WAC NOTES
DENVER DEFEATS COLORADO COLLEGE IN NCAA FIRST ROUND
Denver got a goal in the first half and two more in the second to upend Colorado College 3-1 in the NCAA Tournament First Round on Nov. 10 at CIBER Field at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium. DU’s victory is the Pioneers second NCAA Tournament win in program history. In a match that saw a large amount of hail begin to fall as referee Ignacio Jaimes blew his opening whistle, senior forward Kaitlin Bast (Centennial, Colo.) became the third Pioneer in school history to join the 100-point club, pacing the Pioneers (16-2-4) with two goals and an assist (five points) on Saturday. Junior forward Kristen Hamilton (Littleton, Colo.) scored her team-leading 14th goal in the match as well.
UTAH STATE FALLS TO IN-STATE RIVAL BYU IN NCAA FIRST ROUND
After making history by advancing to its second-straight NCAA Tournament, the Utah State soccer team had its season come to an end against top-seed and No. 2 ranked BYU, 2-1, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Provo on Nov. 10. Utah State ends the season with a13-3-6 record which is the fewest losses in school history. This is the first time this season that the Aggies have allowed more than one goal in a match this season. BYU improves to 19-1-1 and will host the second and third rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
UTAH STATE CLAIMS 2012 WAC TOURNAMENT TITLE
Top-seeded Utah State repeated as WAC Tournament Champions with a hard-fought 1-0 win over second-seed and 19th-ranked Denver Sunday afternoon to successfully defend its home field at a loud and raucous Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field. USU becomes the first back-to-back WAC champion since SMU won in 2003-04. The Aggies have won both of their WAC titles with 1-0 wins in the final match.
All-Tournament Team
Lynsey Curry, Texas State
Emma Staley, Texas State
Stephanie Verdoia, Seattle U
Melissa Busque, Seattle U
Kalie Vaughn, Denver
Jessy Battelli, Denver
Kaitlin Bast, Denver
Jennifer Flynn, Utah State
Jackie Tillotson, Utah State
Ashlyn Mulford, Utah State
Taryn Rose, Utah State
MVP: Natalie Norris, Utah State
WAC POSTSEASON HONORS ANNOUNCED
The 2012 women’s soccer all-WAC teams were announced Oct. 31 at the league’s annual banquet, as selected by the conference’s nine head coaches. Denver junior forward Kristen Hamilton was named the WAC’s Offensive Player of the Year, while Utah State senior defender Natalie Norris received Defensive Player of the Year honors. Texas State’s Lynsey Curry was named the league’s Freshman of the Year and Denver’s Jeff Hooker was named Coach of the Year.
First Team All-WAC
Kristen Hamilton, F, Jr., Denver
Kaitlin Bast, F, Sr., Denver
Chelsea Small, F, Sr., Idaho
Stephanie Verdoia, F, So., Seattle U
Nicholette DiGiacomo, MF, Jr., DU
Melissa Busque, MF, Sr., Seattle U
Mari Miyashiro, MF, Jr., Utah State
Sam Harder, D, So., Denver
Jessy Battelli, D, Jr., Denver
Natalie Norris, D, Sr., Utah State
Ashlyn Mulford, GK, Sr., Utah State
Offensive Player of the Year: Kristen Hamilton, Jr., F, Denver
Defensive Player of the Year: Natalie Norris, Sr., D, Utah State
Freshman of the Year: Lynsey Curry, Fr., F, Texas State
Coach of the Year: Jeff Hooker, Denver
UTAH STATE AND DENVER CLAIM SHARE OF WAC REGULAR SEASON TITLE
Utah State and Denver each picked up wins on Sunday, claiming a share of the 2012 WAC soccer regular season title with identical 6-0-2 records. Utah State wins its third-straight WAC regular season title, while Denver earns its first title in its first year in the WAC.
DENVER AND UTAH STATE RANKED REGIONALLY
Both Utah State and Denver are ranked regionally in the final NSCAA Western Regional Poll. Utah State finishes at No. 7, followed by Denver at No. 8.
