Sonoma State Seawolves football
| Sonoma State Seawolves | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| University | Sonoma State University |
| Conference |
California Collegiate Athletic Association Western Water Polo Association (water polo only) Pacific West Conference (tennis only) |
| NCAA | Division II |
| Athletic director | Bill Fusco |
| Location | Rohnert Park, California |
| Varsity teams | 14 |
| Basketball arena | The Wolves' Den |
| Baseball stadium | Seawolf Diamond |
| Soccer stadium | Seawolf Soccer Field |
| Mascot | Lobo the Seawolf |
| Nickname | Seawolves |
| Colors | Navy Blue, White, and Columbia Blue |
| Website | www |
The Sonoma State Seawolves are the athletic teams that represent Sonoma State University, located in Rohnert Park, California, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Seawolves compete as members of the California Collegiate Athletic Association for all 13 varsity sports except for women's water polo, which competes in the Western Water Polo Association and men's and women's tennis, which compete in the Pacific West Conference.
Three NCAA national championships won by women's soccer in 1990, men's soccer in 2002, and men's golf in 2009 also highlight SSU's athletic achievements. In 2008, the athletics department created the Seawolf Sports Network, allowing home basketball games to be broadcast via streaming video over the internet in an effort to further increase interest in its sports programs.
From the school's opening in 1962 until 2002, the school's teams were known as the Cossacks, a nod to the Russian settlers at Fort Ross. The Cossacks name was deemed offensive because of the group's "fanatical intolerance of non-Christians. Cossack-led pogroms through the ages left hundreds of thousands of Jews and others dead." In November of 2000, Sonoma State's academic senate voted 24-3 in favor of renaming the mascot, this time without any reference to a human group. The student senate subsequently passed a nearly identical resolution.
Then-school president Ruben Armiñana formed a "naming committee" composed of students, athletic department members, faculty and others. After many months of surveying thousands of students, staff, faculty and alumni, the group presented Arminana with two possible alternatives—Condors (for California's state bird, which does not live in Sonoma County) and Seawolves, a nod to Sonoma's own Jack London, author of The Sea-Wolf. Armiñana chose the latter.
Men's sports
Women's sports
Sonoma State's baseball team is particularly noteworthy with repeated conference championships, 28 players drafted to major league teams since the year 2000, and 68 players drafted since records began in 1975.
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Wikipedia