State of the Vikings 2010

The 2009–10 school year was a banner year for Portland State athletics. Actually, it was a five-banner year. Over the course of three sports seasons, five PSU teams brought home championship banners to the Park Blocks and set a new school record for titles in a single academic year.

The Portland State Vikings look to continue their streak this year as the five championship squads begin defending their titles, while the remaining teams try to raise themselves up to that elite level.

Though the players and coaches on the field ultimately win titles, it appears there may be a correlation between PSU’s success and the staff of the athletics department. Athletics Director Torre Chisholm, beginning his fourth year this fall at PSU, seems to be the program’s lucky charm. Since his arrival, the Vikings have won 10 regular season or tournament titles and made seven appearances in NCAA tournaments.

In a statement released by the school, Chisholm attributed the recent success to Portland State’s coaches, student-athletes and a “program-wide, infectious winning attitude.”

“As a program, I think we have stopped worrying about our challenges and begun to embrace our advantages,” Chisholm said. “In essence, we’ve become more comfortable with who we are and developed self-confidence.”

Below are some highlights from the past year, as well as some key points for the seasons ahead.

Fall

One team that was far from drinking from last year’s championship cup was the Vikings football team. It finished the season with the worst record in 27 years during its third and final year under former coach Jerry Glanville’s leadership. Three days after his team lost the final game of the year to Idaho State—giving the Bengals their only win of the season—Glanville’s resignation was announced.

Out went Glanville, and in came Nigel Burton, a 34-year-old first-year head coach with longstanding ties to the Pacific Northwest and Portland State. Burton served as an assistant coach here in 2001–02 before coaching the secondary at Oregon State from 2003–07. Most recently, he worked the past two seasons as the defensive coordinator for Nevada, where he learned the “Pistol” offense he has since brought to Portland State.

While the football team enters the Burton era, two reigning Big Sky Conference champions begin defense of their titles. The women’s soccer and volleyball teams both won last year’s regular season titles in record-breaking seasons, but each fell during the conference tournament and never made it to their respective NCAA tournaments.

Now in her third season and on a quest for her first NCAA appearance at PSU, soccer head coach Laura Schott lost two star players from last year’s roster to graduation. With the departure of Dolly Enneking and Cris Lewis—last season’s Offensive and Defensive MVP, respectively—Schott will likely rely on senior forward/midfielder Frankie Ross as her go-to goal scorer. A three-time All-Big Sky selection and the conference’s 2008 Golden Boot award winner, Ross is tied at 10th place on PSU’s career scoring list.

Returning to the Vikings’ front line with Ross are sophomores Amanda Dutra, Michelle Hlasnik and Megan Martin, who combined for nine assists and three game-winning goals last year. On the defensive side of the ball, the Vikings will return juniors Toni Carnovale and Tish Wise and senior Emily Rohde as defenders, and senior Rachel Jarvis is likely to be this season’s starting goalkeeper. A fifth-year senior after redshirting last season, Jarvis is tied for fifth place in career shutouts at PSU.

For the women’s volleyball team to defend their conference title, fourth-year head coach Michael Seemann (a PSU alum) will rely heavily on his newcomers to replace last year’s graduates.

“We definitely lost some key pieces,” said Seemann in a preseason statement. “Three of them—Nique [Fradella], Erica [Jepsen] and Marija [Vojnovic]—started since they were freshmen and rarely left the floor. We counted on them for a lot.”

Although Fradella’s graduation means Seemann lost the support of last year’s conference MVP, eight letter-winners will return to the court as the Vikings seek their sixth-consecutive 20-win season. Among them is senior outside hitter Whitney Phillips, who earned the Big Sky Newcomer of the Year award after leading the league in kills and points. Portland State has also retained leadership at the middle-blocker position with the return of seniors Christie Hamilton and Lana Zielke.

“Lana and Christie are very experienced and both readied themselves in the offseason,” Seemann said. “They did a great job this winter getting physically stronger and we are going to need them to play big at the net.”

The fall sports season will also see a change of venue for two PSU teams. Vikings football and women’s soccer will play all home games of the 2010 season at Hillsboro Stadium, located 15 miles west of the PSU campus off Highway 26. The move to Hillsboro is the result of a scheduled renovation to PGE Park in preparation for the Portland Timbers’ move to Major League Soccer.

When the men’s and women’s tennis teams take to the court for the fall season, a familiar face with a new title will be at the helm. Jay Sterling was hired in July as the head coach of both tennis programs after serving as interim head coach since February, when former coach Brian Parrott resigned mid-season “to pursue outside business ventures.”

During the fall, and later in the spring season, Sterling will look to continue to raise the Vikings’ tennis programs. Last year, the men finished with a 4-4 record in conference to place fifth in the standings—one spot away from postseason play. The women finished at the bottom of the table with a 0-8 record in Big Sky play. The teams did see success with five players (four females and one male) making the Big Sky’s All-Academic team.

All six women are set to return this year, and the addition of newcomer Marti Pellicano will round out the roster. For the men’s team, senior Chris Rice—who became PSU’s first male tennis player to be named a First Team All-Big Sky selection last spring—returns, along with classmate Alex VanDerschelden.

Winter

Possibly the most dramatic success that Vikings sports saw last year was the historic 2009–10 women’s basketball season. Coach Sherri Murrell, then in her third season here, led her Vikings to the program’s fifth-straight appearance in the Big Sky Tournament. As the No. 5 seed in the six-team bracket, PSU needed three consecutive wins to take the tournament title, and that is just what they did.

