By: William Burns, Sports Editor
The athletes at Saint Leo University have been hard at work since school started, practicing and performing at high levels. There are several sports in season for the men, and all of them have high points as well as low points.
Men’s Soccer has made a remarkable turnaround since last year, already having won twice the amount of games as last year, not taking into account that there are still six games left in the season. Men’s
Golf has had some good matches this year as they hope to finish higher up in the NCAA tournament, coming off of a 15th out of 20 place finish last year. Men’s Cross Country has made some very impressive headlines as they look to break school records, and get into the top five in the south, as they just missed out with a sixth-place finish in the southern region championship.
The Lion’s Soccer team started off very slow, losing their first three games. However, these were all one goal games, proving to the lions that they just needed one more gear to start clicking.
Men’s Cross Country has made some very impressive headlines as they look to break school records, and get into the top five in the south, as they just missed out with a sixth-place finish in the southern region championship.
The Lion’s Soccer team started off very slow, losing their first three games. However, these were all one goal games, proving to the lions that they just needed one more gear to start clicking.
Since then, the Lions have won six of eight games, giving them an overall record of six wins and five losses, which is already much better than last season, when they won three games and lost thirteen.
The Lions are looking to keep this pace up through the rest of the season, as Coach Brett Parker continues to work with his team to get red hot for the postseason. Federico Toschi is the Lions lead goal scorer with five goals, and Wessel Berenschot is the leading Goalkeeper with 27 saves. The next home game is Wednesday, October 23rd vs. Tampa.
Men’s Golf has been doing very well, hungry for another chance to get into the NCAA Division II championship tournament again. Last year they placed 15th out of the top 20 teams in the nation. So far this year, the Lions have compiled a solid list of matches.
They have finished fourth of 17 teams at the Cougar Invitational in Georgia and placed third out of 12 teams in the Griffin Invitational in Virginia. At their third and most recent tournament, the Shark invitational in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, the Lions placed sixth out of 11 teams, their lowest placing all year.
Kevin Johnson had the best round for the Lions in the first meet, shooting Invitational through three rounds to take fourth place overall at the meet. In their second meet, Alberto Castagnara set the pace for the Lions, coming in at six under, which placed him second overall. In their most recent, Castagnara led the pack again, but the Lions faced a much more difficult course.
Castagnara finished thirteenth overall, with a score of five over par. The team is wrapping up their tournaments for the semester right now, October 14, 2019, as they start the first two rounds of the Copperhead Championship in Palm Harbor, Florida. The matches will be concluded October 15, 2019, and will not start up again until February 10th, in the Spring Semester.
Men’s Cross country has had a fairly impressive start to the year, as they hope to run farther into the NCAA Division II postseason than last year, where they ended their season at sixth place in the South Regional meet out of 18 teams.
The Lions won their first meet, the Florida Tech Invitational, and set the expectations high for the rest of the semester. Saint Leo had four runners in the top five, securing the first-place finish. The next meet, the Mountain Dew Invitational at Gainesville, showed what the Lions were made out of, as they placed 4th out of 31 teams.
Shane Bracken placed second overall out of 310 runners, just two seconds shy of the top spot. After his performance, Bracken received the SSC Runner of the Week honor. The Lions again took first at the Florida Runners invitational, with Pierre Galbourdin placing second overall.
At the most recent meet, the Royals XC Challenge, the Lions placed 7th out of 57 total teams. Bracken placed 11th overall, leading the Lions to a high finish. His time, 24:19.2, is the second-best time in program history. The Lions will run again on October 26th, as the attend the Sunshine State Conference Championship.
