Lady Yellowjacket Soccer Announces Season Awards (Nov. 24, 2003)

BILLINGS, MT – MSU Billings women’s soccer coach Don Trentham has announced the Lady Yellowjackets’ individual award winners for the 2003 season.  The Yellowjackets improved by four wins over last season’s record, finishing 6-10-1.  Five of their losses were by one goal, including three in overtime.  The four-game turnaround was the second best in school history and the six wins were the program’s third highest total for a season.

“We’ve taken some steps in the right direction from a year ago,” said second-year coach Don Trentham.  “One of our goals was to be .500, and if we get just a couple different bounces we’re easily a .500 team.  It’s tough to lose that many games by just one goal, but we played some tough regional teams and now we know the level we need to be at to get into the NCAA Tournament.”

Megan Plank, a freshman goalkeeper from Phoenix, Arizona, was named the team’s Most Valuable Player after posting a 1.15 goals-against-average to set a new school record.  She allowed 14 goals in 1096 minutes of action in 14 games.  Plank also posted 268:05 consecutive shutout minutes at the beginning of the season, second-best in the Yellowjacket history book.  In addition to being named the team’s MVP, she was also selected as the Newcomer of the Year.

“Our goals-against-average was definitely one of our highlights,” said Trentham.  “Megan Plank was big in that, helping us go from 3.89 last year to 1.60 this year.  She made a big impact for us and that’s why her teammates voted her Newcomer of the Year and MVP.”

The “Quest for Excellence” award was given to Sara Otis, a senior from Vancouver, Washington.  The award is given to the player who demonstrates teamwork, dedication, discipline and passion in the women’s soccer program.  Otis graduated as the program’s third most prolific scorer, tallying 29 points in her career.  She is fourth all-time for goals scored and second all-time for assists.  Otis played in 63 games, starting 53, fourth and fifth in school history respectively. 

Margot Merrill-Johnson was chosen as the Scholar-Athlete of the Year after posting a 3.95 grade point average while majoring in sociology.  The award is given to the junior or senior who boasts the highest cumulative GPA.  The junior from Salt Lake City led the team this season with eight goals and was second on the team with 18 points.  Her eight goals were just three short of the school single-season record and her 17 career goals place her second all-time to Abby Farmer.  Merrill-Johnson’s 39 career points is also second all-time to Farmer.

The 2003 Lady Yellowjackets established themselves throughout the school record books, both individually and as a team.  Freshman Ally Taylor, a midfielder from Ojai, California, made an immediate impact on the Yellowjacket offense.  She led the team with 21 points and was second with seven goals.  The 21 points ties her for second all-time for a single season with Farmer, who did it twice.  Her five points against Minnesota-Crookston were also the third highest single game total in school history.

“Ally obviously had a very good season as a freshman,” Trentham said of last year’s top recruit.  “She’s a good player and she’ll continue to grow as she goes through college.”

Senior Mandy Reed from Denver would have established school records for career games started and played had she not missed the final six games of the season with an injury.  As it was, she finished her career fifth for games played and third for games started.  Merrill Johnson and Candy Cherry, a junior from Missoula, will be chasing the school record for games started next season.  They have each started 51 games in three seasons, just 12 games short of Megan Parish and Abby Farmer’s 63.

“The seven players who stuck with us through the transition were a big part of our improvement,” said Trentham.  “One of the good things about this team was that our seniors contributed great leadership.  Sara Otis was dangerous offensively; Mandy Reed was having a great season until she fractured her ankle; and Heidi Robertson (Great Falls, MT) was playing the best soccer I’ve seen her play.”

As a team, the 2003 Yellowjackets put themselves in the single season record book at third for points scored, goals scored, assists, wins, and consecutive wins.  Anchored by Plank with help from freshman goalkeeper Alyssa Wolfer, the Jacket defense came within one shutout of tying the school record of six, posted the second most consecutive shutouts, and the second best goals-against-average in school history.

Three Yellowjackets who will return next year will begin the 2004 season in the top ten in school history for scoring.  Along with Merrill-Johnson at No. 2, Taylor is already No. 5 after one season and Stephanie Clark, a junior from Tualatin, Oregon, is tied for No. 9.

“One thing we still have to work toward is learning how to become a winning program,” concluded Trentham.  “We have to do the hard work in the off season to get there.  In recruiting, we’ll be looking to bring in a couple center defenders to compete with Stacy Dix, who didn’t play much this year because she tore her ACL early.  The three players we graduated will be hard to replace.  We already have good players as outside midfielders, but we’ll probably need a few more to add depth at that position.  And obviously our two goalkeepers have us set at that position for the next few years.”