Behind the spectacular performance of senior guard Claire Faucher, who scored 26 points and set school postseason records for 3-pointers made (8) and attempted (16), PSU defeated Montana State, 62-58, to become the lowest-seeded team to ever win the conference tournament and the first-ever PSU squad to earn a trip to the NCAA Division-I Women’s Basketball Tournament. Though No. 15 PSU lost to No. 2 Texas A&M in the first round of play, the Vikings gained support from fans across the city and national attention from media outlets such as ESPN.

“It was amazing to see the pride that came out of the city, that came out of our fans, that came out of our own school,” Murrell said in a postseason report. “It made this team and this staff feel very special.”

Though Faucher and fellow classmate Erin Yankus both exhausted eligibility, 10 letter winners and six players who made at least 10 starts will return this season. Murrell will also have the addition of transfers Shauneice Samms and Courtney VanBrocklin.

In the shadows of the women’s basketball success, the men’s basketball team struggled to deal with player turnover, injuries and a change of leadership, but still made it to the conference tournament for the sixth consecutive year before falling in the semifinals. The loss to regular season champion Weber State ended a two-year stretch of Big Sky titles and NCAA Tournament berths.

Second-year head coach Tyler Geving will have three starters and eight letter-winners returning this season, including seniors Phil Nelson, Melvin Jones and Paul Guede. Transfers Chehales Tapscott, Terry Coleman and Charles Odum will also add strength and depth to the team. Despite the talent on the Vikings’ roster, the team will be ineligible for NCAA postseason play due to a one-year restriction for low academic ratings during the 2005-09 timeframe. Geving largely inherited the restriction, and since he has taken over as head coach the team has recorded a perfect Academic Progress Rating of 1,000 for the 2009-10 academic year.

Spring

The women’s golf team will defend their championship title this year under the fourth season of coach Kathleen Takaishi’s leadership, and both she and the Viks are aiming for the program’s sixth title in nine years. Takaishi, last year’s Coach of the Year, will have help as sophomore Britney Yada, junior Tiffany Schoning and seniors Kalyn Dodge and Alexia Brown all return, as well as three new freshmen.

Vikings softball will also be defending a title of its own in the coming year. Last season, the first since the Pacific Coast Softball Conference expanded to two six-team divisions, Portland State—the then-defending PCSC champion—easily clinched the Mountain Division title with an 18-2 record in league play. The Viks went on to play in the inaugural PCSC Championship Series, but lost to Coastal Division winner Saint Mary’s, two games to one.

This year, head coach Tobin Echo-Hawk begins her third season with the Vikings seeking a second NCAA appearance. PSU lost last year’s PCSC Mountain Division co-Player of the Year when senior catcher Brandi Scoggins walked away with her diploma and PSU’s career doubles record, but the division’s Pitcher of the Year, sophomore Anna Bertrand, will return. Helping Bertrand will be First Team All-PCSC selection Nichole Latham. Last season, the then-junior pitcher led the team in conference play with an astounding 0.60 ERA and an 8-0 record with three saves.

The Portland State cross country and track and field teams will also be looking to add upon the success of last season. PSU had six medalists at the Big Sky Outdoor Track & Field Championship, sent four athletes to the NCAA Regionals and—for the first time since moving to the Div-I level—PSU had a male athlete earn All American honors.

Ronnye Harrison, head coach for both track and cross country, lost a star student-athlete when All-American decathlete Nick Trubachik graduated, but he retains several medalists for the season ahead. Senior sprinter Karene King took home four medals at the conference championships in the 55-meter, 100m, 4x100m relay and the 200m, and sophomore sprinter Geronne Black took home three medals of her own in the 55m, 100m and 4x100m relay.

Aside from sports teams, the athletics department has instated a new community engagement program called the “Our Town, Your Team” pledge. According to a press release, as part of the program, coaches, staff and student-athletes vow to assist the Portland community by raising money for local charities and hosting coaching clinics, among other events. As a visual symbol of the pledge, a rose will appear on department publications, facilities and on team uniforms.

“The pledge represents our commitment to the Portland community and our role in making it a great place to live,” Chisholm said.

 

PSU Sports in 2009-10

Women’s soccer

10-6-4 (4-1-2 Big Sky, 1st)

Big Sky regular season title

Big Sky Tournament semifinalist

Coach of the Year—Laura Schott

Women’s volleyball

21-8 (14-2 Big Sky, 1st)

Big Sky regular season title

Big Sky Tournament finalist

Newcomer of the Year—Whitney Phillips

Football

2-9 (1-7 Big Sky, Tie-8th)

Women’s basketball

18-15 (9-7 Big Sky, 5th)

Big Sky Tournament champion

First-ever NCAA Tournament appearance

Men’s basketball

13-9 (7-9 Big Sky, 6th )

Big Sky Tournament semifinalist

Softball

30-27 (18-2 PCSC, 1st)

Pacific Coast Softball Conference division title

Coach of the Year—Tobin Echo-Hawk

Pitcher of the Year—Anna Bertrand

Co-Freshman of the Year—Anna Bertrand

Co-Player of the Year—Brandi Scoggins

Tennis

Men’s: 7-10 (4-4 Big Sky, 5th)

Women’s: 2-16 (0-8 Big Sky, 8th)

Track and field

Six Big Sky Outdoor Championship medals

All-American Nick Trubachik (decathlon) finished 7th at NCAA Track & Field Championships

Cross country

Men’s: 6th

Women’s: 5th

Men’s and women’s teams both finish 8th at Big Sky Championship

NCAA Regional qualifiers

Women’s golf

23-4 against Big Sky opponents

Coach of the Year—Kathleen Takaishi

Big Sky Tournament champion

NCAA Regional qualifiers