A Quick Look Back at the 2013-2014 Gaels
By Simon Tryzna
The loss at San Diego was one of the turning points of the year for the SMC Gaels.
Oh where do I begin…
I think out of all the losses that the Gaels have had this year, games that teams of year’s past would have won, the game in San Diego was the hardest one to swallow. Saint Mary’s was sitting at 16-5, 6-2 in WCC, and have just steamrolled past LMU. After the tough Hawaii trip and the upset loss to Santa Clara, the Gaels were finally rolling. They dismantled USF, put together a gritty performance over Pepperdine, and just ran away from LMU. And then there was the trip down south. Beat San Diego and set up a massive, national television show down against BYU.
The Gaels came out flat, and so did San Diego. Tied at 11-11 with 8:20 left in the first half, the Toreros went on a 12-0 run. Saint Mary’s was unable to recover. That was it. Right there. Another run by a Gael’s opponent. Another loss.
Saint Mary’s would go on to lose 61-43. They would be up 28-14 two days later with 8:27 to play in Provo and go on to lose 84-71. Two weeks later, despite being up ten at the half , the Gaels would lose to the Cougars once more, and follow up that loss with a poor performance at San Francisco.
Oh what could have been.
It’s hard to pinpoint to just one thing that went wrong this year. Probably there were multiple things that went wrong. If a 23 win season and the second round of the NIT is considered a “down” year, then Saint Mary’s is in a good position. However, to ensure that a 23 win season and a second round of the NIT is still considered a “down” year, the Gaels will need to make their way back to the NCAA tournament, year in and year out. Only time will tell if they are able to go ahead and do that.