With the changes in season and the fact that we are now over the hump of the semester, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on all of the happenings in the Point Park Sports world before we leave for fall break.

The cross country teams have been tearing it up, with senior Anna Shields and freshman Alyssa Campbell setting record after record on the women’s side, and junior Xavier Stephens doing so for the men. 

Both teams competed at the River States Conference (RSC) Championship meet last weekend, with the men placing second in the conference, and the women taking the championship for the second year in a row. Head coach Kelly Parsley was named the RSC Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year and Campbell was awarded RSC Newcomer of the Year.

The women are definitely headed to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Championship on Nov. 16 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the men are waiting to hear if they, too, will be making the trip next week.

The tale of the soccer teams is similar, with the women’s team finishing first in the RSC and the men’s team finishing third. 

The men’s team finished their season on Saturday, losing to the sixth seed, Brescia. The Bearcats scored first, but sophomore Mitchell Roell answered a few minutes later with a beautiful redirect off a free kick from junior Tadeo D’Apollo.

Three yellow cards were given out in the heated match between the two, all of which came after Brescia’s winning goal was scored. A brawl after the buzzer resulted in 17 red cards to both teams, ten of which belonging to the Pioneers.

The women’s team has also been setting records this season, including most regular season wins in the history of the sport at Point Park. Their most recent win was a non-conference shutout against Washington Adventist University. Freshman Tia Horew scored the only goal 33 seconds into the game and junior goalkeeper Ashtyn Webb kept the Shock out of the net.

With this win, the Pioneers took first in the RSC and are one win away from the record for overall wins in a season. Point Park had a bye for the first week of the RSC Tournament and will host the No. 5 seed Indiana University (IU) East on Wednesday night.

To wrap up the fall sports, volleyball finished their regular season as the No. 2 seed in the RSC East division. Point Park will match up against IU Southeast, the No. 3 seed from the RSC West. IU Southeast edged out the Pioneers earlier in the season, taking that match 3-2. 

Winter sports are now under way in the Steel City, with the basketball season playing its first few matches of the season. The very first home game for the women will be on Nov. 8 against Ave Maria University in the CCAC – Allegheny gym.

Plenty of records have been set thus far in the semester, and with the winter sports beginning, I can only imagine what other records will be set as the year goes on.