Oct. 21, 2007

ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Siena Heights (Mich.) women's soccer team not only clinched second place in the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) on Saturday, but more importantly the program reached win No. 300 in the program history. Saturday's 1-0 win at home against Cornerstone (Mich.) was the milestone.

The Saints program began in 1986 when Doug Mello was the coach.  Mello, now at Luther College in Iowa, led the Saints to 53 wins in his three years at the helm.  In 1989, Phil Weaver took over for the Saints and led the team to 67 wins during his six years leading the team.  Aldo Zid, currently the men's soccer coach at Siena Heights ran the program from 1995 through 2000.  During his time, he led the Saints to a total of 87 wins.  In 2001, Scott Oliver took over and has led the Saints to the last 93 wins.  Oliver has also led the Saints to three end-of-season national rankings.  In 2001 the team finished with a rank of No. 21, in 2002 they were ranked 11^th, and last year in 2006 they were ranked 23^rd.

The Saints currently sit fourth in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in all-times wins, trailing only Westmont College (CA), Berry College (GA), and Houghton College (NY).  The Saints are one of only two schools in the state of Michigan who has 300 career wins.

The Saints winning percentage is currently the tops in Siena Heights athletic program history.  They currently are 300-129-27 overall for a winning percentage of  68.75%.  The next closest is the Men's Basketball Program (66.6%).  The Saints have been to four NAIA National Tournaments, including two in the last five years, 2002 and 2006.

On top of that, the Saints soccer program has produced six NAIA All-Americans, 24 NAIA Honorable Mention All-Americans, 22 NAIA Scholar-Athletes, and eight Siena Heights Hall of Fame Inductees.  Since the WHAC  started in 1992 this is what the Saints have produced: 48 All-WHAC players, six All-WHAC second team player (started in 2004),  eight Honorable Mention All-WHAC player (started in 2004), Four WHAC Player of the Year Awards, and two Coach of the Year Awards.

With today's win and a second place finish, the Saints head into the WHAC Tournament as a #2 seed.