A mid-season report on USD teams and their achievements

LAUREN CEBALLOS /SPORTS EDITOR

    USD cross country, football, soccer and volleyball are officially in season with tennis, softball and golf attending tournaments and rowing beginning to compete in regattas.

     USD football opened their season against Cal Poly SLO and later defeated Dayton with a score of 40-25. Some team highs for the season include 43 rushes against Colorado Mesa and 216 yards rushing, as well as three touchdown passes against Colorado Mesa, two touchdown rushes against Dayton, 39 pass attempts versus Princeton and 22 pass completions against Davidson, with 408 yards passing. With a total of 132 points, averaging 22 points per game, Toreros are showing off their skills and working to represent the school.

     At the start of the season, USD seniors Re-al Mitchell, Chase Lyons and Will Buck were each awarded pre-season all Pioneer Football League (PFL) team. 

     Mitchell, a USD quarterback, was an All-PFL First Team 2022 selection. Mitchell is an all-purpose player with stats of “nine of 13 pass attempts for 91 yards and 13 touchdowns, led USD with 433 passing yards and four rushing touchdowns, and caught 23 passes for a total of 272 yards and two touchdowns,” prior to this season according to USDToreros.com. 

     Lyons, a USD outside linebacker, was an All-PFL Second Team with 31 out of 46 solo tackles across 10 starts. “He racked up 7.5 tackles for losses, two sacks, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry,” wrote USDToreros.com. Most notably, Lyons had two forced fumbles last year which is the most on the USD roster. 

     Buck, a USD defensive tackle, was also named an All-PFL Second Team in 2022 with 13 out of 33 solo tackles across 10 starts. “He registered four sacks and eight tackles for losses, and led the Toreros with 11 quarterback hurries,” reported USD Toreros.com.

     On Oct. 14, USD football fell to Marist college with a score of 16-30.

     USD men’s soccer began their season against Seattle University, kicking off the season with a 2-1 win with goals scored by USD fifth year Mason Tunbridge and USD sophomore Samy Kanaan. During the game against Cal Poly, junior Ethan Warne and freshman Steven Ramirez scored their first goals as Toreros and first year Donovan Parisian made his collegiate debut.

     “Parisian became one of just six freshman goalkeepers in the nation to record a shutout this season and one of four to do it in their collegiate debut, making one save in his first appearance,” according to Anderson Haigler.

      In the game against George Washington University, the Toreros scored their most goals since 2006 in a home opener. Toreros have won their games against Cal Poly, George Washington, Cal Baptist University, UCSD, San Francisco, St. Mary’s, Seattle University and the University of Washington with a tied game against UC Riverside.

     On Oct. 14, men’s soccer played SDSU and ended the game with a tied score of 1-1 with a goal made by Tunbridge off of assists from Ramirez and Warne.

     USD women’s soccer opened their season with a game against Stanford where they lost 0-4. However, they turned it around in the following games against UCR with a tie and Seattle University with a score of 1-0. USD junior Lexi Zandonella-Arasa scored the goal 33 minutes into the game. With the help of first-year defenders Kamryn Simpson and Kylie Perez, the pair helped keep Seattle from scoring.

      On Oct. 4 women’s soccer tied with LMU for a score of 1-1. Juniors Sara Evans and Zandonella-Arasa made the ball available to USD graduate student Olivia Stone who made a header into the goal. The team has more games against Saint Mary’s, San Francisco, Pepperdine, and Santa Clara throughout the rest of the season. 

     USD Women’s Volleyball is fighting to keep their title. The team recently fell to LMU, however, Toreros stood out throughout the game. USD sophomore Olivia Bennett, libero and defensive specialist, had a team high of two service aces and eight digs. Redshirt senior Isadora Tercariol, setter, had 24 assists throughout the game. USD senior Madi Allen, libero, made a new team-best of 13 digs and also had a service ace. USD junior Haylee Stoner, middle blocker, chipped in a solo block, making her fifth of the 2023 season as of that game. 

     Earlier in the season, players earned other acknowledgements as well. USD graduate student Amber Stirvins, outside hitter, hit her 1,000 kill in a game against Gonzaga. Strivins was selected as a 2023 WCC Volleyball Preseason team with Stoner and Leyla Blackwell, a senior middle blocker. 

     Overall, USD athletes are accomplishing personal goals as well as school and conference wide achievements.