The 2017 fall PLNU athletics season was a memorable one as school history was made, records were broken and long careers came to a sweet end. Here is a recap of the season that PLNU fall sports had:
Men’s Soccer:
The men’s soccer team had their best season in over 20 years. The Sea Lions finished with an overall record of 14-3-2 and a conference record of 11-0-2.
The Sea Lions made school history by going unbeaten in their final 16 matches of the regular season and hosted PLNU’s first-ever NCAA West Regional matches in which they would lost in the second round to Cal Poly Pomona.
Junior goalkeeper, Wiktor Lasota, says he is very happy with how his team fought this season. “Starting the season with two big losses and finishing with a 16-game unbeaten streak, the best school record in history, it is something incredible, something that I am still amazed about.”
Lasota is among eight of the Point Loma men’s soccer student-athletes who were named to the 2017 All-PacWest team, headlining the list by being named Goalkeeper of the year.
Others who received recognition include Matias Rodriguez who was named to the D2CCA All-West Region team along with Lasota, and Eduardo Gallardo, who was named to the All-West Region team.
Women’s Soccer:
The women’s soccer team had a memorable year, as they finished with a winning record of 9-7-1 and sent head coach Tim Hall out with a victory in his final career match against the Academy of Art.
The women’s soccer team made history of their own this season when seniors Sami Swanson and Morgan Pearce became the first student-athletes to earn All-PacWest selections in all four years of eligibility.
Three other players were also selected for the All-PacWest team those of which included Keagan Bolibol, a first-team selection, as well as Abbey Teagle and Abbi Swanson who were both third-team selections.
Cross-Country:
PLNU’s cross country team made school history before the 2017 season had even started.
For the first time, a Point Loma team was ranked among the top 10 of NCAA Division II teams as the cross country team debuted at No. 9 on the preseason USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Coaches’ Poll.
The Sea Lions had five All-PacWest selections returning for the 2017 season along with all seven of their top runners.
With such a plethora of talent, it was no surprise that this cross country team was dominant in their 2017 season. They finished 10th at the NCAA Regional and junior Hannah Benoit-Bucher received an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships where she would finish 68th out of 247 runners.
Senior runner Brielle Budroe felt that the team excelled this season despite being riddled with injuries. “We face physical and mental challenges that disabled us from being able to race all of our best runners at every competition. Despite adversity, every single person continued to put their best foot forward, and this type of commitment is what makes the dream work.”
Women’s Volleyball:
The women’s volleyball team finished the 2017 season with a 12-16 overall record. Although starting the season off a bit slow, the team seemed to find their rhythm, which led to a four-set win on the Sea Lion’s Senior Night against the Hawaii Pacific Sharks.
Most notable for this Sea Lions team was the earning of All-PacWest honors for freshman Holley Persson and sophomore Cara Keturakis. Persson was selected as second-team All-PacWest at the libero position and Keturakis was voted as third-team All-PacWest at the setter position.
Women’s Golf:
The women’s golf team played in three tournaments this past fall. In their first tournament at the WMNU Invitational, the team placed 14th. In the next two tournaments, the team improved to place eighth in the Dixie State Fall Invite and ninth in the Cal State San Marcos Fall Classic.
The Cal State San Marcos Fall Classic on Oct. 30 was the golf team’s last tournament before their three-month break. The team will resume play on Feb. 5 at the PLNU Reach 2018 tournament.
Luke Mallery 
Cade Michaelson