SMALL, NORRIS AND TUPPONCE NAMED TO CAPITAL ONE ALL-DISTRICT SOCCER TEAM
Idaho’s Chelsea Small, Utah State’s Natalie Norris and New Mexico State’s Katelynn Tupponce have each been named to the 2012 Capital One Academic All-District women’s soccer team. Small, who finished her Idaho career last week as the soccer program’s career and single-season leader in goals, points, game-winners and shots, was voted First-Team All-District 7. Small is a Math major with a 3.94 grade-point average who will graduate in May. She intends to pursue a graduate degree in accounting after school. In her four years at Idaho, Small set program career records with 39 goals, 91 points, 16 game-winning goals and 404 shots. She finished her career ranked second all-time in the Western Athletic Conference in career shots and seventh in career goals. Small also holds Idaho’s single-season records for goals (13), shots (121), points (30) and game-winners (8), all of which she set in the 2010 season when she led the Vandal women to a school-record 14 wins and a third-place WAC finish. Norris continues to win awards this week as she was named Western Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year for the third-straight season on Wednesday. She also earned first-team all-WAC honors. The Sandy, Utah native was the first Utah State soccer player to earn CoSIDA honors when she was honored last year. The senior has a 3.95 with a double major in nutrition, dietetics & food science and exercise science. She has earned academic all-WAC honors the last three seasons. Tupponce earned second team All-District Seven soccer honors, the organization announced. This is the second consecutive all-district award for the Aggies. Tupponce has a 3.90 GPA, and she is pursuing a degree in education. She played in 12 games and started in one contest in the 2012 season. Tupponce has two career goals as an Aggie, and she was named to the Academic All-WAC Freshman/Transfer list in 2011. Small and Norris’s selection to the First Team means that they each advances to the national ballot for Academic All-America honors later this year.
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Denver Pioneers (16-2-4, 6-0-2 WAC)
Denver got a goal in the first half and two more in the second to upend Colorado College 3-1 in the NCAA Tournament First Round on Nov. 10 at CIBER Field at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium. DU’s victory is the Pioneers second NCAA Tournament win in program history. In a match that saw a large amount of hail begin to fall as referee Ignacio Jaimes blew his opening whistle, senior forward Kaitlin Bast (Centennial, Colo.) became the third Pioneer in school history to join the 100-point club, pacing the Pioneers (16-2-4) with two goals and an assist (five points) on Saturday. Junior forward Kristen Hamilton (Littleton, Colo.) scored her team-leading 14th goal in the match as well ... Denver now moves on to second round action where the team will play fourth-ranked Maryland in Stanford, Calif. on Friday.
Idaho Vandals (6-14-1, 3-4-1 WAC)
It was the season in a nutshell for Idaho women’s soccer on Thursday in a 2-1 overtime loss to Texas State in the quarterfinal round of the WAC Tournament ... sixth-seeded Idaho (6-14-1) dominated the first half of play and scored in the fourth minute to take a 1-0, but gave up a Texas State score with less than one minute remaining in the period for a 1-1 halftime tie .. Texas State scored in a golden goal overtime period ... the Vandals had a 5-3 advantage on corners and the team made six saves to Texas State’s four ... it was Idaho’s sixth loss of the season by a single-goal margin and its second in overtime.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (12-5-4, 3-3-2 WAC)
An unfortunate goal by Louisiana Tech in the second minute of play proved costly as the No. 4 seeded Lady Techsters fell 2-1 to No. 5 seeded Seattle in the first round of the WAC Tournament ... the loss put an end to an impressive season by LA Tech (12-5-4) who was picked to finish last in the conference preseason polls ... despite the four-game losing streak to end the season, the young Lady Techster squad produced a lot of firsts in the 2012 campaign ... the defense set new records for fewest goals allowed (15) and most shutouts (12). Also for the first time in program history, the team swept a conference road weekend ... LA Tech posted two members, Emily Brennan and Mo Rockwell, on the second team All-WAC team and also had seven different players named WAC Player of the Week throughout the season.
