2006 Women’s Soccer Preview

BILLINGS, MT – In sports it is often said that winning breeds winning and losing breeds losing.  The Montana State-Billings women’s soccer team certainly hopes that axiom holds true.  Following the first back-to-back winning seasons in the program’s 10 year history, the Lady Yellowjackets are looking to put themselves on the NCAA Division II soccer map in 2006.

The Yellowjackets return all but two starters from last year’s team that went 11-5-2 and qualified for the Heartland Conference Tournament.  That followed a 2004 campaign during which the Lady Jackets were 12-4-3, giving coach Don Trentham’s squad a two-year mark of 23-9-5.  For a program that only won 20 games in the previous four years, what has the recent success done for expectations?  Trentham answers that question simply:  “Our goals this year are to win the conference and to get a berth in the NCAA Tournament.”

“If we can win the conference, that’s going to put us in the picture to get to the NCAA Tournament,” Trentham adds.  “Obviously we’ve got some other important regional games that we’ve got to take care of.  When we recruited these seniors we said in four years our goal was to get to the NCAA Tournament.  They’re very motivated; I’m very motivated.  I think the other players are motivated to help the seniors get there as well.”

As with any NCAA team sport, making it to the national tournament requires both a solid won/loss record and a strong strength of schedule.  Trentham believes the latter is in place, leaving the Jackets’ hopes of making it to their first NCAA Tournament pinned squarely on what happens on the field.

“We’ve got the most competitive schedule that we’ve ever had,” Trentham says.  “That first trip of the season when we head down to Colorado and New Mexico will certainly show us right away where we’re at.  We’re playing two teams that were in the top 10 in the region (Ft. Lewis and Eastern New Mexico).  We feel really good about the schedule.  It’s a schedule we put together that will help us achieve our goals next year.”

The opening weekend will include three games in four days during the dog days of August.  The Jackets open the 2006 schedule on August 24 at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO.  After one travel day they will take on Fort Lewis College and Eastern New Mexico University on back-to-back days in Portales, NM.

The Lady Jackets’ home schedule begins as it does every year with the Fifth Annual MSU Billings Cup on Labor Day weekend.  The Yellowjackets will host a pair of teams transitioning from NAIA to NCAA Division II.  On Saturday, September 2, the Jackets host new Heartland Conference member University of Texas-Permian Basin.  MSUB will square off against University of Mary on Sunday.  University of Great Falls will also be at the tourney, facing Mary on Saturday and UTPB on Sunday in neutral site games.

The Yellowjackets begin Heartland Conference play on September 9 in San Antonio, TX, against St. Mary’s University, the team that knocked them out of the conference tournament last season.  The Jackets’ three-game swing to the Lone Star state will include a game at Texas A&M-International in Laredo, TX, on September 10 and a September 12 contest back in San Antonio against University of the Incarnate Word.  The Cardinals are the defending Heartland Conference champions and reached the NCAA Tournament last year.

“I think our conference is a pretty even conference,” says Trentham.  “In my mind there are four teams that have a legitimate shot to win it this year, and I definitely think we’re one of those four.  Our goal is simple this year: to win the conference.  We won’t be happy with second.”

Texas A&M-International is another team transitioning from NAIA to NCAA II to join the Heartland Conference.  Since they are in their first year of reclassification, both TAMUI and UT-Permian Basin will still count as NAIA games and will not count in the conference standings this year.  However, all Heartland Conference teams have agreed to include the two schools on their schedules this season as non-conference NAIA counters.

Six of the Jackets’ eight Heartland Conference games will come in the second half of the season.  Following the first trip to Texas, MSU Billings returns home to host Texas A&M-International on September 16.  On September 20 MSU Billings and Rocky Mountain College will square off in the Fifth Annual Rimrock Cup.  Usually the Cup is a home-and-home series each year, but because of the addition of NAIA counters UTPB and TAMUI to the schedule, the Jackets and Battlin’ Bears will meet just once in 2006.  That game will take place under the lights at Daylis Stadium.

Two days after the rare night game against their cross-town foes, the Yellowjackets will experience a first in the program’s history when they finally get to face the University of Montana.  The game in Missoula will be the first-ever regular season game between the only two NCAA women’s soccer programs in the state.

