Go Hilltoppers!

Athletic Roundup for 2006–2007
It was a year full of achievements for the Hilltoppers, including nine Heartland Conference championships and a remarkable turnaround in women’s soccer. Enjoy the highlights!

March Madness Hits the Hilltop
After topping the Heartland Conference with its regular season record and securing its second consecutive tournament championship, the men’s basketball team headed to the NCAA Division II Tournament with a 24–6 record. While the team struggled against Central Missouri in the first round, junior Shawn Weinstein, ’07, walked away from the court this season honored as Heartland Conference Player of the Year.

Baseball
With 12 conference wins early on, the baseball team quickly found itself on top of the Heartland Conference. It wasn’t long before the team was ranked 16th in the nation by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Poll. For three consecutive weeks in April, Patrick Colgan, ’08, was named Heartland Conference Co-Pitcher of the Week.
The team clinched the school’s first Heartland Conference championship, advancing to the 2007 NCAA Division II Regional Tournament.

Softball
While the season may have gotten off to a rocky start at 8–11, it wasn’t long before the softball team turned things around. By mid-March, its record had improved to 24–13, and the team received its first-ever NCAA ranking — 21st in the country according to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division II Poll. The team won its second consecutive Heartland Conference championship and headed to the 2007 NCAA Division II Softball South Central Regional Tournament.

Golf
The men’s and women’s golf teams had impressive seasons — the men finished the season ranked third, while the women finished their season ranked 12th in the season’s first Golf World/NGCA Coaches’ Poll. Five players from each team were named to the Heartland Conference All-Conference team, and both teams claimed the Heartland Conference Tournament. Advancing to the NCAA Division II West Regional, the women placed third. The men advanced to the South Central Regional, also placing third.

Their success even caught the eye of Austin American-Statesman correspondent Doug Smith, who featured them in a Feb. 15 article, “St. Ed’s quietly building men’s, women’s golf programs into winners: Both growing programs are ranked nationally.”  

Tennis
The 15th-ranked men's tennis team earned an NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen berth in May by defeating #28 Midwestern State 5–3 in the Central Regional at the South Austin Tennis Center — the team’s second-straight Sweet Sixteen appearance. After winning its Heartland Conference Tournament, the women’s tennis team advanced to the first round of the 2007 NCAA Women's Tennis National Tournament.

Winning Highlights from Fall Season
In one of the biggest turnarounds in the nation, women’s soccer ended the season with a program-best record. After finishing last season 6–11–2, the Hilltoppers achieved a remarkable 17–3–2 in 2006. The team also won the Heartland Conference championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament.

And, in just its third year of existence, the men’s cross country team won the Heartland Conference Championship and advanced to its first regional meet in school history, where the team placed 12th at the 2006 NCAA Cross Country South Central Regional.

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