After two successive Big Sky Championships, Portland State was one of the favorites to win the conference title this year. However, despite some impressive individual performances, the Vikings finished fifth in the Big Sky tournament last month.
After two successive Big Sky Championships, Portland State was one of the favorites to win the conference title this year. However, despite some impressive individual performances, the Vikings finished fifth in the Big Sky tournament last month.
Repeating last season’s success was always going to be tough for the Vikings since 2010–11 was one of the best seasons in the program’s history. The Vikings won a second straight conference title and played in the NCAA West Regional competition.
In fact, the team has won six Big Sky Championships since 2003. And this season in the coaches’ preseason poll in January, Portland State was picked to finish third behind Sacramento State and Northern Arizona.
This year, Portland State head coach Kathleen Takaishi aimed to win the conference title once again, having won it thrice during her first four years in charge of the Vikings. Takaishi was also named the 2011 Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year.
In the early season, Portland State’s best result was a joint second place finish among 22 teams at the Circling Raven Collegiate Invitational hosted by Gonzaga at the Circling Raven Golf Course in September 2011. After that, the Vikings didn’t finish in the top half of their tournaments until April 2012.
At the Ocotillo Golf Resort in Chandler, Ariz., last month, the Vikings finished third among 24 teams, edging out all their Big Sky rivals including Sacramento State, Montana, Weber State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado and Eastern Washington. Viking senior Tiffany Schoning and junior Britney Yada placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in individual scores.
These results were a great sign for Portland State since the Big Sky Conference championship was going to be played at the same venue in a few weeks. However, the team could not repeat their performance and ended the conference championship with a fifth placed finish.
Schoning finished the tournament tied for second place, one shot behind the winner, while Yada finished fifth, trailing the leader of the tournament by just four shots. Portland State scored 312-295-300, 917 overall, 27 strokes behind newly crowned champions Northern Colorado.
“Tiffany has been close to playing really well,” Takaishi said in a statement. “She started striking the ball better this week before we came down here. So I think it was just a combination of ball-striking and making a few putts. It is a good way to finish her career.”
Schoning was the only senior on the Portland State golf roster. “It was definitely good to end on a good note,” Schoning said in a statement. “There was not a lot I could have done differently.” Yada too played without pressure in the championship.
“I had nothing to lose, so I started attacking,” Yada said in a statement. “Once I made three straight birdies on the front, I just wanted to keep on going with it. I had a lot of opportunities on the back, they just weren’t falling. But I didn’t get frustrated, and there were no bogeys.”
Both Yada and Schoning were named in the 2011–12 All-Big Sky Conference golf team. This was their second and third nomination, respectively. Last season, the team also had three first team All-Big Sky Conference selections.
With most of the players returning, the Vikings will look forward to getting back to their winning ways next season.