The real push for the postseason will begin after the Montana game when the Yellowjackets play eight games against regional opponents, including six that count in the conference standings.  Dallas Baptist will visit Billings on September 28 to start the crucial home stretch.  The Jackets then travel to traditional regional powers Metro State and Regis University on October 6 and 8.

Five of the Yellowjackets’ final six games will be conference counters.  St. Mary’s and Incarnate Word play in Billings on October 13 and 15 respectively.  The Yellowjackets will make a second three-game swing to Texas to face UTPB, St. Edward’s, and Dallas Baptist between October 20 and 23 before closing the regular season on October 28 at home against St. Edward’s.  Since the Heartland Conference switched to a double round robin regular season format this year, there will not be an end of the season conference tournament. 

“The home-and-home conference schedule is awesome,” Trentham says of the Jackets’ 2006 schedule.  “We’re really looking forward to that.  We also have games against Metro State, a previous national champion, and Regis, a top 20 team.  It’s always fun for our players to play Rocky Mountain.  The game against Montana will be another game that doesn’t mean much in terms of getting to the NCAA Tournament, but it will be another fun game for the players.”

Along with the quality schedule, in 2006 Trentham will field the most veteran team of his five-year tenure at MSU Billings.  That lineup will be anchored by senior captains Megan Plank (Phoenix, AZ) and Ally Stroup (Ojai, CA).  Plank holds almost every goalkeeping record in school history and has been the team MVP in each of her three seasons.  Stroup is one of the best offensive players the program has ever had and will likely finish her career holding school records for career goals, assists, points, game winning goals, and games played.

“They’ve had three great years here,” Trentham says of the duo.  “They’re senior captains and I know they’ve worked hard for three years to do this.  They’re working hard this summer, so I think they’re undoubtedly going to be our leaders and the players who will make things happen for us.

“We have another senior, Jenny Moellendorf, who has been here for three years as well.  She will bring a lot of experience to the table for us, and I expect her to have a solid senior year.  Then we have a wealth of experience underneath them in our junior and sophomore classes.  Mandy Ploskonka was the Freshman of the Year last year in the Heartland Conference.  Brittany Sandau was first team all conference.”

Stroup and Sandau (Billings, MT) combined for 56 percent of the team’s goals last season, scoring nine apiece.  Stroup also led the team with seven assists and 25 points.  Moellendorf (Green River, WY) played in all 18 games, starting 10.  Ploskona (Federal Way, WA) had four goals and three assists during her freshman campaign.  Fellow rookies Micah Merrill-Johnson (Salt Lake City, UT) and Chelsea Libby (Puyallup, WA) each scored three goals last year.

In 2005 the Lady Jackets had a talented freshman class that contributed immediately.  Along with stellar seasons from Ploskonka, Merrill-Johnson and Libby, the Jackets received sound play from Sara Gress (Boise, ID) and Melissa Carlson (Renton, WA).  So who will step in and make an immediate impact in 2006?

“We are really excited about this freshman class,” Trentham says.  “There are many good players in the class, but the one we’re probably counting on to contribute immediately is Samantha Boehm (Wilsonville, OR).  She’ll be looked at to compete for that spot that Lacey Albrent left last year.  We’re hoping she comes in at center back and competes along with Whitney Prescott (Colorado Springs, CO) to be the starter.  Samantha came to our overnight camp this summer and looked really good.  Hopefully that carries over into preseason.”

Albrent’s will be big shoes for Boehm and Prescott to fill, figuratively if not literally.  A two-year standout, Albrent was a tenacious defender who also shouldered much of the responsibility for organizing the Yellowjacket defense on the field.  While their names rarely appear in the newspaper box score, the defenders are central to the style of play of Trentham’s teams.

“The thing we always stress in our program is defense.  We’re not a very attack minded team, more defense over attack.  We’ve got a lot of experienced players that know defense wins championships.  I think in the end, our defense is what we’re going to look to for our success this year.”

With kickoff to fall practices just around the corner—August 7—Trentham believes he has assembled the pieces of the puzzle to build a very good season.  How all those pieces fit together will determine just how good the season can be.  Trentham hopes the final product will be historic.

“We want to get to the NCAA Tournament,” he says.  “There are a lot of things that have to happen to do that.  Obviously winning the conference will be important.  Then having some luck along the way, staying injury free and having the team come together at the right times are all important.  The team and I want to win the conference and get to the NCAA Tournament.”