Bear Breakdown | Sports
Bear Breakdown: Football wins home opener, Volleyball sweeps Bear Invite

First-year Olivia Clemons scored her ninth goal of the season on Saturday a conference-high (Brandon Juarez-Ramos | Student Life)
It was a strong week for the Washington University Bears as summer officially came to a close. Football moved to 2-0 on the season, volleyball swept three ranked opponents, and women’s soccer continued its undefeated start. Men’s soccer split their two matches, while cross country and golf recorded solid finishes at their events. Here’s everything you need to know about WashU sports from the week of Sept. 16-22.
Football
In their home opener, WashU dominated Carroll University 35-7. After punts on the opening four drives, the Bears scored twice in the last three minutes of the first quarter and didn’t look back. The Bears would go up 28-0 before the Pioneers finally got on the board in the fourth quarter. Senior running back Kenneth Hamilton led the way for the Bears, recording 92 rushing yards and a touchdown on just 13 carries. At the same time, senior Clark Stephens and sophomore Levi Moore again split the quarterbacking duties. Next week, WashU will travel to Naperville, Illinois to face the No. 1 team in Division III, North Central College.
No. 9 Volleyball
Volleyball excelled at the Bear Invite this week, dropping just two sets while sweeping the weekend against tough competition. On Friday night, the Bears took down Gustavus Adolphus College, which is tied for No. 15 in the conference by a score of 3-1, as senior Jasmine Sells recorded her first career match with 20-plus kills and 20-plus digs. The Bears were even more effective on Saturday, defeating No. 7 University of La Verne 3-0, and receiving votes Cornell College 3-1. The Bears moved to 12-2 on the season and play one final non-conference match on Wednesday, Sept. 25 against Webster University before UAA play begins this weekend in New York.
No. 1 Women’s Soccer
After beating Illinois Wesleyan University 4-0 on Tuesday, women’s soccer continued their undefeated start to the season with a 5-0 win at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Senior defender Emma Riley McGahan notched her first career goal, and first-year Olivia Clemons scored her ninth of the season, a conference-high. The Bears outshot the Fightin’ Engineers 26-2 with 12 shots on goal. They will look to move to 9-0 this Monday, Sept. 23, at No. 22 Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Men’s Soccer
The Bears went 1-1 this week, beating Principia College 5-0 on Tuesday but falling to Wheaton College 3-1 on Saturday. Sophomore Ethan Wirtschafter notched two goals on the week, while sophomore Owen Ross played all 180 minutes in goal. WashU will play next at home on Saturday, Sept. 28, facing their highest-ranked competition so far as they host the No. 15 Ohio Northern University Polar Bears.
Cross Country
No. 8 women’s cross country and No. 13 men’s cross country competed at the John McNichols Invite hosted at Indiana State. WashU competed on the LaVern Gibson Course, in an event with both a Division I race and an open race of the top teams in Division III. The women’s team finished sixth out of 23 teams, with four Bears finishing in the top 30 of the 6K races. The men took home ninth place out of the 27 teams, finishing just one point behind eighth-place University of Illinois Springfield. Both teams will next compete in the Nike XC Town Twilight meet on Friday, Oct. 4.
No. 10 Golf
One day into the Montgomery Women’s Intercollegiate Tournament, WashU sits in third place at +9, behind the No. 19 University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (+3) and No. 1 Carnegie Mellon (+4). They will wrap up the tournament today, Monday, Sept. 23.