Weber State University Athletics
McCoy, 2005 Soccer Team honored by Big Sky
11/30/2013 12:23:00 AM | Women's Soccer
After 50 years of competition, the Big Sky Conference has begun a year-long journey celebrating the league's success both on and off the playing field by honoring 50 years of men's athletics and 25 years of women's athletics.
The 50th anniversary will celebrate the all-time individuals, teams and moments in the Big Sky's history, including the selection of the league's “50 Greatest Male Athletes” and the “25 Greatest Female Athletes.”
Along with these lists, the league will unveil the most memorable moments for both men's and women's competition.
Friday, the conference unveiled numbers 16 and 17 of the greatest female athletes and moments in conference history. Weber State was represented on both lists.
Former Wildcat central midfielder Hayley McCoy is listed as 17th on the Big Sky's list of Greatest Female Athletes and Weber State women's soccer team's first round NCAA Women's College Cup win over BYU was named, along with first round wins by Montana and Idaho State, as the 17th Greatest Moment.
Following are articles about McCoy and the 2005 team.
Big Sky's Greatest Female Athletes - No. 17 - Hayley McCoy
(written by Alyssa Askew – Big Sky Conference)
In 2008 for just the second time in Big Sky history, a women's soccer player was named to the All-Conference Team for a fourth time.
Hayley McCoy, a native of Richland, Wash., played for Weber State from 2005-2008. In each of those seasons, she was a First-Team All-Conference selection. Add to that an MVP selection and a Golden Boot award her senior season.
All of these accolades prove to be the reason Hayley McCoy is No. 17 on the Big Sky Conference's list of "25 Greatest Female Athletes."
McCoy's freshman year, the 2005 season, proved to be the most successful collectively as a team.
"I think probably the biggest thing to attribute to that is the team that I was able to go into as a freshman." McCoy said. "To be able to start my career with those teammates around me was an incredible way to start my career. From there, I just kept going with it I guess."
That team finished the season 14-5-2, including a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, an experience she remembers like it was yesterday.
"We played BYU really early on that season and lost 5-1," recalls McCoy. "It was a pretty demoralizing loss. But after that loss, our team's perspective was definitely that we were (upset) and we kind of had that sour taste in our mouth from that first game and we were pretty adamant that, that wasn't going to happen again."
And Weber wouldn't let it happen again. The Wildcats advanced to the second round after defeating BYU 4-3 in a shootout.
After starting in every single match that season, McCoy finished her freshman year with five goals and five assists. Good for third on the team in points.
For the next three seasons McCoy would go on to lead the team in shots every season. In 2006, she scored two goals and added seven assists with 52 shots. During her junior year, she had two goals and three assists with 69 shots. And finally, during her senior year, McCoy had a team-high16 points after recording five goals and six assists.
"To be honest, I don't think my stats have ever been that impressive," she said in regards to her being selected is one of the league's all-time greats. "It's definitely something that caught me off guard. It's definitely an honor especially when you're not a part of it anymore. Every once in awhile to get a reminder of that time in your life, it's so great to relive those memories."
McCoy won the Big Sky Golden Boot Award her senior year
Although McCoy's stats weren't always the tops in the league, she did have a certain something that made her stand out from other players.
"She always took it from pressure, to no pressure, and she made it look very simple,'' said Weber State coach Tim Crompton "As you coach other players, you realize that's not really easy to do. She made it look so easy that you would expect everyone to do it. Until that player isn't there anymore, you come back to the reality of what you knew prior to that player being there like yeah I guess that's really not that easy."
"One of the things that was unique about Hayley was that she took players that were good players around her on the field and allowed them to be great players," Crompton added. "Hayley was a very physical presence on the field. You wouldn't know it by looking at her when she played. But when she hit you, you knew."
To prove her physical toughness, McCoy has another vivid memory of her time at Weber State. "The Eastern Washington game of my senior year was by far the most insane game that I've ever played in."
To preface the game, McCoy scored a goal in the 3rd minute of the match. McCoy's recollection will take it from here.
