SSU loses to top-ranked CSU San Marcos

STAR//Montana Lahey

Graduate student, Jacob Salinero brings the ball up the court in the Seawolves loss to #19 Cal State San Marcos

On Thursday night the stage was set for the Seawolves to host Cal State San Marcos in men's basketball. It was Pack the Den night, an event to encourage students to show Seawolf pride at home basketball games. In fact there were 275 people in attendance for the contest. However, the game did not go as the Seawolves had planned, as they fell to San Marcos with a final score of 84-59.

The Seawolves defense could not contain CSU San Marcos senior guard Blake Seits, as he torched them with 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals. Also for San Marcos, junior guard Greg Milton scored 16 points and junior forward Tyrone Nesby added 12 points of his own. For the Seawolves, only one player broke double digit points and it was freshman forward Jaylen Wells with 20. 

“I was able to get to the basket and finish, or draw a foul to get to the free throw line,” said Wells. “On top of that, my teammates were finding me for open looks on cuts and fast break opportunities.”

Wells has been the silver lining for the Seawolves amid an generally rocky season for the team. As a true freshman and one of the youngest players on the court, he has been able to lead the team in scoring, averaging 12.6 points per game, and 5.8 rebounds a game. Wells has certainly made a splash in his first season at SSU and the program will surely build around him for future seasons.

“Jaylen Wells has been a consistent bright spot for us this season,” said Shayewitz. “As just a freshman, he has proven he can play with the best in our league.” 

SSU knew they were in for a tough matchup as CSU San Marcos has a record of 16-4 overall and 12-4 in CCAA play. This record has them sitting in third place among other CCAA basketball programs, while SSU sits last in the standings, via goccaa.org. According to SSU’s head coach Richard Shayewitz, San Marcos is even tougher of a matchup than their record shows.

“San Marcos is a top notch team in our league and in the country,” said Shayewitz. “We competed for 28 minutes and we ran out of gas. Hats off to them for making a lot of tough shots.”

This tough loss comes in the second to last regular season game in what has been a rough season for the Seawolves. They currently have a record of 3-26 on the season and 3-19 in CCAA play. After losing the last game of the season to Cal State Los Angeles on Saturday, Feb. 26, the SSU men’s basketball team is done for the season.

“This was a tough season coming in and teaching the group my system along with dealing with the inconsistency of COVID-19,” said Shayewitz. “We often had players missing practice and games, and went through a stretch where we didn't have our full roster for over a month. Hats off to our group who has been resilient all year and never gave up.”

After a difficult and overall unsuccessful season for the Seawolves, they will head into the offseason looking to build on the positives from the season. Hopefully with more consistency and continuity the team will be able to make improvements before the next season. Look for Jaylen Wells and the rest of the men’s basketball team to try and make a splash in the CCAA next season.

Superstar freshmen lead Seawolves to victory in Track and Field Invitational

COURTESY//sonomaseawolves.com

The Sonoma State women’s track and field team poses for a photo after a successful meet where they took home 8 wins of the ten events they competed in.

The Sonoma State Women’s Track & Field team faced off against Cal State Eastbay on Saturday, Feb. 19th, their first event in over two years. SSU won 8 of the ten events they competed in at the Cal State East Bay tri-meet with Sonoma State, CSUEB, and Dominican University on Feb 19, including the 100-meter dash, 400-meter, and 4x100 meter relay. 

Some new faces for the Seawolves cross country squad made their SSU track and field debut. Last week’s CCAA track and field athlete of the week, Alex Boyle, a true freshman, made her track and field debut in the 1500 meters and the 4x400 meter relay. She assisted SSU to a first-place victory in the 4x400 meter relay with a timing of 4:22.00, about 20 seconds quicker than runner-up, Dominican University. Boyle also finished second in the 1500 meters clocking a time of 4:55.32, with Cal State East Bay’s Chase Worthen taking the top spot.

“Eastbay traditionally has had a strong distance program throughout the years,” said head coach David Lawrence. “At SSU, we are building a balanced program on the distance and trackside, which will always be to our advantage when we compete against teams in our conference that are one-sided.” 

The Seawolves have now had back-to-back dual meet victories versus Cal State East Bay stretching back to the 2020 season, before the pandemic. After a tremendous fall season, head coach Lawrence continues to make significant advances with both the cross country and track & field departments. 

Freshman Brittney Glor would extend the program’s recent success in the shot put, winning by more than four feet, 29’5.” Mia Oggenfuss, a dynamic competitor, would also participate in the shot put, finishing second with a mark of 25’4.” Oggenfuss would also make her SSU debut in the long jump, finishing in the top-5.

The race of the day, the 5000 meter, was also taken by Seawolves as Freshmen Abby Ribet carried her cross-country success from the fall into the spring track season. Ribet finished first with a timing of 19:40.50, more than a minute faster than the second-place finisher. Another freshman, Maddy Petersen, finished second in the event with a timing of 20:48.14. Freshmen Katie Sheldon and Sydney Lopes would make their SSU debuts in the 400 meters, finishing first and second, respectively, in the 2022 track & field season.

Coach Lawrence is confident in his team to be great but feels they’ll just become better and better as the season goes on. “This season will be somewhat of a rust buster early on for most of our athletes because of the Pandemic the last few seasons,” said Lawrence. “Our sophomores are competing for the first time since their senior year in high school and our freshmen had their senior season cut short. I expect our athletes to develop during the course of the year and become more skilled at their individual events. As a program, we want to qualify as many athletes as we can to our conference championship in May in order to place higher than the last championship in 2019 prior to my arrival. “

The Sonoma State Women’s Track & Field team is looking forward to the Kim Duyst Invitational, held by Stanislaus State March 4th and 5th.

