Men’s Club Soccer Finishes Perfect

The Washington State Men’s Club Soccer team finished with an unblemished 5-0 record for their fall season.

The Cougars latest match resulted in a 5-2 win over the Montana State University Bobcats. This was the third time the Cougars scored at five goals. This type of scoring output did not come as a shock to the Cougars because their offensive strategy creates a lot of scoring chances.

“That is one thing we have been working on when we set up for practice,” Sophomore left back Chris Stokesbary said. “We make sure we find our wide players and work the ball through the mid field. It’s a positive thing to see throughout the game and the score definitely reflects those actions.”

The Cougars were supposed to play the Gonzaga Bulldogs this fall but that match was never scheduled due to the academic calendar for both universities. A match between the teams will occur during the Cougars’ Spring Season, according to Stokesbary.

With such large leads during games, younger players were able to get quality playing time on the pitch. The eight newcomers to the Cougars squad were each able to get a chance to play a lot on the pitch. The younger players quickly recognized the difference between the high school level and a high college club soccer level.

“Personally, I feel like I have been improving a lot,” freshman center midfielder Stefan Thyron said. “Pretty much everyone on the club soccer team were studs in high school whereas high school, you would have players that you could make look silly. But college, everybody knows how to play soccer and takes it seriously when their on the field.

The Spring schedule for the WSU Men’s Club Soccer team has not been released yet. Given past years, the Cougars are expected to begin their season Mid-February. However, the team will be ready for any scheduled matches before that time, according to Stokesbary.

Written By Kyle Nishida

Advertisement

TRIUMPH OVER TEARS: Cougar Volleyball Reflects On A Successful Season and Bright Future

There’s no crying in baseball, and the women of the WSU Volleyball Team won’t be shedding a tear either.

Photo courtesy of Washington State University Athletics

Despite their season coming to an end last month with a loss to the number five ranked University of Washington, the Cougar Volleyball program has made great strides and boasts some big accomplishments this year.

The Cougs end their season with a 5-15 Pac-12 Conference record and 18-15 record overall, the best overall record in Jen Greeny’s three years as Head Coach for the Cougs.

When asked about her feelings towards the season, Greeny had words of pride and optimism.

Cougnation Producer Melinda Lee on location at a Cougar Volleyball match earlier this season.
Photo courtesy of Melinda Lee

“I’m feeling pretty well about the season overall. We have six Freshman right now and we’re playing a lot of them. It’s such a tough conference we play in that they are getting a lot of experience, so just to be able to not really look at the wins and losses but to look at all the experience and improvement,” Greeny noted.

Three of the six freshman Greeny mentioned include outside hitter Kyra Holt, right-side hitter Hailey Bethune, and outside hitter Emmy Allen, all of whom were recently honored with selections to the All-Pac-12 Volleyball Teams.

 

Holt also led the Cougs with 479 kills this season and a 3.89 kills per set average, the seventh-best in the Pac-12 Conference. This six-foot-one freshman from California was crucial to the team’s success and was a four time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week selection. Along with Bethune and Allen, Holt is a part of the 2013 recruiting class that was named 14^th best in the nation.

Holt and other newer members of the team helped power the Cougs to season accomplishments such as a West Point Tournament and Cougar Challenge Tournament Championship. The team also boasts two upset wins this season: one over number 16 ranked Arizona State and another over number 4 ranked Southern California. This year was the first time the Cougars defeated USC since 2009.

Seniors Camryn Irwin and Marcelina Glab, co-captains for the 2013 season, are proud to have been a part of the Cougar Volleyball program and team.

Cougar Volleyball fans await the start of a game.
Photo courtesy of Melinda Lee

“The atmosphere of Bohler gym and competing with such great girls…it’s so fun to play here and it’s something that i’ll never be able to get back so that’s definitely what i’ll miss most,” Glab tells us.

Glab added 368 block assists in her time with the Cougars, a third best in WSU all-time records. Fellow senior Camryn Irwin’s 3,390 career assists are also a WSU all-time record, and this senior boasts of her team as well.

“The girls are really special,” Irwin tells Cougnation.

Coach Greeny hopes to lead this team to an even better record next season and add to WSU’s NCAA history in the near future.

“We believe the future is bright,” Greeny announced.  

Cougnation will be eager to see what this team brings in 2014. Go Cougs!

Wrapping up the semester

A recap on the past semester and what to look forward to in the Spring.

What to Expect from Cougar Basketball

The WSU Cougars won Saturday, November 17th in a 84-64 win over Lamar University. I talked to two KUGR Broadcasters on how they believe the Cougars season will be this year.

By Kyle Nishida

Cougar Roar audio is from Partners In Rhyme

Catching up with Club Tennis

Here is an update on Club Tennis and what we can expect in the following weeks.