Our fall sports are in full swing. This means that our Athletic Department is firing on all cylinders. Over the past two weeks we have witnessed some outstanding competition on the Hilltop. In particular, during the September 14-16 weekend our men's soccer program won the 2007 WCC-Pac10 Classic, our volleyball team hosted its second home tournament of the year and we welcomed back to campus our baseball alumni from all generations to play in a series of baseball games at Benedetti Diamond.

Our men's soccer team defeated both the Cal Bears (then ranked #11) and the Stanford Cardinal in the same week. Volleyball hosted the USF Asics/Coca-Cola Invitational, which brought to USF then No. 14 Cal Poly San Luis and perennial NCAA Tournament participant Sacramento State.

Men's soccer, under the leadership of longtime head coach Erik Visser, is a young and energetic team and brings a tremendous amount of effort and pride to each game, which makes them a joy to watch. After beating Cal and Stanford, the Dons cracked the top-25 polls for the first time this season, debuting at No. 12. Please do not let this season go by without witnessing this fearless nationally recognized team in action.

Dons volleyball, under new head coach Gilad Doron, is competing with great effort as well and is looking for a breakthrough victory against a top ranked opponent. This team has already played five matches against 2006 NCAA tournament teams and will no doubt be ready for an extremely competitive WCC season. The volleyball team plays with a blend of youth and experience, while learning a new level of execution that is exciting to watch.

Our women's soccer team is also being led by first year head coach Mark Carr, who inherited, a non-conference schedule featuring 10 straight road matches against some of the truly elite programs in the country. The Dons have already played four matches against top-10 programs - UCLA, Duke, North Carolina and Stanford - with three more to follow. Coach Carr and assistant coach Maite Zabala bring a wonderful blend of deep technical expertise and genuine passion for the game. We fully expect good things from this program in the near future.

Now on to the runners -- the cross country programs have competed in two invitational and are progressing admirably. Head coach Helen Lehman-Winters is no stranger to hard work and commitment and is putting in place the building blocks to capture a WCC title having placed second with both programs in the 2006 season.

Mentioning college baseball in September is highly unusual except for the fact that USF baseball brought back many of our alumni for great camaraderie and friendly competition. On consecutive beautiful days in San Francisco we played college baseball. First up, our long time alumni played a current freshmen team and the next day our minor league players competed against our returning upper classmen.

Needless to say, the most humorous moment in watching many hours of "friendly competition" was seeing an alumnus pitcher hit three of USF head coach Nino Giarratano's current players, prompting Nino to go out to the mound to give him a hug -- to try to settle him down, or at least crack a joke or two at the pitcher's expense. Let's just say it wasn't only the alums that needed a lot of ice after the game to stop the swelling.

The Inaugural Dante Benedetti Golf Classic put an outstanding finish on a great weekend for Diamond Dons past and present. Hosted by Kevin Cronin at the Diablo Country Club in the East Bay, it was a spectacular day of golf that served to reunite the many generations of "Dante Boys" alongside the newly minted USF players. I want to personally express our collective appreciation to Kevin and his wife, Pat, and the numerous others who generously donated their time and energy to make this event a tremendous success.

Let me add here that I am equally impressed with our staff that has, on several occasions, worked 10-12 hour days with great energy and good execution. We balance these long days with time off during the week and I commend our game operations staff for the important game day atmosphere they create during each and every home game.

Please let me know if you see areas of improvements. I can honest say without reservation that this staff wants you and our teams to have the best game day experience possible when you come to USF.

I will check in soon to let you know about our new wireless, paperless ticketing system and our new sponsorship / marketing efforts.

See you soon at a USF game.

DGM

Go Dons!