SSU downed by top ranked East Bay

COURTESY // Justin Ferarri

Senior Forward Zane Sheckherd nails a three pointer in the Seawolves 53-38 loss to the  second place Cal State East Bay Pioneers.

The Sonoma State women’s basketball team played at home this past Thursday, Feb. 10, against the Cal State East Bay Pioneers, where they lost 53-38. The Pioneers are currently second place in the CCAA. .

The Seawolves had a less than ideal start, going down six points in the first three minutes. As the first quarter ended, the Seawolves seemed to have found their momentum. Cielo Gonzalez was one of the driving forces for this last-minute push, giving the Seawolves five of their 12 points along with a couple of rebounds. Despite their efforts, the Seawolves still had a long way to go, trailing 17-12 as the first quarter came to a close. 

Cal State East Bay is a tough team, and they presented a challenge for the Seawolves throughout the game. “Their game plan was to be tougher than us tonight,” says Coach Shayewitz. “They came out in the first half and pushed us around. It took us a while to wake up and start fighting back.”

Throughout the season, the Pioneers have earned quite a reputation. According to Cal State East Bay’s summary of the game, the Pioneers had the best scoring defense in the conference, allowing 55.5 points per contest. This game was a defensive clinic for the Pioneers, allowing the ​​third-fewest points they had given up this season.

Despite the strong defense, the Seawolves were able to hold their own for the first half of the game. With a handful of buckets from Alli Mcdonald, Chasity Spady, and Amanda Luckett, the Seawolves kept the deficit to just six, entering the second half. 

The third quarter was challenging for the Seawolves, where they were held to just two points and outscored 12-2. With a few missed layups, unlucky turnovers, and fouls that didn’t go their way, the Seawolves found themselves in a deep hole. They would end up going down 40-24 by the time the third quarter came to a close. 

The Seawolves responded in the final quarter, shooting 4-10 from the three-point line and 5-13 from the field. The Seawolves would win the fourth quarter 14-13 with three-pointers from Gonzalez, Mcdonald, Aaryn Pickett, and Zane Sheckherd. Despite the effort, the Seawolves lost 53-38.

Regardless of the outcome, Shayewitz feels confident in his team and looks at games like this with an optimistic eye. “Every game is a learning experience. East Bay is a good team and first place for a reason. Though I thought we were competitive for most of the night, we still have many things to improve on to play at a high level.” says Shayewitz. 

With Cal State San Bernardino on the horizon, Shayewitz feels the Seawolves are in a great spot to make a playoff run. He plans to work with his team on ball handling and dealing with the pressure of solid defenses. The Seawolves’ next game is this Thursday, Feb. 17, at 5:30 p.m. at Cal State Bernardino University.

Athlete Spotlight of the Week: Braeden Holliday

COURTESY// Justin Ferrari

Sophomore outfielder Braeden Holliday celebrates his go ahead grand slam with teammates in a victory against Holy Names University.

COURTESY // SSU Athletics

Braeden Holliday is batting a team leading .538 through the first six games.

The spring semester has started at Sonoma State, welcoming the first action for Seawolf baseball since the pandemic began.  So far this season, Sonoma State is 3-3 through the first two weekends.  One star player, who has stood out within the start of the season, is Junior business major Braeden Holliday, leading the team in multiple statistical categories.

Holliday is a junior outfielder for the Seawolves, who came to SSU from Granite Bay High School.  Through the first six games of the season, he is batting .538 and slugging a strong 1.077.  To go along with that, he has two home runs, one of which was a grand slam, and 8 RBIs that leads the team. 

“He’s put in a lot of really hard work to get to this point, and now all that hard work is paying off, and I’m excited about what he’s doing,” said Head Coach John Goelz, who is entering his 37th year at Sonoma State via sonomaseawolves.com. 

According to Holliday, playing for the Seawolves has been a great and welcoming experience all around.  “The coaches are very supportive and offer great advice, both about baseball and life.  On top of this, my teammates are great guys to be around.  It has been a smooth transition and I almost instantly feel like I am a part of the team,” says Holliday.

Off the field, Holliday is studying for a business degree with a concentration in marketing.  While he is currently unsure how he wants to use his degree, Holliday takes school very seriously and strives for good grades.  He likes listening to good music, cooking, and watching The Book of Boba Fett with his roommates in his leisure time.

Managing to balance playing for the baseball team and keeping good grades requires lots of dedication.  “I head out to the field around 11:45, from there, I take swings in the batting cage for about an hour until practice starts,” says Holliday.  “After practice ends around four, some teammates and I go eat in the cafeteria.”

So far this season the Seawolf baseball team is off to a 3-3 start, after winning two out the three games against the Academy of Art University.  Their next series will be starting Friday at 2 p.m. against Fresno Pacific University, with a doubleheader Saturday; game times will be 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.  In two weeks, the Seawolves open up CCAA conference play with rival Chico State on the road.  Even though these games will take place at Chico, all SSU sporting events can be streamed on CCAA Network App for $9.95 a month via sonomaseawolves.com.

With the Sonoma County health order that prevented in-person spectatorship from coming to an end, all Seawolf students and fans are free to come to watch any sporting events. 

Be sure to come out and support all SSU sports teams as they continue their seasons.  Especially be sure to come out to Seawolf diamond to watch the baseball team and see Braeden Holliday continue his excellent start to the season.