It was another busy athletic year jam-packed with team and individual accomplishments from start to finish. USF's fall sports featured both cross country squads advancing to the NCAA West Regionals, four tournament titles from the volleyball team and men's and women's soccer seasons that came down to the final match of the year.
As the Dons transitioned into winter, the women's basketball team made its mark by capturing the WCC title and making their fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament, while senior Tim Derksen wrapped up his standout career on the Hilltop for the men's team and the Dons welcomed a new head coach.
And then, as winter gave way to spring, Charlotte Taylor represented the Dons women's track team as a top-20 finisher at the NCAA Championships, the beach volleyball team enjoyed its highest ranking ever, the baseball team opened a brand new ballpark and the golf and tennis seasons capped off strong years full of highlights, milestones and accolades all around.
Here's a snapshot of each of the Dons' 2015-16 campaigns.
FALL
Men's Soccer
Finished 6-11-1 overall and 4-2-1 in conference play… finished in fourth place in the WCC standings… were in the running for the WCC title up to the final match of the regular season, a 2-0 loss to Loyola Marymount at home… junior forward David Garrett represented the Dons on the All-WCC first team… freshman midfielder Santiago Digiuseppe, senior defender Kevin Gould and junior midfielder Davi Ramos were each second team selections… junior defender Christian De Luna and sophomore midfielder Aaron Lombardi earned honorable mention nods… Digiuseppe joined goalkeeper Andre Glasnovic and midfielder Jordan Hughes on the WCC All-Freshman team… Glasnovic (Nov. 9) and Garrett (Nov. 2) earned WCC Player of the Week honors… Ramos was a first team WCC All-Academic pick… De Luna and David Garrett were honorable mention all-academic honorees… Ramos and Lombardi each scored two goals in USF's 5-1 win over La Salle (Sept. 6)… Garrett scored a pair of goals in a 3-1 win at Portland (Nov. 1)… Garrett led the Dons with seven goals overall and five in WCC play, including a team-best three game-winners… seven different Dons shared the team lead with two assists overall.
Women's Soccer
Posted a program-best 13-4-3 overall record and a 7-2-0 mark in WCC play, giving them their highest WCC finish ever with a tie for second… it was the Dons' first winning season since 2004… head coach
Jim Millinder was named NSCAA West Region Coach of the Year… junior defender Ali Schaffer was the Dons' first-ever major conference award winner as the WCC co-Defensive Player of the Year… junior forward Jessica Nakae and senior goalkeeper Madalyn Schiffel were each first team All-WCC honorees; the first time since 1992 that USF had a pair of first-teamers… Schaffer was a second team selection… redshirt freshman forward Samantha Jehnings, senior midfielder Alex Alugas and junior midfielder Amanda Whittle were honorable mention picks… Jehnings also earned a spot on the WCC All-Freshman team… Nakae and were each first team WCC All-Academic honorees… sophomore forward Sonja Giraud joined Schaffer and Schiffel as all-academic honorable mention selections… Schiffel (first team), Nakae (second team) and Schaffer (third team) were all named to the NSCAA All-West Region squad… Nakae and Schaffer were also Scholar All-Region honorees… Schiffel (Oct. 5), Giraud (Oct. 19) and Nakae (Oct. 27) took home WCC Player of the Week honors… Schiffel was drafted in the fourth round of the NWSL Draft by the Washington Spirit… the Dons defeated WCC-rival Santa Clara (then ranked No. 19) for the first time in program history with a 1-0 road win on Oct. 4… USF also knocked off No. 5 BYU 2-1 at home on Oct. 22; the first time the Dons had ever defeated BYU and the highest-ranked opponent USF has ever defeated… Schiffel became the USF season and career leader in goalkeeper wins (13/29), shutouts (9/23) and minutes played in goal (1,865/6,514)… senior midfielder Rochelle Weerackoon tied the USF career mark for games played (79)... Jehnings led the team in goals (7) and points (16), while Nakae paced the team in assists (5).
Men's Cross Country
Placed fourth in the WCC Championships and finished 11th in the NCAA West Regionals as a team … Alex Short was named the Bill Russell Award winner, given to the top male athlete, after becoming USF's third straight individual qualifier at the NCAA Cross Country Championships … Ryan Driscoll earned a second-place finish at the USF Invitational, running the course in 24:26.7, the fastest time ever for a Don in the event, as the team earned fourth place … Short took the individual win at the Boise State Dual Meet on Sept. 11, the first-ever hosted dual for the Dons … Short led the Dons at the WCC Championships, finishing fourth overall as the only non-BYU runner to finish in the top eight spots … Matt Leach placed 10th at the WCC Championships as he and Short were named to the All-WCC first team … Mohamed Aziz earned WCC All-Academic Team recognition, and teammates Nick Hicks and Quentin Purtzer were recognized as honorable mention selections.
