With the academic year starting up, our Caltech fall athletes have been working at their craft since before everyone else arrived on campus. Volleyball, cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, and men’s water polo are all deep into their season so far. Let’s look at a few of our beavers’ early feats into the 2025-2026 season:

Cross Country

The cross country season has begun with major wins already. At the Redlands Invitational, the women’s runners averaged a time of 18:32 on a 4.5K race to take a collective first place as a team! We had three beavers amongst the top-five individual finishes, in second place Katelyn Sadorf, third place Camilla Power, and Raquel “Rocky” Lample finishing fifth. For the men’s team, we also had some top-five finishers and great success amongst runners Aiden Cope and Stephen Goehringer. They placed third and fourth respectfully.

The XC beavers then took on the Masters University Invitational on September 20th, and came out highly successful from the meet. This invitational meet was huge in scale, with over 200 runners in each race, and brought out great competition—coming from DI, DII, and DIII levels. Three beavers on the men’s side broke top 40 for finishes, with a thirty-second faster personal best by Stephen Goehringer leading the pack. Once again, sophomores Katelyn Sadorf and Rocky Lample smashed their personal bests and led the way for Caltech women’s cross country.

After nearly two weeks of training, the Pomona Pitzer Invitational was next on the docket. This competition would be the best meet to prepare our beavers for SCIAC Championships, with teams across our conference present.

Men’s Soccer

Our Caltech Men’s soccer team has started this season off with a bang—picking up exactly where they left off from last season’s successes. The 2024 season brought the team the most wins in the last 54 years, but 2025 might just be the one to beat that once again. The Beavers’ preseason began with a trip to Chicago and games against some tough competition, a 2-3 loss to Illinois Tech and a 3-0 win against Concordia Chicago. Rounding out the preseason matches was a huge dub on Life Pacific, 4-1.

Conference competition began with a hard fought match against Chapman, ultimately falling short 1-2. The beavers with a chip on their shoulder then took huge back-to-back SCIAC wins against Redlands (3-1) and Pomona-Pitzer (1-0). The game against the Bulldogs was historical, marking the first win over Redlands in 41 games. To make it even sweeter, two of the goals came in the first ten minutes of play, and continued to push forward, outshooting the Bulldogs in the first half. Goals against Redlands were scored by seniors Ishaan Mantripragada, Etienne Casanova, and Jack Myles. The following match against the Sagehens was a battle, our beavers outshooting Pomona-Pitzer. In the final ten minutes of play, senior Wilson Duan hit the game-winning goal.

Men’s Soccer just came off of a tough loss at home against cross-town rivals, Occidental College. This brings the season record to 5-4, on the way to a possible record this year.

Men’s Water Polo

The water polo season opened with some huge non-conference wins against Chaffey, Rio Hondo, El Camino, and Citrus Colleges. Each game was incredibly high scoring, with winning margins from 7-15 points.

Heading into SCIAC competition, the team would be faced up against nationally-ranked and projected SCIAC champion (via pre-season poll) Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens. Tough losses ensued with matches against Chapman and La Verne. Sophomore, Carl Crum, had three notable goals in the game against Chapman and senior, Bram Schork, also had three goals in the game against La Verne.

Men’s waterpolo is off to a double header on October 4th against Penn State Behrend and Wheaton College at home. Upcoming are several home games, including the Alumni game.

Women’s Soccer

The women’s soccer season started off with the welcoming of a new head coach, Scott Wilson. Following a few exhibition games in the pre-season, the beavers took on University of Providence at home, resulting in a tie (1-1). Despite a smaller squad this year, women’s soccer still trudged forward. Sophomore, Kassie Kristufek, was responsible for the first goal of the season.

The team buckled down after two tough losses against Westcliff and Chapman at the turn of pre-season into SCIAC competition. However, a remarkable game against Redlands (1-0) brought the program their first win against the Bulldogs in history. Junior goalkeeper, Haleigh Gardener, was responsible for the full shutout with 14 saves. The game winning ball sunk into the goal with seconds on the clock, made by freshman, Shyna Kashi. This amazing game boosted team morale and spirits of the Caltech beavers.

WSOC will be coming off of losses against SCIAC teams Pomona Pitzer and Occidental to take on Cal Lutheran at their home turf.

Volleyball

Some big wins began the volleyball season, against West Coast Baptist (3-0) and Westcliff (3-1). These intense games had full team effort, with the match against Westcliff starting with a first set loss, to then a comeback of winning the following three sets. The Beavers totaled 46 kills and 44 assists, with main contributors Alize Bakker (19 kills) and Emma Berg (20 assists).

Heading into SCIAC competition, the team had picked up one more win against West Coast Baptist. Games against Pomona-Pitzer and CMS ended in 0-3 losses. Caltech put up a strong effort against CMS, with freshman Rena Zhang, and Bakker hitting ten kills each for the game.

The beavers fought hard in the last match against Cal Lutheran, winning a set 25-21, and playing very well against the Regals. Each following set was a battle, but ending with Cal Lutheran on top. However, notable performances include those of sophomore Ailsa Shen with a career-high 25 assists and senior Giulia Murgia with a match-high 20 digs.

Caltech volleyball takes on La Verne next to continue SCIAC conference play.

As the fall season continues, Caltech beavers are proving their resilience and teamwork throughout wins and losses. Each team is on the up as we get deeper into SCIAC competition. So, look out for some upcoming home games to cheer on your fall sport beavers. And before you know it, winter sports are going to be in full swing very soon, with pre-season practices and non-conference games coming up. Stay tuned for more coverage on Caltech athletics and the amazing student-athletes!