PSU Magazine Winter 2005

f or the past three seasons, the Portland Stale women's soccer Learn has had one goal: To win a Big ky Conference championship and earn a ticket Lo the NCAA College Cup. That goal has yet Lo be achieved, but if the 2004 campaign was any indication, the Vikings are squarely on track to auain il in the near r ULUre. Portland Stale won its first Big Sky regular season Litle in 2004 and, in early November, hosted the conference tournament for the first Lime. The Lop– seeded Viks were the odds-on favorite to claim the league crown on their home pitch, but upset-minded Weber Stale blanked PSU in the semifinals on its way to the eventual championship. onetheless, womens soccer reflects the overall recent success of the women's athletic program al Portland State. Golf The Viking womens golf team has won two straight Big Sky Conference titles and advanced to the CAA West Regional in 2003 and 2004. That strong play continued into the fall season as the Vikings held onto a 22- match streak (nearly two years long) in which they beat all Big SJ.....')' competition in head-to-head scoring (a 51-0 mark). Two-lime, All-Conference performers arah Tiller and Jeana Lee lead a Viking team favored to win the Big Sky title again in 2005. Meanwhile, head coach Felicia Johnston-who has been named Big Sky Coach of the Year the past two seasons-has recruited talented young players Lo allow the Vikings LO maintain their dominance in the coming years. Volleyball The womens volleyball team made its second trip in a row to the Big Sky Conference tournament in the fall, as it experienced its most successful season since joining the Big Sky in 1996: 14 ""rins in 2003 and 14 wins in 2004. A quarterfinal round tournament win over Idaho Late was the Vikings' first-ever Big Sky tournament win. Back to Soccer But coach Tara Ericksons soccer team truly set the tone for Viking athletics with their run through the Big Sky last fall. Portland Stale equaled its best con– ference record, going 4-1-1 in Big Sky play for the second time in three years. Portland State, the only team in the Big Sky to beat a Pac 10 Conference team, did it twice, going 2-1-0 against schools from one of the Lop soccer conferences in all of NCAA Division I. The Vikings shut out Oregon 2-0 and Oregon Late 1-0 and now boast a combined 4-2-0 record against those schools under Erickson. A big pan of that PSU defense was the play of freshman left back Juli Edwards (pictured here). A strong mark– ing defender with a booming left leg, Edwards was named Big Sky New– comer of the Year, the third such award for a PSU player in Erickson's four seasons as head coach. Edwards was one of nine Viking players to earn All-Conference honors, breaking the team record of eight set in 2002. Leading the PSU All-Conference contingent was senior midfielder Karly Larsen, who became the second Viking in school history to earn back-to-back first team awards. Katie Miyake, who spent the bulk of her senior year as sweeper, also became a two-time first team selection. The sophomore striker tandem of Jamie Blakesley and Sophia Mundy also took home first team honors. The dynamic duo ranked second and third, respectively, in Big Sky scoring, and Blakesley won the 2004 Golden Boot Award as the leading scorer in confer– ence play. ln a school record, the Vikings had eight Big Sky Players of the Week in 2004, far and away the most of any team in the conference. Blakesley, Mundy (twice), and sophomore Kari Otani earned weekly offensive awards, while Brooks, Edwards, Larsen , and Miyake took home defensive honors. For the past three seasons among the seven conference teams, the Vikings shared the top winning per– centage in Big Sky games with three– time champions Idaho State at .639. 0 GET All OF THE LATEST sports news at www.GoViks.com . Game stories, statistics, schedules, team information, press releases, and much more are available and updated daily. You can also listen to live broadcasts of football and men's and women's basketball games, or archived broadcasts. Buy season and single game tickets online at www.GoViks.com or call 1-888-VIK-TIKS or S03-725-3307. 20 P U MAGAZINE WI TER 2005