Since our last column, Caltech Athletics has continued to take great strides in the fall sports seasons! It’s almost the home stretch for many of these sports, so let’s catch up on the past couple weeks of updates:

Cross Country

The XC team has been competing quite a bit in the previous weeks, with the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational and the UCR Highlander Invite. At the PP Invitational, our men’s team had a standout performance by Stephen Goeringher (‘28) with a 39th finish out of over 200 competitors from schools of all divisions in the 8k event. The women’s team also took some great strides in the 6k event.

In the UCR Highlander Invite, the beavers on both sides were in the open division and found great success, the women’s team taking 3rd place and 1st for the men’s team. Five of the beavers on men’s XC finished top 25 in the 8k event keeping great pace with each other. Gigi Pistilli (‘26) and Katelyn Sadorf (‘28) on the women’s team found themselves placing in the 6k race at 3rd and 5th place, respectively.

Men’s Soccer

From our last men’s soccer update, the squad’s record was at 5-4. Since then, the beavers have added two wins to that and three losses, for an overall record of 7-7, in some really tough conference play. On 10/4, MSOC took on Cal Lutheran and ended up on top (1-0) with the goal by Etienne Cassanova (‘26) and the shut out defense in the goal by Alex Crowley (‘27) and Ethan Hamel (‘27). Following that game, Caltech had three games in a row, losing by only one goal.

But, alas, the beavers took a huge win on Senior Day against Chapman University (1-0)! Casanova again scored the game winning goal, leading the seniors to a celebratory day in front of many supporters at our home field. This goal added to Casanova’s total of 8 goals, recently being recognized by SCIAC as one of the conference’s leaders in goals, along with sophomore Matthew Luk (‘28) with 7 goals himself.

Men’s soccer looks forward to adding more wins to close out the season, with their three final games against SCIAC teams they have previously taken dubs against. Wishing them the best of luck!!

Men’s Water Polo

Our men’s water polo team has also found some success in the past couple weeks of games, starting off with a neutral game against Wheaton College (Mass.) on 10/4. The beavers outscored Wheaton (20-11) with a plethora of goals from Eric Verheyden, Bram Schork, and Axel Haydt. The beavers also performed well in the steals column, with 16 for the game, compared to Wheaton’s seven.

Following the match, the Beavers have faced incredibly tough competitors in SCIAC play, including Occidental, Cal Lutheran, and the most recent game against 7th nationally ranked, Whittier Poets. However, MWAPO found some success in goal, sinking 10 goals for the game despite the loss. Most recently, the team welcomed some alumni back on campus for the ALumni game, which brought smiles to everyone’s faces. Caltech still has six more games of the regular season, aiming to add more wins to the total.

Volleyball

The women’s volleyball team has continued to fight through intense SCIAC competition and show grit throughout all the games thus far. One of the highlight games recently was against the cross-town rivals, Occidental College, on 10/10.

Our beavers opened up the game with a 25-23 win in the first set. After two closely lost sets to Oxy, Caltech fought back in the fourth set and snagged another win before ultimately losing the game 2-3. Some incredible stats from the game included 17 service aces in the match, as well as individual performances from outside hitter Alize Bakker (‘27) with 20 kills and 15 digs while hitting .314, and setter Ailsa Shen (‘28) led both teams with 43 assists. Shen was also recently highlighted as the conference leader in assists per set.

Volleyball still has eight games remaining for the regular season and is looking to find some late season success.

Women’s Soccer

WSOC has faced great competition within the SCIAC conference play in the past couple weeks. Some great games included the 1-3 loss against CMS, and the tied shutout against Whittier (0-0) on 10/15. In the first, junior Alexa Baxter (‘27) scored her first goal of the season, sinking it after a 20-yard right-to-left service. Against Whittier, Goalkeeper Haleigh Gardner (‘27) earned her second shutout of the season at this match. Women’s Soccer also celebrated their seniors this past weekend against Pomona-Pitzer, holding them to no goals in the first half, but ultimately losing the game 0-3. Only three more games remain for the Beavers in conference play!

Make sure to cheer on your fellow beavers at their upcoming games! With fall sports almost nearing their end of seasons, winter sports have also been ramping up. Swim and Dive had their alumni meet to kick off the start of their season, and will host another preseason meet next weekend on 10/25. Men’s Basketball is taking on Stanton in an exhibition game at home on 10/24. Women’s Basketball is also opening up their preseason with a home game against Westcliff on 10/28. That’s it for today, stay tuned for more coverage on Caltech athletics!