MORAGA, Calif. – The 2018-19 season for Saint Mary's Athletics will go down as one of the department's most successful calendar years, seeing four teams reach the NCAA Tournament and five see time in the postseason. The Gaels' success this year culminated with a third-place finish in the West Coast Conference Commissioner's Cup. Their 87 points were the second most in SMC history and just one shy of the record set in 2015-16.
 
Below is a recap of the five programs whose seasons were strong enough to reach postseason-play.
 
Volleyball:
 
Saint Mary's volleyball made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012 and faced No. 22 Washington in a thrilling, four-set match. Three players received All-WCC Honors at the conclusion of the season including senior Lindsey Knudsen (First Team), senior Sarah Chase (Honorable Mention), and Breyan Ashley (Freshman Team).
 
Knudsen posted a number of impressive stats including a couple of career milestones: she collected both her 1,000th career kill (2.77 kills per set this season) and her 1,000th career dig (2.61 digs per set) this year. Chase also had a strong senior year, putting up a number of big games and numbers. She had her most impressive match of the year against USF on October 18 where she collected four assists, 21 points, and six blocks. Ashley was a key component for Saint Mary's in her first season as a Gael: her best match came against Portland on November 8 where recorded 15 kills, 18 points, one assist, and seven digs which were all season-highs.
 
Meanwhile, the Gaels also saw six players receive WCC All-Academic Awards: senior Lindsey Calvin, Chase, Knudsen (All-Academic Team) and senior Emily Bible, sophomore Jennifer "Boo" Laird, and junior Sienna Young (Honorable Mentions).
 
SMC posted a 19-10 overall record which was their best mark since 2010. Furthermore, they went on an eight-match winning streak from August 30 to September 15 which was their longest streak since 2009. Their season was destined to be special as their nine wins in their first 11 matches were highlighted by victories over a pair of ranked opponents: No. 19 Utah and No. 24 San Diego. The Gaels finished the season with an 11-7 record in WCC-play which was their best conference-mark in five years.
 
Men's Soccer:
 
The men's soccer team had arguably it's best season in program history as the Gaels posted an 18-0-2 record and reached the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament. Saint Mary's was the only team in the nation to go undefeated, achieved a No. 4 ranking, posted the nation's best offense and defense, and claimed their second West Coast Conference Championship following a 1-0 win over Gonzaga in Moraga on Nov. 4. 
 
Head coach Adam Cooper was named the WCC Coach of the Year for the third time in his career and he and his staff were selected as the United Soccer Coaches Staff of the Year in recognition of their incredible season. In the conference's preseason poll, Saint Mary's was chosen to finish fourth in the conference before eventually going 6-0-1 in WCC action. 
 
Forward Jake Rudel and goalkeeper Remi Prieur accomplished another feat never done before in program history: earn All-American status. Both Gaels were selected to the Third Team in addition to All-West Region and All-WCC First Team honors. Prieur, who was also named WCC Goalkeeper of the Year, broke the single-season record for wins and shutouts while Rudel led the conference in goals and points. 
 
Three more Gaels earned First Team All-WCC honors and midfielder Sebastian Schacht was chosen as Freshman of the Year. The team's run to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament was their first trip to the postseason since 2011 and third time overall. SMC will enter the 2019 season undefeated in their last 24 matches (20-0-4) and their past 23 home matches dating back to 2016 (18-0-5).
 
Men's Basketball:
 
After a perfect, 3-0 start to the season, the Gaels dropped four straight games for the first time since 2007 and headed into December with a losing record. The team proved to be unrelenting however, as they won six of their next eight games with both losses coming by a mere seven points combined. 
 
Despite losing over two-thirds of their scoring and most of their starting lineup from the season prior, Randy Bennett's club secured their 12th-straight 20-win season by capping off a five-game conference win streak at home against Portland. On Dec. 19, Bennett won his 400th career game and became one of only eight active head coaches to accomplish the feat with just one school.  
 
The Gaels entered the WCC Tournament as the No. 2 overall seed and after a close battle with San Diego in the semifinals, came face-to-face with the No. 1 team in the nation, Gonzaga, for the championship title. Although they had lost by 14 points to the Zags just 10 days prior in Moraga, the Gaels executed their game plan flawlessly and shocked the top team in the country with a 60-47 win for their fourth-ever WCC Championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. 
 
