boys in a quick, two-hour clinic, it was a breath of fresh air for the Boys Club. As the morning went on, you could tell that everyone involved started enjoying themselves as everyone began feeling comfortable. Coach Goelz was handing out packs of baseball cards to the kids as they worked through different stations and he also handed out SSU t-shirts and free tickets to Sunday's game to the parents in attendance. By the end of the clinic, everyone had a smile on their faces and the kids' new favorite baseball team was the Sonoma State Seawolves.

It was then off to practice at the field, something the team hadn't done the day before because of the inclement weather (inclement is a nice way of putting it, you know if you read my previous blog). As a former baseball player, turned manager by my senior year of high school, to a Sports Information...Specialist, I wanted to put on the glove and roam the outfield during BP. Now, nothing against my fellow sports information colleagues, but most of them aren't the most athletic people around. Therefore, you could imagine the surprise on half of the players and coaches faces that I could actually catch a fly ball and look athletic doing so. Myself included since I hadn't taken fly balls in...who knows. What a blast, though, to just hang out amongst the guys that I hadn't really gotten to know until this week, even though I have covered them all season long.

Yada yada yada, practice finished, we did dinner, bed time, WAH-LAH (or how ever it's technically spelled), it's Sunday and we're about to snap Grand Valley State's 32-game win streak...but not before eight or nine heart attacks. I'm not sure how you all (or ya'll) felt at home watching it on the broadcast, but in person, it was 10x or 12x worse. Don't ask how I came up with the logic on that math (we're pushing 2 a.m. Eastern time right now).

O'Koyea's home run to tie the game up in the bottom of the ninth inning was a "no doubt about it" ball. The Grand Valley State SID (which is short for sports information director), immediately dropped his head and, of course, I had to bottle my emotions as there is a strict "no cheering" policy in the press box. Any press box for that matter. I knew from that point on, we were going to win this game. The Lakers wanted to take a lead in the 11th inning, putting runners in scoring position, but Bordagaray did his job to get out of the inning, allowing Alex Todd to hit his line drive single to right field in the bottom of the 11th, scoring "Flip" from second base. The SSU dugout erupted into a frenzy, along with the group of Seawolf fans in the stands, celebrating the fall of the No. 1 team in the nation. What an unbelievable feeling it was to be a part of something that great. The adrenaline was pumping, the team was in high spirits, and it was only one win.

(I might add that everyone working this tournament is surprised at the following by Sonoma State fans, making the cross country trip for this event. I'm not surprised one bit, however, we've had a great following all season long. Thanks to everyone who has, and is, supporting the guys.)

By the way, I extend a sincere apology to Alex Todd for initially writing that he won the game on a bloop single, when in fact it was a line drive to right field that got underneath the glove of the sliding right fielder. I'm not going to make excuses for myself, but I was worried about photographing the dugout's celebration and did not see the actual hit. My bad.

"Can I get a bloop single?!" as heard by Alex has he passed by me on the bus later that night.

Got it.

Anyway, we all got to sleep in on Monday and then was treated to a Durham Bulls game later in the evening.

(Side note: thanks to our Associate Athletic Director, Yvonne Burbank, for helping to set the food and entertainment up for the week. Huge kudos, especially when you gotta walk into a sandwich place and make 40 different sandwich orders, all with specific requests. The place eventually ran out of bread, but Subway saved the day.)

It was a great opportunity for the guys to go watch the Triple-A Bulls team (an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays) face the AAA affiliate for the Cleveland Indians. However, the temperature was in the 90's still and the humidity made it worse, forcing half of the team to leave early. The rest of us left in the eighth inning after the hometown team took a lead on a three-run home run that was hit at least 450 feet. Come to find out, the home run was hit off a guy that I faced in little league back in Washington State...small world.

So, after the win over the top team in the nation just a couple of days prior, coupled with an off day on Monday, the Seawolves were ready to face West Florida. BUT, before we could take it seriously, we had to celebrate the birthday of head coach John Goelz (and who would want to lose on the head coach's birthday?)...Yeah, the title of this post is now becoming clearer, right?

We had so many chances to keep West Florida from scoring and we had so many chances to take the lead. You could look at the double play that occurred just before O'Koyea hit the double, which was six inches from the top of the wall. In my opinion, it should have left the yard, but the humidity in the air on Tuesday night was so thick, I'm pretty sure that's what prevented the ball from going over the wall.

You could look at the six runners left on base in the final three innings, including the bases loaded situation with just one out in the top of the ninth and the No. 4 and 5 hitters at the plate.

You could look at other things too, but quite frankly, it's now 2:30 a.m. Eastern Time and this guy is exhausted. To make a long story short, as a spectator, the game of baseball -- and sports in general -- is so frustrating.

Coach Goelz was quoted in the post-game press conference as saying "If I could have that situation again, bases loaded with those two particular players up to bat, nine times out of ten, we would win that game. Those guys are hard working guys, reliable guys, I know they are disappointed. They are good situational hitters, but (West Florida's) pitchers did a great job."

Thomas Lee said it best in that same post-game press conference: "It was a tough loss, but we've bounced back before. We bounced back in the regional tournament after our loss (to Cal Poly Pomona) and we have to play one inning, one pitch at a time like we have all season."

HIGH: We snapped No. 1 Grand Valley State's 32-game win streak on Sunday,
LOW: Down 5-4 with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth and one out, we couldn't score anyone on Tuesday.

All within two days.

The beauty of sports.

Goelz finished Tuesday night's interviews by saying: "We are just excited to be here (at the CWS). We expect to play our best. Our players are going to play with a lot of enthusiasm and, win or lose, we are going to give it our best shot and I think our best shot is pretty good, so someone is going to have to beat us."

I would have to say that by watching this team, who was humiliated at the CCAA tournament a couple of a weeks ago, has a lot to prove...and they aren't done yet.

The best is yet to come.

Mother Nature in North Carolina is "No Joke"

2011-05-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

(Written by Tyler Lobe, Sports Information Coordinator at Sonoma State University)

As I sit here in my hotel room in Cary, North Carolina, I stare out my window in awe of the heavy rains and numerous amount of lightning bolts in the area. And the weather changed with the blink of an eye... More on that later.

I have traveled a couple of times with a couple of different sports teams and this trip to the NCAA Division II World Series started out like any other. We arrived on campus early Thursday morning to load our bags and get on the bus to the airport. All seemed normal except that we knew that we would be chartering a plane from Oakland. No one really knew the extent of what that meant, myself included.

As we drove up to the KaiserAir Jet Center, adjacent to Oakland International Airport, the bus pulled right onto the tarmac and parked right next to the plane. The guys were excited and felt as if they were actually part of a Major League team. Once we parked next to the plane, the Sun Country Airline employees took our bags from underneath the bus and loaded them onto the plane. As we waited to board the plane, which was delayed because of weather problems in other parts of the country, the guys took the time to pose for pictures in front of the plane.

We boarded the Boeing 737, a plane with 150+seats, and it comfortably fit our travel party of 37. The coaching staff, our administrators and I sat in the first class seats while the team spread out in the back. Most played cards for the first half of the flight before everyone grabbed a row of seats to themselves to get some sleep. The flight was so laid back that the flight attendants actually sat down in the front of the plane and played cards with Coach Goelz and the rest of the staff. I think I'll stick to chartered flights for the rest of my life. Once spoiled, always spoiled, right?

After a quick 4-1/2 hour flight to Raleigh, we got off the plane and once again, our bus picked us up on the tarmac. The airline employees transferred all of our bags from underneath the plane and right onto our bus. We didn't have to touch our bags from the time we put them on the bus at Sonoma State until we pulled up to our hotel in Cary. After dinner, the team settled into the hotel to get some rest.

I was dreading Friday morning as the NCAA scheduled a mandatory coaches and administrators meeting at 8 a.m. Eastern time. Mind you, our bodies were still on west coast time, meaning we were technically up at 4 a.m. to get ready to go to this meeting. Once the meeting was completed, Coach Goelz, Yvonne Burbank and I returned to the hotel to hang out for another hour. We returned to the field with the team for practice where some of the seniors were handed a Sonoma State flag and was asked to raise it at the entrance to the USA Baseball National Training Complex. Each one of the eight teams participating in the tournament will have a flag flying at the entrance for the duration of the event.

However, just as we got to the field, we were informed that the practice schedule had been halted due to thunderstorms in the area. It would have been an hour or two at the earliest before we would be able to practice, but the weather got worse and we took off for lunch. While at lunch, the sky got very dark, the rain started to fall and the thunder and lightning began to strike. It seemed that the weather turned from nice to nasty in less than an hour.

I returned to my hotel and turned on the television. I stopped on one of the local channels and the local news has interrupted regular programming to breaking news updates on the weather. It was worse than we all thought. Thunderstorm warnings, hail warnings, flash flood warnings all went into effect and the weather system seemed to just stop right above the "Triangle", as the locals like to call the Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham area. (I know...I've learned this as I've been glued to the TV ever since I returned to my room.) Flights in and out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport have been suspended and all of the above warnings remain in effect until tomorrow morning.

Will we play baseball any time soon? Yeah, probably. The field that we are playing on this weekend is built for storms. The USA Baseball National Training Complex is a beautiful complex and the Town of Cary will do everything in their power to get these games in and on time. The forecast for the upcoming week is looking up, and by up, I mean the temperatures. It should get into the 90's and with the humidity, it will be something that the guys will have to get used to.

Nonetheless, the team is ready to play and expect to be flying home next Sunday with a national championship trophy in tow.

Jesse Talaugon: We're In It.

2011-04-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

Being completely honest, after our series against Monterey Bay and having two heartbreaker losses in the seventh inning, not performing to our potential, and being honored for the first time thus far as being one of the five seniors on the team, I think everything really started to hit me and soon after my mini breakdown had begun.

While the team was mingling, I headed to the van and loaded my stuff up, perched myself in the back left corner, with no iPod because it was dead and just empty space to think and feel. I had felt like my season may or may not be slipping away from me, that my career is coming to an end and it may happen much sooner than I had anticipated and hoped, but worst of all, that I was allowing it to happen by not contributing enough and stepping up in situations that would better set us up for success. Tried to fight back some of the tears, but it was inevitable and they weren’t really tears of sadness, but just so many mixed emotions because of how bad I want this, how much I love what I do, and how close we are to capturing it all and letting it all go at the same exact time.

I couldn’t sit and lament about this for all that long though because the three biggest series we were about to embark upon were happening in the next two days because of having to make up our four game series with Chico State. It was made very clear to the team that we were a little bit down but most definitely not out, we had the opportunity to bounce back in a big way against (at the time) the number two team in conference standings, Chico State. That Monday morning we decided to come ten minutes earlier into the locker room because we figured it might take us a little more time to get into softball mode since it was pretty irregular for us to be playing in that sort of time frame.

First, our opponents pull into the loading dock as I am walking to the locker room with music blasting. Next, as we are already in the locker room they stroll in and start to get ready as well. All of this was on top of the already lengthy discussions about when we would make up these games so that they were best prepared despite the inconvenience it played for our team. These things were bothersome to me than it would or even should be to anyone but it made me want these games that much more. I truly felt that Chico thought they were going to take four from us, that these games were going to be cake and that our performance would have been similar to our past games played against each other this past season. They could not have been more wrong and out of this entire season so far and all the games we have played there were no four games that I personally wanted more than our four game series against Chico. It was made very clear to our team that we owed them our best and that with our best we could not fail.

We came out on top swept the first two games of the series and after that first day filled with momentum, I was sure we were going to sweep and send a big message to our conference that we were not to be counted out and the only reason Chico State and UC San Diego were the top two teams was because they had yet to face Sonoma State. We won the first game on Tuesday, our offense had been really productive and consistent one through nine, but in the second game of the day mindless errors and sub-par defense plagued our chance at a sweep. Coach had mentioned that she was unsure if we had all truly wanted four games and that it looked like we had settled for three wins and were content with that because deep down we weren’t really sure if we were going to get that.

The sense of complacency was felt throughout and I knew something had to change and fast because once again within the next two days we were headed down to San Diego for another huge series, one that would put us in the running for first place in conference.

Prior to flying out to sunny San Diego, we had a sports psychology meeting with Carrie Cheadle where we got a little bit off topic as far as what she had on the agenda for us, but brought up some much needed discussion about the desire that we as a team have, but more importantly, as individuals and self checking to see if each and every one of us was embracing our roles and giving 100% of absolutely everything they have to contribute to this team's success. In this discussion we brought up the need to call each other out when we recognize someone is not performing to their potential in addition to being able to receive that criticism and feeding off of it and being thankful that someone cares enough to call you out. I was sensing that this conversation was being driven by seniors and returners and I wanted to make sure that it was not being made out to be a plea by the seniors to do well so we can go out with a bang, but so that each and every one of us is fighting and working and playing with everything in them for a personal reason in addition to the common goals that we all committed to so many months back. After that meeting, I had never felt more confident that our team was on the same exact page and truly felt that if we physically brought our best game to the table in San Diego we couldn’t be beat.

San Diego was absolutely fantastic with so much support from our friends and families coming from near and far made the competition that much more exciting. Winning game one in exciting fashion in the seventh inning thanks to a clutch lead off single by sophomore outfielder and San Diego native, Vanessa Currie, followed by a bomb over the left field fence by our most consistent long ball hitter, Ali Palermo. Unfortunately we could not get our bats going the second game and fell to the Tritons, finishing with a split on the day. We were still anxious to make a statement on their senior day on their home field and close the gap between first and second place standings. We knew neither of our teams were going to give up a lot of runs because in the previous three games they were truly pitching duels. San Diego came with an athletic defense, but not comparable to ours if you ask me, so I was hopeful our bats would come alive and we would be the ones to flub one less ball or come up with that one clutch ball in the gab because deep down we all knew that’s what it was going to come down to. In the final game of the series we were dominant early by scoring first and recognizing the need for everyone to contribute by getting on base, executing signs, wanting singles instead of hacking for homers, and simply getting the job done. UCSD would not go down without a fight and actually loaded the bases in the bottom of the 7th down one run, but the combination of our three pitchers put them to rest and we came out on top with the eventual win leaving San Diego a half of a game behind the Tritons and hopeful to a great series against Dominguez Hills on our senior weekend, were still in the running for first place and we want it bad!

Jesse Talaugon: The end is near...

2011-04-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

This past weekend at the Tournament of Champions started off really well. We came in looking, feeling, and acting like the defending Tournament Champions. We were eager to play, wanted to make a statement, and some of us even had personal agendas where we felt we had something to prove. We faced some adversity with our pitching staff while both Sam Lipperd and Jules Martinez were being overwhelmed with illegal pitch calls from just about every single umpire at Pedretti Park. This was the perfect opportunity for our freshman Ciara Becerril to step in the circle and earn her stripes by really coming clutch for us all weekend long and we weren’t the only ones to recognize as she earned All-Tournament Team honors.

Finally for two days straight, we took the first game of the day and this really gave us some much needed momentum for playing multiple games in a day. Another exciting change to our usual game plan was the fact that we were scoring early. In almost every game that we played in which we scored first we were the most successful. It was easy to recognize that it took a great deal of pressure off of our pitchers knowing early on that they had run support.

Losing to the defending National Champions, Hawaii Pacific, was a very bitter end to hard fought weekend. At first, I was very angry because I felt that had our team not been plagued by the umpires, the game would have been much different, but in the same regard we cannot blame them for taking the game away from us because we had plenty of opportunities to make that game ours. Next, I began to get emotional because that was my last appearance ever at the Tournament of Champions and also was feeling that I didn’t really pull my weight and had I done so maybe things would have ended differently. Then, I began to feel optimistic because I truly had felt this team that showed up this weekend was the team that very well could be the Conference Champs, Regional Champs, and who knows…National Champs?

It is really beginning to hit me how near the end of this regular season, which makes the end of my softball career that much closer. As I call family to make sure they are taking time off to attend my Senior day and I attempt to predict how these next few weeks will pan out as far as conference competition goes, I am trying to figure out every way possible to elongate my senior season. I met with the coaches to help tweak some components of my games that I felt were lacking because I didn’t truly grasp how important every opportunity I get is because in a few weeks I might not get anymore and that makes my eyes water at the thought of it.

I am so looking forward to an incredibly long and successful second half of the season and will enjoy every bit of it; the good, the bad, and the ugly but hoping for far more good than bad :)

Jesse Talaugon: Time to DO WORK.

2011-03-15T16:31:00.000-07:00

We started off this last Friday in Turlock in dominating fashion having Samantha Lipperd on the mound gave us the momentum to get the win, considering she threw her third career no-hitter. We were really happy with our aggressive mentality at the plate, we did not have a ton of hits, but we were attacking early, hitting the ball hard, and were confident that our balls would soon find gaps and end up dropping. This approach would be sure to help us find offensive success in the near future.