Women's Cross Country
Finished 28th in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in USF's third appearance in the national meet … took fifth at the NCAA West Regionals to earn the berth to the championships … Weronika Pyzik paced the team with an eighth place individual finish, followed by Elena Burkard (16th) and Charlotte Taylor (23rd) as the trio earned All-West Region honors … finished third in the WCC Championships with three runners in the top 10 … Burkard (4th place), Pyzik (5th place) and Taylor (8th place) each earned a spot on the All-WCC first team, and Pyzik was tapped as the conference Freshman of the Year … Burkard was selected to the WCC All-Academic first team, with Kelsey Nielsen and Erin Thomas earning honorable mention nods.
Volleyball
Finished the season with an undefeated 13-0 mark in non-conference play and four tournament titles … closed the year with an overall mark of 17-14 … Madison Murtagh was named to the WCC All-Freshman team, marking the sixth consecutive season a Don dotted the list … Katarina Pilepic earned All-WCC honorable mention status while leading the team in points (4.19), points per set (3.77) and kills (407) … Pilepic notched career kill No. 1,000 against Loyola Marymount on Nov. 13, the 11th Don to reach the milestone … Kiara McKibben surpassed the 2,000 assist mark during November's swing to San Diego and BYU … McKibben earned WCC All-Academic honors and five women were named as honorable mention selections: Jessica Gaffney, Oluoma Okaro, Katarina Pilepic, Sara Staengle and Jurja Vlasic …
Vicki Brown was named head coach of the Dons in May, taking the reigns from Gilad Doron to become the 10th head coach in program history.
WINTER
Women's Basketball
Closed the historic 2015-16 campaign with a WCC Championship title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament field … finished the season with a 21-12 overall record … marched through the top three seeds in the WCC Tournament to earn its fourth NCAA appearance in school history, and the first in 19 years … came from behind in all three tournament games, overtaking No. 3 San Diego, No. 2 Saint Mary's and No. 1 BYU in the last minute of regulation to survive and advance … Taylor Proctor was named tournament Most Valuable Player, and fellow senior Zhane Dikes earned a spot on the WCC All-Tournament Team … closed the season ranked 24th in NCAA Division I in three-point field goal percentage (.362), led by junior Rachel Howard's 40.9 percent shooting from distance, good for 32nd nationally … Howard tied the single-game record for most three-pointers made when she swished seven in a victory at Long Beach State on Dec. 8 … Proctor recorded a career-high 39 points – the second-best tally in USF history – against Utah Valley on Nov. 23, and notched her second 30-point game against UC Riverside on Dec. 4, joining a list of seven women to eclipse the plateau in multiple games … Proctor was named an All-WCC first team selection, while Dikes was named to the second team and Howard picked up honorable mention status … Proctor earned the Anne Dolan Award for USF's best female athlete after finishing with one of the most prolific women's basketball careers on the Hilltop … the two-time first-team WCC All-Conference selection capped her time at USF in the top 10 in several categories including points (1,785 – 3rd), rebounds (923 – 2nd), 3-point field goals made (124 – 6th), blocks (84 – 7th) and minutes played (3,917 – 2nd) … Dikes closed her career sixth on the all-time scoring list (1,466) and she leaves as the all-time minutes leader with 4,227 minutes on the court, a USF-best regardless of gender and the program leader in free throws made (441) … Howard was named to the WCC All-Academic Team, holding the highest GPA on the 10-woman conference list, and Kalyn Simon, Michaela Rakova and Anna Seilund picked up honorable mention status … Claudia Price earned Scholar Baller's Academic Momentum Award … Howard and Simon both graduated in three years, and will return to the Dons as master's students.
