Brahma Week

of the

Paige Wolny - Position: Forward Soccer

Striker Paige Wolny scored two goals against Valley College and is Pierceʼs leading goal scorer.

Paige Wolny has had a strong start for her first year on the Pierce soccer team. Wolny leads the team after scoring seven goals in seven games. Wolny, 19, is a sophomore majoring in pre-med hopes to transfer to either attend UCLA, Occidental College or Harvey Mudd College.

How do you feel about being named player of the week?

I feel very humbled.

You’ve played extremely well scoring seven goals in seven games, are you happy with your recent play?

No, I feel like I can always do better. Every game there’s always mistakes that are made and you can always work on improving yourself and improving your cohesiveness as a team.

I feel like as a team, we can be playing better than what we have been.

What do you see when you’re on the field? What keeps you focused and in the game?

I try to have an open vision of the field and just see beyond myself to really put myself in a good position to score, which has a lot to do with field awareness of the other players around me and trying to get open for free balls and be in position to do my job.

Do you feel your coaches and teammates rely on you?

I think we can rely on each other. Everyone is just as equally important in making goals happen. It’s not just the fowards job, it starts from the goalie, to the defense, then to the midfield. It’s not just one person.

Do some games mean more to you than others? No, I just try to play my best in every game.

What are your expectation of the team for athlete,” Munoz said. “You have to focus on school and the sport you’re playing. It’s like a job and you have to keep up with all that. It’s going to be a tough semester, but I think I can do it.”

Coaches are being held to a higher standard by taking a compliance test. For student athletes it will be required that nine of the 12 units being taken must be academic units unlike in previous years.

Athletic Director Bob Lofrano who coached the Brahmas in baseball and is a scout for the Chicago Cubs has reflected on his experience dealing with student athletes and trying to mold his players into successes both on the field and off.

“They come back and they say

Sports briefs

Water Polo Women’s Volleyball

Pierce College’s water polo team got destroyed in its first game of year, losing to the Citrus Owls 19-4.

Citrus got an early jump on the Brahmas and after three quarters the Owls had a 12-2 lead.

The Owls were led by sophomore Lauren Quintero who had five goals to lead Citrus.

Citrus also got strong offensive performances from freshman Eliane Hodge, Mary McCreary and sophomore Kimberly Torres who each added three scores.

Pierce had trouble getting going offensively because of sophomore Citrus utility Gabriela Biedebach who had four steals.

The Brahmas will play their next match at home against Santa Monica at 3 p.m.

The Pierce College Women’s Volleyball team earned a third-place finish at the sixteen-team San Diego Mesa Invitational, on Friday Sept. 19 and Saturday Sept. 20 at San Diego Mesa College.

The sixteen teams were divided into two groups of eight. Each team played three matches over the weekend. Pierce opened the tournament with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-21) win against host Mesa on Friday.

“We played clean volleyball,” said Coach Nabil Mardini. “The girls played with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and were scrappy in the back row.”

Pierce played two matches on Saturday. They lost their first match against Chaffey 3-1 (25-20, thank you, I didn’t realize at the time but I really appreciate all the hard work you made me do, and now it’s paying off. I’m still using some of the things you used with me out on the baseball field in life,” Lofrano said.

25-23, 23-25, 25-18), but bounced back later in the day with a 3-1 (20-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-23) win against Glendale (AZ).

Chaffey played a different, more patient style of volleyball than Pierce was used to, according to Mardini. He said they played patiently and waited for Pierce to make errors.

“They play non-traditionally,” Mardini said.

“Our girls were having a hard time adjusting.”

But Pierce adjusted after the loss to close out the tournament with a win against Glendale (AZ),

“They have some big-time players,” Mardini said. “We played even better than we played against Mesa.”

The Brahmas will be hosting the fifth annual Pierce Invitational that will start Friday at 4 p.m.