Game two of day one was an interesting one where we struggled early on with giving up free bases and crediting Stanislaus with a few clutch hits in the gap allowing them to score early. Down early for a few innings we finally busted out our bats and were actually even to gain the lead for an inning. Even though we were able to muster up seven runs, we were unable to get the win and were outscored by Cal State Stanislaus 12-7. In a game where 19 runners crossed the plate and seven of them were Seawolves, we were obviously disappointed with the loss, but happy with our fight and offensive performance at the end of the day.

Going into this series, we were looking to take four. I personally had predetermined this series as being one that was either going to boost our success onward and really solidify ourselves a spot in the top of the conference standings or we were going to have to fight our way up and rely on other teams to fail in order to make moves because we had dropped games. Losing one game on Friday still left us with the opportunity to win the series so long as we took both games on Saturday.

Saturday morning we were excited to see (Brittani) Weatherford again and were eager to face her a second time for we had charted her tendencies against each of us and had an even better idea of what we would see from her. Our eagerness didn’t exactly equate runs scored. We were able to get people on base, but struggled with getting them in as well as struggling with execution. Fortunately, with Brittanie Verissimo getting on base early with a single up with middle she set up senior, Kayla Ledford with a familiar situation, one where we needed her to come through clutch. In my personal opinion, Kayla Ledford is the most clutch offensive player in our lineup and has been for quite some time. If you asked me to choose someone to get the winning run in, during a pressure situation I would choose number 3, Kayla Ledford every single time. She thrives under pressure, has a tremendous amount of power, and has every reason to be extremely confident at each plate appearance. Sure enough she blasted a two-run bomb to give us the lead 2-1, and the eventual win.

Where we were once struggling with winning the first game of the day that was not the case this past weekend. In similar fashion to Friday’s performance, we dropped the second game of the day and the final out come of this series with Stanislaus was a split. From the coaches point of view they are hinting at the fact that offensively many of us are different players at practice then we are when it comes to games, implying that we need to take hacks just as big and just as confidently in the game as we do when we receive front toss of coach. Coach Mack gave us some food for thought and told us to “go out and play like we had never failed”; like we had never popped out, never struck out, never flubbed a ball, committed an error, etc.

Hopefully we can carry this mentality over into our series against Chico this weekend. Still I feel that we are seriously struggling with leaving runners on base and not stepping up and being the person that gets those runners in and instead our waiting for our “clutch” players to get the job done. In what I feel is our biggest series to date against Chico, we have a lot to prove to them and need to fill some voids in our game in order to find the success we deserve. Cross your fingers for weather that at least allows us to get these games in this weekend.

Jesse Talaugon: On A Mission.

2011-03-08T19:41:00.000-08:00

Our series against CSU San Bernardino was a performance much closer to what we expect out of ourselves. Prior to playing, I had suggested that we have a meeting with the Captains/Council; which consists of the three captains and one council member from each of the remaining classes. We sat with Coach Bridges in left field and caught up on how we thought the team was doing and brought up whatever we felt needed to be addressed. My biggest concern was the as captains, we were conveying the same message to the team and that we didn’t have conflicting ideas to the team. I felt that at this rate we have had the opportunity to get our feet wet with this years team in our conference, but now is the time to expect more out of ourselves and that our performance was not good enough and we needed to put a little more pressure to perform even better. Everybody was on board with that idea and the next step was determining what was the best way to approach this idea and how we would get this message across without beating a dead horse and without seeming as if what we are doing is not good because it is, this team is just destined to be great.

The six of us made it our personal missions, to be the driving force behind changing the road that we were on and it was apparent that it sunk in with our team and our approach to this past series was much different from the series' earlier this season. We really wanted to change the theme of dropping the first game of the day and we were able to do that Friday afternoon. We really looked more aggressive at the plate, but our adjustments weren’t made quite as early as we would have liked, but coming out with two wins at the end of the day was a big accomplishment for us. Day two of the series was again about making the adjustment we had two games worth the day before to assess our competition and we were well aware of what we were going to face. Again, we came out swinging and were starting to string our hits along and we even scored early which is a bit of a rarity for our team. We were able to pull out a win the first game thanks to good at bats which loaded the bases and an insurance run thanks to a solo shot by sophomore third baseman, Brittanie Verissimo which sailed high over the left field fence.

Looking to sweep the Coyotes, we were let down dropping the final game of the series. Without a doubt the only thing that held us back from sweeping that series, was errors. Our defense is something that we as a team pride ourselves on and we know that it is a strong suit and we know how much we excel in that area of the game. We made some poor decisions, questioned our ability to make command decisions and carry them out, and simply were not anticipating the ball a play ahead. With that said, though Coach Mack gave us something to be proud of in stating that finally we showed up and played an exciting game, she felt that it was the best game we have played to date, aside from the errors of course. We are really looking forward to the next series in Turlock and hopefully solidify our spot in the top half of conference standings, but before that happens we will come out taking hacks in our doubleheader against the Academy of Art in San Francisco tomorrow (Wednesday at 3 p.m.).

Jesse Talaugon: Time to step up, No more waiting.

2011-02-28T09:58:00.000-08:00

After the trek up to Humboldt, we came out with a split this weekend and are far from satisfied. These first few series that we have played have had a common there; waiting. We have waited to score, we have waited to attack and we have waited to find out what type of team we are going to play as. We have predetermined early on in the season when we created our team goals the type of team that we were going to be this year, we are going to be the team that increases its success each year, the team that helps build a legacy, the team that is going to make a post season run, and the team that is going to be feared and wear the target on our back all season long because we will be the best. Unfortunately, early on, we have not played like that and the current frustrations that we have need to come to an end.

Our pitching staff has really helped us out by absolutely dominating our competition, it seems as though our trio is playing to damn near perfection. As great as that is to have that, it’s unfair to load them with that much pressure because of lack of run support. Thankfully though this weekend our issue was not that we weren’t getting runs across, but we were just getting going way too late. Our pitching staff kept us in the game or we were in a situation where most teams wouldn’t come back and then someone would spark something, like freshman, Tatiana Pizarro’s three-run triple turned home run on a throwing error. That then gave us reason to fight and a reason to answer back. This game went extra innings and we ended up losing which simply proved that we cannot wait to score because all it is going to take is one mistake, one good swing, or one great play to end the game.

There is no doubt that our team has fight, but it would be ideal to see this earlier on, to take the first games of the day so we can then have that momentum carry over into game two. Game two of our second day of games, Sonoma State Softball came to play. We scored early, we found the gaps, we made adjustments, and we forced four pitching changes in the seven innings, three of which happened in the first few innings. There were several hard hit balls, a few home runs, and plenty of runs scored to solidify the final game of the series in our favor with a 9-1 win. Offensive production is something this team is more the capable of and this weekend, junior catcher Skylynn Myers was often the spark that got our team going with great at bats, getting a hit more than half of time she made a plate appearance.

Going in to this next series against San Bernardino, we know we will face better pitching and are ready to attack the ball, put pressure on early, and prove to ourselves that we are more than capable of being the team we have set out to be. We’ll get some game time action in before the conference series against the Academy of Art, San Francisco in a non-conference doubleheader and we’re looking to take two wins to take momentum into this weekend.

Jesse Talaugon: Make A Statement.

2011-02-22T09:56:00.000-08:00

After sweeping Cal State East Bay at our home opener, we were anxious at another shot to prove ourselves. Although we came out with the four wins, we knew deep down that our performance was not representative of the team that we have worked to be.

We had faced San Francisco State earlier this February in the Best of the West Tournament in Turlock, but our team was lacking then too and we had owed them a much better performance on our end. Eager to host them at our home field, in front of our fans, we were ready to get a head start in the conference standings and rack on some more wins. Really cannot say enough about our pitching staff, who have really been the driving force in our teams success thus far and I truly believe they will give us the upper hand against all of our conference opponents, but it is long over due for our offense to step up and take some pressure off of our three pitchers via run support.

In game one, our offense was sporadic and we continued to struggle scoring early, but were able to come out on top. Game two seemed to mimic game one a little bit and both pitchers were dueling. We were constantly getting runners on base, even runners on early, but were struggling getting them in. Our need to capitalize with runners in scoring position was very apparent, but after twelve innings in the freezing cold, the game had to be carried over to Monday because we had eventually lost daylight. We felt very confident that we were going to protect our house and at the conclusion of Sunday evening, we had made it a team goal to end game two in one inning. Sunday morning we did exactly that, Jules took the mound and the defense had a solid three up, three down inning and then turned it over to the offense to seal the deal. In outstanding, crowd pleasing fashion, despite the rejection of her beloved bat, Ro (Rochelle Vanyi) came up clutch yet again and drilled the first pitch that she saw for a walk off jack to finish game two in our favor.

Game three started almost immediately after and our hits were coming in spurts and our inability to execute hurt us. We lost game three by one run, but were determined to end our weekend on a high note and win this series. Our team was in agreement that our first series, although it ended in our favor, was not what our team was about and we wanted to make a statement to our conference, to our competition and especially to the non-believers and that is what this final game was about…making a statement.

A change in the line up was the spark that changed the lull in our offense and we finally scored early. We put five runs on the board in the first inning and it sparked a hit parade, everybody was attacking and taking big hacks. We scored nine runs early to mercy San Francisco State in five innings. We ended the series on a good note and finally gave a bit of a sneak preview of what should be expected out of Sonoma State Softball this season. We take on Humboldt this weekend at their field and are expecting them to come out swinging, but we’re ready to do the same thing, in addition to our solid pitching staff continuing to do exactly what they do best.

Taylor Vigil: Job Description

2011-01-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since my last blog and I apologize. A lot of thought had gone into this post, so I hope it provides the same lesson I learned from it to also help you!!

Throughout this year there has been an ongoing test of adversity. Nevertheless, getting the short end of the stick is never an excuse, but it is a repetitive factor that is hard to be foreseeable for this team.

Recently, I was told I had Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (b.p.p.v). A condition that creates a person to become dizzy, thought to be due to debris which has collected within a part of the inner ear. There can be repeated episodes of positional vertigo, that is, of a spinning sensation caused by changes in the position of the head. A person with this problem never knows when the dizzy episodes will occur or when they will go away, so it can be a matter of a waiting game when you have them.

The treatment for them are particuar head movements that make you more dizzy to try and get the "ear rocks" back into place, which amazingly enough sometimes helps these episodes. Just a week and a half ago, I had a long episode where I had to sit out of two games, about two weeks. When I went to get the treatment, the specialist noticed something wrong with my eyes. A specialist was brought in and realized the "ear rocks" could have been moved into another canal creating a more intense vertigo, called "Horizontal Vertigo." With this different type of vertigo, "ear rocks" can evolve out of place more easily and more can be released at a time causing treatment to be longer and more intense episodes. So you can imagine the frustration I felt. A condition out of my control and to be told it was one type of vertigo and now it is something new and different made everything worse.

Although I was frustrated, I did not feel discouraged for my team, but excited because I knew the faith I had in them and I knew what they were capable of doing, all they had to do was want it more than our opponents. Taking these past few weeks, they served as a flashback to high school for me in a way. While playing basketball, I was a player who could have played, but went from a practice player, to a bench warmer, to a player who could only hope to play and value the precious few minutes I actually got to play. From high school to now, not being able to play, to being able to play and on the court to on the bench I learned a few valuable lessons.

Basketball like everyday life have jobs involved. Their are the big jobs such as corporate to little jobs such as your once-a-week dumpster man. Within every job you receive and income. I would hope the job a person has is a job that makes you happy and the income you recieve by doing your job serves as a bonus making your job worthwhile and fun. And for the people who stick around a job they hate is initially, in my opinion, their own fault. Yet yes, some people may have it rough and may not be happy with the job they have, but then why sink yourself into a job you don't like and, on top of it, with a negative attitude. Life is not a realm of perfect, therefore, you might not always get the ideal job you would prefer. So in any case, why not have fun with the job you have and take pride in doing your job and as an end result maybe you'll help yourself and those around you! It would make your job worth working and in a positive way! So why not try doing your job in the positive way before soiling yourself in the negative aspect.

Just like basketball, a redshirt to a post to a wing guard and to a point guard, EVERYONE has a job. Even from the starters to the people off the bench, they ALL have a job. It should not matter how big or how little one's job is, but rather how much compassion you have for your job. Why stick around with the job you have by only going through the motions? The job you have on the team should involve your heart, your pride and your encouragment to each other. Would you respect someone doing their job for the sake of getting it done only through the motions or by a person doing their job with a sense of urgency and passion everyday? I could tell you who people would respect more.

By doing your job full heartedy, you receieve a bonus or 'income', which in this case helps those around you be successful. In order to help not just yourself, but the team, because it is in fact a TEAM, just try doing the job you have at hand with some life and desire because isn't it a game or 'job' you ultimately love? You signed up for this game or 'job' long ago because you loved being apart of it. So just because their are different types of jobs now, that doesn't mean the love or the life you once had for it go away- right??

Every job is a valuable one and when it comes to a team, how people go about their job is a big factor that matters. One day your job could or will change but don't wait for it to END to realize you wish you could go back and do the big to little jobs differently!! It is like the saying 'motivate to participate'. You could be surpised at how effective you could be just by cheering loudly, talking loudly on defense, setting a good screen or even going crazy on the bench when your teammate makes a play. Realize it is a game of mistakes, BUT it is not about how many great plays you HAVE to make as an individual but how many mistakes can you limit yourself to. Every posession is a rightous one that shall not be taken for granted.

Find the WANT in every play and every 'job'. It is not a game of perfect either, but it is the want to over have to that makes a player 'perfect'. And it is not about how many points you put up as an individual either since we aren't playing for the greatest stats, but it IS about the love of the game- that's why they call it love and basketball!!! It is about the compassion that a real team player plays with for those and with those around her that a team becomes successful.

Take the lesson of doing a job with a sense of life and playing the game with your heart for the people around you; the people who have the same common goal of being successful collectively and not individually. With that, a team can prevail. Thing's can become easier and success can become possible.

Taylor Vigil: Rigby's Christmas Carol (Twelve Days of Christmas parody)

2011-01-08T12:39:00.000-08:00

So after our East Bay game, we went on break for Christmas, and being the holidays and everything, myself, along with my mom, felt in the Christmas spirit and decided to write a song! A song that would get everyone motivated into the Christmas spirit and a new winning stretch of the season!! So I hope you all enjoy!

"On the first day of Christmas, our coach once said to us, score, steal and rebound please?

On the second day of Christmas, our coach once said to us, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the third day of Christmas our coach once said to us, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the fourth day of Christmas our coach once said to us, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the fifth day of Christmas our coach once said to us, you--- must----- have---- heart---, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please.

On the sixth day of Christmas our coach once said to us, make the easy play, you---- must---- have---- heart----, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the seventh day of Christmas our coach once said to us, we have to want it, make the easy play, you--- must--- have--- heart----, transition too, play defense, know your roles, and score, steal and rebound please?

On the eighth day of Christmas our coach once said to us, put forth the effort, we have to want it, make the easy play, you--- must--- have--- heart---, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the ninth day of Christmas our coach once said to us, control your attitude, put forth the effort, we have to want it, make the easy play, you--- must--- have--- heart---, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the tenth day of Christmas our coach once said to us, echo the play's, control your attitude, put forth the effort, we have to want it, make the easy play, you--- must--- have--- heart---, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the eleventh day of Christmas our coach once said to us, keep your eye's up, echo the play's, control your attitude, put forth the effort, we have to want it, make the easy play, you--- must--- have--- heart---, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the twelfth day of Christmas our coach once said to us, raise the intensity, keep your eye's up, echo the play's, control your attitude, put forth the effort, we have to want it, make the easy play, you--- must--- have--- heart---, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?"

Well, there you have it!!! Hope you liked it and sorry for the delay!!!

Jesse Talaugon: Thanks.

2010-12-21T19:32:00.000-08:00

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Sonoma State softball senior and 2010-11 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President Jesse Talaugon will keep her own blog this year at http://jessetalaugon.blogspot.com/, but we will keep this page up to date with any new blog posts she creates as well.)

No particular rhyme or reason behind my blog this time, just have some time to kill as I sit here and watch my little sister at her indoor practice facility in downtown San Jose. She was just added to the roster for the 16U Lady Sharks, and watching her is making me reminisce on all the time I've spent doing the exact same thing.

