Toro Athletics: 2006-07 Year-End Review
June 13, 2007

MEN’S SOCCER:
The agony and the ecstasy. Four days after claiming its 7th CCAA Championship, and first since 2002, and three days after being selected to host the 1st round of the NCAA Division II Far West Men’s Soccer Regional, the top-seeded Toros were upended in overtime by 4th-ranked Seattle University in shocking fashion as the Redhawks used a collision deep in Toro territory to notch the game-winning goal, ending the Toros’ season at 15-7-1.

The Toros boasted three players who were named to the Daktronics 1st-team All-Far West squad in seniors Jesse Graham, Kyle Polak and LJ Reinhardt, and seven who were named 1st-team All-CCAA selections, including Graham, Polak and Sammy Rivas. Graham capped his career by being named a 2nd-Team All-American, the first such honor of his career, while Polak established himself as arguably the greatest Toro goalkeeper of all time by setting career marks for wins and shutouts, and finishing second in goals against average by mere percentage points.

WOMEN’S SOCCER:
Senior forward Rachele McDonald was a near unanimous choice for the 2006 Daktronics Far West Region Player of the Year, capping a career which also saw the Ventura native also claim her second California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) MVP honor in three years.

McDonald’s conference MVP selection headlined a list of five Cal State Dominguez Hills women’s soccer players selected to the 2006 All-CCAA squads in 1st-team selection Corrie Hirokawa, 2nd-team honoree Sandy Lloyd and 3rd-team recipients Monique Castro and Krista Rojas.

Next season, the Toros return 18 letter-winners and eight starters, and look to send their 11 seniors back to the CCAA and NCAA postseason tournaments.

VOLLEYBALL:
The 2006 campaign came to an end as the Toros finished with an overall record of 8-18, and a conference record of 5-15. The five conference wins is three more than last season, and the eight total wins is two more than last season, with the five conference wins also being the most since the Toros won six in 2004.

Individually, senior Nicole Hoffman etched her name in the Toros’ record books for block assists in a season, and total blocks in a career. Hoffman’s 64 block assists this season ties her for 10th all-time, and her two-year total of 137 blocks places her in a tie for 10th for all-time career blocks. Fellow senior Maria Miranda also made her final year one for the record books, picking up 382 digs on the season to tie her for 5th all-time for digs in a season. Junior setter Kayleigh Spratt moved herself into 6th place for career set assists with 1,028 in only her third season as a Toro.

The Toros will return five juniors, one sophomore, four freshmen, and three redshirts for next season. With many key players returning, the Toros should be one of the surprise teams in the always-competitive CCAA Conference next year.

CROSS COUNTRY:
With some fresh faces having solid debut seasons and a senior who would bid farewell by leading CSUDH in every meet, it was a solid year for the Toros cross-country team and its coaching staff.

Senior Valarie Tucker did what coaches expect a senior to do: lead the team. Tucker grabbed the top time in every meet this season, setting a Toro best at the UC Riverside Invite with a time of 20:31.1.

Brittany Masai had a strong freshman season for the Toros, finishing second in every race and turned in a season best time of 20:56 in her first collegiate race.

Additionally, Tucker was named a recipient of the prestigious Arthur Ashe, Jr. Award.

MEN’S BASKETBALL:
Senior Shamont Brown made a repeat appearance on the 2nd-team All-CCAA squad as the Toros earned one more win in both their overall and CCAA records and bade farewell to seniors in Brown, Gabe Bernard, Murphy Cooper and Trevon Bryant, the latter who etched his name in Toro men’s basketball lore by establishing the CSUDH all-time record for blocks in a career.

Brown finished his senior season averaging 11.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.

The Toros ended this season on a roll, dropping a one-point overtime decision at perennial power Cal Poly Pomona before winning their final two games of the season by an average of 22.5 points to finish at 12-15, 9-13 CCAA.

On the year, Carlos Rivers’ 10.3 and Mike Steed’s 10.0 respective points per game contributions followed Brown’s lead. Newcomer Jamaal Barnes established himself as one of the most athletic players in the conference, chipping in 7.5 points and grabbing 5.0 rebounds in 24.3 minutes a game, a few of which came well above the 10-foot rim.

CSUDH started competitively despite dropping its first three games, but then ran off five-straight wins to close out December.

In perhaps CSUDH’s best game of the year in early February, the Toros dismantled the defending CCAA Champions Sonoma State, 79-57, as Jonathan Toliver hit 5-of-6 from 3-point land and tallied 19 points while CSUDH held the offensive Seawolves to just 38.6% shooting from the field, including 33.3% in the second half.

In 2007-08, CSUDH returns eight players including Barnes, Toliver and Steed in hopes of earning their first CCAA Conference title since the 1986-87 season.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL:
It was a wild ride for the Toros women’s basketball team that culminated in a trip back to the NCAA Tournament and participation in “March Madness” after missing out last season.

The Toros’ last home game of the regular season, a 83-56 win over Cal State Monterey Bay, gave head coach Van Girard his 250th career victory in 19 seasons at the helm of the Toros, and earned CSUDH the 5th seed heading into the NCAA D-II Regional Tournament and a date with No. 4 seeded Alaska-Anchorage.

In the playoffs, the Toros jumped out to an early 13-3 lead, but UAA chipped away and tied the game at 26-26 just before intermission.

In the second half the two teams battled back and forth with the Toros holding a slight edge down the stretch, but a costly turnover with the Toros up by one and less than two minutes left proved costly as a 3-point attempt by Aujaneé Baldwin at the buzzer rattled out, ending the Toros’ season.

