That’s a Wrap

Spring/Summer 2005

Cross Country

Some good news this year for the Cal State San Bernardino women’s cross-country team was that Tanya Zeferjahn finished 28th at the NCAA Division II national championship. The top 30 at the national meet are awarded All-American status.

But perhaps the best news was that the cross-country team earned an NCAA Division II team academic honor for the sixth year in a row and top runner Zeferjahn was named a scholastic All-American by the U.S. Cross Country Coaches Association. The Coyotes posted a team grade point average of 3.08 in the fall quarter of 2004 to earn the All-America team award from the organization. A Hesperia High School graduate, Zeferjahn posted a 3.85 grade point average, which earned her individual scholastic All-America honors for the third straight year.

The Coyote women have been multiple recipients of the Cody Coyote Award, presented by Coyote Athletics each quarter to the team with the highest overall grade point average. They last won it in spring 2004 with a 3.35 GPA. Besides Zeferjahn, the Coyote team consists of Andrea Brandt, Holly DeGerolamo, Megan Holt, Kimberly Miller, Becky Southworth, Katherine Keenan and Andrea Martinez.

Women’s Soccer

Cal State San Bernardino's women's soccer team, anchored by seven seniors, fell short in an attempt to earn a second consecutive post-season appearance, suffering a 3-2 overtime loss in its final match of the season.

The Coyotes finished 8-9-2 overall and 6-6-2 in the CCAA's powerful South Division, but proved they could play with the top teams in the Far West Region as well as the CCAA. The team defeated 2003 NAIA national champion Westmont College, 3-0, in the season opener; lost, 1-0, to the nation's No. 1 NCAA Division II team, Seattle Pacific; and fell, 1-0, to Seattle University, another top 10 team in the country. And CSUSB pushed four-time CCAA champion UC San Diego to the limit before losing, 2-1. The team knocked off tournament-bound Cal State Dominguez Hills for the first time in four years, 2-1.

Head Coach Noah Kooiman said most of the seniors provided the on-field presence and leadership he expected, particularly Michelle Lopez, Amy Raymond, Ashley Twogood and Stephanie Sheldrick.

Kooiman said Raymond, who was solid as a sweeper on the back line, was “like having a player-coach on the field.” Lopez finished her four-year career with five goals and two assists to move into a tie for third place on the Coyotes’ all-time goals scored list with 27. Her 66 total points on 27 goals and 12 assists tied her for fifth all-time in points.

Sophomore Lauren Williams, a transfer from UC Riverside, picked up some of the scoring slack left by the graduation of Kayla Humphries in 2003-04 by leading the team in goals (6) and assists (4) for 16 points. Val Evans, a junior outside halfback, had 10 points on four goals and two assists.

Kooiman had high praise for freshman goalkeeper Leslie Rhodes. “Leslie was phenomenal. She was fearless, aggressive and decisive and played like a veteran. I have to take my hat off to her for stepping up like that,” Kooiman said.

Men’s Soccer

After three progressively better seasons from 2001 through 2003, Cal State San Bernardino’s men’s soccer team hit a bump in the road to respectability in the California Collegiate Athletic Association in 2004. Despite possessing one of the conference’s most talented and efficient midfield groups, the Coyotes found themselves without a consistent, true scoring threat and discovered it takes more than just hard work, 110-percent effort and skill to win.

The result was a disappointing 4-15 record (2-12 in the CCAA), and a last place finish in the conference. In the previous three years the Coyotes went 30-27-3 and earned a South Division title and their first trip to the CCAA championship tourney in 2003, but injuries and loss of other key players had a role in the team’s inability to match that performance.

CSUSB was outscored, 43-18, on the season. The goal production was less than half of the 2003 total of 39, but the players that scored 35 of those 39 goals last season were not around in 2004, leaving the scoring to underclassmen just becoming acclimated to the rigors of Division II college soccer.

After opening the season with two shut out victories, the Coyotes lost nine in a row before upsetting CCAA tournament-bound UC San Diego, 2-1, in overtime. They then knocked off Cal State Stanislaus, 3-1, before finishing the season with five straight losses. Six of the team’s losses were by one goal and the Coyotes were shut out six times. It was, as some would call it, a year for character-building.

“The young players who came in handled themselves well,” said Kooiman. He cited freshmen Lorenzo Loson, Miguel Espinoza, Brent Vander Eyk, Nick Boyce and James Pusey for their improvement and adjustment to the college game as the season progressed. Junior Brent Steele provided speed and quickness up front, and sophomore Tim Lanski provided unexpected but welcome scoring punch with a team-leading five goals.