It's so funny and mind boggling to me that the amount of time that I, myself, my parents and my family have invested in my softball career over the last sixteen years. The never ending carpools to and from practices, the weekend tournaments that occurred every single weekend of every single season, and all the money that was poured into tournament fees, uniforms, gear, travel, etc. What sticks out most to me out of all of the sacrifices made on my behalf, because I simply loved to play and could not get enough, is all the time and effort. I used to roll my eyes and mutter things under my breath when my parents and siblings would hold it over my head, how each summer was devoted to me and the tournaments, but now I'm not even mad, go ahead because I am so damn thankful that we did all of that, because had we not the likelihood that I would be in my final year of softball having damn near reached the finish line of what is ultimately the highest level at which a female softball player can compete at. I am so grateful.

I can't help but laugh to myself as I write this because there's so many times where I have seen my sister drag her feet about not wanting to trek downtown in the middle of the week after school, homework and other extracurricular activities just for a couple hours of hitting. Mind you, I am sure that I was guilty of something similar when I was younger. Really though, myself, my sister, all of my teammates and those that we compete against are so lucky to have had these opportunities and the support behind us to achieve great things. There's no framed picture of me in my uniform or team hoodie that I can give to my parents and my family as a token of thanks and appreciation for all that they have done in supporting me reach the ultimate level of competition. I am hoping that I can show a bit of that thanks this season by doing some things I have yet to accomplish in my career at Sonoma, my family, friends, and supporters can all look forward to an entertaining season filled with thick competition.

Like I said, not really sure where all of this came from but I figure there is never really a bad time to say thanks...so "thanks". Happy Holidays everyone!

Taylor Vigil: Bounce.

2010-12-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone! So if you’re reading this now, I am sure that you have heard/read about the tough two losses we were faced with this weekend against Stanislaus and Chico State, either on the web or by Olivia Larkin’s blog post. There were many factors that went into the losing aspect of the game; things within our control and things we wished we had in our control. Things such as decision making within our offense to certain calls the refs made. While they were losses that happened they are lessons to learn from. In the words of Oly directly, “if we wanted it to be easy, this isn’t the way, we should have tried out for intramurals,” is in fact the truth. It is what makes the word COMPETE such a powerful one. It is a particular word that seems to be of importance in the context of this team for this year.

While we were given the short end of the stick this weekend with things out of our control we have to face the truths when we say that we may have taken few little details for granted that were actually in our control during both games. Yet rather than carrying the burden of the losses with us collectively it has to be, more importantly the lessons from those losses that we take with us to build on and learn from.

By going 0-2 this weekend there is one of two ways to look at it. One, we can buy into what the next day’s website said about the previous games and point fingers to only burry ourselves deeper into the negative aspect or two, we can use those negative losses similar to how we used Oly’s accident as a spark of motivation and desire to push through it all to create a will and make a way to get better. The harsh reality of it is that when a loss occurs it isn’t one person singled out but instead, for example, "Seawolves Can’t Stop Warriors in OT", or "Seawolves Fall Cold in Loss at Chico." With that being said, what do you do about it? Do you get angry and take it out on each other not realizing by doing that you’re only headed down hill? Or do you allow yourself to get angry and remember that feeling during the final seconds counting down at the end of the final buzzer, seeing the other teams faces light up with excitement knowing at the end you had been defeated, and use it against your next opponent? Or are those feelings forgotten in a few hours, or a day or even a week? These are factors my team and I are faced with, but there is no doubt in my mind that I believe full heartedly that my teammates will remember, BUT remember for the better!

With everyone’s thoughts and mindset that happened within the aftermath of the losses, it is the true meaning of the word ‘bounce’ that will get us where we need to be in our near future. Bounce is defined as something that leaps away suddenly; refuses to accept and sends back; spring away, spring away from an impact. A word that became popular after both our losses back to back this weekend within the locker room, yet should be a word ALWAYS remembered. A word that when we hear we think of those specific feelings of the final buzzer counting down with just seconds to go, remembering we came up short. But by remembering the powerful feelings in retrospect to this word ‘bounce,’ it is a reminder of what we have been through as a team and what we shall use to instill in our next opponents to come. By using this anger we once felt in a positive way, we can take it out on teams in the future. Also meaning that we will be the team talked about in our opponents locker room in which THEY need to bounce back from.

Considering the weekend, we have gone off track- or shall I say, astray from where we have been in the previous weeks, although it is no one’s fault it is just how the cards were dealt out. It doesn’t have to be looked upon as something negative either. The week simply presents itself with a new day, a new chance and a new opportunity to seek improvement.

Now bear with me because the way I see it is you have the waves within the sea, a paddle boat, a group of hard working talented women and a shore they are all in search of finding. Therefore, with the week continuing on as the waves in the sea that cease to never stop, similar to a ticking clock that never pauses for even a moment, there are 14 of my fellow sisters that I look to beside me all impacted in a small paddle boat. Each person trying to handle the fact that everything we got we got the hard way, like the small paddle boat and each person I look to, myself included, realizes with everyone rowing the boat, the shore becomes something of easier possibility and within our reach. A possibility to be successful yet again and do so by taking five steps forward rather than three steps back. A possibility I believe in, a possibility that can become a reality for us all.

You better believe that you can count on hearing about our successes in the near future because I know and trust in all of my sisters that we will be back out on the practice ground finding and achieving a way to become better. We have decided to make our practices a more realistic and pressure filled environment similar to how the actual games are played. And with this week’s practices you already know we will have a game plan ready to destroy and deploy our upcoming opponent’s this weekend in our CCAA/GNAC tournament we are putting on here at Sonoma State. So come support and watch us in action this 12-10-10 (Friday) and 12-11-10 (Saturday) at 7pm!! And hear me when I say, we will be ready!!

Jesse Talaugon: YES.

2010-12-06T10:48:00.000-08:00

A new post from me is extremely overdue, I am thinking that my lack of writing may be due to the madness that has come from applying for graduation, transferring units, appealing classes, trying to relocate for my job after graduation along with team related things like dealing with the loss of two players, readjusting to the smaller team, getting everyone on the same page, creating team goals, and assessing what actions need to take place this Christmas break to ensure success when we return in January.

We have come a long way since fall and our team is definitely making strides as far as strength and conditioning is concerned. The natural and raw talent that each girl on this team possesses is incredible and every single person is holding themselves accountable and putting in the extra work. This may be taking us a little longer than most teams or more time than we had anticipated coming in this past August but I feel that our primary concern and focus as a team right now is coming together and getting everyone on the same page. In our last sports psychology meeting we really discussed in depth how each person was feeling about the team, the program, and what is to come. We did an exercise where we were able to gauge each persons comfortability with certain topics and it opened up everyone's eyes and laid out on the table what we need to work on as a team and what areas we are excelling in.

My personal goals for this team is to increase the competitiveness with one another, between each position player, from infield to outfield, pitchers and catchers, middles to corners, and even between the team and our coaching staff. The playing field is very even and we worked a lot this fall on getting better, improving our skills, and being the best but now I would just like to see who exactly feels they are the best and deserves that starting spot. I feel that this will pull out the competitive edge that I might not have seen just yet in every single one of us and it inevitably brings out the best in each individual. We have recognized that we are not playing for ourselves but for the team and the program and we're no longer going to hold back because we know it could hinder our possible success.

This last weekend we had a team bonding event at coaches house where we ate lots, laughed even more, did some activities that had us open up even more with one another, and what seemed to be the most difficult for me was when we did our secret Santa gift exchange. The person giving the gift had to state something that they were proud of themselves for doing and then explain something that they were proud of their teammate for whom they were giving the gift to. We all kind of laughed it off and poked fun at the idea most likely because if felt awkward and uncomfortable but coach quickly assured us that this was a skill set we needed to acquire and be comfortable with. There is a great deal of things that I am proud of myself for but have never put it into words and shared it with a large number of people even if they are my teammates and close friends. I explained not very eloquently and rather emotionally that I am simply proud for still being here and doing what I am doing. With both athletics and academics when there were quite a few who doubted me and simply told me no and that I was not cut out for this caliber of play or when I endured what very well could have been a season ending injury, I am proud for sticking with this and fighting through it. I have never once regretted doing any of that because it has all been so worth it for me and I am so looking forward for whats to come from this team for my final season. I came across this quote and found that it was rather fitting and pretty inspiring, so enjoy and I'll catch all of you up on life over intersession....

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the No's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." -Nike

Happy Holidays :)

Taylor Vigil: The Lightning Bolt

2010-12-05T17:19:00.000-08:00

Hi to all out there reading and supporting our Sonoma State Seawolves. My name is Taylor Vigil and on my behalf of the Sonoma State Women’s Basketball team, I am a little nervous when it comes to writing my first blog post, knowing that anyone can judge, read and comment on this post. I have decided to share with all of you. So please be gentle.

As I sit here at this business desk in the comfortable Fairfield Inn & Suites Marriott before our big game against Stanislaus, I have come to realize many things before me. Such as the strength and empowerment my team has taken on within just a few previous weeks. Yet it is not what we are now that has gotten us here, but rather where we have been that created an opportunity for success.

My coach once told me along with my team that during season everything we got, we got the hard way. While I knew nothing was going to be easy, she went onto say that there will be times that a lightning bolt will strike upon us, yet it is the counter aspect of our reaction that will either make us or break us as a whole. If you were to look up the definition of a lightning bolt, you would find that it is defined as an abrupt electric discharge from cloud to cloud or from cloud to earth; accompanied by a loud thunder cap or a symbolic representation thereof. In its original usage, the word may also have been a description of meteors, or of the consequences of a close approach between two planetary cosmic bodies.

Now switching gears just momentarily, for those of you who have been keeping up with the blogging and know my fellow team captain Oly Larkin, then you know that tragedy had struck our team with a significant injury on her behalf. She had been struck by a speeding taxi walking through the crosswalk and taken to the hospital immediately. As a team, when we were hit with the news not knowing the details of the situation and filled with worry by not being able to see her, we became lost without her. Speaking for my teammates as well as myself I can honestly say that I became frantic. Not knowing when the number one knowledgeable person who I look up to for advice, comfort and support as an all around teammate would be back and playing on the court yet again was mind boggling. Luckily, she had no broken bones, but needed time to heal her significant bruising and become stronger to walk again. All I could think about was her; a senior who put all her hard work in along with her talents she brought to this team now would have to come for a screeching halt. How was this fair to her? How could we continue to grow as a team and move forward in a positive direction with such a fatal negative impact that affected everyone? And yet, it hit me, and I thought back to what my coach told me about a particular lightning bolt that would strike down and I realized its time had come. Only I came to find that it was a lightning bolt for opportunity. Yes- it struck us off guard and affected everybody involved with our team, but it was a bolt that ignited a spark of hope. We were able to take the negative effects of the lightning bolt that knocked us down and turned it into something we could use as a flash or a glimpse of a positive mindset. If we could be the team to get through something so destructive as this, we could be the team to overcome it all.

My definition of a lightning bolt may be different from yours, but the way I see it is as an abrupt electric discharge that causes destruction to a specific person, place or thing that creates and impact upon those who all surround it. It is with that lightning bolt that may cause destruction, failure, or negativity to what it impacts, however, it is when you realize that without failure success cannot become possible that a real winner is born within. What is success without failure, really? I believe this was the lightning bolt that may have brought destruction upon us, yet we used it to our advantage to be successful. I can honestly say I am thankful for this lightning bolt because I look back and see Oly’s injury was a blessing in disguise for this team which helped us pull away with few phenomenal wins against not just Hawaii Pacific or Academy of Art but also, Humboldt State! Everybody throughout the team came alive and looked to the opportunity to step up as a chance to rise above the negative facts we were faced with and pulled away as a stronger, more together team-which goes without a shout out to them team to tell them how proud I am of them all! Oly may not be out there with us doing what she normally does best but it is the underlying impact she has had on all of us. I realize she might feel as though she has been doing nothing at all by not being out there but it is the “little details” she does and may not see that impacts us significantly. She is our eye’s and ear’s bench side and collectively as a team we are her leg’s court side.

It is the fact that we are a team with many parts but form one body. And although those parts are many each body part is important and matters because they all come together to form one. I found each role is important. The foot cannot say to the hand because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, nor can the eye say to the ear because I am not an ear I do not need you. It is because the body was made up with each part equal so there shall be no division. Without this family carrying this message there is no room for improvement. Our opportunity to get better lies within and is there for the taking to build on. Sitting here excited to see what the weekend brings with our games against Stanislaus and Chico are filled with high hopes. So for those of you reading this, keep your fingers crossed and wish us luck. With time we will see Oly in our, what we hope, near future back out there on the court again, but in the meantime I now have to leave you to get ready for my game. I hope this has impacted you as much as it has for me and helped you see things clearly in the aspect of what a team should stand for and maybe even a message to take with you into your future when life gives you the short end of the stick. Because one day everything you have you may have the hard way!

Oly Larkin: Stani and Chico Weekend

2010-12-05T17:06:00.000-08:00

Hello To All,

I wanted to first start off with thanking everyone for being very supportive of me and just keeping me smile. I honestly couldn't get through this without my family, the team, coaches, and our parents. As you know, we traveled up to Stanislaus and Chico this weekend. Practice last week was planned out where the first two days we focused on Chico's stuff and then Wednesday and Thursday was Stani. After practice Thursday, we watched some film and had a hour or so down time to go home take a shower and get some food. Personally, I know your dying to hear this, I got a burrito from El Rancho =).

Thursday also marked the day that Dr. Aflac came to our training room to evaluate some of the student-athletes that needed further assessment on their injuries. I have never needed to meet Dr. Aflac so I was pretty anxious to hear what he had to say about my right knee. Along with me, Aly Henington had to see him as well for her foot. She seems to have a sharp pain on the bottom of her right heel that was to believed to be plantar fasciitis (sounds more like a fungus if you ask me!). Dr. Aflac turned out to be quite the comedian. He suggested for Aly to just amputate her foot and to never play basketball again! We both kinda laughed awkwardly, not familiar with his keen sense of humor. He gave her a few options to try when taping her foot, so hopefully one of them will work so the pain is minimized cause you need your foots, I mean feet, to run! As for I, it was all good news. It turned out nothing from the previous MRI or other doctors were that much different. I have a bone contusion in my anterior medial femoral condyle, which just is a fancy word for a deep bone bruise on the outside of my lower right knee. Dr. Aflac had jokingly said he could still see the "Buick" bumper mark on the side of my knee, that made me laugh. According to him, I can run, jump, and start cutting. So I started running this weekend while we were away and it felt pretty good. I can not wait til I practice. I don't think I have wanted to be able to practice in my whole life!

Now to the games. We played Stani first at their place. I felt that everyone was pretty excited for this game. We were ready to compete and to see if our hard work in practice paid off. The whole game was close. We exchanged leads seven times in the first half, and only was down by one at the half. In the locker room, we just re-iterated that we needed to make sure we were boxing and holding for the rebounds and valuing the ball. At the end of game with like 13 seconds to go, we had two great opportunities to win the game. We had good looks but the ball didn't fall for us so we went into overtime. Welcome to the CCAA. This was our first overtime and definitely not our last. In OT, we just didn't have the momentum to separate from Stani. We ended up losing by five points, but it wasn't the losing part that was the worst part. It was the kind of game where you are like man, if we did a few things a little different maybe we would have had a different outcome maybe we would of won or still lost. It just left a bad taste in our mouth. We couldn't dwell on this lost for much longer, because we had Chico the following night. Chico is a team that has a history of being a solid team so it was important that we took what we didn't do in the Stani game and got better/learned for the Chico game. It's always harder to play the Saturday games, take from a senior. Your mind is saying YES I can do it, but your body sometimes doesn't get that memo. We started kind of flat and stagnant only hitting only five field goals in the first. I think the Chico game was a game of mental lapses. We just couldn't take control of what we wanted to do. I know its hard to hear, and believe me its hard to write about losses but someone has to do it. Our coaches deal with all the time, and that's how we get better. We have all been there, that moment when you lose a game or didn't meet your expectations. It's like you have a bad feeling in your stomach, maybe you want to cry, maybe you are pissed, or maybe you just shut down. All these responses are quite typical and actually normal. There seems to be two paths to look at these loses. How do we effectively get over these defeats? The fact that we went 0-2 this weekend means nothing if we can't take it and grow. I know I don't want to feel like that again. Sitting on the bench, watching, listening, has helped me understand this. We all want to be successful, but success isn't necessarily measured in wins. If we did everything that we said we were going to do, and did it successfully the Chico game most likely would have been close or we might have went on a run on Stani in OT but that doesn't necessarily mean we would have won. "Success is the completion of anything intended." In other words, success is finishing what you planned to do. Notice how success isn't defined in wins or how much money you make. I think this is important. If we finish what we plan to do, we wouldn't get the short end of the stick we would get the whole BRANCH perhaps!

Next weekend we have our CCAA/GNAC tournament that we are hosting here at SSU. I am excited to play some of the top teams in the nation. It will be a good experience for us. I am going to continue doing rehab and all I can to get the team prepared. I hope to see you there!