Individually, Iglehart earned the inaugural CCAA Newcomer of the Year award along with 1st-Team All-CCAA honors, while sharp-shooter Jessica Liang earned 2nd-Team All-CCAA honors after leading the conference in 3-point field goal percentage and 3-point shots made per game.

The Toros will return every member of the team except for Ree Browne, who concluded her five-year career.

TRACK & FIELD:
During the indoor track season, junior Grace Fitchett posted the 3rd fastest time in the nation in the 60-Meter Hurdles with a time of 8.57 heading into the Indoor Championships held in Boston, MA, but struggled and failed to qualify for the finals.

In the outdoor season thus far the Toros have had three different individuals turn in provisional marks, as well as a relay team.

Junior Fitchett earned the Toros' lone All-American honor at the Outdoor Championships, finishing 8th in the 100-meter hurdle finals, one of four events in which she participated (100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 4x100 relay).

This honor came after Fitchett and teammate Deborah Bowser each captured a CCAA Individual title at the conference championships a few weeks earlier.

Fitchett claimed her conference crown in the 100-meter dash while posting a runner-up effort in the 100-meter hurdles, while Bowser cut nearly four-tenths of a second of her preliminary time for CSUDH's 2nd individual crown of the day.

GOLF:
Senior Zach Jones ended the CCAA Championship the way he began the first golf meet of the 2007 season – leading the Toro linksters.

Welcoming two returning players and four newcomers, including Jones, the Toros finished 8th of 8 teams competing at the Championships, and were led by Jones and Raphael Malabanan, the only other Toro to shoot in the 70s in the final round.

Jones bookended his 2-under 70 in the second round with 77s in the first and third rounds, good for an overall 25th-place finish and a total score of 224. Malabanan finished his first CCAA Championships with a 79 in the third round and overall score of 230, good for 34th place.

Miguel Saucedo (38th, 253), Jeff Ronk (39th, 257) and Matt Giamberdino (40th, 261) rounded out the Toro golfers and, along with Malabanan, look towards 2008 to crack the upper half of the highly-competitive CCAA Conference.

SOFTBALL
The Toros softball team struggled in its rebuilding year with a 22-30 overall and 10-22 CCAA Conference mark after just three players from last year’s NCAA Far West Region Championship Series team returned to this year’s squad, joining eight freshmen and seven transfers who donned Cardinal & Gold for the first time.

Freshman Katie Jordan challenged the single season batting average mark of .407 set two years ago, eventually finishing at .392, giving her the third highest average in the CCAA and the honor of being the only freshman in the CCAA’s top 10.

Fellow freshmen Jennifer Frazier, Jodi Nakawatase and Erika Gonzalez also made solid efforts in their first year, posting the 3rd through 5th best averages on the team, while juniors Bri Mahr and Jennifer Martinez made their respective presence felt, giving the Toros two key returners for next year’s squad. Mahr batted a whopping .336 on the year, while J. Martinez did double duty as starting pitcher and offensive threat, blasting 4 home runs and driving in 25 RBI, also leading the team with 17 wins and 94 batters fanned.

This year also marked the final season for CSUDH’s lone senior in Araceli Martinez, who finished her fourth and final year in Cardinal & Gold. The Downey native set personal-best marks for runs scored, doubles and RBI in 2007, and exited her final game on Toro Diamond with a 7-4 win over Sonoma State, completing a 2-for-6, two RBI afternoon effort on a picture perfect day.

Individually, Jordan was named to the Daktronics 1st-team All-Region squad, one week after being the named the lone freshman to earn 1st-team All-CCAA honors, leading five Toros to earn an All-CCAA honor including Mahr, Frazier, Katie Gonzalez and Katie Garcia.

With the exception of A. Martinez, next year’s squad returns the entire roster, including redshirt Regina Farfan, who is expected to give the Toros another ace in the circle.

BASEBALL
With 2/3 of the starting outfield, 3/4 of the starting rotation, both starting corner infielders and a handful of dependable role players gone from last season’s CCAA tournament team, interim baseball head coach Murphy Su’a had his handsful in his first year at the helm.

The 2007 season started off slowly with the Toros picking up their first win of the year in the sixth game of the season against Cal State San Marcos.

Momentum appeared to be on the Toros side as they took 3-of-4 from Division I Southern Utah, for which senior Scott Moore was named CCAA Player of the Week However, CSUDH struggled when conference play began, dropping 3-of-4 to both Cal State Monterey Bay and Sonoma State, and splitting with San Francisco State.

Overall CSUDH posted a 4-12 record in the month of March, dropping 13-straight games at one point.

As the calendar rolled to April the Toros took 3-of-4 from Cal Poly Pomona, and Mateo Marquez was rewarded by being named CCAA Player of the Week.

However, the end of the season schedule was not favorable to the Toros as they faced two nationally-ranked teams in No.1 Cal State L.A. and No.12 Chico State, which the Toros were 1-7 against.

Overall Marquez had a standout season finishing, in the top 15 in the CCAA in triples, total bases, stolen bases, slugging percentage, hits, home runs, RBIs, and batting average. This translated into his being named onto three All-Region teams, and a selection by the defending World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals in the First-Year Player Draft.

For the Toros, Marquez, Houston Hernandez and Cody Puckett all were named to All-CCAA squads, while Hernandez also claimed an ABCA/Rawlings 2nd-team accolade in his final season in Cardinal & Gold.

CSUDH will again suffer heavy losses this season with 11 seniors departing, including four-year members Hernandez, James Dodson and Gus Hernandez.