Women’s Volleyball

After winning a third straight CCAA championship, a regional title and advancing to the NCAA semifinals with a core of six seniors leading the way in 2003, what were the odds of the women’s volleyball team repeating as regional champs and returning to the Elite Eight? Whatever the odds, the Coyotes overcame them in what was billed as a “rebuilding” year. But it was the kind of rebuilding year any team would like to have — a 27-4 record, a second straight regional championship and a trip to Florida for a shot at the national title.

The four losses, by the way, were to No. 1-ranked Kearney-Nebraska, which, in the end, captured the 2004 NCAA championship, as well as to Barry University and twice to UC San Diego, ranked No. 2 in the nation for most of the season and the CCAA champion. Not bad for a team that finished the season with three freshmen in its starting lineup.

The key component in 2004 was the leadership of senior All-Americans Brie Harris and Cathleen Price. “I couldn’t have had players more capable and generous in their role of leading that group and being patient with their development than those two. Instead of telling the young players ‘this is my last year so you better produce,’ they were reassuring them by saying ‘it’s okay’ and ’we’ve got your back, trust us,’ ” said coach Kim Cherniss.

Harris, Price and junior setter Cristen Trent, a third-year starter who led the CCAA in assists per game, inspired the younger players with their “refuse to lose” commitment to the game. The supreme test for that conviction came in the regional final match against a UC San Diego team that had beaten them, 3-1, in their two CCAA meetings and had a cadre of seniors bent on a national championship to close out their careers. “We just willed ourselves to win that match,” said Cherniss. “It was the most inspirational win I have experienced in my 14 years as head coach here.”

Down 2-0 in games and facing match point twice in game three, the Coyotes pulled that game out, 31-29, and then overcame two match points by UCSD in game four to win, 33-31, and force the pivotal game five. CSUSB was down 8-3 and 10-5 before mounting a comeback and were facing match point again at 12-14 and 14-15, but three consecutive kills by Harris propelled the Coyotes to win, 17-15. The 6-foot senior finished with a tournament-record 45 kills and 15 digs, while Price had 27 kills and 18 digs. Then there was Amy Long, who switched to the left side to improve the team’s blocking ability against UCSD’s powerful front line, and the play of freshmen Sharea Drawn (6 kills, 3 blocks), Katie Hatch (5 kills, 3 blocks) and Yvette Hernandez (20 digs).

The Coyotes moved onto the Elite Eight, where they lost, 3-1, in the quarter-finals to Southwest Region champion Nebraska-Kearney (40-1) by a score of 3-1 at Barry University.

With the departure of Harris and Price, the Coyotes have plenty of firepower returning in 2005, led by Trent, the outstanding setter who is on the verge of passing former CSUSB All-American Amy Pope Schumacher as the career leader in assists. Trent led the CCAA in assists at 12.83 per game and now has 4,222 for her three-year career. Also returning are Drawn, who averaged 2.82 kills and 1.16 blocks (third best in the CCAA) at middle blocker; Hernandez (3.08 digs per game); Long (second-team All-CCAA who led the team in service aces with 44 and averaged 1.82 kills and 1.61 digs a game); and 6-foot freshman Katie Hatch, who came on strong against UCSD and Nebraska-Kearney with 15 kills in 31 attacks. The cast of new recruits for 2005 will be led by Tracy Weamer, an Upland resident who was an outstanding player at Western Christian High School in Covina; Portala George, a 6-2 middle blocker who was an All-State player at Antelope Valley College in 2003; and Bianca Gorospe, a 2003 star on the Victor Valley College team.

Men’s Basketball

The men’s basketball team earned a share of its sixth straight California Collegiate Athletic Association title, becoming the only CCAA men’s basketball team to accomplish the feat since the conference formed in 1939.

The Coyotes posted a 21-6 overall record with a 16-4 record in the CCAA. But the men became the first Coyote team to lose in the first round of the NCAA regional tournament, dropping a 66-59 decision to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks on March 11. CSUSB won 20 games for the seventh straight season and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the seventh straight year. Senior Trenell Eddings was an All-CCAA first-team pick, while Chris Davis, Brian Pruitt and Ken Sims received second-team honors. The highlight of the season was a 73-66 win over CCAA co-champion Cal Poly Pomona in Coussoulis Arena before 3,302 fans, the fifth-largest basketball crowd in the 10-year history of the arena.

Women’s Basketball

The women’s basketball team was 19-8 overall and 13-7 in the CCAA, but missed a shot at the NCAA playoffs, finishing No. 9 in the regional rankings despite four wins over top 10 teams. The season highlights were a sweep of games against No. 10 UC San Diego and the Coyotes’ first-ever win over Cal State Bakersfield in Bakersfield. Senior Sequoia Williams led the team in scoring and rebounding and was named to the All-CCAA first team. Seniors Leilani Tirona, the team captain, and Joyce Proctor earned second-team honors.

Photos by Robert Whitehead

<<previous story      next story >>