On January 15, athletic competitions returned to Southwestern after nearly a year off due to the global pandemic. If nothing else, that would have been victory enough.
"We told our team this year was all about enjoying our season," Head Men's Lacrosse Coach Bill Bowman says. "We just wanted to give our seniors an opportunity to play their final year."
Southwestern student-athletes pushed beyond that, finding their footing in an unstable year to excel and reach new heights, highlighted by Southwestern men's and women's tennis NCAA Tournament runs.
Women's tennis challenged itself by scheduling multiple opponents from scholarship programs in higher divisions of competition and came away with its first SCAC Championship, unseating Trinity in the tournament finale, earning Head Tennis Coach Billy Porter the SCAC Coach of the Year award and the team five all-conference selections.
The program's first conference title earned women's tennis an automatic bid to its first NCAA Tournament. The team looked right at home in the postseason, winning the NCAA Regional Championship to advance to the Elite 8.
The men's tennis team reached its highest regional ranking at No. 2 in the West, earning an at-large NCAA Tournament bid—the program's first—led by SCAC Player of the Year Hunter Bajoit, who headlined four all-conference selections.
"We qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time, and that alone makes this the greatest year in program history," Porter says.
Volleyball junior Lauren Crabtree showcased her all-around game, leading the nation in triple-doubles with six and earning the program's first AVCA National Player of the Week award since 2016. She was one of four Pirates to make the All-SCAC volleyball team.
Football placed four on the All-ASC Team, highlighted by senior linebacker Ben Brockman's All-ASC First Team selection, and had three former players named to the SCAC's 30th Anniversary Team.
Cross country continued the incremental steps of building a new era in its men's and women's programs, returning a full team to competition after a year without on the women's side. On the men's side, sophomore Noah Dennis earned the program's first USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week award and produced the program's first all-conference finish since 2019, placing sixth.
"This is the future of the program right now," Head Cross Country Coach Steven Cary says. "The faces you see will be here for two or three years. We'll use this year as a stepping stone to where we want to be, which is competing for conference championships."
Men's soccer went undefeated at 4-0-4 in a season that ended in the conference semifinals with a double-overtime draw decided by penalty kicks. The Pirates had seven earn conference recognition after putting together the best defense in the league, allowing only three goals all season.
Women's soccer followed its conference championship year with a 6-2 season, reeling off five consecutive shutout victories before ending the year in a 1-0 double-overtime loss in the conference semifinals. The SCAC rewarded the Pirates with seven players earning All-SCAC recognition, including three First Team selections.
The men's and women's swimming and diving teams placed second at the SCAC Championships, producing 18 all-conference performances on the men's side, including three individual event champions. The women had 13 all-conference performances, highlighted by five individual championships and Jesse Stovall's SCAC Swimmer of the Year award.
Madison Goldberg won the SCAC women's golf individual championship, leading the Pirates to a second-place finish with five all-conference selections and a No. 23 national ranking. Teammate Linsey Garza won the SCAC Preview a few weeks earlier. Goldberg also won her second consecutive WGCA All-Region Team award. The men's golf team hit its stride late in the season, winning the West Region Invitational before COVID healthy and safety protocols ended their year.
"They have a great work ethic. Just the way they go about practice ready to work," Head Coach Greg Sigler says. "They come out with a plan, and it's a good environment. They all have fun, but at the same time, they're all working on getting better. They all know we're trying to win tournaments and championships."
Men's basketball placed two on the all-conference team, paced by leading scorer Kyle Poerschke, who finished second in the SCAC Player of the Year voting. Women's basketball junior Lauren Fulenwider scorched the nets all season, setting a school record with eight 3-pointers made in a single game, finishing third in the nation in 3-pointers made and second in 3-pointers per game. She was one of two Southwestern women's basketball players to earn All-SCAC recognition.
Baseball posted its third consecutive winning regular season with a slew of young players stepping up, highlighted by SCAC Newcomer of the Year Maxwell Mims and seven all-conference selections. It had a strong performance in the SCAC Tournament, eliminating nationally ranked Centenary, with All-Tournament performances from Preston Witt and Bryce Debbs.
Softball placed three on the all-conference team, highlighted by Maddie Mefford's First Team selection after a breakthrough season with career highs in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.
Men's track and field had six top-five finishes at the SCAC Championships, including two all-conference performances. Women's track and field had 10 all-conference performances punctuated by Tiamara Hill-Johnson winning the discus. The women also set four program records, with Hannah Jones setting a new mark in the high jump (1.40m), Taylor Hubbard breaking the pole vault record (3.15m), Hill-Johnson topping the discus record (42.06m), and Erin Toro breaking the school's javelin record (31.78m).
Men's and women's lacrosse both had record-breaking individual performances and second-place finishes in the conference.
Women's lacrosse recorded its third consecutive winning season, with nine players earning all-conference recognition. Emma Pertuit became the first Southwestern women's lacrosse player to win SCAC Midfielder of the Year, finishing third in the nation in draw controls per game and fourth in ground balls per game, setting new school records in both. Brooke Folliard earned the first SCAC Defensive Player of the Year in program history. On April 23, Raven Garcia broke the school record for most points in a game with 15, scoring 10 goals with five assists in a win over Hendrix.
Men's lacrosse senior Zac Asbury wrapped up arguably the greatest career in program history, breaking the school record for career points in a March 14 win over the Milwaukee School of Engineering, ending his career with 267 points, scoring 114 goals and a school-record 153 assists.
Southwestern also had 11 players earn men's lacrosse All-SCAC recognition, highlighted by Hudson Bearden winning the program's first SCAC Specialist of the Year award and Will Thompson becoming the first SCAC Defensive Player of the Year in school history. Bearden ended the season leading the nation in face-off winning percentage at .805 and finished fifth in ground balls per game with 12.40, setting a new conference record. Bearden also set program individual game records for face-off wins and ground balls.
"To successfully have every team competing during the spring semester was quite an accomplishment. Having every team's schedule overlapping required all our support staff to juggle the many moving parts to cover each event adequately," Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Glenn Schwab says. "I am grateful to all our coaches, staff, and student-athletes who made the adjustments to make this year possible, and I congratulate them on the successful year. We celebrated many firsts this year, and those accomplishments demonstrated the commitment I am describing."