The beginning of the end...

(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.)

After 3 days of living life as an "average student" since school started, all of that ends starting Monday when we break out into softball class, individual sessions, weight lifting, and conditioning. We have almost 30 girls working out in the fall consisting of five returning seniors, one returning junior, and bunch of returning underclassmen, as well as four committed incoming freshman, and a handful of walk on's that will be trying out. I am anticipating a lot of circuit type work outs, pushing weight, and increasing our endurance as a team to set ourselves up for success this spring.

I also have a couple personal goals in mind where my main focus will be to get 100% healthy by the time spring rolls around as I continue to recover from a severe strain to my Ulnar Collateral Ligament in my throwing arm. In addition, I will be trying out some other positions on the field to determine where I will become the biggest asset to my team. I came into this program as a left-handed catcher, played some outfield, tried out the role as a designated player and I have come to realize that I will be willing to play wherever is best for my team, personal feelings aside.

Academically, much to my surprise I will be graduating on time in only four years this upcoming spring. Looks like the 20+ units these last few semesters is going to pay off and now I need to apply for graduation and sooner rather than later to determine what my next step is.

As SAAC (Student Athlete Advisory Committee) President, we are beginning to determine what organizations we would like to work with this year while preparing to kick off the fall sports seasons with homecoming week and other festivities. Until next week, peace!

Water Polo Proving That Anything Is Possible

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

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

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

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

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

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