Sports – Page 205 – Lake Weekly

Women’s soccer and cross-country made history this past weekend

Both the women’s soccer team and the women’s cross-country team won their first-ever conference championship this past weekend.

The Saints captured the 2013 Red River Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Tournament crown on Saturday after beating the University of Texas at Brownsville 2-1 in the championship match. The Saints also won the regular season crown. The Saints will advance to the first round of the 30th Annual National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Women’s Soccer National Championship on Nov. 23. The first-round games will take place at campus sites that will be determined next week. Winners will advance to the championship tournament in Orange Beach, Ala., Dec. 2-7.

Head Coach Arthur Salazar, who was named conference “Coach of the Year,” said, “I am extremely proud of this team. They have been able to persevere through many obstacles to be able to call themselves champions. UTB is a very tough team and our girls had to fight to the very end. Their heart and desire to win are immeasurable.” Read full story online.

The women’s cross-country team won the Red River Athletic Conference Championship Meet on Friday. The Saints overall score was 1:38:06.2. Head Coach Stephen Sherman, who received conference “Coach of the Year,” said, “I could not be more proud of the women. I challenged them more than any since I arrived at OLLU. In fact, I was not always fun to be around, but it’s always because I knew what they were capable of if they went all in. They went all in, and now we have the two best RRAC meet finishes in school history including a women’s championship.” Read full story online.

Conference awards were announced, as well. Stephanie Diaz received soccer’s “Offensive Player of the Year.” Diaz, Amaris Tavares, Victoria Vazquez and Brandy Salazar received First-Team honors. Stephania Vazquez, Brianna Burtone and Alissa Villarreal received Second-Team honors. Alyssa Mora was named to soccer’s Champions of Character Team.

Chosen as cross-country’s Freshman of the Year was Ceara O’Donnell. The All-Conference Team included O’Donnell, Erica Ramos, Laura Echeverria and Alexandria De Luna.

Volleyball’s Kendall Groff and Gloriana Villarreal selected to All-Conference First Team

conferencvb — Kendall Groff and Gloriana Villarreal received All-Conference honors.

Kendall Groff and Gloriana Villarreal were selected to the 2013 All-Red River Athletic Conference First Team in volleyball. Named to the Second-Team were Alysha Blanco and Alexandra Wilborn. Honorable Mention included Sydney Herrera and Vanessa Ortega. Champions of Character were Brittany Martinez and Janelle Solis. All-Academic team included Ortega, Stephanie Rubio, Villarreal and Bryttany Willoughby. Read full story online.

Luis Flores and Angel De la Garza named conference ‘Players of the Year’ in soccer

Luis Flores and Angel De la Garza received All-Conference honors.

Men’s soccer co-captain Luis Flores was named Defensive Player of the Year, while teammate Angel De la Garza was named Newcomer of the Year in the Red River Athletic Conference. Members of the First-Team included Yared Temesgen, De la Garza and Flores; Second-Team included Robert Alexe, Elias Cortes and Zackery Brewer; Champions of Character selectee was Flores. Read full story online.

OLLU’s Ornela Bacchini receives conference ‘Women’s Basketball Player of the Week’ honors

Ornela Bacchini was named “Player of the Week.”

Ornela Bacchini was selected as Red River Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Co-Player of the Week for the dates of Nov. 4-10. Bacchini, a senior center from Buenos Aires, Argentina, missed only two shots while accounting for 17 points and nine rebounds in an 81-74 defeat of Texas Wesleyan University. She was 7-of-9 from the field and 3-of-3 from the free throw line as the Saints won their season opener. Read full story online.

Women’s soccer set for conference semifinals

The women’s soccer team will play Southwest on Friday.

The women’s soccer team is set for the conference semifinals that take place Friday at the Houston Amateur Sports Park. The Saints, the No. 1-seed in the conference, will play No. 4-seed Southwest at 12:30 p.m. No. 2 Brownsville will play No. 3 Huston-Tillotson University at 3 p.m. The winners of both games will advance to the championship match on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 5 p.m.

