Earlier in the semester I wrote about my thoughts on each fall sport to begin the season, and with the semester being a little more than half completed I decided to do a little update on how I think each sport has done so far.

Football

Although their record doesn’t show it, the football team has made big improvements this season from years past. The Lions have only won one game against the University of Lincoln, but they have been competitive in a lot of the games they have lost. This is a team that just doesn’t have it completely put together, as they actually have a good offense as they have scored more than 20 points in five of their seven games. The problem is the defense who has given more than 40 points their last five games. Overall, I’m happy with what the football team has done this season as they still have four games left on the season. If they win one more game, it will be their best season since 2016. I know winning two games isn’t something to be proud of, but considering where the team was last year this is a big improvement. 

Volleyball

Volleyball has me really excited for the future, as they have already won 12 games this season, which is much better than their 2018 record where they only won three games. It’s crazy to see that much improvement in one year, and with eight games left in the season they still have time to improve. The credit should go out to head coach Kalie Mader, who has turned this team around with some solid play from the freshman she has recruited. If she keeps this up, Southern could have one of the best volleyball programs in the next few years. 

Cross Country

Not much change from my first piece at the beginning of the season, but the Men’s cross country team continues to dominate, as they have won two of their three races. I expect them to win the MIAA championship this Saturday and make a big splash in the NCAA meets. 

Sophomore Gideon Kimutai has been dominant this season and could possibly win the entire NCAA indivually as he has won multiple awards this season including the National Cross Country Runner of the Week. It’s really awesome to see Southern dominate the cross country year after year. 

On the women’s side they have also had a successful season and could be a surprise team in the MIAA championships led by Julianna Determan and Kelie Henderson. It’s no surprise that cross country is Southern’s best fall sport and will continue to be their best sport for years to come.

Soccer

The Lions soccer team hasn’t had the best season only winning two games so far this season. I think a lot of it has to do with the new head coach of Aaron Tilsen coming into a bad situation. This isn’t a knock on Tilsen, as I usually give a few seasons to a new head coach before I start criticizing too much. The season is a failure, but hopefully he has a good recruiting season to get the team back to where they should be which is competing for MIAA championships.