CRUSADER ATHLETICS
by Wayne Witt

The athletic year 2000-2001 found the Crusaders fully involved in championship competition in the Heartland Conference. For the first time, the NCAA Division II conference conducted season ending tournaments in eight sports with regular season schedules in basketball to determine league champions. And the Crusaders acquitted themselves very well indeed. In the spring, three Crusader teams advanced to regional competition in Division II.

[Women's Soccer] [Men's Soccer] [Volleyball] [Golf] [Cross Country] [Women's Basketball] [Men's Basketball] [Tennis] [Softball] [Baseball] [Track & Field]

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Paced by NSCAA Great Plains All-Region performer Brooke Hopkins, Incarnate Word rolled through the season posting a 13-5 record and was the number five team in the region. That cumulative mark included the first-ever championship awarded by the Heartland Conference.

Hopkins, a junior forward, became the University's all-time leading scorer with 175 points and 78 goals after just three seasons of play.

Coach Tina Patterson surpassed the magic mark of 100 career wins. She now has a cumulative record of 106-38-7. Her winning percentage of .702 puts her in the top six among active Division II coaches. And, for the second consecutive season she was the Heartland Conference coach of the year. Hopkins was named the conference player of the year while midfielder Julia Garcia was voted conference newcomer of the year.

All-Conference honors went to Hopkins, goalkeeper Missy Howard (second team), forward Natalie Bice, midfielder Lindsay Mijares (second team), defender Kassandra Schiver, defender Audrey Gould, Garcia, and forward Katie Heier (second team).

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MEN'S SOCCER

The men's soccer team rebounded in a big way by posting a 14-4-2 season record on the way to being ranked number four in the NCAA Division II's Midwest Region.

During the season, Incarnate Word recorded wins over two teams that at the time were ranked number one in the nation. The Crusaders defeated Fort Lewis of Colorado when that team was the Division II number one team, and one week later UIW recorded a victory over Mobile of Alabama, which at the time was the NAIA number one team.

In the first-ever Heartland Conference post-season tournament, the Crusaders opened with a win over Texas Wesleyan but fell in the championship match to St. Edward's in a game played in a driving rainstorm.

After the season concluded, senior midfielder Casey Smith joined senior forward Scott Estrada and senior defender Nick Johnson on the All-Heartland Conference team. Freshman defender James Dyer and junior midfielder Matt Hood were voted to the second team. Additionally, sophomore midfielder Kenny Leising was voted Verizon Academic All-District.

In mid-spring, Dennis Currier came to UIW as head coach from his post at Harris-Stowe College in St. Louis after his 2000 team reached the NAIA National Tournament semi-finals.

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VOLLEYBALL

Like the men's soccer team, the volleyball Crusaders under Coach Mark Papich rebounded from a sub-par season to put up a 21-15 record and a second place finish in the first-ever Heartland Conference tournament.

One of the season highlights came during October when the Crusaders assured themselves of a successful season by running off seven consecutive victories, all against Division II teams.

the Heartland tournament was finished, senior outside hitter Heather Fife along with junior hitter Keelie Rader were named all-tournament. And both of these players were voted to the All-Heartland Conference first team.

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GOLF

The headline-type news came from the Crusaders men's golf team. The fall schedule had four tournaments. The Crusaders had one win, two seconds and a sixth. In the spring the men finished first, second twice and fourth twice in tournaments and received their first-ever bid to the NCAA Division II West Regional Tournament in early May. They were ranked 24th in the nation for their efforts.

Individually, Incarnate Word got stellar performances from senior Lars Backman who won two tournaments during the year, posted a 3.56 GPA and was named UIW Student-Athlete of the Year. Also, junior Jacob Sommer won two tournaments and finished second in a third. Those outings earned Sommer a number 15 ranking in the NCAA Division II, and number 175 among all collegiate golfers in the United States.

On the women's side of the golf schedule, the Crusaders hosted their first-ever invitational tournament at Woodlake Golf Club in San Antonio. Incarnate Word finished fourth as a team. In the spring, Monica Guzman did what no other UIW woman has ever done - she was a medallist at the Texas A&M/Commerce Lady Lion Invitational in April.

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CROSS COUNTRY

The Crusader women entered a full team in several fall events. At both the Trinity Invitational and at the UTSA-held Whataburger Run the UIW women finished second as a team. Over the course of the season, senior Cynthia Saenz and sophomore Virginia Ortiz both posted top 10 finishes twice.