Oly the SENIOR

Oly Larkin: COMPETE

2010-11-19T10:18:00.000-08:00

I guess this blog couldn't come at more of a bittersweet time. I know it has been awhile since my first blog in which I was excited about our Midnight Madness event. Well, it might be too late to tell you that it was a complete success. We successfully filled the west wing of our gym with our student body, greeks, jocks, freshmen in all. I really enjoyed myself at the event and it was really motivating to see our peers cheer us on. Being the only senior, I haven't ever seen anything like that at SSU.

Now for the team, we had some eye opening exhibition games that sent us back to the drawing boards. We played Sac State, USF and Santa Clara. With each game, we did get better, but there was a lot of room for improvement. I guess I will just talk about the Santa Clara game since it was the last one. Last year, we lost to Santa Clara by something like 30 points. Hardly a loss that we could learn from, especially when you get blown out like that you think (as a player) you must have to did EVERYTHING wrong. That was not the case this year. The word of the night that coach Rigs started with at shoot around was COMPETE. The definition of compete according to dictionary.com, to compete is to for a prize, is being prepared for the task at hand, focusing on what it is you need to do to be successful, putting everything you got out on that court and feeling confident to do so because you know you have 14 other girls who feel the exact same way and willing to do the same. This word alone motivated us. For 40 minutes we competed and in doing so we left that game even though we lost by 13 (if I remember correctly) with our heads held high and as if we won. The locker room at the end of the game was filled with hoots and hollers!! "NOW that's how we need to come out LADIES!" It was that moment when I looked around and thought to myself, I wouldn't give this up for the world.

This weekend, we are up in Chico at their annual tournament. I don't know what it is about Chico, but I love this tourney and always seem to do pretty well. I was looking forward to compete (I guess you can say this is the theme of this blog haha) with my girls, getting our rooming assignments, even the long car ride on the very scenic I-5. This year we are scheduled to play Hawaii Pacific on Fri and Academy of Art on Sat. Unfortunately, this past Friday (Nov. 12), I was in a random freak accident in which I was crossing the street in San Francisco when I got struck by a speeding taxi. Luckily I have no broken bones, and at this time I am waiting for the results back from my MRI on my right knee and X-rays from my left ankle. I will know what the time constraints will be all today when I go to my doctor's appointment in the afternoon. My fingers are crossed that it isn't anything major. I can't say everything's all good, but I can't say everything's all bad. I have had my Grandma right by my side all week long while I have been recovering in my home town of San Jose and her optimistic-ism is contagious. I am truly hopeful that I will be able to finish this season on the court instead on the sidelines. One thing is for sure, either way I am grateful I am alive and you can bet your mama's old beat-up 1967 black mustang that I AM NOT GOING TO GIVE UP! =) But hey, I don't have to convince anyone, I know it already. Not only my injury, but the some girls on the team have had some also that has put a damper on our progress. It's a tough time right now, but I know this is something that will bring us closer.

I saw my team for the first time since the accident yesterday and man did I miss them. I didn't realize how much I rely on them for support and how much they rely on me, as a senior for support. Being away from them I think, was the hardest for me. With so many distractions that the team is presented with at this time, I think this will really test us on our ability to compete against all odds. Even though I am not with them now, I really felt that it was good for me to see them and to give them a peace of mind to see that I am okay and that I am smiling despite the situation. I do believe everything happens for a reason, and just how quickly something that your so used to doing (like basketball) can be taken away. All of this results in a greater appreciation of what I do have. My family, my team, my coaches, my friends, and basketball. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff (and I really thought that my breakup with my boyfriend was an end of my life moment) - I actually found this book under my sink in my bathroom when I was "taking care of business", same title and all. It was rather enlightening.

I will definitely be blogging more because I think this a good thing. It allows me to mind dump my thoughts on the team, life, and even myself. I hope you keep reading because I am going to really make an effort to start blogging once a week. As for my team, I gotta give a shout out. LET'S GO LADIES.... NOMA NOMA (WHO!) NOMA NOMA (WHAT!) I am right there with you girls and I am going to try to see if I can watch the game online. I love you guys.

Until next week. Adios!

the one and OLY!

ps... “You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated.”

From The Desk of President Talaugon

2010-11-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Sonoma State softball senior and 2010-11 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President Jesse Talaugon will keep her own blog this year at http://jessetalaugon.blogspot.com/, but we will keep this page up to date with any new blog posts she creates as well.)

Brand new baby blue sweatshirts from coach? Yayyy, that marks almost the end of the fall season as a gift from Coach. She clearly knows how much we love free stuff :)

Now it’s back to individuals where we get some more personalized time with the coaching staff as we are broken down into small hitting groups, groups based on our positions, and then of course the always exciting team conditioning and weights. I am really proud of where my team has came from considering we had the most difficult start this fall, out of all my seasons played here at Sonoma. Our fitness has improved tremendously and we are pushing ourselves every day in the weight room. Coach Mack really has us focusing on pushing the limits and reaching our full potential because we won’t know what that is if we don’t test our strength by pushing boundaries. On the field I am hoping to really see the competition between position players to increase because we have a great deal of depth to this squad with some hard working, and very experienced players along with some committed and very eager underclassmen. Unfortunately, our fall game schedule was somewhat short lived, but we make up for that with lots of practices where we get to see live pitching from our staff and off of Coach Bridges. I am incredibly eager to see how much more we will improve over Christmas break and let everyone know how ready we are for the traditional spring season to be here.

In SAAC, things have finally settled down just a little bit and I’m not mad one bit. We are currently working on supporting all of our teams that are making to the postseason. In the coming weeks, our game of the month to attend is going to be women’s volleyball vs. Cal State L.A. on November 11th at 7:00pm in The Wolves' Den. We’re also working on brainstorming some of our community events for next semester so we can start our partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Sonoma County. We just had our bi-yearly SAAC Conference where legislative grids were reviewed and input was given on all things regarding the conference from apparel that’s sold to mandated time off during Christmas breaks.

Reality still has not set in for me that I am going to be graduating next Spring, but it will after I meet with my advisor tomorrow to get my graduation application signed off and I add up all my units completed thus far and determine what my next steps will be as my final semester approaches. I am enjoying writing for the sports section for the school paper more than I thought I could and I am holding A’s in all my classes and plan on doing so for the duration of the semester.

The NBA season could not have come at a better time since the Yankees choked in the post season. I am really looking forward to the addition of all the newbees on the Lakeshow roster, Blake and Barnes especially. Oh, and can’t forget to give credit to the 49er win in London last weekend, hopeful for a strong finish.

Until next time, farewell :)

Jesse Talaugon: Committed.

2010-10-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

I'm not really even sure if there are people out there reading this other than my mom and Auntie, but I'll apologize to the world wide web for my lack of posts lately. My life these last two weeks has been incredibly hectic, due in large part to the planning of Midnight Madness in a record breaking eight days, with an immense amount of help from several other organizations on campus, and as always, SAAC. Midnight Madness is the traditional kick off of Basketball season for both our men's and women's teams. We filled the night with team introductions under the spotlight, performances from our dance and cheer team, giveaways, a live DJ, 2ball competition, dunk contest and the biggest crowd pleaser was the dance off to close the night. It was something I was unsure I was even going to be able to pull it off, but in my four years here, we had the largest number of people in attendance. From what I have been told, everyone had a great time and it was appreciated by all of the athletes who got some well deserved recognition from our peers. It was definitely well worth the stress and the lack of sleep. It got me real excited for this upcoming basketball season.

In SAAC, we have one of our projects underway which is gathering people to joining the "SSU BLUE CREW", which is our attempt at creating a rally crew, if you will, filled with spirited people in support of athletics. We have made shirts and are asking for an $8 donation to Breast Cancer Awareness, Make A Wish Foundation, and the Boys & Girls Club of Sonoma County in exchange along with specialized seating at all sporting events. We are hoping this promotes more support school wide for athletics and we get more people out and attending these games.

As far as softball is concerned, things have not stopped or slowed down in the slightest bit. We started getting into goal setting, which is a big focus for our team, and individually, so we can really track our growth and focus on achieving something attainable. You focus on a long term goal, then your short term goal pertains to how you will achieve that goal, and then your operational goal is each step you will take in order to conduct your short term goal. My goals consist of one defensive, which I have made in order to improve my blocking. Offensively, my focus is staying linear to the ball, and my last goal is managing my stress of classes, softball, SAAC, graduating, life after graduating, etc. This weekend, we play William Jessup in a double header this Saturday which will be nice to get some live competition in and really enjoy the few games we get to squeeze in this fall.

School is going, with two successful Psychology and Media Law midterms under my belt, it's time to prepare for the next one this upcoming Tuesday. The PR/Ad team I was apart of in a trial run this semester is not working out as anyone had planned, so I guess I'll begin writing for the Sports section in the schools paper from here on out. I have no experience in writing for a publication, but I'm sure I'll find a way to get myself adjusted to this new avenue of writing. Lastly, my goals for this week are to file for graduation which is still unreal to me and meet with my advisor to choose my final classes of my college career here at Sonoma.

In case any of you were wondering I am 100% frustrated with the performance of my boys, the New York Yankees in this post season right now. If the offense doesn't improve and our bullpen can give up less bombs, we'll make it out of this series by the skin of our teeth. But, until that time, we're gonna have a hell of a time competing with the Rangers, who seem to be everyone's favorite team now that the post season has arrived, them and the Giants....sheeesh. I'm still hopeful so now it's time to cease the typing and let the biting my finger nails continue in hopes of a Yankee win at home tonight. Go Yanks!

Women's Basketball: Oly Larkin

2010-10-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

Hello to all!!

My name is Olivia Larkin, but I am going to put you on to a little secret, you can just called me OLY (O-LEE). There, now we are friends. Whew glad to get that out of the way. I am a senior on the women's basketball team here at Sonoma State. It's sad to say that I am the lone ranger when it comes to being a senior on this team, but by all means I don't feel alone at all, I've got my girls. On the other hand, I don't mind the spotlight that comes with being one! Well I guess I can start off by telling you this is my first time blogging anything and in saying that I was nervous to even get started. I mean, are people really going to read what I write?...Welp, I got you didn't I?!

I decided to start blogging on this very day because tonight is our traditional Midnight Madness, a pep rally to kickoff the 2010-2011 basketball season and the rest of the fall sports here on campus. I am a member of SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) and have been extremely invovled in tonight's preparation for this event. Ultimately, we are doing this event for our athletes. Together, our athletes are the biggest, most influential club on campus and we would like to show them our appreciation and support. I am anticipating a great turnout. For a sneak peak, our heart-throbbing Auzzi's from the men's basketball team are going to be our MC's for the night. Oh, how I wonder what they are going to wear... Probably spiffy suits with gator boots? Who knows but one thing is for sure, they are going to dress to impress. There is a dunk contest, too, in which I am sad to tell you I won't be doing this year, tough to hear I know. That's all I can say for now, you'll have to read my next blog in order to get the details. (** hint hint, I am trying to create a fan base here people so tune in!)

Now on to something involving our team specifically. Tomorrow marks our FIRST OFFICIAL PRACTICE OF THE SEASON! It's finally here people!! Lace up the hyperdunks and roll the basketballs out, it's BASKETBALL TIME BABY (in a Dick Vitale voice)! I can't tell you how excited I am for this basketball season to get underway. Our team had a excellent preseason. We constantly creating good habits (hobbits for those on the team) followed by positive attitudes. The dynamic of our team has changed durastically. We have added eight new players to our already eight returning roster, three of which are JC transfers. Our talented group of five freshmen have tremendous potential to make an positive impact for this team. Being that this is my last year playing collegiate basketball, I know understand what the seniors before me meant when they said, "cherish it while it lasts, because there is a world outside of basketball that isn't so forgiving." I really feel like I can cherish this year, I am no longer "wide-eyed and bushy tailed" as what my coach used to say to me when I was a freshman, trying to figure out where I fitted in. I am aware of what's going on, I am in control. I think this team has helped me with that. This past six weeks of training, we have gotten after it, worked it, ran it, lifted it, pushed it to our limits and now the time is here, what we all been waiting for. All this work has to pay off, mind you that it might not be immediate but the harder we work, the luckier we get. Its funny how things work out that way.

Well, don't tell my coach this but I am writing this in study hall (just the last 15 minutes though) so I probably need to open up a book or something. Adios until next time! And there will be a next time so help me out here and read my blogs! Leave comments , opinions, likes, or what ever. Thanks for hearing me out!

-Oly THE SENIOR

Bill Fusco: Bookend Events Saturday Leave Lasting Impression

2010-10-06T13:49:00.000-07:00

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first post of the 2010-11 school year by Bill Fusco, Senior Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Sonoma State University.)

I knew Saturday, October 2 was going to be a long day.

SSU CROSS COUNTRY INVITATIONAL
Up at 5:40 a.m. without the help of an alarm, I was off to Spring Lake for
SSU's first invitational cross country meet in two decades. The minute I
arrived at the Boat Dock area of Spring Lake, I could sense the great wave of energy that was taking place before me. Our student-athletes were out in force with SAAC members leading the way offering "Blue Crew" T-shirts (for a donation of course) and also providing the tailgate buffet of juice, fruit, coffee and bagels for all of us brave enough to venture out on a foggy, wet morning. (Lobo T. Seawolf must have slept in).

As our Women's Cross Country team was warming up, I tried to imagine how exciting it must be for them to run in a real "home" event. Student-athletes from many of our teams came out in force to cheer them on and offer their support. Our Seawolf runners did not disappoint dominating the women's race and posting a perfect team score of 15 ahead of NCAA Division II and III opponents CSU Monterey Bay, Mills College and Dominican University. Every SSU runner posted a personal best time in the meet which was an impressive feat in itself.

Our coaching staff (Mark and Chandra) did a wonderful job hosting the meet. The SSU Admin staff (Yvonne, Megan, Michael, Tyler and Bo) were also in top form carrying out all the details necessary to make this race a reality. This was important for our intercollegiate athletics program as we are scheduled to host the CCAA Cross Country Championships in 2011 here at Spring Lake. This was a test run for next year and everything went exceptionally well giving us the confidence and enthusiasm to host next year's big event.

Pulling away from Spring Lake after the event, I couldn't help but feel this was a great start to a long Saturday.

Back to the office for some work time then home for the requisite Saturday yard work, I found myself (after a shower)heading back to SSU for the next event on the agenda.

11th ANNUAL SSU ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME INDUCTION DINNER
If you haven't been inside the Green Music Hospitality Center, you need to make it a priority to stop in and check it out. The restaurant and bar area where we were hosting our 11th Annual Hall of Fame Dinner is an elegant, five star environment. This was a perfect setting to honor our
four inductees in the class of 2010.

Three of the four inductees, Ed Beaulac (Football), Fehlandt Lentini (Baseball) and Patricia Carrillo (Women's Soccer) were there to celebrate with friends and family. The fourth inductee, Tim Walsh, SSU's former head football coach was busy coaching the Cal Poly SLO Mustangs against Fresno State on ESPN at the same time our dinner was taking place.

Each of the four inductees (Walsh via DVD), in their own unique way spoke emotionally of their experiences as a student-athlete (and coach) at SSU. They all described how much their teammates, coaches and friends still made an impact in their lives today and how much they cherished the experience of being a student-athlete. This event never ceases to amaze me hearing the inspirational and sincere messages from some of the greatest student-athletes in the history of our program. Next year, when we induct our class of 2011, I hope we will be able to invite some of our current student-athletes to attend and experience a very special evening. Thanks to our great administrative staff of Megan, Nancy and Tyler, the dinner was a huge success and was one of the best ones I have attended since we started in 1998.

By the way, while we were enjoying the Hall of Fame Dinner, across campus, our Women's Volleyball team was dismantling the #21 nationally-ranked CSU Monterey Bay Otters 3-0. I was following the match during dinner via iPhone Live Stats and was impressed how quickly the Seawolves took care of business at The Wolves' Den.

By 10:00 p.m., the last of the rowdy Hall of Fame Dinner crowd was on it's way out the door. I headed back to the office to make some notes from this year's Hall of Fame Dinner and the Cross Country meet to make sure I remembered all the great things that were accomplished by hosting these two significant events.

Driving home, I reflected the events of this long day and how fortunate I am to be associated with our exceptional student-athletes and coaches (past and present). It is a privilege to have an administrative support staff that is dedicated daily to making our intercollegiate athletic program the best it possibly can be. I look forward to more days like this one.

Fall Ball is hereeee!

2010-09-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Sonoma State softball senior and 2010-11 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President Jesse Talaugon will keep her own blog this year at http://jessetalaugon.blogspot.com/, but we will keep this page up to date with any new blog posts she creates as well.)