New Mexico State Aggies (2-14-3, 0-7-1 WAC)
The Aggies started the final road trip of the season on a strong note with an early goal but fell to Seattle, 2-1, Oct. 26 ... sophomore forward Layla Todd scored her third goal of the season in the seventh minute for the Aggies, but the Redhawks tied the game before halftime and won the game on a penalty kick in the final minutes of regulation ... the Aggie offense attacked early when freshman midfielder/forward Miranda Valdez found Todd to give NM State a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute of action. Todd now has a team-high three goals, and the assist was a career first for Valdez ... NM State concluded its 2012 season at Idaho with a 3-1 loss in the season finale, Oct. 28 ... Todd scored a goal for the Aggies in back-to-back matches on the road trip, and she led the team with four goals in 2012.
San Jose State Spartans (6-11-1, 3-5-0 WAC)
San Jose State defeated Louisiana Tech 2-1 in the team’s lone match of the week last week ... the win was not enough to advance the Spartans to the 2012 WAC Tournament ... San Jose State had the best start to its season since 1999, going 2-1-1 in its first four games ... their eight goals scored was the team’s greatest offensive output in that span since 2000 ... with her 18 shots this season, senior Kelsey Lord now ranks third all-time in shots taken in the program’s history ... freshman Mikaella Meibock had a breakout start to her season, scoring four goals and taking 24 shots in just 11 games ... junior Megan Molina has been a reliable midfielder for the Spartans, playing in every game ... the Spartans will have at least seven players with 10 or more shots taken this season, the most since 2008.
Seattle U Redhawks (9-9-2, 3-3-2 WAC)
Seattle U clinched a spot in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament in their first year in the conference, topped Louisiana Tech, 2-1, in the first round before falling to eventual tournament winner, Utah State, in the semifinals, 2-1 ... Stephanie Verdoia and Melissa Busque were named to the WAC All-Tournament Team ... the Redhawks said goodbye to seven student-athletes who played their final contests in Seattle U uniform in 2012 and celebrate a year in which they recorded their first three NCAA Division I hat tricks, as well as their first three WAC Offensive Player of the Week nods ... Verdoia and Busque were also named First-Team All-WAC and Julia Besagno was named to the Second Team ... Verdoia and Renee Vandermause were named to the Capital One Academic All-District Second Team, NCAA Division I District VIII.
UTSA Roadrunners (3-12-2, 2-4-2 WAC)
UTSA dropped a 1-0 decision in double overtime to rival Texas State to end regular season play... with the loss, the Roadrunners did not advance to the 2012 WAC Soccer Tournament ... UTSA opened WAC play this season with a pair of ties against Seattle (Sept. 28) and Idaho (Sept. 30) ... the Roadrunners played in four overtime matches, which is the most in program history ... in UTSA’s Aug. 19 match against Dayton, the Roadrunners started six freshmen, which was the most since a Sept. 18, 2008, contest at Utah State ... UTSA has started at least three freshmen in every contest this season.
Texas State Bobcats (8-12-1, 4-4-0 WAC)
Two quick goals proved to be the downfall for the Texas State soccer team against Denver in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament ... the Bobcats end the year with a record of 8-12-1 ... Denver scored both their goals early in each half ... Serena Hines had the best opportunity of the day for the Bobcats, collecting a loose ball eight yards in front of the goal, but the ensuing shot sailed just high ... this season marked the fifth straight season the Bobcats have reached the semifinals of their conference tournament ... Texas State will say goodbye to six seniors, Serena Hines, Emma Staley, Taylor Kelley, Taylor Person, Andrea Mauk and Alissa Scott ... the seniors have won two championships in their career and advanced to the NCAA Tournament last year.
Utah State Aggies (13-3-6, 6-0-2 WAC)
After making history by advancing to its second-straight NCAA Tournament, the Utah State soccer team had its season come to an end against top-seed and No. 2 ranked BYU, 2-1, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Provo on Nov. 10. Utah State ends the season with a13-3-6 record which is the fewest losses in school history. This is the first time this season that the Aggies have allowed more than one goal in a match this season. BYU improves to 19-1-1 and will host the second and third rounds of the NCAA Tournament ... the Aggies wrap up the 2012 season with a WAC Tournament title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.