Jordan Ford highlighted the individual accomplishments during the season as he earned First Team All-WCC honors, NABC All-District recognition, and was featured on the Lou Henson Watchlist. Newcomer Malik Fitts immediately made his mark on the program by averaging 15.2 points and 7.6 rebounds per game en route to a Second Team All-WCC selection. The team's lone senior, Jordan Hunter, was instrumental for the Gaels down the stretch and was chosen as the Most Outstanding Player during the WCC Championship as his 12-point, 15-rebound performance against Gonzaga helped Saint Mary's earn their first ever win against a No. 1 team. 

Women's Basketball:
 
The 2018-19 women's basketball season was highlighted by a trip to the postseason for the 10th-consecutive season. The Gaels hosted the first two rounds of the WNIT, defeating Hawaii by 24 points in the opening game.
 
Four Gaels were recognized in the All-WCC Awards including seniors Megan McKay and Sydney Raggio earning spots on the First Team. Sam Simons landed on the Freshman Team while junior Jasmine Forcadilla received an Honorable Mention. Raggio recorded her 1,000th career rebound on January 27 against Portland which made her just the fourth Gael to record both 1,000 career points and rebounds. She finished her career with 1,558 career points (seventh in program-history) and 1,033 rebounds (fourth all-time). McKay also produced eye-popping numbers this season, leading the team and the WCC in field goal percentage (58.2), nearly averaging a double-double with 12.6 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per contest. She also became the first player in WCC history to lead the conference in shooting percentage all four years. Simons burst onto the scene in her freshman season, working her way into a starting role with an average of 11.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. She also amassed the second-most steals on the team with 27 while seeing time in every contest. Lastly, Forcadilla was instrumental in her 27 games with the Gaels this season: starting in every contest she played, she averaged 10.0 points, 2.6 boards, and 3.1 assists.
 
As a whole, the team was consistently ranked amongst the best in both the WCC and the country. They were eighth in the nation in field goal percentage (47.9), 16th in both three-point field goal percentage (37.1) and rebound margin (8.3), and led the WCC in seven categories: assists (537), assists per game (16.3), defensive rebounds per game (30) – also sixth in the nation, field goal percentage, rebound margin, scoring offense (75.4 points per game), and three-pointers made (265).
 
With a record of 21-12, 12-6 WCC, Saint Mary's reached the 20-win mark for the eighth-consecutive season. However, it was their second victory of the year which crowned head coach Paul Thomas the winningest coach in SMC women's basketball history. The win was his 237th with the Gaels, breaking the previous record (236) set by Terri Rubenstein who coached at Saint Mary's for 14 years between 1983 and 1997. Thomas recorded the feat in just over 12 seasons and his current record at SMC is 256-160 (492-318 overall).

Men's Golf:
 
Saint Mary's longest-tenured head coach Scott Hardy entered the season with a drastically different roster from the year before as a large crop of seniors departed and four new Gaels entered the frame. With no seniors on the team, junior Blake Hathcoat became SMC's most veteran golfer with just 50 rounds of collegiate golf under his belt. 
 
The youthful Gaels would not be phased however, as they placed fourth in their first tournament of the season at the Showdown in the Rockies and were led by newcomers Ryan Grauman and Ethan Farnam. Grauman, a freshman, placed third in his first collegiate event while Farnam, a sophomore transfer who played in only two tournaments as a freshman at Northwestern, finished tied for ninth.
 
The team also posted top finishes at the Arizona Intercollegiate (third of 16), Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic (third of 15), and WCC Championships (third of nine). For a large majority of the season, Saint Mary's floated around the No. 50 ranking in the country according to Golfstat. 
 
Hardy used the same lineup for nearly every tournament which consisted of the aforementioned Gaels as well as redshirt sophomore Michael Slesinski and freshman Ethan Ashbrook. Slesinski was the team's second-most experienced member of the team with all of 10 career rounds played prior to the season. 
 
Saint Mary's would overcome their inexperience and performed very well to finish out the season to make their fifth consecutive NCAA Regionals. The team played at the UT Golf Club in Austin, Texas against some of the top teams in the country and finished 11th to close out a successful season. Hathcoat recorded the Gaels' lowest stroke average during the season and was selected not only to the All-WCC First Team but also to the All-Academic squad as well. 
 
Last week, Alex Jensen, the voice of Saint Mary's men's basketball and several other sports, sat down with SMC Director of Athletics Mike Matoso to relive the 2018-19 season at Saint Mary's. To hear the full podcast, click here. 
 
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