Men's Basketball
Finished the season with a 15-15 overall record and finished fifth in the West Coast Conference with an 8-10 mark…fell to Pepperdine 90-86 in the quarterfinals of the WCC Championships in Las Vegas…averaged 77.6 points a game which was the team's highest single-season scoring average since 1993-94…went over the 100-point mark on two occasions and tallied 90 or more five times…sophomore guard Devin Watson earned first team All-WCC honors after averaging a team-high 20.3 points per game, which ranked third in the conference and tied for 27th nationally…Watson was the sixth-highest scoring sophomore in the nation and his scoring average was the 13th highest single-season mark in school history…his point total of 608 ranked 10th all-time in school history…senior Tim Derksen was a second team All-WCC selection after averaging 16.9 points and a team-high 6.9 rebounds…Derksen played in 124 games (96 starts) over his four-year career and graduated as the school's 13th all-time leading scorer with 1,437 career points…Watson and Derksen were the second-highest scoring tandem in the WCC at 37.5 points per game…the duo also ranked as the fourth-highest scoring tandem in school history in total points (1,125)…sophomore Chase Foster earned first team WCC All-Academic honors…
Kyle Smith, who spent the previous six years at Columbia, was named the 19
th head coach in program history on March 30…he replaced Rex Walters, who compiled a 127-127 record in eight seasons on the Hilltop.
SPRING
Women's Golf
Posted seven top-5 finishes on the year including a pair of wins at the Rose City Intercollegiate and the Sacramento State Invitational…finished fifth at the WCC Championships at the Blackhawk Country Club in Danville…team finished with a tournament stroke average of 299.14 which was the lowest single-season mark since the 2009-10 season…sophomore Vanessa Ha earned first team All-WCC honors after winning two individual titles at the Rose City Intercollegiate and the Sacramento State Invitational…won the Rose City Intercollegiate with a 6-under score of 210, which was a school-record for a 54-hole event…Ha was the Dons' top finisher in six of 10 events on the year and led the team in stroke average at 74.1…junior Ayaka Suzuki fired a school-record 7-under 65 in the first round of the Ron Moore Intercollegiate…seniors Clare Sorensen and Emelie Lundstrom along with juniors Alison Lillie and Ayaka Suzuki were named to the WCC's All-Academic Team…Sorensen, Lillie and Lundstrom were first team selections while Suzuki was honorable mention.
Men's Golf
Posted five top-5 finishes on the year…best finish came at the Farms Intercollegiate where the Dons finished second in a nine-team field…placed seventh at the WCC Championships which were held at the Blackhawk Country Club in Danville…senior Sebastian Crookall-Nixon earned first-team All-WCC honors for a third consecutive season after leading the team in stroke average at 72.0…he was the Dons top finisher in five of 10 events including the WCC Championships, where he finished second…the Englishman fired a 7-under 65 in the final round of the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate, which was the team's lowest individual round of the season…juniors Max Alcorn and Mathias Wentjarvi earned first team WCC All-Academic honors.
Beach Volleyball
Finished the season with a 16-5 mark on the sand in the first year of the sport sanctioned by the NCAA and WCC … closed with their best ranking in school history coming in at No. 15 in the final DiG Magazine polls … Oluoma Okaro was named to the All-WCC first team while Katarina Pilepic earned second-team honors … three of USF's primary pairs finished with a winning record: the No. 2 team of Pilepic and Jurja Vlasic (17-7), No. 3 Emily Reed and Courtney Sabahi (17-6) and the No. 4 duo of Jessica Gaffney and Kiara McKibben (19-5) … six Dons earned WCC All-Academic recognition with Gaffney and Sara Staengle earning first team distinction and Jessica Keenan, McKibben, Oluomo Okaro, and Vlasic were named as honorable mention selections.
