CSM fall sports struggle
Each Hawks team had a losing record
Perhaps it might seem as an understatement to denote that College of Southern Maryland fall sports endured a difficult campaign since none of them came close to .500 and combined for a 9-31 record.
In previous years, the CSM volleyball team had stood out as the best fall sports program. This fall, that squad ascended to the head of the class among Hawks teams despite a 5-14 mark, including a 3-9 record in the Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference. Nevertheless, their final win-loss record does not exactly tell the whole story.
CSM stumbled badly out of the gates and dropped its first 11 matches, but the Hawks went 5-3 down the stretch, including a 4-2 mark in October and the squad won their last two matches.
CSM’s first win came on Sept. 30 versus Howard in four sets in the Raptor Invitational at Montgomery College. The Hawks were 1-2 in the one-day tournament.
CSM swept Chesapeake College on Oct. 4 to start the month then beat Howard again in four sets on Oct. 9. After losing their next two matches, the Hawks ended the slate by edging Anne Arundel in five sets on Oct. 16 then swept Allegany on Oct. 19.
The Hawks will lose three sophomores in outside hitter Reagan Tuiasosopo (a North Point High School graduate from Waldorf, right-side hitter Savannah Carroll (a Patuxent High School graduate from Lusby) and setter Samantha Rerig (a Calvert High School graduate from St. Leonard).
The CSM women’s soccer team (3-7, 1-6 MDJUCO) won its first two games, but was unable to make good on their early promise.
After ending September with a 6-1 win over CCBC-Catonsville, the Hawks lost their four games in October by a combined 44-0 margin, including an 18-0 drubbing at the hands of Montgomery on Oct. 18 in which all the goals came before the intermission.
In the win over Catonsville on Sept. 27, Karleigh Cohen (a Grace Christian Academy graduate from White Plains) scored three goals and Semiya Lowe (a La Plata High School graduate from Hughesville) added another.
CSM also benefited from two Catonsville own goals.
The Hawks won their first two games to start the schedule, 6-0 at Patrick Henry (Va.) on Aug. 30 and 3-1 at Cecil on Sept. 11, but they were outscored 61-7 over the final eight contests and won only one of them. The team had just one sophomore, midfielder/defender Leslie Gomez (a La Plata High School graduate from La Plata)
Likewise, the CSM men’s soccer team (1-10, 1-9) recorded its lone triumph on Sept. 11 with a 1-0 victory over Cecil College on a goal by Nicholas Krisko (a Huntingtown High School graduate from Huntingtown). But the Hawks promptly dropped their last eight games and scored only three goals along the way.
In CSM’s 7-1 loss to Hagerstown on Sept. 18, Nathaniel Morrison (a Leonardtown resident) produced the lone tally, then in a 6-1 defeat to Howard on Sept. 26 it was Miles Payton (a La Plata High School graduate from La Plata) who prevented the shutout. In a 6-1 setback against Harford on Oct. 9, Rhojay Lemard (a Brandywine resident) scored the lone goal for the Hawks. But in each of their other five losses the team failed to dent the scoreboard.
The team had just two sophomores in midfielder Caristan Tokam (a Waldorf resident) and goalkeeper Hunter Vanzandt (a Brandywine resident).
While the CSM cross country team did not have enough runners to score at its trio of meets, it did boast a pair of runners who performed well at them.
Freshman Sierra Walker (a North Point High School graduate from White Plains) finished 46th of 105 female runners at the Hood College Invitational on Oct. 13 with a seasonal-best clocking of 27 minutes, 15.9 seconds for the 6K distance. At that same meet, Jeremy McGraw (a Huntingtown High School graduate from Huntingtown) completed the 8K distance in 33:21.1 to finish 88th of 113 male runners at the meet.
At the Goucher College Cross Country Classic a week earlier, Walker placed fourth and McGraw took 28th.
At the Hornet Harrier Invitational at Shenandoah University (Va.) on Sept. 22, Walker completed the 5K distance in 23:13.0 to finish 48th of 111 female runners and McGraw completed 6K in 24:21.9 to place 89th of the 120 male runners at the meet.
The Region XX championships are scheduled for Saturday.