Sorry for the delay on posting, this post will make up for the last two weeks, which were pretty eventful.

Two weeks ago marked the beginning of our traditional fall season and also the conclusion of self-conducted morning conditioning, because as a team, we have reached a point where we can practice more efficiently, because our fitness is up and we are now holding ourselves more personally accountable. I love the traditional fall season because it means more time on the field, more freedom to work outside of practice, because there are less restrictions, intrasquad scrimmages on Saturdays, and this upcoming weekend, we face Solano JC and San Francisco State in doubleheaders to start our preseason play. Although very new still, our defense looks pretty strong. We've got a roster full of just raw talent and we literally don't take a day off from improving that with lots of repetition, live defense drills, and "game time".

Offensively, we are still getting into the swing of things (no pun intended) with hitting circuits and trying to get as much live hitting as possible. It's nice to have four pitchers who are really making us earn it, but it's hard to handle that with only two catchers and a somewhat short-handed coaching staff, but we're making the most out of what we have. This year I think it is really going to be a goal of ours to prove that we are capable of using short game to our advantage. Last year, we were known for our big bats, power hitting, and record breaking stats in home runs, but this year we want to use all the speed that we have and attack the defense with changing things up by perfecting our short game and mixing that in with our powerful offense. I look forward to what the rest of this fall season brings and am excited for the preseason play starting this week with Solano.

SAAC has been super busy in preparing for Sonoma State's second annual Homecoming Week. It is really in efforts to create more school spirit and gain some more support of athletics. We have collected money and are sending it off to the American Cancer Society in order to help fund the Breast Cancer Walk in San Francisco next month while also brainstorming some ideas of how we can aide in the disaster relief in San Bruno. We are really excited about hosting the first ever home meet for our Cross Country girls this week in Santa Rosa and are going to show that via a breakfast tailgate this Saturday and representing Sonoma State proudly by wearing our "SSU BLUE CREW" shirts. We're hoping these shorts will spread and students, families, and fans can wear them to all of our school's sporting events.

School is really underway with a midterm approaching and deadlines coming out of nowhere, at least that's how I feel. I have a media law midterm this week where I have to memorize a million cases about the first amendment, libel, privacy law, etc. So it looks like the library is where my next few evenings will be spent while trying to sell some ads to local businesses for the schools newspaper which hasn't been that successful this far, but hopefully things will turn around for me in that avenue.

In other unrelated news I'm so disappointed in the 49ers and their performance lately, after that great showing against the Saints. I was hopeful, but I had to change the channel yesterday because I couldn't take it much longer. On the brighter side of sports, the Yankees pulled it off and clinched their spot for playoffs, ARod coming super clutch with the two run jack and the reserves coming in and stepping up to the plate with runners on base is exactly what I like to see.

Byeeee :)

Women's Soccer: Katie Parucha, Part II

2010-09-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This blog was written before the soccer games against Cal State Stanislaus and Chico State this past weekend.)

Since the last time I wrote, we have had four games and are about to compete in two more this weekend! Our first game against Cal Poly Pomona went pretty well considering the fact that we were playing with one man down for most of the second half and two ten minutes overtimes. In the end, we tied 0-0. Taylor Colacion was awarded a red card in the beginning of the second half. When the card was pulled out we thought he mistakenly had pulled out a red. Unfortunately, we were wrong. Because of this call by the ref, Taylor was unable to play in Sunday's game against San Bernadino.

Our game on Sunday was a little rough, the final score being 4-0 San Bernadino. I felt that our team made San Bernadino look better than they actually were. I do give credit to them because they were able to finish their opportunities and come out hard. Unfortunately, most of their goals resulted off of our own mistakes leading to a breakdown in our defensive third. After this game our team had a somewhat wake up call to what was in store for us the rest of the season. Each game is a battle and just because you play well one day doesn't mean that you are guaranteed to play well the next time.

After the weekend ended our team had to move on and focus on the next weekend for the games against East Bay and UCSD. On Friday, we ended up losing 1-0 and unfortunately I tore my MCL in the first half of the game resulting in the end of my season. Again, a lot of the chances we had were not put in the back of the net. We have been playing really well, it’s just we have not been able to score. On Sunday, the game was a complete turn-around. We came out extremely hard and were passing the ball extremely well. It felt as if everyone was in sync and we had all committed to working hard for each other. We ended up tying 0-0 and I was extremely proud of the way that we had played!

Our next games are away against Stanislaus who is in first place in the North and Chico which is always a tough team to play. I will keep you guys posted about those games after the weekend! Until then have a good week!

Week 3 with President Talaugon

2010-09-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Sonoma State softball senior and 2010-11 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President Jesse Talaugon will keep her own blog this year at http://jessetalaugon.blogspot.com/, but we will keep this page up to date with any new blog posts she creates as well.)

This week was really focused around personal improvement because we are almost certain that this fourth week, we will be tested once again on the 12 gassers. We have to make them within the allowed time frame or the coaches will take our improving fitness into their own hands and this is something we as a team we feel we can handle on our own. We are still going out there twice a week at 7 a.m. doing our own self-conditioning along with optional conditioning on Sunday's, where those who need it attend. Practices are becoming a lot more engaging and instead of spending a great deal of time on actual skills, we handle that during our individual sessions with the coaches. It is there that we are split into groups based on positions -- corners, middles, outfield, pitchers/catchers. This allows us to spend our time wisely and efficiently on the field and we've been able to work on things like cuts, run downs, pick offs, live defense, and "game time". Game time is basically a game-like situation where Coach Bridges is the pitcher and Coach Mack (McCormick) gives signs and rotates players in and out of defense and offense. This allows for everyone to get time on the field, whether it be offensively and defensively. It is definitely one of the more fun components of our practices. Things are looking up and I am confident that this Friday, we will get the job done and satisfy the coaches.

School is in full swing right now and for one of my Communications classes, I work as a Public Relations specialist for the school newspaper and sell ad space. It's a really cool opportunity to take on real life responsibilities in a somewhat controlled setting. My goal is to sell four ads each week, so I'm definitely going to need to network myself throughout Rohnert Park and Cotati if I plan to meet that quota each week. My media law class is pretty tedious and four hours of late night class after hitting, weights, and conditioning isn't the most lively of times, but I'm hopeful the agenda will start to have some variety and I'll dread that class less.

I'm really excited about what we have planned for SAAC, we are currently working with the American Cancer Society and contributing to their annual Breast Cancer Walk because with all of the teams conflicting schedules with games and practices, we cannot physically attend, but we are gathering funds to donate. We are also planning on partnering with the Boys & Girls Club of Sonoma County this semester and seeing how we can contribute to their cause. Also, with the recent disaster in San Bruno we would like to see how we can donate their and help with those relief efforts.

Wish me and the team luck this week!

One week down, 7,341,535 more to go...

2010-09-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Sonoma State softball senior and 2010-11 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President Jesse Talaugon will keep her own blog this year at http://jessetalaugon.blogspot.com/, but we will keep this page up to date with any new blog posts she creates as well.)

Gosh, never thought week one was going to end. Unfortunately, the team didn't come back in the best of shape and everyone noticed and the coaches clearly not pleased. The first day of conditioning we were to run 12 "gassers" which consists of 12, 100-yard sprints; fast people finish in under 17 seconds, medium speed people finish in under 18 and slower people finish in under 20. Sadly, we didn't even get that far because in the middle of the 90+ degree weather, people were dry-heaving, dropping, pulling muscles, and puking. Needless to say we have our work cut out for us this fall and are going to have to work twice as hard to get back into shape so we don't waste our valuable time on the field.

Myself along with my fellow seniors came up with a plan where we now condition twice a week on the days we don't already condition and lift with the coaches, we head to the track at 6:45 a.m. and create and conduct our own conditioning for an hour. We also do optional, but "recommended", conditioning on Sunday evenings. Since we set this in place, gassers are less of a struggle for the team as a whole and hope to complete all in the allowed time in the coming weeks. Though it's a minor set back, I'm hoping that some good will come of this and we will come together as a team sooner than anticipated and some leadership roles will emerge in the process.

Conditioning and weight lifting aside, we have a talented group of girls out there and there is going to be thick competition at just about every position. I am flip flopping from catching to outfield and enjoy both, but my arm isn't enjoying the double time because of the strain it puts on my arm is tremendous. But nothing lots of hours rehabbing and strengthening in the training room can't help. Ice baths have become a common thread among my teammates and I to help ease the hurt of this strenuous fall season.

As far as SAAC is concerned we were very pleased with the turnout of our first event of the year and earned a good chunk of money that will help dig us out the financial hole that we are currently in. After doing that our next plan is to join the American Cancer Society in their Breast Cancer Walk in Golden Gate Park toward the end of October. Another side project that we are attempting to embark on is to create shirts that we can sell to the school and the community that read "Blue Crew" and it essentially will be a shirt you can wear in support of athletics at any of the games, races, matches, tournaments, etc. While that is currently a work in progress, our current focus is raising the money for Breast Cancer and getting all of our teams out there to support the fall sports which are currently in season.

Senior year is not exactly what I expected it to be or maybe I was unsure of what to expect from the get go. I am taking four classes this semester -- Media Law, Life Span Development (Psychology), Public Relations Team for The Star, and Senior Internship. This only leaves one more upper division GE, Senior Seminar, and taking the WEPT for second semester and then I'll graduate? Well, seems like I need to narrow my focus and just live in the moment and with that said my current goal academically is to get a 4.0 this semester. For SAAC, I want to earn $300 for the Breast Cancer Walk among the student athletes and for softball, I want to attack the outside pitch and learn to love it as much as I do the up and in pitch.

With week one being done and now apart of my past, I'm hopeful for the future. Buh Bye :)

Women's Soccer: Katie Parucha

2010-09-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

Hey fellow Seawolves! My name is Katie Parucha, or KP, and I am a junior on the women's soccer team.

Although we are three weeks into school, it feels like a good amount of time since our team has been up in Ropo (Rohnert Park). Our first day of double days was August 16th and started out with the infamous "doggies" fitness test. Going into summer, our whole team knows that this grueling test needs to be prepared for, but once it is completed, an attitude of relief and a feeling of accomplishment sets in. During double days, we did a lot of scrimmaging and small sided games in order to get our touch back, along with get a feel for how the new players perform.

After only two days of double days, the whole team was able to travel to Lake Tahoe and stay at Allison Kern's house. We were "roughing it" when it came to the location of the two story house seeing as it was on the lake. The clear blue Tahoe water and soft sand is her family's backyard and I don't see how it could get much better than that! Training in Tahoe was difficult, but I feel that it added to our work ethic and team unity. The toughest challenge was for our team to run up Mount Heavenly ,which is usually covered in snow and used for snowboarding... luckily for us it was a clear path and gave our coach the great idea of giving us the task to race up it. Although it was an extremely hard run, it was one of the most beautiful sceneries I have ever witnessed. As our team made its way through the finish line, we were gasping for air and wanted to collapse, but after we had collected ourselves, we knew that it was "all down hill from here"... literally. Overall, Tahoe was an amazing trip and I really felt that our team grew much closer not just as teammates, but also as friends.

Once we came back from Tahoe, the reality of season had begun to set it. We played UC Santa Cruz the Sunday after we arrived back from Tahoe. The end result was a draw of 1-1 after three 45 minute halves. We played a longer game because it gave everyone a chance to get some playing time and show the coaches what they had to offer. We came out playing a 3-5-2 formation which is what we played in the spring. Since then, we have gone back to a 4-4-2 which has worked out for the better as we have created more offensive opportunities and tightened up our defense.

Since then, we have played Santa Rosa JC, Domnican University, and Western Oregon. We successfully have beaten all three which gives us some confidence going into season. The game against Western Oregon was our first match that counted towards our overall record and was a close one. Although we had possession of the ball the majority of the time, we couldn't finish our many opportunites to score. Jaci Davey scored with 30 seconds left in the first half, which gave us a positive attitude going into the second half. Unfortunately, Western Oregon came back and scored tying up the game at 1-1. Our team kept pressing and continued to have a little trouble finding the back of the net, but within the last 28 seconds of the game, junior Taylor Colacion scored a header off of a cross from freshman Lauren Fryer. GOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!

Last year our team was on the other side of the spectrum seeing as many of our games resulted in losses within the last five minutes in the game. This was a great way to start off our season! I would like to thank all of the fellow athletic teams that came out and supported us during that game! It was awesome having some fans at our games!

Our first CCAA game is against Cal Poly Pomona this Friday at home at 4:00 p.m. and we couldn't be more excited. Everyone on our team is going into this season with a positive attitude and I feel that in doing this we are setting ourselves up for success! The next time you hear from me will be after our first two games. Until then have a good week!

The beginning of the end...

2010-08-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

Water Polo Proving That Anything Is Possible

2009-03-27T09:48:00.000-07:00

By Bill Fusco, Director of Athletics

It was a good omen. An SSU Women's Water Polo match played under blue skies and sunshine. That is in contrast to some of the past matches I have attended with rain, cold weather and steam rising from the choppy pool surface. But this afternoon was as close to a perfect water polo day as it gets for the Seawolves. The reason? The Santa Clara University Broncos. The NCAA Division I and 20th ranked Broncos had been victorious over our Seawolves 18 consecutive times before the ball hit the pool today.

Despite falling behind early in the first quarter 2-0, SSU was in the mood to put an end to this win drought by overpowering the physical Broncos, winning the match handily, 12-4. The crowd was enthusiastic and supportive for the Seawolves providing even more inspiration to beat the Broncos and give the team perhaps the biggest win in the history of the program.

Coincidentally, it was precisely six years ago that SSU students passed a fee referendum that would allow SSU Athletics to add Women's Water Polo as an intercollegiate sport. Under the guidance of head coaches Alicia Hansel and then Coralie Simmons, the program has grown each year reaching the competitive level of many of their NCAA Division I competitors in the Western Water Polo Association.

Looking ahead, I can see a need for some bigger bleachers and a new scoreboard for our supportive fans. But more importantly, it is time to seriously look at that open field just east of the Rudloff Pool and envision a state of the art 50 meter competition pool for our Seawolves. If our Seawolves can beat #20 Santa Clara, then you have to believe that anything is possible.

Bauer Named CCAA Golfer Of The Week

2009-03-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Patrick Bauer on being named CCAA Golfer of the Week. While Jarin Todd seems to grab the lion's share of headlines (and rightfully so), one should not overlook Bauer's accomplishments in his two seasons at SSU. Last season, as a freshman, Bauer became just the third golfer in school history to earn All-American honors (Todd and Kyle Hopkins are the others). Furthermore, he was just the second freshman in school history- any sport- to be named an All-American. The first was Melissa Costa of women's track and field.

Seawolves Fast Break

2009-01-16T11:53:00.001-08:00

Well, it's been quite a while since our last post. Looks like we need to get the blog going again.

In the meantime, you can now listen to each week's "Seawolves Fast Break" radio program on the Seawolves' website (www.sonomaseawolves.com). Through a great partnership with KBOB and KSXY, the Fast Break program runs every Wednesday. I hear the voice actors that do the show are exceptional as well.

On The Record With Megan Wong, Part VII

2008-11-15T17:54:00.000-08:00

What a “Bar Fight” it was for us this weekend first against No. 3 Cal State San Bernardino Friday night then against the No.18 Cal Poly Pomona. No wonder why the Coyotes are No. 3 in the nation for division 2, they were ready for us from the first whistle. It was not one of our best performances of the year, but it was an actual game vs. Cal State San Bernardino. Although we were tied 7 all in the first game and up 6-1 in the third game we still didn’t play our best and we all knew it. It was our first lost at home putting our home record 12-1, overall record 20-6, and CCAA 11-4.

Despite the fact that we lost respectfully 3-0, we had to put that game behind us since it was done and over with and we had to focus on our next “Bar Fight” vs. Cal Poly Pomona. We knew it was going to be a fight for us to survive this battle. The Broncos had beaten us at their home gym 3-1 the first round in conference and now it was our turn to beat them in OUR HOUSE.

During the whole match every game was close. They had brought their fire the first game to let us know that they were here to play and not planning on going home anytime soon. We then made a turn around and took game 2. The Broncos were a dangerous team and we knew it, but we weren’t expecting them to take game 3 from us. Game 4 seemed like a breeze for our team winning 25-16. We knew game 5 was ours, so we went on our merry way and took it. It was 14-12 with one point left in the match. We served it then they hit it back at us and we dug it like it was pie then Junior Setter Lindsay Brown set Senior Outside Hitter Kristy Sather for the game winning point, but Pomona’s Middle blocker and Opposite, put up a huge block and basically it said, “Not this time, we’re still here and want to play. You’re not winning that easy.” Next they served it to us and we passed it right on target and Brown and Sather connected one last time and BOOM it was over. We had won the match. It was so exciting!!!