In men's cross country, the Crusaders entered all the fall meets and elected to compete for only the individual honors. Junior Aaron Almaraz who four times finished among the top 10 runners consistently paced Incarnate Word.

The season concluded with competition in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional meet in Commerce. Once more, Almaraz and Saenz paced their respective teams. The Crusader women finished 12th in the regional meet.

Senior John Carrola was named Verizon Academic All-District with his cumulative 3.75 in communications arts.

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WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

It proved to be a long and frustrating season for new Coach Angela Lawson and her Crusaders. Hampered by graduations and transfers from the previous season, the UIW women had a 6-21 record during a year when the inexperienced squad played 15 games away from the friendly confines of the McDermott Center on campus.

Coach Lawson spent serious time on the highway in the spring and the Crusaders have announced six new players for the 2001-2002 season.

The honors did come to the team, however. Senior forward Tracye Simpson led the way when she was named co-winner of the annual UIW Student-Athlete of the Year award. She also was named Verizon Academic All-District with her 3.97 GPA in business marketing and finance.

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MEN'S BASKETBALL

The men's team also faced a season with a roster depleted of experienced players--only senior guard Chris Olivares had played even one minute the previous year. However, Coach Al Grushkin and his staff signed up a strong recruiting class and then went out and posted a 16-10 record.

During December, in the midst of a five-game winning streak, the Crusaders rose to number five in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional rankings.

After the season, junior guard Derrick Lang was second team All-Heartland Conference while forward Robert Tovar was voted freshman of the year for the Conference.

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TENNIS

Both the men's and women's teams received bids to the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional tournaments at the end of the spring. The women lost a hard-fought first round match but the men won the first round before falling to top-ranked Ferris State (Mich.) in round two.

Over the season, the women posted a winning mark of 11-8 including a Heartland Conference team championship. The women were paced by sophomore Irina Yarikova, a native of Uzbeckistan, who had an impressive singles mark of 17-2. With her doubles partner, freshman Petya Yaneva (17-3 in singles), Yarikova was 17-1.

Jose Pablo Hours, a sophomore from Argentina, was equally impressive in leading the Crusaders to the regional tournament and to a final 15-10 record. Hours was 20-1 in singles and with junior partner Diego Parada was 16-3 in doubles.

After the Heartland schedule, Coach John Newman was named the women's league coach of the year.

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SOFTBALL

New Coach Laura Cliett and her Crusaders posted the second highest win total in Incarnate Word history with their 33-22-1 mark. That included a second place finish in the Heartland Conference tournament.

The Crusaders were dominant when it came to Conference honors. Casey Gross established new school records with 24 wins, three saves and 272 innings pitched and was named HC freshman of the year. All-conference honors went to junior catcher Stephanie Kunz, junior first baseman Dusti Daniel, junior outfielder Leslie Niemeyer, freshman designated player Liz Beyer, and at-large players freshman Tracie Tirres and senior Selena Rodriguez.

A highlight of the season came in March when the Crusaders hosted the annual Alamo Invitational Tournament and 19 teams from six different states played to a championship.

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BASEBALL

The final event of the Crusader athletic year was perhaps the most exciting. The baseball team went to the Heartland Conference tournament, played three games in three days, won three times and came away champions of the league. And the crowning game was a defeat of the top-seeded St. Mary's team that went on to win the NCAA Division II National Championship.

Like their softball counterparts, the baseball Crusaders rebounded from a sub-.500 season a year ago to run up a winning mark of 35-21 including victories in their final eight games of the year.

Post-season honors included three players being named Verizon Academic All-District. They were senior designated hitter Jason Pfluger (.374 batting average, 3.64 GPA in physical education), senior second baseman Mike Rodriguez (.382 batting average, 3.6 GPA in information systems), and junior first baseman Wil Carbonara (.321 batting average, 3.95 GPA in business and accounting).

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TRACK AND FIELD

With no Heartland Conference or NCAA regional meets to look forward to, the Crusaders entered a string of spring events hoping to reach qualifying times and distances for the national NCAA meet.

While those standards proved to be out of reach, the Crusaders in just their third year of competition did manage to post an impressive string of school bests. Those school marks came on both the men's and women's books.

Perhaps a highlight of the spring schedule was in Kingsville at the Texas A&M Invitational when freshman Fernando Orgas entered his first meet and placed fourth in the javelin with a heave of more than 143 feet, setting a UIW record. Most of the spring Orgas spent his time as a member of the UIW baseball team.

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