By: Kaja Antic, Sports Writer
Cross country
MVPs: Senior Sebastian Brinkman, sophomore Rachael Watkins
Results: M–3rd, W–4th at the conference championship
M–9th, W–8th at the regional championship; didn’t qualify for national title
The men’s and women’s cross-country teams opened the season with two first-place finishes, and didn’t slow down from there. The men’s team finished third or better, while the women’s team finished fourth or better, at each of the three regular season competitions. Both teams maintained this consistency at the conference championship, finishing third and fourth respectively, once more, to advance to the regional championship.
SFU’s top finishers at the conference championship were senior Sebastian Brinkman, who earned conference honours for finishing fourth, and sophomore Rachael Watkins, who finished 17th. Brinkman has been the fastest runner for the men’s team all season, while Watkins finished ahead of her teammates in all but two of the women’s races, including the regional championship.
Brinkman placed 31st at the regional championship — running 10 km in just over 31 minutes, for an average pace of 3:09 minutes per kilometre. However, both the men’s ninth-place finish and the women’s eighth-place finish weren’t enough to qualify them for the national championship, thereby ending their season. The men previously finished 19th at the national championship after qualifying last season.
Men’s soccer
MVPs: Forwards Michael Hennessy, Devin O’Hea
Results: 8–2–1 (against conference opponents), 11–5–2 (overall)
Eliminated in the first round of playoffs
The men’s soccer team returned to its regular season glory of past years, winning the program’s eighth conference title since joining the NCAA, and automatically advancing to the NCAA Division II Championship. However, in SFU’s first playoff appearance in four seasons, they were unable to make it past the first round, dropping their first and only game of the championship 3–1 against Point Loma Nazarene.
Despite their elimination, SFU did not walk away from the season empty-handed. The team’s stellar performance against conference competition earned them a trio of awards. SFU’s premier scorer Michael Hennessy won the conference’s Freshman of the Year, team captain Devin O’Hea won Player of the Year, and senior Niko Papakyriakopoulos was selected as Defensive Player of the Year.
Hennessy scored 13 goals, five of which in a single game, to finish the season with 29 points — the second most in the conference, and one point shy of first. O’Hea, who finished behind Hennessy in team scoring, notched a conference-leading nine assists throughout the season, and was the sole conference representative on the 2023 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division II Men’s All-West Region first-team. Papakyriakopoulos was the only Red Leaf to score at the national championship.
Women’s soccer
MVP: Goalkeeper Sarah Loewen
Results: 5–5–4 (against conference opponents), 8–5–6 (overall)
GNAC Champions; first round NCAA championship elimination
Rather than the team with the best regular season record winning the conference championship, the top four women’s soccer teams battled for the championship. The No.1 team squared off against the No. 4 team, and the No. 2 team competed against the No. 3 team, with the winners advancing to the conference championship. Only then did the winner earn a spot in the NCAA championship.
Sneaking into the playoffs as the fourth and last team, without any national championship experience — SFU was supposed to lose to the No. 1 team — that, they did not. SFU not only beat the No. 1 team, but won their first conference championship in program history by defeating Western Washington. Just a year prior, Western Washington had eliminated SFU from the playoffs, on their way to winning the championship.
While SFU didn’t make it past the first round of the NCAA championship, they didn’t make the victory easy for California State, Los Angeles. It took a penalty shootout, following a 0–0 draw, to decide a winner. Goalkeeper Sarah Loewen, who was instrumental in SFU’s history-making run, appeared in all games for the team this season, earning eight clean sheets and leading the conference with 88 saves.
Volleyball
MVPs: Outside hitter Jocelyn Sherman, right side hitter Brooke Dexter
Results: 11–7 (against conference opponents), 16–10 (overall)
The Red Leafs volleyball team placed fourth in the conference standings, knocking themselves out of the playoffs, as only the team with the best regular season record advanced. SFU, however, led the conference in total assists, kills, and digs, and had juniors Jocelyn Sherman and Brooke Dexter selected to the conference first team. Individually, Sherman placed fifth in kills and points for the conference, while Dexter placed 10th. SFU went on three separate three-game win streaks this season — their longest of the year. Including their best win: a three set sweep against the highest-ranked competition of the season, No. 13 Central Washington.