Our engine had been on for games 1-3, but we were just cruising, however, games 4 and 5 we finally burned some serious rubber and brought home a “W” for victory giving us another win for our record of 21-6 overall and 13-5 CCAA. This is the best record in school history for the volleyball program and with just 2 more games left we’re not giving up to go 23-6. We play Humbolt this Wednesday away and UCSD Saturday home. It’s going to be an interesting finish.

On The Record With Megan Wong, Part VI

2008-11-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

Hey! Sorry I haven't been able to update you on our season lately. I've been busy with school. Anyway, as you can see, it's been a roller coaster ride for our team this year as it has been for many of the other teams in the CCAA. Teams have been beating and losing to other teams unexpectedly. Counting down the final games of the season 1st-5th place are up for grabs. It's going to be a dog fight for this last stretch.

This year seems to have been a tough one for us on the road. We lost to all the BIG teams in away games: CSULA, CSUSB, CPP, and UCSD. This past weekend were crucial games for us against CSUMB and SF State. Down 2-0 vs. the Gators, we managed to come back and take the victory going to 20-5 overall.

Our defense is what is keeping us in the games. As the saying goes "Offense sells tickets and Defense wins championships!" However, Junior Setter Lindsay Brown has been able to connect with Junior Middle Blocker Rikki Buckshins and Senior Outside Hitter Kristy Sather to make our offense unstoppable.

And on a side note Congratulations to Rikki (1st team) and Kristie(2nd team) for being ESPN The Magazine All-Academic Scholars.

Lately at practice we've been playing the error game, which puts in real game situation and it shows who and how our team is making errors when it comes to the real deal.

We face CSUSB Friday night and CPP Saturday @ 7pm. These games will determine if we can play with the BIG DOGS!

Sablle's Cross Country Report, Part V

2008-11-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

Hey there,

Sablle again! This weekend was a really successful weekend for the Sonoma State cross country team. Our athletic sport is generally overlooked by most of the population, but for this race we had our chance to travel and get recognition. We flew out on Thursday to San Bernardino
for the CCAA Championships. The first day we found out when we ran that it is very very dry in San Bernardino which is definitely a change in weather for our team but come race day our team came through. We hydrated a great amount the days before our races because it is was greatly needed for this weather.

As far as the course goes it was awesome in my opinion. It was not repetitive which most races have been this year and it went by pretty fast while also having a beautiful view of this regional park. Come race day our team felt ready to run but it was very nerve racking since it was such a large race. Everybody competed at their best and did great. This trip was a lot of fun for our team and we are looking forward to next years CCAA Championships as well.

This week we are leaving on Thursday to the finest city in the world, San Diego. This is the race many of us have been looking forward to because it is in San Diego and we are traveling pretty far. This race is our last race of the season and pretty exciting for our team to compete with such a variety of teams. This meet we are racing our top seven women on the team with one alternate, so it is a run for the race right now between some girls. We have lost our number two runner Jacqui Trenkwalder. But, that just means our team has to try that much harder. I really believe in our top seven girls for this race and I know we will go to San Diego and perform.

Until next time,
Young Sablle

The Bailey Blog: Hitting the Home Stretch

2008-10-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

It has been a long week for the team. After a nice break the week before last, we are heading down the home stretch and are gearing up for playoffs.

On Tuesday we played a non-conference game against a formidable opponent in Fresno Pacific. The plan was to give most of the team a good rest, while getting some of the young guys some minutes and a chance to prove themselves. They put together an inspired performance, but could not find the back of the net in the first half. Then trouble struck and Fresno Pacific showed why they are ranked in the top twenty five for NAIA, by putting us behind with a well finished opportunity. We hit the post several times, in the second half, but it was Scott to the rescue with about 4 minutes left in the game. Scott headed home a corner kick to put us into overtime. The game looked as though it was going to go the distance, but we pressured and got the ball back. Nate found me streaking down the middle, and as I penetrated through their defense I laid the ball off to my right, where Cam flew in and scored his first goal of his career. Nice way to start your scoring career, and a nice win for us, even if it was harder than we wanted it to be.

While Tuesday was supposed to be a day off, Friday sure felt like it. We traveled down to Monterey Bay for a very crucial game. After a draw in the first leg of the season, we could not afford to give away any more points at this point in the season. We showed up sharp, and turned what could have been a hard game into one that they will soon try to forget. About five minutes into the game, Lafon found the back of the net on a cross from Cam. It would take about twenty more minutes and many chances to find the next, Nate found Ross who sliced his way through the defense and slotted the ball to the back post. The half concluded with Davide blasting the ball into the back of the net from Ross, right before the whistle. Monterey pressed hard in the second half, but when Nate found Davide, who blasted another shot home, the game was all but over. The starters slowly found their way off the field, and we started to warm up the bus. Cam would get in on the scoring, along with Taylor Jones, who has to be SSU’s all time leading goal scorer as a goalie, now having score two on the year.

Sunday was a different game all together, as San Francisco always plays us tough. Joe Hunter, their coach, and Marcus are best friends, and thus love nothing more than to win against each other. That added to the fact that it was their senior day, we knew it was going to be a battle. I have to give props to SF State, as they honored our seniors too, which was really classy, but about the last classiest thing that they did. The game was really physical, as there were forty fouls, five yellow cards and a red card on the day. Nate started us off, and man does he love scoring at this place. Lafon slipped a ball into Nate as he streaked through, and Nate, with little angle on goal ripped a shot that had the post shaking for a couple minutes. About ten minutes later, Cam crossed the ball on a corner kick, and I headed the ball home from the near post to put us up by two. Alas the lead would not last too long, as about two minutes later, off a free kick from midfield, Brook came out to get the ball and was fouled, causing him to drop the ball. The ball bounced around for a couple of moments and was deflected up in the air to the other side of the net, where a SF State player was standing. I think Brook lost his temper, as he came out of nowhere and clobbered the guy, giving up a PK. The second half was pretty ridiculous; SF battled hard, but came up short. The game was turned into a slug fest, and we were just happy to get out of there with the three points, and our bodies not too banged up.

'Till next time this is Bailey signing off.

On The Record With Megan Wong, Part V

2008-10-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

Why us? Why on road trips? Does it really make a difference whether we’re home or away? Well it looks like it does to me. The last 3 away matches we've been unable to come up with a “W.” We were still 'low percentage' like Coach Bear wants us to be (well not quite vs. UCSD). That game we couldn’t seem to find the court. We were hitting and serving balls out of bounds and into the net; not our normal style of volleyball. With Freshman Libero Taylor Krenwinkel out early in the first game with a sprained ankel, we knew it was going to be a tough night for us.

We traveled down south knowing that UCSD was a very strong serving team. That’s how they beat CSUSB. They weren’t afraid of missing, but it didn’t matter. They were not going to let us take away the match from them on their home court. Their crowd was big, loud, and crazy, bigger than Cal Poly Pomona. We’re so used to a low key crowd, not big, loud, and crazy, so of course if affected our game. Coach Bear kept saying that we were scared because of the atmosphere and that we needed to find a way to play like we usually do. We lost games 1 and 2 with no questions asked, however, we put up a fight in game 3, but sadly lost 24-26 and we were back on the plane early the next morning. Like Coach Bear said, “When we’re on fire and playing our game, nothing can go right for our opponent. (like we did to Humboldt Wednesday nigh), but now it’s UCSD beating up on us and nothing is going our way.”

I know our team is stressing about the losses on the road, but we’re not letting down because everyone in our conference is beating each other up, opening doors for us in conference and regionals. We are not finished when we lose, we are finished when we quit and our team is not quitting. We are half way done with conference and still wanting to fight. We start the 2nd round of league this weekend facing big rivals CHICO and Stanislaus. We need a BIG crowd!!!

Sablle's Cross Country Report, Part IV

2008-10-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

Its Sablle here! As you know, we ran in beautiful Golden Gate Park this weekend at the SFSU Invitational. This meet went really well for our team as a whole! Everybody on our team finished with a great kick at the end, and for the most part, we were pleased with our performance.

A lot of us are recovering from injuries and I think we all handled it very well. The course was a nice 6k with a couple hills, terrain and grass. As far as running in the late afternoon goes, it was actually very, very cold rather than what we were preparing for, heat. The end of our race was very rewarding too because Yvonne brought us a delicious spaghetti dinner. I know i can speak for the entire team and give special thanks to Yvonne for supporting us throughout our season and constantly cheering and helping out!!! THANKS YVONNE!

Now, our next two races are definitely the most important ones! On Oct. 25 we have our CCAA Championships in San Bernardino, Calif. and our coach really wants us to all to get PR's (personal record), so we will definitely be fighting for them. Our very last race is in San Diego for Regionals and it is also very important. We will be fighting for a good place there as well.

Also I would like to do a short Q and A on here because us cross country runners get
these questions ALL THE TIME...

1.)Do you like to run?
YES, we all love to run, despite it being extremely hard at times we love what we do.
"Our sport is your sport's punishment"

2.) How many miles do you run?
Our longest run this year has been twelve miles.

3.) Is that all you do for practice...run the same routes?
NO! we do a variety of workouts, here is a rundown of our week...
Mondays: 6:00 a.m. practice, drive to Annadel, Run 12 miles.
Tuesdays: 7:00 practice, drive to Crane Creek Park and do a variety of hills (it changes every week)
Wednesdays: 7:00 practice, 5-6 mile runs (of coaches choosing around Rohnert Park...usually Copeland creek trail)
Thursdays: 7:00 practice on the track, varies from mile break ups to pyramids
Fridays: 7:00 practice, usually 5 miles and then go into the Sonoma State pool and aqua jog for about 15-30 minutes.

So there you go, if you have any more just ask!
-Young Sablle

The Bailey Blog: Two W's Sure Feel Nice

2008-10-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

Hi there again. You know, it has been too long since the last time Sonoma ended a weekend with two W’s. In fact, I couldn’t even remember the last time that it happened. This was a big weekend for us, because this is the time of the season you want to start gearing up for the post season and we needed to start taking care of business if we are going to get there. We have essentially used up our “oops” card, and need to go on a little run if we are going to do anything this season. This weekend was a great start to doing just that.

First off, this weekend was the type of 'D' we are going to need to play if we are going anywhere. Shutouts are like pouring gas on a fire...they just make it way better. So the D needs to get the props they deserve before we talk about anything else.

On Friday we showed up, and I don’t think it mattered who we played because it was going to be unfortunate for anyone who set foot in our house on that day. We wanted to wash the bitter taste out of our mouths from the Dominguez game, and what better way to do that than beating a team five nothing, and scoring two goal in the first ten minutes. Even though we scored five goals, what was refreshing was the defensive work that the team displayed. From moment one we were up to the task, and boy did we look good doing it. We truly were beauty and the beast on this day, making all the great stops on defense, and showing a little flair while we scored.

Ross probably wishes that he could have been in the movie Groundhog Day, living this one over and over again, and rightly so. He was on fire, four goals, on four shots, and worked his butt off and deserved every single on of them. The first goal was created by good pressure, and Cam found Ross isolated near the top of the box, chipping a ball into space, which Ross collected and then neatly placed in the top corner of the goal, a rather nice way to start the day. Ross would again find the back of the net, when Jack sent a long ball over the top to Ross, who spun his defender near the top of the box, collected the ball past the keeper, and put it home. When are people going to realize that you can’t just have one guy defend him? He is just on fire.

The second half the game was definitely more open, and Ross would tack on number three about twenty minutes into the second half. I received the ball at midfield and couldn’t feel any pressure on me. When I looked up it was like SFO, they were flagging me down the middle of their D and so I obliged them and went there. When a defender finally committed to me I only had to slot the ball off to Ross who one timed it home. About ten minutes later Ross would find number four when Cam brought the ball up the right side, I made a run through, and Cam found me with a beautiful ball. I chest trapped the ball off to Ross who would finish again, and I am pretty sure if I had left my dinner out Ross would have finished it too. Davide finished the day off for us off a ball from Wiedeman, and nothing tasted better.

Sunday was a game that we knew was going to be a tough one. Pomona always plays us tough. Last year we squeaked out of their place with a two to one win. Two years ago we won in overtime, the year before we tied, and the year before that we won in overtime. So we knew we were going to have ourselves an old fashion slobber knocker, and it was time to get stuck in. We controlled most of the play, we hit the post several times, and it looked like it might be one of those days where we might not hit water if we fell out of a boat, but not so. Late in the second half, I received a ball and faked a pass to the middle, looking up I found a seam in their D and slotted it to Cam, who was off to the races, playing the ball across the box. Ross was unable to get on the end of it, and just like Nate always does, hefound himself in the perfect place, and punched it home for us. I thought that the flood gates might open for us, but one was all we would get or need.

Two wins, ahhh it is nice to feel that for the first time in a long time. Well until next time, this is Bailey, love you Mom and Dad. I am out!

The Bailey Blog: Mixed Results In So Cal

2008-10-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hey long time no talk. It has been a crazy couple of weeks for the team. We have had some big ups and big downs, and are looking just past the mid point of the season. We just got back from southern California, and we didn’t get the job done.

We took a bus down south with the girls team, and despite the fact that it was long hours we managed to have a good time watching movies and sleeping. On the day of the UCSD game, we just hung out because the game was at 7pm and we really didn’t want to do anything before the game.

I love night games and their field is beautiful. The atmosphere was awesome. We have a lot of guys on our team from San Diego, so it had the feeling of a home game. The game was a big one for us, we had just come off the biggest win of the season over Cal State Los Angeles, and were looking to put a streak together. San Diego was a good team, and the score didn’t tell how hard the game was. We came out a little shaky, but once we settled down we started to see most of the action start go our way. We didn’t find the net in the first half, but we were playing well and getting a lot of good play from our wingers.

Lafon went down early in the second half, and subsequently would miss the next game, but more on that later. Mark Wiedeman stepped up big for us in his place, and torched their defense to set up the first goal, which Ben slid in to get us on the board. It was Wiedeman again creating the second goal and hooking up with Ben on a great cross and header finish at the back post. Cam Vickers, who also played very well on the wing, set up the second goal, beating his man and crossed the ball to the back post. Wiedeman would head the ball back into the middle where Nate came flying in to put the nail in the coffin. At the very end Davide would slip in and drop the ball back to Alan who would cap the scoring for the day, but not before we celebrated with a dance party hosted by Alan. Their field is so beautiful, and will be the spot for the CCAA tournament later in the year.

Saturday we traveled up to Carson and trained on the David Beckham soccer academy field. Our training wasn’t super sharp, but we got a little 'loosen up' session in, and even got to see Sarah Palin drive by after her speech at the Home Depot Center.

Sunday was the day that I had circled on my calandar for a long time. We have built quite a rivalry with Dominguez Hills over the past few years, and it is always a slobber knocker of a game. As I mentioned before Lafon didn’t play, and I was limited in minutes because of an ankle injury from the previous game. We fought hard, but didn’t have a great game. Our intensity was on and then off for most of the game, and we turned the ball over an awful lot. Give them credit because they are a very good team, whose defense is probably one of the best in the nation. We never really got anything going on offense, but our defense played well and held us in the game. We ended giving up a soft goal, but the story of the day was the fact that we didn’t put any numbers on the board, and we are not going to win anything if we don’t score. We played well enough to tie, and they played well enough to win.

The drive back was long, but spirits were ok. Losing to Dominguez Hills is not a bad loss, but we could have put forth a better effort. This weekend is a big one for us, but then again when is a game not big for us? We play San Bernardino, and Cal Poly Pomona, who are both going to test us, but we are back at home ready to play some Noma Soccer.

I'll try to keep the blog going a little stronger, but until then this is Bailey signing out.

Sablle's Cross Country Report, Part III

2008-10-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

Hey its sablle again!

I know it has been long... I apologize. I personally have not been running for two weeks due to injuries. Our team actually has two girls out for the entire season, Kiyara and Elizabeth, which are great losses to our team. We really miss having them at practice as well as in the scores for
races but we will be just fine :). Our team is actually seeing a new specialist. He specializes in ART (Active Release Technique for all of you athletes out there). It really has seemed to help those with injuries on our team and I really recommend him. Anyways, our race this weekend is held by USF in San Francisco and we are all very excited. It is another tough 6k race but coach Mark James has really been preparing the team for this race. It should be very interesting because it is our only Friday race and it is at 4:30. Our team is used to running at
7:00 in the morning with cold foggy weather and since this is later it will be hotter, obviously. We have been practicing during the day a lot, though, to prepare us. The entire team is also very, very, very, very excited for our two last races in San Bernardino and San Diego (@ UCSD). I will be writing again soon, until then good luck to all you athletes!!!
-Young Sablle

On The Record With Megan Wong, Part IV

2008-10-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

The past 2 weeks have been black and white for our team. Last week when we played at home versus Academy of Art (Wed. Sept. 24), SF State (Fri. Sept. 26), and Monterey Bay (Sat. Sept. 27), it was a breeze for us. We took each team in 3 games (except SF State in 4) giving us a record of 14-1.

