Saint Mary's College Gaels
| Saint Mary's Gaels | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| University | Saint Mary's College of California |
| Conference | West Coast Conference |
| NCAA | Division I |
| Athletic director | Mark Orr |
| Location | Moraga, California |
| Varsity teams | 14 |
| Football stadium | Saint Mary's Stadium |
| Basketball arena | McKeon Pavilion |
| Baseball stadium | Louis Guisto Field |
| Mascot | Gael Force One |
| Nickname | Gaels |
| Fight song | "On To Victory" |
| Colors | Navy, Red, and Silver |
| Website | www |
The Saint Mary's Gaels are the athletic teams that compete at Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, California. The nickname applies to the college's intercollegiate NCAA Division I teams and to the school's club sports teams. Most varsity teams compete in the West Coast Conference.
From the Gaels website:
"The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group which spread from Ireland to Scotland and the Isle of Man. Their language is of the Gaelic (Goidelic) family, a division of Insular Celtic languages. The word in English was adopted in 1810 from Scottish Gaelic Gaidheal (compare Irish Gaedhealg and Old Irish Goídeleg) to designate a Highlander (OED). Gael or Goídeleg was first used as a collective term to describe people from Ireland; it is thought to have come from Welsh Gwyddel (Old Welsh Goídel), originally "raider", now "Irish person". Many people who do not speak Gaelic consider themselves to be 'Gaels' in a broader sense because of their ancestry and heritage."
The nickname was given to the school's football team (now discontinued) in 1926 by Pat Frayne, a writer for the now defunct San Francisco Call-Bulletin. The school's previous nickname was the Saints, although the baseball team was known as the Phoenix until the 1940s.
Saint Mary's College of California sponsors teams in eight men's and eleven women's NCAA sanctioned sports:
Men's Intercollegiate Sports
Women's Intercollegiate Sports
The men's basketball team has become recognized nationally as one of the top mid-major programs in the country, appearing in five NCAA tournaments since 2005 and making appearances in both the Associated Press and ESPN Top 25 polls. The team received at-large bids to the NCAA tournament in 2005 and 2008 but lost in the first round. In 2008-2009, the team got off to a strong start and at one time had the longest active winning streak in the nation before an injury to star guard Patty Mills, who was their leading scorer at the time. Mills came back in time for the West Coast Conference Tournament, but after a loss to Gonzaga in the WCC tournament finals, the team was not selected for the NCAA tournament.
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