Not only is the Seattle Pacific University soccer team tracking toward yet another NCAA playoff berth, but Cliff McCrath surpassed a coaching milestone on October 6. McCrath won the 500th game of his celebrated career, becoming only the second coach in collegiate history to do so.
The Falcons crossed the Canadian border for the occasion. They snapped Simon Fraser's eight-game unbeaten streak with a 2-0 victory in Burnaby, British Columbia.
"As much as I downplayed this ahead of time, now that it's occurred, it's really made an impact," says McCrath, who is in his 41st season on the bench and his 30th at SPU. "What really struck me was how well the guys played, and the fact that we played a team that's awfully tough to beat at home."
In November, the Seattle Pacific University women's volleyball team could well host the Pacific West Conference tournament. The Falcons started the season by winning 17 of their first 21 matches. The winner of the conference's West Division serves as host for this year's tournament. SPU finished first in the West a year ago.
Following the graduation of All-American scoring sensation Jeff McBroom, many basketball teams throughout the West were hoping for a reprieve from the Seattle Pacific University Falcons. But Ken Bone's team, which made the national NCAA Sweet 16 for the second year in a row in 1999, demonstrated during a September tour of Brazil that the cupboard is not bare. Senior Drake Hudgins averaged 32.6 points as SPU went 3-2 during the exhibition series with professional teams.
Lone returning starter Brannon Stone will likely be joined by Hudgins, Kory Leadon, Bruce Zabukovec, Abe Fox and University of Oregon transfers Yasir Rosemond and Donte Quinine in a revamped lineup. The regular season gets underway with the Vitamilk Tip-Off Classic November 19-20 at Brougham Pavilion.
Meanwhile, the women's team takes its first step toward a third straight playoff appearance that same weekend with the Falcon Classic. Gordy Presnell has his starting frontline of Jana Holme, Liz Guppy and all-conference forward Gus Balogh returning. Among his recruits are one junior college All-American and four players who were selected for the state high school all-star game last summer.
For the sixth time in seven years, the NCAA Woman of the Year in Washington comes from Seattle Pacific University. Lisa Smith, already the recipient of numerous awards during four years of gymnastics, was named one of 51 state winners by the NCAA, and honored at a dinner in Indianapolis, Indiana, October 17.
Smith sparkled in both the athletic area and the classroom from 1996-99. She quickly broke the school record on vault and later won the national championship in that event. As a sophomore, she helped lead the Falcons to the national title, and eventually completed her career as a four-time All-American.
Smith graduated magna cum laude with a degree in sociology in 1998, but competed for her fourth season as a graduate student at SPU. She was an Academic All-American in 1999, and received an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship this past summer. Currently she is completing her master's degree in marriage and family therapy at Truman State University in Missouri.
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