Pi­lots Fall Sports Up­dates 

Note to reader: print­ing be­gan be­fore the con­clu­sion of the men’s and wom­en’s golf NC­CAA Na­tional Cham­pi­onship; see bupi­lots.com for fi­nal scores. 

MISHAWAKA—We are now roughly three months into the school year, and the fall ath­letic sea­son is well un­der­way. So far, sea­sons have be­gun for wom­en’s vol­ley­ball, men’s and wom­en’s soc­cer, ten­nis, golf, swim & dive, cross-coun­try and es­ports. 

The first team to get its sea­son un­der­way for the Pi­lots was the men’s soc­cer team. Their first game was on Aug. 18 against Holy Cross (Ind.) which they won 6-1. Since then, the Pi­lots are 12-1-1. The team is ranked ninth in the coun­try and first in the Cross­roads League. This record in­cludes a top-10 win over No. 10 Grace, with a score of 2-1. One of the team’s top per­form­ers so far is Luan Bressy, a ju­nior who has scored thir­teen goals in fif­teen games. An­other top per­former for the Pi­lots has been Finn Popescu. He has started every game for the Pi­lots and al­lowed just over one goal per game. The team clinched the reg­u­lar sea­son ti­tle on Oct. 22. 

On the other hand, the wom­en’s soc­cer team started their sea­son with two straight draws against Holy Cross (Ind.) and IU East. Since then, the team has gone 5-5-4. The top per­form­ers have in­cluded Au­drey Lerch, a se­nior who has scored thir­teen goals in thir­teen games; and Leena Thomas, a fresh­man who has scored four goals and as­sisted on two oth­ers in ten games.  

The wom­en’s vol­ley­ball team got ac­tion un­der­way on Aug. 26 against the IUSB Ti­tans. That week­end the team went 3-1. Over the next cou­ple of weeks, the team faced a rough stretch, go­ing just 10-7. Since los­ing back-to-back matches against Saint Fran­cis and In­di­ana Wes­leyan, the Pi­lots have rat­tled off seven straight vic­to­ries. This in­cludes wins over two ranked op­po­nents, Tay­lor and Mar­ian. The head coach of the Pi­lots, Katie Weiss, also picked up her one-hun­dredth ca­reer win on Sept. 14 against Grace in a 3-0 sweep of the Lancers. Since that vic­tory, the Pi­lots have gone 9-3 in­clud­ing a 9-game win streak against Cross­roads League com­pe­ti­tion. 

The men’s ten­nis team had a rough start to its sea­son, drop­ping its first five matches. Since then, the Pi­lots have gone 3-5 in­clud­ing a loss to Hunt­ing­ton in the first round of the Cross­roads League Cham­pi­onship. The team con­cluded its sea­son with a record of 3-10. 

Next in line is the wom­en’s ten­nis team, which scored a win over Hunt­ing­ton in the first round in the Cross­roads League cham­pi­onship. The team lost in the sec­ond round to Mar­ian 4-0. The team ended its sea­son with a record of 11-4. 

The men’s golf team has had an up-and-down sea­son, but won the North Cen­tral Re­gional in the NC­CAA to qual­ify for the NC­CAA Na­tional Cham­pi­onship in Palm Coast, Fla. The tour­na­ment took place from Oct. 24-26. In the re­gional, Jonah Kum­fer shot seven un­der par for the tour­na­ment which in­cluded a 67 on day two of the tour­na­ment, ty­ing a school record set by Griffyn Car­pen­ter in 2011. Kum­fer won player of the tour­na­ment, and Head Coach John Fis­cher won coach of the year. 

Next is the wom­en’s golf team, which has not lost a tour­na­ment yet this sea­son. This in­cludes win­ning the North Cen­tral Re­gional in the NC­CAA to qual­ify for the NC­CAA Na­tional Cham­pi­onship as well. Maria Pardo Vic­tori was a medal­ist at the tour­na­ment for the first time in her ca­reer. A week later, at the Bat­tle for Black­thorn, Head Coach Chris Hess sur­passed 100 ca­reer wins. The team will be go­ing back down to Palm Coast, Fla. to de­fend their 2021 NC­CAA Na­tional Cham­pi­onship ti­tle.  

The swim & dive team got its sea­son un­der­way on Oct. 1. The women went 1-2 in their first meet. This in­cluded five swim­mers mak­ing the NAIA pro­vi­sional cut: Elis­a­beth Wolfe in three events, Jose­fina Gon­za­lez in two events, Vivi­enne Kun­kler in two events, Kay­lynn Har­ri­son in two events and Paula Ronda Bou in one event. The men also went 1-2. This in­cluded two school records and two NAIA pro­vi­sional cuts. Joe Sheets set a school record in the 200 Fly, and Nick Bohm set a school record in the 3 M Dive. Caleb Berrong made the cut in two sep­a­rate events. 

The cross-coun­try teams have com­peted in two events so far. The men placed four­teenth in the Twi­light In­vite and ninth in the Raider In­vite. At the Raider In­vite, three of the top-seven run­ners set sea­son bests, and Aaron Dou­glass set his per­sonal best at the in­vite. The team’s over­all time at the in­vite was enough to hit the qual­i­fy­ing mark for the NC­CAA. The women placed fif­teenth at the Twi­light In­vite and ninth at the Raider In­vite. The women had four run­ners set sea­son bests and two set per­sonal bests at the Raider In­vite. This in­cluded a top-15 fin­ish from Megan Cooper, which en­abled the women to also reach the qual­i­fy­ing mark for the NC­CAA. 

Lastly, the es­ports team has got­ten its sea­son un­der­way. As of Oct. 22, the to­tal record of all the teams was 24-13. The Su­per Smash Bros team has gone 8-6 so far this sea­son. The League of Leg­ends team has gone 5-3 this sea­son. The Over­watch team has gone 3-1 this sea­son. And lastly, the Rocket League team is 8-3 so far this sea­son.