Croup’s Corner – Showing off for the family

Written By Josh Croup, Sports Columnist

Ah, it’s that time of year again.

The free t-shirts were plenty, the free food was at its peak and the dad jokes were embarrassing (but admit it, you still laughed).

Family Weekend at Point Park, especially in the Athletic Department, typically marks one of the busier weekends of the fall sports schedule. This year was no different.

There were eight total competitions and events between soccer, volleyball and cross country last weekend, and each Point Park team showed the grit and determination that this program has been known for in recent years.

Let’s just say there was a lot of winning last weekend.

The volleyball team was coming off a really tough loss last weekend against Asbury University. The Pioneers bounced back with a sweep of Ohio Christian on the road Tuesday and returned home to host West Virginia Tech and Rio Grande.

Point Park took down the Golden Bears Friday in four sets and went on to sweep Rio Grande Saturday. They’re games the Pioneers should have won and they took care of business.

Oh, and they’ve now won seven of their last eight games.

Oh, and they’re now in first place in the River States Conference (RSC) East with a 6-3 record entering the week.

Speaking of winning, let’s talk about the soccer teams.

The men and women hosted Midway and Brescia last Friday and Sunday respectively.

The women had a perfect 5-0 all-time record against Midway, shutting out the Eagles in each game leading up to Saturday. That shutout streak continued as the Pioneers took a close 1-0 win. The men followed suit with a 4-1 win of their own.

The women also hosted a struggling Brescia team Sunday, which was coming off a 7-0 loss against Carlow two days prior. Point Park also had a 6-0 all-time record against Brescia with shutouts in each contest.

That trend continued as Point Park carried out a 7-0 win.

The men also hosted Brescia that morning, executing a 3-0 win with each goal coming in the first half.

Both improved to 3-1 in conference play with the weekend sweeps.

If you’re keeping track at home, that’s six wins for Point Park and none for the visiting teams so far.

The cross country teams also were in action Saturday at Schenley Park. As part of Family Weekend, the Pioneers recognized their seniors and welcomed family members with a nice ceremony after the race that included sandwiches and speeches from seniors.

Before the festivities, the athletes showed off for their parents. Some of the runners on both sides posted personal records on the course that Point Park frequently trains on with an overall solid performance leading into the conference preview in two weeks.

The team’s best runner, Anna Shields, was given the week off after an impressive showing at Louisville the prior weekend.

Her coach said after the race that he thinks Shields would have won the race had she competed Saturday, but the women still posted a 7th-place finish out of 16 teams. The men finished ninth of 19 teams at the competitive meet.

The weekend as a whole made for some proud Pioneer parents and for some happy Pioneer coaches and athletes. The teams did what they have historically done in recent years across the board: win.

I’d call that a successful Family Weekend.

After all, who doesn’t like winning now and again? Especially when it’s in front of your family or on your home turf.