"So in this game, I slid into a tackle and the other girl was just running through it and kneed me in the eyebrow and split my eyebrow open. I had to go get stitches. But Eastern tied it right before I left which made it even worse,'' she recalled "When I left I thought surely the game was going to be over. But when I came back, it was just starting the first overtime. Tim let me play more, which is great. With 12 seconds left I scored. It was my only golden goal that I have ever had and I always wanted one so it was nice to have that against Eastern, especially being from Washington."
McCoy is now a fourth-year optometry student and is in clinical rotations. She just finished a three-month rotation in St. George, Utah and is now about to start a rotation at the Naval Base in San Diego, Calif.
When asked why she chose Weber State, McCoy said: "A player at my high school, her older sister went to Weber. And my teammate also went to Weber. Tim came to watch her and recruited me. And honestly, I had never heard of Weber. But I went and visited and I'm pretty big into outdoors and skiing so it had a lot of appeal to me. It's a beautiful place; snow is great, great for outdoors, great vibe from the coaches and the staff and so I went with it. I'm really happy about it, and all of the good memories."
When looking back on her time at Weber, "It's like so worth it, but man it was a lot of work,'' she said. “But that's what makes it worth it in the end."
Big Sky's Greatest Women's Moments – No. 17 – Three Big Sky teams make NCAA noise
(Written by Alyssa Askew – Big Sky Conference)
In a five-year span, three Big Sky women's soccer teams won a first-round match in the NCAA Tournament. Each year featured a different Big Sky team.
Those three first-round wins rank 17th on the Big Sky's list of the top "25 Greatest Women's Moments."
Let's start with the very first, first-round win, in the year 2000. The University of Montana soccer team had just come off its second straight Big Sky Championship, its third in four seasons. After winning the Big Sky, the Grizzlies went on to play in a play-in game, hoping to advance to the NCAA Tournament. The Grizzlies did just that. UM hosted the play-in game against Northwestern State and defeated the Demons 6-0, and advanced to the first round of the NCAA tournament.
In the first round matchup, UM traveled to Pullman, Wash., to take on the Washington State Cougars. UM's head coach at the time, Betsy Duerksen, who now lives in Southern California, recalls the whole experience.
"That experience was incredible,'' she said. "We woke up that morning at Washington State and there was snow on the ground. We thought maybe the game would be postponed or cancelled but they went ahead and shoveled the field and we played."
The game was postponed 20 minutes because of the amount of snow that had to be shoveled off right before kickoff.
The Grizzlies went on to defeat Washington State 1-0.
"That team had incredible fight and I still vividly remember Shannon Forslund scored our only goal on an amazing full-field run,'' Duerksen said. "It led us to our first and only NCAA win in program history."
In the second round, Montana lost to the University of Washington 5-0.
Duerksen has nothing but good things to say about the 2000 team.
"They were really a special team in my opinion, so to have someone else recognize them, really emphasizes to me how special they were,'' she said. 'It basically just solidifies that they were a great team.
Three years after Montana's first-round win, another Big Sky team was back in the NCAA winner's circle. In the 2003 Big Sky championship match, Idaho State defeated Montana 1-0 in overtime. After that win, the Bengals were headed to the 'Big Dance.'
The detail that former Idaho State coach Gordon Henderson has about the first-round is uncanny.
"It was cold and it was kind of wet and muddy,'' he said. "Our plan was to keep it tight for the first half hour of the game and see where we're at. And it went pretty much according to plan."
During the game, Henderson recalls both teams having a few chances to score here, and a few chances to score there. But no one could capitalize in regulation. Once the game headed into overtime however, both teams were playing pretty tight.
"Once it went into a shootout, I don't know what it was, it was just something about that squad of players,'' he said. "It was honestly the most relaxed I'd been throughout the whole game, I just had a feeling that something was going to come of it."
"Every penalty kick we took was perfect. And again it was a very wet day, so the goal box was kind of muddy,'' he added. "Usually it's the goalkeeper that has the advantage in a shootout because they have nothing to lose. They know if they make one stop, they are the hero. But because the ground was as soft as it was, I think it gave the advantage to the kickers. After each passing round, you could tell that the pressure was mounting on Utah, not on us."