The Saints finished the regular season as the conference champions with a 6-0 record and 14-2-1 overall. Last week, they improved to No. 19 from No. 21 in the 2013 NAIA Women’s Soccer Coaches’ Top 25 Poll.

Ceara O’Donnell selected as conference ‘Runner of the Week’ 

Ceara O’Donnell was selected as the Red River Athletic Conference Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week for the dates of Oct. 21-27. O’Donnell, a freshman from Corpus Christi, Texas, posted a time of 19:53 on the 5K course at the Mid-States Classic on Saturday. She set an OLLU record for her time and has been entered into the University’s Halo Club for Cross-Country for running the 5K in under 20 minutes. She placed 77th in a field of 162 competitors and guided the OLLU team to its best finish in three years at the event.  The cross-country teams will prepare for the conference tournament that takes place this weekend in Marshall, Texas. Read more online.

Volleyball wins one of two matches in Oklahoma

Brittany Martinez gets a dig during last week’s home game.

The OLLU volleyball team ended the regular season with a loss and a win this past weekend. The Saints dropped two sets to three against Bacone College in Muskogee and won in three sets over Langston. The Saints end the regular season with a 9-4 record in the Red River Athletic Conference and 14-10 overall. Bacone finishes with a 9-4 conference and 19-10 overall record, while Langston drops to 3-10 in the conference and 7-16 overall.

The University of Texas at Brownsville ends the season as the top seed in the conference and in the NAIA with a 13-0 conference and 29-0 overall record. Wiley College (11-2/20-12) is the second seed in the conference, while Bacone is the third and OLLU is the fourth. The conference tournament will begin on Nov. 8 in Brownsville. OLLU will be matched up against No. 5-seeded University of St. Thomas and will play at noon. The winner of that match will play the semifinals match at 5:30 p.m., and the championship match will take place on Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. Read more online.

Men’s basketball drops both games in Small College Tip-Off

Bridge Lavey hits a 3-pointer during the game against Evangel.

The men’s basketball opened its season this weekend at the Small College Tip-Off Classic. The NAIA’s No. 24-ranked Saints lost 103-95 to the NAIA’s No. 9-ranked Evangel University and 87-84 to St. Gregory’s University. The Saints will go back on the road to Fort Worth on Nov. 6 to play Texas Wesleyan University in a nonconference game at 7:30 p.m. OLLU will host its next game on Nov. 15 against MidAmerican Nazarene University at 7:30 p.m. Read more online.

Men’s soccer ends season with a 1-0 loss in quarterfinals match against Southwest

Angel De La Garza guards the ball during the game against Southwest.

The men’s soccer team ended its season last week after losing 1-0 to the University of the Southwest in the Red River Athletic Conference quarterfinals match. The fourth-seeded Saints finished the year with an overall record of 11-4-1 and a conference record of 4-2-1. Southwest, the fifth seeded team, will advance to the conference’s semifinals round on Nov. 8 in Houston. The Mustangs record is 6-8 overall and 4-3 in the conference. Read more online.

OLLU women’s soccer captures conference title after win against Huston-Tillotson

Amaris Tavares scored one goal for the Saints.

For the first time in school history, the women’s soccer team won the Red River Athletic Conference regular season and finished undefeated with a 6-0 conference record. The Saints beat Huston-Tillotson University 2-0 on Saturday evening to clinch the title. The team is the No. 1 seed the in the conference tournament. The first round begins this Friday with the No. 3-seed University of the Southwest (3-2-1/6-7-1) hosting No. 6-seed Texas College (1-5/4-10-2). No. 4-seed Huston-Tillotson (3-2-1/4-7-2) will host No. 5-seed Bacone College (2-4/6-10). Then on Nov. 8, the Saints (6-0/14-2-1) and the University of Texas at Brownsville (5-1/11-3) will play the winners of the Nov. 1 games. The semifinals and championship match, which will take place on Nov. 9, will be held at the Houston Amateur Sports Park in Houston. Read more online.