Baseball
Finished the year at 22-34 overall and 14-13 in West Coast Conference play, good for fifth place in the final standings… junior shortstop Nico Giarratano was named WCC Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the third Don to earn that honor… sophomore infielder Ross Puskarich took home second team All-WCC honors after leading the team with a .331 batting average… senior right-hander Anthony Shew and junior OF/IF Matt Sinatro were All-WCC honorable mention picks… Sinatro led the WCC with 26 stolen bases, which tied for the 8th-most in team history… catchers Dominic Miroglio (16th round – Tampa Bay Rays) and Ryan Matranga (36th round – San Francisco Giants) were selected in the 2016 MLB Draft… the new Benedetti Diamond officially opened with a nonconference game against New Mexico on April 13… the Dons earned their first win at their new ballpark with a 9-1 series-opening victory over Gonzaga on Apr. 15… Giarratano's 176 defensive assists ranked as the third-most in USF history… 18th-year head coach
Nino Giarratano notched his 500th career win with a 6-5 walk-off victory at home over BYU on May 12… Matranga was responsible for both of USF's walk-off hits on the year – a bases-loaded single in a 5-4 win over Hawai'i (Feb. 27) and a sacrifice fly in a 6-5 win over BYU (May 12)… won a season-high five games in a row between April 17 – 24… enjoyed a signature victory with a 5-0 shutout of No. 4 Oregon State on the road… defeated Pacific 3-2 in the annual Dante Benedetti Classic at AT&T Park behind Shew's 7.2 innings of one-run ball and Dan James' two RBI… earned WCC series wins over Santa Clara, Gonzaga, San Diego and Portland… junior righty Mack Meyer proved a late-inning bullpen stalwart by posting three wins with three saves and six 8th-inning holds while ranking second in the WCC in appearances (29)... likewise, the Dons' other late-inning specialist, senior lefty Frank Waliczek, posted a 1.93 ERA in 11 WCC relief outings... posted their first home sweep of San Diego since 1987 when junior righty James Kannenberg logged the Dons' only complete game of the year with five strikeouts in the series finale… Puskarich ended the year in the midst of a team-best 17-game hitting streak, the longest Dons streak since 2003… redshirt junior outfielder Blake Valley represented the Dons on the 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-District team… Valley and Shew earned first team WCC All-Academic honors… Giarratano, Sinatro and senior lefty Frank Waliczek were each all-academic honorable mention selections.
Women's Tennis
Finished 6-13 overall and 4-5 in the West Coast Conference…earned a spot in the WCC Championships as the sixth-seed but fell to Saint Mary's, 4-3 in a first round match…posted its most impressive win of the season on April 8 with a 4-3 victory at San Diego for the program's first-ever victory on the Toreros' home court…senior Andrea Ka earned first team All-WCC honors for the fourth consecutive season after posting a 19-4 overall dual match record, including a 12-2 mark against WCC foes…she also teamed with Thyra Taune to post a 12-5 record at the No. 1 doubles position…the Ka-Taune tandem earned second team All-WCC honors while Taune was an honorable mention singles selection…Taune, along with Sofia Holmberg and Genevieve McCloskey, earned WCC All-Academic honors.
Men's Tennis
Finished 4-20 overall and 1-8 in the West Coast Conference…lone conference win came at the expense of Saint Mary's…highlight of the year was provided by the senior doubles team of Nils Skajaa and Vasco Valverde which won the ITA Northwest Doubles Championship over the Stanford team of Maciek Romanowicz and Nolan Paige…the win marked the second straight season a USF team captured the ITA Northwest Doubles Championship following Bernardo Saraiva's and Skajaa's triumph last season…the Skajaa-Valverde duo netted second team All-WCC honors while Skajaa also picked up second team honors as a singles player…Valverde, Thomas Takemoto and Worivan Kumthonkittikul earned WCC All-Academic honors.
Men's Track and Field
The Dons sent a program-best four men to the NCAA Preliminary Championships … Matt Leach and Alex Short both earned a spot in the 10,000 meter semifinals where the duo finished 26th and 29th, respectively … Ryan Driscoll competed in the quarterfinal round of the 3,000 meter steeplechase and freshman Hugh Nicklason toed the line in the 1,500 meters … five school records were set during one of USF's best seasons ever around the track … Hugh Nicklason notched USF-bests in both the 800 (1:50.19) and 1,500 meters (3:44.12) in his first year as a Don … Ryan Driscoll added school records in the 3,000 meters (8:10.44) and 3,000 meter steeplechase (8:56.77) in his first year on the Hilltop.
Women's Track and Field
Junior Charlotte Taylor finished in 17th in the NCAA Championships in the 10,000 meters … Taylor earned her spot in the finals after taking 12th at the Preliminary Championships, one of three women to race for the Dons at the national meet … freshman Weronkia Pyzik raced in the semifinal round in the 5,000 meters finishing 11th in her heat and 23rd overall … Pyzik stands as the sixth-fastest Don in school history in the 5,000 meter event … Kate Jamboretz was added to the regional field in the 1,500 meters, her second-straight appearance in the event … freshman JoJo Ananouko hurled the javelin 44.20 meters, or 145 feet, at the Payton Jordan Invitational on May 1 to set a school record … Eleni Fkiaras broke her own previous best in the 400 meter hurdles at the West Coast Last Chance meet on May 14 with a time of 1:03.62.