Idaho State ended up advancing past the 14th-ranked Utes after ISU's goalkeeper Shannon Boyle made a save on the third kicker, to give ISU the 5-4 advantage. Idaho State successfully converted all five of its attempts.
"I think it's a tremendous honor," said Henderson, after finding out his team made the top moment's list. "Not only for the players on that squad but also for Idaho State University. It was definitely a special year and I have so many fond memories of it, especially that day."
"I remember right after we won, everyone ran onto the field into a dog pile," Henderson added. "And I actually just stood on the sidelines and watched with a big smile on my face, a huge smile on my face. I personally would have taken that moment just to watch the team. To me personally, it was always about the team. For me to be able to watch that, it's kind of like having pride in your kids."
Idaho State went on to lose in the second round to BYU, 2-0.
Two years later, it was like Déjà vu. But this time it was Weber State's turn.
In 2005, Weber State had just won its second straight Big Sky Championship, which sent Weber State to the NCAA Tournament.
In the first round, Weber State faced in-state rival BYU at the University of Utah's home field.
"We played them at a neutral site,'' Weber State coach Tim Crompton said. "We were a good team. We played them earlier in the year and got beat up pretty good."
Earlier in the season, Weber State lost to BYU 5-1. After starting out the season 1-3-1, Weber State went on to win 13 of its next 14 matches.
As the course of the season went on, they obviously gained experience and by the time we got back to that place, our team was confident," said Crompton. "As the game started, it was pretty clear that we were going to be able to compete with them."
After Weber State's Sarah Cortez scored a goal in the 13th minute, Crompton recalled: "Our goalkeeper Kandice Golar played tremendously. Without that happening, I don't think we win the game."
After Weber State's goal, the Wildcats held BYU scoreless until the 64th minute. At the end of regulation it was still 1-1.
"As a group defensively, their ability to put pressure on the ball, it just doesn't happen any better collectively," Crompton said. "They pressured the ball collectively as well as any team that I've ever coached."
After neither team scored in overtime, the match headed into a shootout.
"Once we got into the shootout we were really confident," Crompton said. "They'd already done far more than anybody ever thought they would do. In those moments, there is less pressure on you."
Weber State went on to advance to the second round past BYU after defeating the Cougars 4-3 in a shootout.
In the second round, Weber State faced the University of Arizona.
"As fate would have it, I think their goalkeeper is the one that kept them in the game," Crompton said. "Their keeper made at least three saves that I thought were going in for sure. They were great shots, but she made better saves."
Weber State ended up falling to Arizona 1-0, even after outshooting Arizona 20 to 11.
Even though the team came up short in the second round, Crompton can only remember the good times.
"I think it's certainly an honor to have the opportunity to sit here now and be able to say I was blessed with the opportunity to coach those players at that time in their lives then, and then on top of that see them succeed at the level that they succeeded,'' he said. "I think that 2005 team certainly exemplified the difference between reaching a goal and succeeding"
Crompton is still the head coach of the Weber State women's soccer team. In fact, his Weber State team just faced BYU in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament. He was hoping that history would repeat itself. Weber State lost 4-0.
"I'm still trying to get another first-round win," said Crompton.
Gordon Henderson, the former Idaho State head coach, is now the director of coaching for the Ohio South Youth Soccer Association. Henderson is in charge of over 65,000 members and his job, essentially, is to, "Coach the coaches, to coach the players."
He even jokes about how things come full circle.
"My son is a junior in high school so he is now in the process of getting scouted by college coaches,'' Henderson said. "It's interesting going from being the coach and scouting and recruiting players to now being the parent of a player who is being scouted and being recruited. It's quite different being on the other side of that. It's just funny to see how it comes full circle."
Betsy Duerksen, the former Montana coach, resigned following the 2003 campaign, but now coaches youth soccer in Southern California.
"Getting into youth soccer as opposed to collegiate soccer has really given me an opportunity to be around my own three kids a lot more," said Duerksen.
