CSM athletes: Rising in the fall

All three sports teams have banner season

Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009

For College of Southern Maryland, the fall sports season saw nobody left out of the party.

All three CSM teams combined to produce one of the best fall campaigns ever, dating back to 1997 when the women's soccer program came into existence.

The Hawks boasted a combined lofty tab of 53-18-1 between the men's and women's soccer and volleyball teams, matching the previous all-time low in losses during the fall established two years ago when CSM sported a 55-18-2 mark.

Only that 2007 season experienced a higher combined winning percentage of .747 over this year's .743 output.

Although the volleyball and men's soccer teams continued their runs as perennial contenders in the Maryland Junior College Conference and Region XX, it was the women's soccer outfit that stole the show for CSM.

Coming off a downtrodden 3-7 record a year ago in club status with losing seasons six of the last eight campaigns, the women's soccer program rebounded emphatically this fall with a vastly improved 9-6 mark, finishing in the middle of the Maryland JUCO pack at 4-4.

It was nearly the best season in the history of CSM women's soccer, only bested by the 2000 squad that constructed a 9-4-2 record.

It took a top-flight Anne Arundel team to keep the team from making history with double-digit wins.

"This year was fantastic. It was great being part of the athletic staff at CSM," first-year women's soccer head coach Adam Sanchez said.

Ruble, also the CSM athletic director said, "Coach Galeano and the men's soccer team have had many years of success and so has the volleyball team, but we were most proud of Adam Sanchez's performance with the women's soccer team in his first year coaching."

"All of us are really competitive and hate to lose and, despite our success, we are extremely motivated to improve and take our respective programs to the next level," Sanchez added. "For women's soccer, that means establishing ourselves as the best program in the conference and one of the top teams in the conference, year in and year out. This season was a good first step, made possible by the commitment of the student-athletes, but more work is required to sustain improvement."

CSM volleyball impressively amassed a 30-win season for the third straight season, registering a 33-8 mark that has the team ranked 17th in the country to end the season in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II poll. It's the first time in eight years CSM volleyball has landed a top-20 national ranking by season's end.

CSM men's soccer, no stranger to national rankings in the recent past, completed its season in 11-4-1 form — of particular noteworthy mention given the team was unbeaten in 10 straight games, including a five-game win streak, before falling in the regional final to Essex.

"It's great for our school and our athletic programs," Galeano said about the successful fall showing. "I don't think people in the community realize how good our athletics are. Our school is great – you can come and get a great education and play sports at a very high level.

"At one point we were 2-3 overall, so I'm proud of the guys for rebounding to an 11-4-1 record."

"This team was a pleasure to coach," Ruble said of her volleyball players. "This season was terrific. It was one of the best, because we were slated as one of the best teams in the country from the very first week of the season – and we lived up to it. The team worked hard every day to continuously grow and improve.  We won often and always with class. The few times we lost this year, we learned from them and moved on."'

Amid the hoopla of the accomplished fall season stood a reoccurring pattern that has plagued CSM men's soccer and volleyball for much of this decade.

Both advanced to the regional final — only to fall to their nemeses.

For CSM men's soccer, it was Essex for the third straight year.

For CSM volleyball, it was national power Hagerstown — currently ranked 10th in the country — also for the third straight year in the regional final.

Hagerstown has long had CSM volleyball's number, ending the Hawks' season for the seventh straight year.

The Hagerstown monkey was nearly eradicated this year, however, as the Hawks took the juggernaut to a deciding fifth game of the regional finals. They had dropped the first two games, 27-25 and 25-18, before fighting back and downing Hagerstown in the next pair of games, 25-23 and 25-22.

But Hagerstown was again too much for CSM volleyball in the end, winning the deciding game, 15-10.

"Hagerstown's local paper called our match the Super Bowl of volleyball, and that is exactly what it was," Ruble said. "It was obvious that we each studied the other's game films and made several adjustments on both sides of the net, and for the majority of the match it was even.

With a few calls that seemed to go Hagerstown's way, coupled with a few errors on our part, at the end of the 2 and a half hours of back-and-forth play, we fell a little short."

Ruble added that a controversial call on a critical point in the first game went against her club, pushing Hagerstown's lead to 23-19 instead of it being a 22-20 game. CSM volleyball went on to lose that game, 27-25.

"The loss hurt all of us, but at the same time we had a great sense of pride of what we accomplished over the season," she said.

CSM volleyball All-American nominee Ashley Wolfe injured her knee during a Tuesday practice the week of regionals, making her doubtful for the tournament. Not only did she still compete, Ruble noted that she got stronger during regionals.

"During the championship match I would estimate that she was playing at about 75 percent capacity," the CSM volleyball coach said. "Our team was happy that she was able to participate for her last year."

CSM men's soccer fell to Essex, 2-1 in the regional final, getting swept in the matchup during the regular and post seasons.

"We aren't crushed that we lost. Of course we always want to win," Galeano said. "We just weren't good enough. I won't say they have our number. They have a good team and a good coach, and we respect one another."

CSM standout Ryan Russell, a former star earlier this decade at Westlake, made the most of his one season with Hawks men's soccer.

Recruiting is also in the forefront of Sanchez's mind as he gears to make CSM women's soccer a consistent winning program.

"The coaching staff felt we were just a few players away from a championship-caliber team," he said. "Our roster size was considerably smaller than the other schools, and the playing experience of our players varied greatly. Our first priority is to recruit players that will strengthen our weaknesses immediately and then fill our roster with experienced players.

"The goal is not to rebuild but to reload for next year. From attending [Southern Maryland Athletic Conference] high school games this year, the talent is out there. We want to recruit the best SMAC players, and we feel we have something special to offer."

dcogle@somdnews.com