NCAA TOURNAMENT
November 12 (Saturday)
Utah State at #3 Auburn, 8:00 p.m. ET
WAC TOURNAMENT
November 3 (Thursday)
Game 1: #5 Idaho def. #4 San Jose State, 2-1
Game 2: #6 New Mexico St. def. #3 Hawai'i, 2-1
November 4 (Friday)
Game 3: #1 Utah State def. #5 Idaho, 1-0
Game 4: #2 Fresno State def. #6 New Mexico State, 3-0
November 6 (Sunday)
Championship: #1 Utah State def. #2 Fresno State, 1-0
WAC TOURNAMENT RECAP
Utah State defeated Fresno State 1-0 to win the 2011 WAC Soccer Tournament and claim the automatic berth to the NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament. Senior Shantel Flanary found freshman Jade Tarver for the tournament-winning goal in the 83rd minute on Sunday.
Senior goalkeeper Molli Merrill was named MVP of the tournament, after giving up no goals on nine shots in two games. The Aggies defeated Idaho 1-0 in the semifinals on Friday.
Fresno State advanced to the finals with a 3-0 victory over New Mexico State on Friday.
Both Idaho and New Mexico State advanced to the semifinals following upsets on the first day of the tournament. Both schools claimed come-from-behind 2-1 wins, the Vandals over No. 4 seed San Jose State, and the Aggies over No. 3 seed Hawai'i.
AUBURN BOUND
Utah State will face the Auburn Tigers in the first round of the NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament on Saturday, November 12 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Utah State (15-4-2), fresh off of its first WAC Championship, faces a program that also claimed its initial conference tournament, as the Tigers (14-6-2) won the SEC title despite entering the tournament seeded seventh.
Auburn, ranked 24th in the NSCAA Poll, earned a No. 3 seed in the region that also features No. 1 overall-seed Stanford and No. 2 seed Oklahoma State.
The winner of the match will either play La Salle or Maryland on Nov. 18.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
11 players were honored following the tournament for their efforts in the WAC Soccer Tournament:
Amber Pimley Idaho, Jr., MF
Christine Leathem, Idaho, Jr., D
Daisy Hernandez, New Mexico State, So., MF
Yolanda McMillion, New Mexico State, Jr., F
Molly Nizzoli, Fresno State, Sr., MF
Kendall Van Dine, Fresno State, Sr., D
Laura Dodd, Fresno State, Sr., MF
Kendra Pemberton, Utah State, So., MF
Natalie Norris, Utah State, Sr., D
Jade Tarver, Utah State, Fr., F
Tournament MVP: Molli Merrill, Utah State, Sr., GK
RECORD BREAKERS
In the championship match, Utah State saw two of its senior leaders reach impressive season and career marks.
With her assist on the tournament-winning goal, senior forward Shantel Flanary moved into first-place in Utah State history with 85-career points and 17-career assist.
Senior goalkeeper Molli Merrill set the single-season Utah State record with her 11th shutout of the season, her sixth straight shutout.
With 15 wins, the Aggies also now have the most wins in a season in school history.
The other Aggies in the tournament, New Mexico State, also set a school-record for wins in a season, grabbing win number 10 over Hawai'i on Thursday.
UTAH STATE, FRESNO STATE REGIONALLY-RANKED
Utah State and Fresno State remained in the NSCAA/Adidas West Regional rankings, at No. 8 and No. 10, respectively.
NCAA Rankings Regional Women West Division I 12th Poll
November 8, 2011
1 Pepperdine 14-1-4
2 Santa Clara 13-1-5
3 UC Irvine 13-3-2
4 San Diego 11-7-0
5 Long Beach State 13-5-1
6 Portland 9-9-1
7 BYU 14-3-2
8 Utah State 15-4-2
9 Cal State Fullerton 9-8-3
10 Fresno State 11-5-5
ALL-WAC TEAMS
The 2011 women's soccer all-WAC teams were announced Wednesday night at the league's annual banquet, as selected by the conference's eight head coaches. WAC regular-season champion Utah State led all teams with five players on the conference first team, as well as two players on the second team. The Aggies also won all four of the end-of-season awards.
First Team all-WAC
Callie Hancock, F, Jr., Fresno State
Chelsea Small, F, Jr., Idaho
Shantel Flanary, F, Sr., Utah State
Molly Nizzoli, MF, Sr., Fresno State
Jill Flockhart, MF, Jr., Idaho
Kendra Pemberton, MF, So., Utah State
Lauren Lindstrom, D, So., Fresno State
Kendall VanDine, D, Sr., Fresno State
Summer Tillotson, D, Sr., Utah State
Natalie Norris, D, So., Utah State
Molli Merrill, GK, Sr., Utah State
Second Team all-WAC
Skye Shimabukuro, F, Hawai'i
Yolanda McMillion, F, Jr., New Mexico State
Kelsey Lord, F, Jr., San Jose State
Vanessa Gonzalez, MF, Jr., Fresno State
Laura Dodd, MF, Sr., Fresno State
Lauren Sanchez, MF, Sr., San Jose State
Chandra Salmon-Christensen, D, Sr., Utah State
Brittani Lum, D, Sr., Hawai'i
Jessica Ingram, D, Sr., San Jose State
Taryn Rose, D, Fr., Utah State
Meghan Maiwald, GK, Sr., San Jose State
Offensive Player of the Year: Shantel Flanary, F, Sr., Utah State
Defensive Player of the Year: Natalie Norris, Jr., D, Utah State
Freshman of the Year: Taryn Rose, D, Fr., Utah State
Coach of the Year: Heather Cairns, Utah State
Fresno State Bulldogs (11-5-5, 4-1-2 WAC)
Fresno State fell in the WAC Tournament Championship on Sunday, losing 1-0 to Utah State ... the Bulldogs advanced to the finals after a 3-0 victory over New Mexico State on Friday ... Morgan Castain scored just 50 seconds into the match as the Bulldogs got out to a quick start and didn't look back ... Laura Dodd scored in the 8th minute for the Bulldogs and Callie Hancock, the WAC's leading scorer in the regular season, added a goal in the 22nd minute ... the loss to Utah State was the first time the Bulldogs lost in Fresno this season ... the Bulldogs placed three players on the All-WAC First Team, and two on the All-WAC Second Team ... seniors Molly Nizzoli, Kendall Van Dine and Laura Dodd were named to the WAC All-Tournament team.
Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (5-12-1, 4-2-1 WAC)
Hawai'i was eliminated from the WAC Tournament after falling to New Mexico State, 2-1, on Thursday ... the Rainbow Wahine got off to a 1-0 lead following a goal Krystal Pascua ... the Rainbow Wahine placed two players, Skye Simabukuro and Brittani Lum, on the All-WAC Second Team ... Hawai'i reached the WAC Tournament for the first time since 2008.
Idaho Vandals (8-11-3, 3-3-1 WAC)
Idaho upset No. 4 seed San Jose State 2-1 on Thursday, before falling 1-0 to eventual-champion Utah State on Friday ... the Vandals and Aggies played evenly for the first 70 minutes of the match, before Utah State struck the only goal of the match on a counter-attack ... junior midfielder Amber Pimley scored twice for Idaho vs. San Jose State, her first two goals of the season, to rally the Vandals back from a 1-0 deficit in the first half ... Pimley and junior defender Christine Leathem were named the WAC All-Tournament team ... Idaho qualified for its second-consecutive WAC Tournament this season and second conference tournament in school history ... with a 3-3-1 WAC record in the regular season this year and last year's 5-3-0 tally, Idaho posted .500 or better conference records in consecutive seasons for the first time in 14-year program history.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (8-8-4, 1-6-0 WAC)
Louisiana Tech ended the season with a 1-0 loss to Hawai'i in overtime on October 30 ... the Lady Techsters ended the season on a six games losing streak ... senior defender Olivia Lukasewich played in her 81st career game, the most in school history... senior defender Scotti Culton bacame the second Lady Techster to play in 80 career games ... Culton and Lukasewich are the first Lady Techster players to play in over 1800 minutes in a season... Culton is the only Tech player to play in over 6,000 minutes in her career with 6,108... the 2011 senior class finished with the most career wins in school history, with 45... sophomore goalkeeper Caitlin Updyke finished season with 74 saves, fourth most in a single season in school history... Updyke's 138 saves are the second most in program history and needs only three more to become the all-time leader... Updyke's 0.89 GAA is the second lowest in Tech history.
Nevada Wolf Pack (3-16-0, 1-6-0 WAC)
Nevada did not qualify for the WAC Tournament ... the Wolfpack finished one spot out of the WAC Tournament ... senior defender Annabelle Allen set the career mark for starts at Nevada with 79 ... senior midfielder Ellie Stott scored to give Nevada the lead vs. Fresno State in the October 30 match.
New Mexico State Aggies (10-8-3, 2-3-2 WAC)
New Mexico State defeated Hawai'i 2-1 on Thursday, before falling 3-0 in the WAC Tournament Semifinals to Fresno State ... the 10 wins this season are the most in school history ... this was NM State's first appearance in the WAC Tournament under first-year head coach Blair Quinn, and the victory over Hawai'i was the school's first WAC Tournament victory ... the Aggies lose just one senior, Cassandra Branch, following this season ... junior forward Yolanda McMillion was named to the All-WAC Second Team ... McMillion and sophmore Daisy Hernandez were named to the WAC All-Tournament team ... Jennae Cambra and Bree Luhrsen scored for the Aggies in the victory over Hawai'i.
San Jose State Spartans (6-12-1, 4-2-1 WAC)
San Jose State fell 2-1 to Idaho in the first round of the WAC Tournament ... the Spartans took a 1-0 lead on a goal by freshman midfielder Catherine Ruder, but saw the Vandals equalize just 20 seconds later ... the Spartans placed four players on the All-WAC Second Team; seniors Meghan Maiwald, Lauren Sanchez and Jessica Ingram, and junior Kelsey Lord ... SJSU will lose 10 seniors going into next season.
Utah State Aggies (15-4-1, 5-1-1 WAC)
Utah State defeated both Idaho, on Friday, and Fresno State, on Sunday, 1-0 to win the 2011 WAC Soccer Tournament and claim the automatic berth to the NCAA College Cup ... with her assist on the tournament-winning goal, senior forward Shantel Flanary moved into first-place in Utah State history with 85-career points and 17-career assist ... senior goalkeeper Molli Merrill set the single-season Utah State record with her 11th shutout of the season, her sixth straight shutout ... Merrill was named tournament MVP ... five Utah State players were named to the All-WAC First Team, and two were named All-WAC Second Team ... the Aggies also won all four of the WAC end-of-season awards ... this is Utah State's first WAC Tournament title ... this week, the Aggies travel to Auburn for the first round of the NCAA College Cup ...the match will be played at 8:00 p.m. ET in Auburn, Ala. ... the winner will play either Maryland or La Salle in the next round.