This past weekend we were on the road and it was a different story. We traveled down south to play Cal Poly Pomona, ranked 16th in division II on Friday, October 3 and lost in 4 games. It was a full crowd that night. The stands were full, the band was loud, and the fans were crazy. We knew we could win and wanted to win, but it didn’t seem like it when we got out on the court. Saturday, October 4, we drove to Cal State San Bernardino to play the 2nd ranked team in the nation. We came out slow in game 1, but gave them somewhat of a fight in games 2 and 3. It wasn’t our best performance; however, we did what we could do with what we had on the court. There’s only so much an athlete can do for the team, but it didn’t seem we could come together as a whole.

Despite the 2 straight loses over the weekend, we have Humboldt and UCSD to focus on for this coming weekend. Our current record is 14-3 overall and 6-2 in conference, putting us tied for 2nd place with Cal Poly Pomona and UCSD. CSUSB leads at 7-1 in 1st place. We’re not giving up on our goals of winning conference and going to Regionals.

On The Record With Megan Wong, Part III

2008-09-22T10:10:00.000-07:00

We fly high no lie you know this, ballin!!! Our team is still going strong, beating every team that comes our way. We had an amazing week, first beating Notre Dame de Namur early in the week on Tuesday then beating the #15 ranked team, Cal State LA, and Saturday beating Cal State Dominguez Hills. This is the best start for the women’s volleyball team here at Sonoma State University in school history.

Our team is unbeatable right now. With setter junior Lindsay Brown out for Tuesday's game and knowing that the big match against the Golden Eagles was going to be a tough fight, she did all she could do to get her ankle healed for Thursday night's game. By Wednesday night at practice she looked as good as new and was ready to take on CSULA and so were the rest of us. That night our team walked into the gym ready to dominate. We are the underdogs!!! We surprisingly took LA in 3 straight games. It was a rather slow and dull game, but we came out on top.

Despite the fact that Coach Bear used 9 out of the 18 girls on the team during Thursday night’s game, all of us were happy with the win. All sports have to deal with politics and coaches favorites. It’s just the way the sports life is as an athlete. There are the starters and the bench warmers or also known as the 1st string and 2nd string players, but the ones who don’t play much complain about playing time and I figure, if a team is doing well with the people on the court or field, why ruin the flow of everything. Volleyball, along with all other sports, is a team sport and we need to do what is best for the team, keep the chemistry going.

Saturday was a different story. We were ready for a quick 3 games so we could send the Toros home early back to the LA County. We weren't joking either because we took care of business and got the job done. Coach Bear, shockingly, played every single one of us eligible players Saturday night against CSULA. It was a fun and exciting night for all of us. Not only did we all get playing time, but we all did well and worked as a team to make our record to 11-1!!!!

Our upcoming games will all be held at our home gym starting at 7pm on Wednesday vs. Academy of Art, Friday vs. SF State and Saturday vs. Monterey Bay. We are not planning on stopping our winning streak just yet!!!

How About Those Seawolf Netters?

2008-09-19T09:37:00.001-07:00

The volleyball team is now floating in unchartered waters at 10-1, the best start in school history. After last night's dominating performance against No. 15 Cal State L.A., the Seawolves are a win on Saturday away from possibly being ranked for the first time since 1993. While that might be a nice little notch on the belt, the real prize would be a trip to the NCAA Pacific Regional Tournament for the first time since '93.

Santa Rosa Press Democrat writer Eric Branch has a great recap of last night's match in today's paper. By the way, the PD has been doing a great job covering the Seawolves over the last few months...probably the most coverage we've had in my seven years at SSU. Be sure to let them know that you appreciate the coverage they give SSU athletics.

It's been a one heck of a fall for the Seawolves so far. All the teams can definitely use your support to keep it going.

On The Record With Megan Wong, Part II

2008-09-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

What can I say??? We walked into Notre Dame de Namur’s gym thinking we had it easy last night, but we thought wrong. They were ready for a dog fight and they weren't giving up. It had been almost 3 weeks since we’d last played them and they’ve been to 3 good tournaments: ours, the UCSD tournament, and the Billings, Montana tournament where they played teams such as Chico, UCSD, CSUSB, and Montana State Billings. They had improved since we last saw them at our tournament wheree defeated them easily in 3 games. It was a different story last night.

First off, we didn’t have our starting setter, junior Lindsay Brown, due to a sprained ankle from Saturday night's game at Chico, but sophomore Devin Scully, put out tons of effort on the court to make up for the absence of Brown. Scully did her best to get the job done as our setter last night and it wasn’t too bad. Knowing that Devin hasn’t set since her senior year in high school, we knew that everyone was going to have to help her out. As a team, we came out nervous, slow, and shocked. Coach Bear wasn’t kidding when he said, “They’re gunning for us.” We weren’t expecting balls to be slammed or tough floater serves, but we finally turned on our engine and started to burn some rubber and soon it was a race to the finish line. Despite the fact that we lost the first game 28-26, we came back strong and won games 2 and 3. We then lost game 4 with our errors, but in the end we defeated the Argonauts for the 2nd time this year, taking game 5 with a strong finish (15-7) , and driving home with a 9-1 record!!!

We play Cal State LA Thursday night at 7pm and they are also 2-0 in conference. We’ll see what happens with Lindsay Brown still injured, but hopefully we, as a team, will have faith, determination, and commitment to believe that no matter who is on the court we will find the power to win!!!

Sablle's Cross Country Report, Part II

2008-09-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

Hey it’s Sablle here...

Well since I last wrote my blog we had two other races. Our first race went well but it was on the most non cross-country course of my life. The course was a really long dirt loop that we did three time to make a 6k. The race was in Davis, and it was really hot as well and in a real landfill. One of our good runners Kiyara actually sprained her ankle in the second loop but sucked it up and ran the entire rest of the race, which really takes some hard work considering she went on crutches. The good news though, she is now walking again and doing aqua jogging! In the race our team was in a really large pack, which is a good thing for our bigger races. We get all of those spots so our score goes up. Our training last week was probably the hardest week of my life. On Monday the team ran 8 miles. Tuesday, we did a ton of hills. Wednesday, we took it easy and on Thursday we did this really intense track workout. Friday, we did pick-ups on the Copeland Creek trail along with aqua jogging in the athletic pool. That whirlpool in the training office is really coming in handy these days with our team!

This past Saturday we competed in the Mills Invitational in Oakland. This race was a pretty cool course with a little of everything (hills, grass, concrete, trail) with some good weather as well. We showed up in our new workout suits which made us look really smooth not the mention the sweet buns we run in and I know everybody on the team would have vouched for me that they are so attractive. Katie Bolce, who is an amazingly dedicated runner on our team, came in 1st and received a medal. Sonoma State as a whole came in 1st as well in the team scorings and received a 1st place trophy. The team is proud of the trophy and is happy with the performance. Our score was 30 and the closest team to us, Pacific, scored 60.

Also, this Saturday at 9:00 am we are having our first alumni two-mile fun run. The cost to participate is ten dollars and all the proceeds benefit the Sonoma State cross-country team. If you would like to participate in the event contact head coach Mark James.

Young Sablle

On The Record With Megan Wong

2008-09-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

This year has been a major turn around from the previous years for our team. We have 7 incoming freshman, 5 sophomores, 4 juniors, 1 grad student and 1 transfer student who is also a junior. We had a strong showing at the Annual Seawolf Spike (4-0) and the Central Washington Tournament (2-1).

This past weekend, we played against Cal State Stanislaus and won easily, beating them in 3 games. The following night, Saturday, September 13, we put up a fight against our big time RIVALS.... CHICO!!! The team made a statement on Saturday night with a 3-2 win on the road against No. 25 Chico State. It was the fourth straight win for us, which makes our record 8-1 overall, 2-0 CCAA and tied for 1st in conference. We are off to our best start since 2001, when we also started 8-1. We are also enjoying our first 2-0 start to the conference schedule since 2002.

This coming week we play at Notre Dame de Namur Tuesday night and Cal State LA Thursday night at home and Cal State Dominguez Hills Saturday night at home. We can't wait to show them what we've got because we are going to give them a run for their money.

Bailey Blog: So Far, So Good

2008-09-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a successful one. It is a strange feeling to start the season this well, and not because I didn’t think that we could, but because I have not seen us start this well since I have been here.

Seattle Pacific is one team that I have never beaten, and one opponent that our school has only beaten once. Now obviously with their legendary coach gone this season we knew that things were going to be different. However the bitter taste of last year's overtime loss to these guys was something that we desperately wanted to wash out of our mouths. The game was weird for the first half. We managed to score first and I think we could all smell blood in the water, but after giving away a goal there was a brief sense of "here we go again". After they pretty much gave us a goal back before half time and we went into the break ahead and we knew there was no looking back. We easily could have piled on more goals, but four to one is not a bad way to win.

Western was a different beast all together. We knew that this was really our first test of the season, and just like we had bad history with Seattle Pacific, these guys have bad history with us. They hit the post pretty early on and battled with us for the whole first half, but the heat must have gotten to them. They weren’t as sharp in the second half and we pushed them around to the point that they got into Jack really dirty and found themselves left wanting and having to play with only ten men the rest of the afternoon. It was pretty much academic from that point on, but it didn’t come easy. Our offense looked a little stagnant for the first time all season, but our defense played very well and picked us up.

Our team goal this week was to keep working hard, as we really have not done anything yet, and to focus on the defensive aspect of our game. The team is in a really good place right now; we are working hard and having fun while we do it. This weekend will be another test for us, Notre Dame and Stanislaus will be ready to protect their homes, but we just have to keep taking it one game at a time. Till next time this is Bailey saying good by and I love you Mom.

Andrew Bailey is a two-time All-American and the all-time leading goal scorer in Sonoma State history. He is a senior majoring in Communications.

Fun With Rankings

2008-09-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

The Sonoma State men's soccer team awoke this morning to find that the powers-that-be have declared them the No. 2 team in the nation. Head coach Marcus Ziemer downplayed the accomplishment, stating that the only ranking that matters is the one at the end of the year. Very true.

The ranking got me thinking. Do you realize that in the past five months, three different Sonoma State teams have been ranked in the top two in the nation? Men's Golf was No. 2 heading into the national championship tournament (they were No. 1 for much of the season before that) and baseball was No. 2 going into the World Series.

Not many schools can claim something like this.

Sablle's Cross Country Report

2008-09-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, My name is Sablle Scheppmann and this will be my first blog of the season. Cross Country has been going really well so far, if I do say so myself. We kicked off the season by going to Bodega Bay for our running camp. We ate at some really nice places because my coach Mark James is a HUGE LOCAL!!!

Anyways, we ran in the early morning hours and once at night. The weather was a bit muggy a couple days, but otherwise it was beautiful. This one run we did at the Bodega Head was amazing. We saw deer, and the AMAZING sunset!!! Before we left camp as, we got in a quick yoga session which was really hard because we were so sore from running. However, it was also very relaxing.

So far this season has been quite the ride. Waking up everyday and running at 7:00 am every morning is not an easy task...that is for sure!! But it keeps me and the other girls on track. By on track, I mean not becoming the typical "college kid" who wakes up at 10:00 every morning and goes to bed at 2:00. I feel like Mark and our assistant coach Chandra are really turning us into runners, whether with our hardcore nutritionist Marina or just giving us simple
things to do to improve.

Now I’ll let you in on how our first race went. Everyone was pretty happy with their first performance whether in the 20's or the 22's it did not matter. Everyone was proud to be a collegiate athlete and running for Sonoma State. Our course was pretty fast as well,
with little to no hills on it and a nice view of beautiful Golden Gate Park. Cannot wait for the next race, there should be some tough competition there just like there was at Golden Gate Park. We know the teams we want to beat this season and hopefully we will do so!

-Sablle

Bailey Blog: Mission Accomplished!

2008-09-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

Mission accomplished! We have just landed and are back in Rohnert Park safe and sound. The final days of our trip were amazing and proved to be both a test of character and will.

The Chaminade game was a very interesting game to say the least. We dominated much of the play, but didn’t seem to be able to find the back of the net. The culmination of a solid defense effort on their part, slippery field conditions and a slight lack of sharpness found us down one goal midway through the first half. Scott was the first to find the back of the net for us, banging home a header off a corner. The game was a little chippy for the rest of the day, but we stayed sharp for the rest of the half and scored two more to give us a comfortable lead going into half. The second goal came from me, a shot from about the top of the penalty box that found its way past the goalie, and the third came from Nathan, a nice finish after a great cross from the left.

A comfortable lead going into the second half, and a tired opponent would see us not only sit on the lead but continue the fireworks. Not long into the second half Stu would step us and bend a shot around the wall on a free kick, pretty much crushing any idea that there would be a comeback. Ross would add two more on the day, one by penalty kick, and the other coming right off of their kick off. Ross would steal the ball from the defender near the corner of the penalty box on the left, take a touch inside and hit a wonderfully bended ball to the back post. An interesting game, which felt easy, but saw us have to fight for the first thirty minutes and lose Brook for the day because he was hit in the mouth, requiring stitches.

The final game of the trip was one we almost gave away. HPU were very determined to play the role of David to our Goliath, as they packed it in and brought their hard hats and lunch buckets. The field was pretty miserable, as was the wind and the fact that there were only two refs for most of the game. Despite all that we dominated the first half but could not find the back of the net. The second half saw our inspired reserves come in and give us a boost that we had been missing in the first half.

With the wind directly in our face Alan Grady would be the first to find the net on this day. A shot from Ross was saved by the keeper back out to Mark on the left side, who would bring the ball back in and lay it off for Grady to hammer home.

Lafon would join in on the scoring party that was our Hawaii trip blasting home a penalty kick after their goalie had fouled Cam.

There was about twenty minutes left at this point and we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yet the story of the day was less how well we played, but the fact that we almost gave the game away. A rare mistake in the back saw HPU find its first goal less than ten minutes later which lit a fire under them. Coupled with their determination, and our lack of will to put this game away, we would watch as they would find the equalizer with little time to spare as they flicked the ball on from a goal kick and hit a volley past Brook. We were unable to end it in regulation, but I was sure that our team would find the winner in overtime.

Both teams fought hard in overtime, and we continued to dominate the run of play and buckled up for a bumpy ride. In the waning moments of the game we pushed forward for one last effort. Passing the ball around beautifully, Nate found himself in front of the goal only to be denied by their goalie. The ball was saved wide as Cam tracked it down and whipped it back post were I was waiting. Seeing a golden opportunity I leaped up and slotted the ball home with my head and pandemonium ensued. The winner was with only twenty five seconds left, and on this day we showed that we have the will to win close games, but we are not invincible.

Exasperated from the trip, with three wins tucked under our belts, we packed up and headed for home, but not after hitting the beach one more time. The flight home was a treat as well as Scott’s mom was our flight attendant and treated us to a wonderful time. She served us hot dogs and chips and helped bring a wonderful end to a wonderful trip. After getting in late we headed back to rest up and prepare for SPU and Western this weekend. Once again this is Andrew Bailey signing out.

Sweet 16

2008-09-02T10:48:00.000-07:00

16-0. That's the Seawolves' cumulative fall record so far. When counting exhibition and regular season games for the three team sports (m/w soccer, volleyball), the Seawolves haven't lost in 16 contests.

Volleyball is 4-0 after sweeping the Seawolf Spike.
Men's Soccer is 3-0 in the regular season after a 3-0 pre-season.
Women's Soccer is also 3-0 in the regular season after a 3-0 pre-season.

Cross Country ran well at the USF Invitational, but we're not counting them in this report since it is not a 'team sport'. Yes, I know there is a cross country 'team' and 'team' scoring, but we don't compete head-to-head with other institutions and we don't record a win-loss record.

Yes, it's early, but this could be shaping up to be quite the season. How long can the department go without a loss? The soccer teams have some difficult games this weekend and the volleyball squad heads up to Washington for a few toughies as well.

The Catton Chronicles, Part II

2008-08-31T09:36:00.000-07:00

FRIDAY 8/29

This morning I woke up a little stiff! I have a fat bruise on my leg, I guess from the game and I had not even realized it. We woke up and went to a local field and had practice. Man was it hot!

After practice we went to Safeway for some water and snacks, then rushed back to the hotel to get ready for the beach!! We went to the beach right next to our hotel. But before we hit the beach we had to get floaties and other intertubes of course! We then hit the beach where we met up with the men's team and had a blast! It was really windy today so the waves were crazy. They we tossing everyone around and dragging everyone every direction! We found it quite amusing that the mens team loved having the waves take them all the way to the sand..girls didn't like that as much because sand just kept going in not so comfortable places.

We then walked around and got ice cream and headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. The whole team split up, but the group of girls I was with decided to go to Chili's, but along the route to Chili's we ran into La Cucarachas. Yes... a Mexican grill in Hawaii. Weird because I didn't know if I was suppose to say mahalo or gracais. We left dinner looked at a couple more shops but had to be in early tonight because we have a game tomorrow at 11.

To be continued...

Hawaii Five-O

2008-08-30T08:37:00.001-07:00

SSU senior Andrew Bailey

What a wonderful first day of class for the team. As we left beautiful Sonoma State to travel halfway across the pond to Oahu. Spirits were high that first day, with a sense of purpose that not only brought us together, but galvanized our resolve. We landed to beautiful weather and wonderful times as we played "four ball", which is very similar to four square in all but its name. Upon arriving at the hotel we dropped our bags off and cruised the beach, which is about two blocks from our hotel.

The first official day that we were here we caught up on some much needed sleep, and headed off to training at Hawaii Pacific. Despite the travel in our legs, and the laid back atmosphere, our training was very sharp and effective in gearing us up for our first official game. The weather has been interesting here, as was seen at the end of practice, which culminated with a down pour while the whole rest of the day prior and henceforth was gorgeous. The day ended with a wonderful dinner right on the beach at Shore Boards, as the sun set.

Game day brought about a sense of mixed emotions, excitement and anxiety, as our first test awaited. This game was a game that mom would be proud to put on the refrigerator. We won five to nothing and in convincing fashion. Ross had a hat trick, while Nate and Doug both chipped in with a goal a piece. Nate was first to score off a nice cross from Jack out of the back from the right side, that would carom off Ross and myself and trickle to the back post where Nate flew in to finish it.

Next, and by next I mean within fifteen seconds, Lafon stole the ball while they passed it back off the kick off and played the ball to me at the top off the box. I dropped the ball off to Ross whose shot would find the back of the net. It wouldn't take long for us to find the back of the net again as we had some great possession, and with Doug stepping out of the back the ball found his feet at the corner of the box where he blasted the ball into the top corner. To finish out the half Cam took the ball beating his defender and crossed the ball to a sliding Ross who would score his second of the day. The scoring would conclude in the second half with Casey dribbling to about the top of the box, playing the ball into me and me flicking the ball onto Ross who completed the day with a hatrick.

We had many more chances, but for our first game it was a job well done. We concluded the evening with some shrimp, shaved ice and some much needed beach action, as we finally can breath a little. As for tomorrow we will be back to business, as we prepare for our next game. Until then this is Andrew Bailey signing out, by the way, love you Mom.

Lindsay Catton from Hawaii

2008-08-29T13:02:00.001-07:00

Women's Soccer star Lindsay Catton is doing a blog during the team's three-game road trip to Hawaii....

WEDNESDAY 8/27
On Tuesday night we arrived at the airport after a long, but fun four hour plane ride. We watched movies, took pictures, and of course had a little dance party to music on channel 2 of the radio stations too keep us busy on the plane. We were so excited to get to O'ahu! We got there at like 9pm so it was dark and really didn't get to see anything, so we got food checked into our hotel and feel asleep.

The next morning I woke up at like 6am and was in complete amazement with the beautiful scenery!! Kayce Brawley, Maddy Drake and I (and of course Luke and Dave) went and got breakfast for the whole team. But of course that was an adventure. Our van was to high for the parking garage so we had to sit in the back for weight while Dave had to help look for cars so we could back out, it was really quite entertaining! After breakfast, we headed to Hawaii Pacific to have a morning training. We had a great training; all the girls felt ready to play!! We were connecting well and had a great session overall. Although we probably all I
individually sweat out 5 gallons of sweat.

We then headed straight to the beach, and let me tell you it was so beautiful!!! We all ran into the water and had a blast! After that we got food, but then straight back to the beach! Some of us went snorkeling, but we weren't so successful in finding anything! Wait actually Kayce and I found a big thing of coral with little yellow and black fish near it. I'm still looking for Nemo.

After we left the beach, 6 of us went to Costco so we could buy food for the week. That was another adventure in itself. It took us about an hour total to travel there and back, but only about 20 minutes in Costco itself because we were on a mission to get out quick to shower! Oh and I even helped the checker guy.

We got back to the hotel and took fast showers and the team went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. It was nice and after dinner everyone kind of spilt up and walked around. That didn't last to long because we were so tired, and we have a game tomorrow. Hopefully we get fully rested and get the first counted win for the season.

THURSDAY 8/28
Well, everyone got a great night of sleep!! We woke up and got some breakfast in us then relaxed and mentally prepared for our game. Our game was on the big island today so we had to catch a flight to get there. It was seriously the quickest flight ever!

We got to the airport and were picked up by the other teams coaches. We played at a high school field and it was so hot! It cooled off though but the combination of gnats and the heat was not a good one! We played University of Hilo and beat them 2 to 0. Getting the win of the official season felt great! As a team we started slow in the first half but then we picked it up in the second and got the win. Freshman Kiley Brown scored both goals (unassisted). I got a yellow card, it was deserved, I went to make a tackle and the girl turned so I came in from behind. Overall, it was a good game and left the team feeling confident for our next game against BYU-Hawaii on Saturday.

After the game we showered and got more pizza and went straight back to the airport! This day seemed so short and we are all so tired, but the win made it well worth it!! I'm actually typing this as we are walking off the plane.. Thank you palm centro :) well I do believe we are just going to bed to rest up for nothing but fun in the sun tomorrow!! (oh and practice too!!)

To be continued...

Undefeated Since 1996

2008-08-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

By Bill Fusco, Director of Athletics

They are selling a T-shirt in the University Bookstore that reads on the front “Sonoma State Football, Undefeated Since 1996.” A clever retail marketing strategy or cruel joke? Perhaps it’s a little of both. Since SSU dropped football in 1996 it is a given that the shirt will keep selling for years to come.

It is impossible to avoid this time of year. College football is in the air. A true American tradition that will again captivate millions of fans across the country. But in our great State of California, you might find a college football game more difficult to locate than you think. The reality is that the majority of all four-year degree granting institutions in California do not sponsor intercollegiate football on any level.

Yes, the obvious ones are very visible like USC, Cal, Stanford, UCLA and Fresno State. San Jose State and San Diego State round out the seven schools that compete at the highest NCAA Division I level. The next level is the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division IAA) and features schools like UC Davis, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Sacramento State and University of San Diego. The remaining 10 schools that sponsor intercollegiate football consist of only one school competing at the NCAA Division II level (where SSU competed) and that is the Lumberjacks of Humboldt State. Azusa Pacific is the lone NAIA school sponsoring football in California and then there are eight NCAA Division III schools, mostly in Southern California that field football teams every fall.

Out of approximately 70 four-year schools in California, only 21 sponsor a college football team. The question I am asked the most over the past 12 years is “When are we bringing back football?” The answer is simple. Unless Bill Gates shows up with a $100,000,000 endowment for SSU Athletics it will probably never happen. The reasons are simple. There are hardly any schools in NCAA Division II sponsoring football on the West Coast. Four to be exact. The travel required to play a competitive NCAA Division II schedule would be economically prohibitive. Title IX also is a major factor in this process. Add a football team of 85 male student-athletes, then gender equity would require you have to go out and find enough women’s teams to handle 125 new female student-athletes.

Since I enjoy college football and really dreamed about SSU having football again, perhaps the best I can do this fall is watch on TV or go over to Cal to see Pac-10 football. Or an even better idea is to save the gas and stay right on campus watching our top-ranked SSU “football” Soccer teams keep the winning tradition of Seawolves Athletics going strong.

Seawolves In Stripes

2008-08-24T00:34:00.001-07:00

In case you haven't seen them yet, the men's soccer team is sporting a new look this fall. After talking to a few different people, I think the jury is still out.

What do you think?

Are they reminiscent of Scottish football power, Celtic.....

or old-fashioned prison garb.......

There is a poll up on the men's soccer page asking if you love or hate the new uniforms.
Either way, the new uniforms have been lucky...the Seawolves are 2-0 in stripes.

Soccer Debut Review

2008-08-18T12:13:00.001-07:00

The soccer teams got their pre-season kicked off in fine fashion on Sunday afternoon. Though scores could not be publicized, it's safe to say both SSU teams looked very good in their debuts.

The women's squad got contributions from several impressive freshmen, including Taylor Colacion and Taylor Edmonds, against Santa Rosa JC. Tracy Webster also netted a couple of goals. The future definitely looks bright for the Seawolves.

On the men's side, it was Ross Middlemiss leading the way, finishing the game with a penalty kick goal and a pair of assists. The Seawolves have a phenomenal veteran core that has been playing together for quite a while now. In fact, all 11 starters on the Seawolves were on the team last year and 10 of the 11 have been on the team for at least two seasons. I can't think of another SSU team in recent history that can claim something like that.

It was great to see a bunch of former SSU players (Eric Larson, David Seidel, Tim Maycock, Brandon Boone, Chris Daly, and Jaime Rivera) suit up for the Sonoma County Sol on Sunday. Despite starting the game with just 11 players (three more joined the bench after the match had started), the Sol played very well.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

2008-08-12T12:08:00.001-07:00

The 2008 football--- I mean, soccer--- season is here! Well, almost. The SSU men and women get their pre-season schedules underway this Sunday with a doubleheader at Seawolf Field. The women will host Santa Rosa JC (coached by former SSU All-American Emiria Salzmann) at 2:30 before the men host the Sonoma County Sol (coached by former Seawolf star and current assistant coach Benjamin Ziemer) at 5:00 pm.

The SSU men will enter the season ranked No. 6 in the nation. While a high early season ranking is nice, Coach Ziemer and his Seawolves will tell you what really matters....where you are at the end of the season. Will the Seawolves be playing in December? Only time will tell. For your first chance to see Bailey, Medina, Carr and the rest of the '08 Seawolves, come on out on Sunday!

Getting Back To The Show

2008-08-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

Former Sonoma State pitcher Daniel Barone tossed a complete game three-hitter on Thursday for the Albuquerque Isotopes over the Portland Beavers. The Isotopes are the Triple-A affiliate of the Florida Marlins.

Barone has battled a bad back this season, but looks to be returning to his 2007 form. Last season, after a tremendous minor league stretch, Barone was called up to the major leagues, where he pitched very well for the Marlins. A member of the Seawolves' 2004 NCAA West Regional runner-up squad, Barone became just the second player in school history to play in the Major Leagues. The first? That would be SSU Hall of Famer Marshall Brant, who appeared in a few games in the early 1980s.

With nine former Seawolves currently playing in major league organizations (by far the most in the CCAA), it's only a matter of time before SSU has another of their own in the "big show".

Here Come The Urban Knights

2008-07-28T14:36:00.001-07:00

Take a look at the Seawolves' fall and winter schedules and you might see an opponent pop up that you haven't seen before. The volleyball, women's soccer, and women's basketball teams all have games scheduled against The Academy of Art University, an art school in San Francisco. Yes, it's the one you've seen in commercials.

The school decided to start an athletic department and they are jumping right into Division II. Along with athletic director Jamie Williams (the former 49er), AAU has been accepted into the Pacific West Conference. Nickname? The Urban Knights.

It might not be fair to expect a lot of success on the field this season, but with a bunch of fashion design majors walking around, I'd expect some nice uniforms.

For the record, the Urban Knights won't be the first art school to play against Sonoma State. A few years ago, the Savannah College of Art & Design, a very successful NAIA program, visited Seawolf Diamond for a baseball series.

Back To The Future?

2008-07-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

By Bill Fusco, SSU Director of Athletics

Back in the 90's, Sonoma State University was a member of the Northern California Athletic Conference (NCAC), the only NCAA Division II conference in the country that did not offer athletic scholarships. Besides SSU, the NCAC membership consisted of San Francisco State, Chico State, Cal State Stanislaus, Humboldt State, UC Davis, Cal State Hayward and the College of Notre Dame.

For SSU, it was a great conference to be in because there were some intense rivalries and no air travel was required to complete a conference schedule. That was all well and good until UC Davis decided it was time to move to a scholarship conference. In 1997, UC Davis announced that the Aggies were moving to the Southern California based California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and would start awarding athletic scholarships for the first time in the history of their program. As soon as UC Davis announced their intentions, four other NCAC members (SSU, Chico, SF State and Stanislaus) climbed aboard the Aggie Express to the CCAA. College of Notre Dame and Cal State Hayward decided to move into the NAIA and Humboldt State moved north joining the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC).

12 years later, alot has changed, yet things look surprisingly similar. UC Davis has moved on to NCAA Division I and the Big West Conference. Humboldt State finally joined the CCAA two years ago. Last month we learned that Cal State Hayward (now known as Cal State East Bay) plans to move back into NCAA Division II and become a member of the CCAA starting with the 2009-10 academic year. With CSU East Bay joining the CCAA, six of the original eight NCAC members are now competing in the CCAA. With CSU Monterey Bay, there are seven CCAA schools in the north and five CCAA schools in the south.

In the not to distant future, you can count on Cal State San Marcos and CSU Channel Islands (both southern schools) declaring their intentions to join NCAA Division II and the CCAA. At that point, the CCAA will finally have some balance with seven schools each in the north and south. That won't nessarily make scheduling any easier than it is now, but having 14 schools in the CCAA will provide a great deal of stability and financial security.

By the way, College of Notre Dame changed their name too. Notre Dame de Namur University is just completing their requirements to return to NCAA Division II and have been a member of the Pacific West Conference for the past two years. The NCAC lives on.

The Calm Before The Storm

2008-07-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. It's pretty quiet at Sonoma State right now, but within a couple of weeks, the campus will be filled with dozens of student-athletes making preparations for their fall seasons. Our first pre-season game is less than a month away and the regular season gets started in just over a month. The summer seems to get shorter every year.

People often wonder what we in athletics do during the summer. I'm sure they figure that a Sports Information Director just lounges by the pool all day... a three-month vacation. Unfortunately, that is far from the case. Though my hours are cut back (I get to work a 9-5 day!), I'm still at the office Monday through Friday, doing all the little things that we don't have time for during the year from publication production to research.

Fall and winter sports schedules are posted on the website. We've got another busy season coming up with quite a few non-conference soccer games at home, and of course, our volleyball tournament, the Seawolf Spike.

Side note: Our volleyball coach told me last year that "spike" is not a cool term any more. Apparently no volleyball player uses the word "spike". As you can tell by some of our other events, "Seawolf Splash", "Seawolf Sip", etc., alliteration is key with the Sonoma State Seawolves. Sorry volleyballers.

Seawolves In The Pros

2008-07-19T09:54:00.001-07:00

In case you haven't seen it before, the athletics website has a list of former Sonoma State baseball players that are now playing professionally. It's a very impressive list and it seems to grow every year. I guess that's what happens when you win back-to-back league titles and go 102-27 over a two-year stretch.

Former Seawolves are scattered throughout just about every level of pro baseball, from the independent leagues all the way up to Triple-A.

There is one former SSU pitcher who is having a tremendous year, Bryan Oland (right). A two-year member of the Seawolves (2006-07), Oland is pitching for the Fort Wayne Wizards in the Padres' organization. He was drafted by San Diego last year and spent the remainder of his summer pitching in the Arizona League. Bumped up to the Low-A level Wizards of the Midwest League, Oland has been just phenomenal in relief. As of Saturday he is 3-1 with a 1.11 ERA in 25 games (24 of them out of relief). He's struck out 42 batters in just 32.1 innings of work. Not bad.

There are many other guys who are having nice seasons (for instance, Tom Everidge has 17 homers and 76 RBIs in Double-A right now). Be sure to check on their progress on the "Seawolves in the Pros" section of the website.

Welcome to the blog!

2008-07-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

We've made it. The athletic department is now firmly planted in this decade with the start of "Seawolves" the blog. We thought this would be a great way to communicate with our fans and student-athletes in a more casual environment.

Over the last year or so, the Sports Information staff (that's me) has been able to talk student-athletes into writing blogs for the main athletics website (www.sonomaseawolves.com). The support for these blogs has been overwhelming, so we thought we'd make this a more regular feature. We hope to get a student-athlete from each sport to contribute to this blog, giving insights on their season, upcoming games, and student-athlete life in general. You'll also get 'behind the scenes' reports from myself and several other coaches and administrators on the SSU athletics staff. We hope you enjoy. Remember, for scores, schedules, game stories, etc., you'll still go to sonomaseawolves.com. This is where you want to come for all the inside Seawolf dirt. Enjoy!