Sept. 21, 2009
By Jeremy S. Fallis
Athletic Communications Assistant
Pride. Tradition. Success. Domination.
To most teams, winning a championship makes a program. To this team, its players, coaches, fans and alumni expect it. That's what happens when you've had a stranglehold on the Big Ten for over a decade.
Welcome, and meet the Penn State women's soccer team. The squad hasn't lost a Big Ten Championship since 1997.
To put that in perspective, President Bill Clinton had just started his second term a few months earlier and the freshmen were entering the first grade. Third-year head coach Erica Walsh just began as a graduate assistant at Bucknell, with at least 11 years of coaching, including five trips to the NCAA tournament and a gold medal ahead of her.
And to every student-athlete, keeping such a great streak alive is a tall order, one that requires each one to rely on one another to keep it going.
"The biggest support system is the team itself," says senior forward Katie Schoepfer. "It is an amazing feeling to go through all the great times with your best friends and it makes all the terrible time seem not as bad and you can help each other."
Best friends characterize the composition of a championship-caliber team. The Penn State Nittany Lions have been experts at that for a while, but it's not without challenges.
"As you can imagine, we have a massive bulls-eye on our back," fifth-year assistant coach Michael Coll explains. "Each team is in our way of achieving our 12th-straight [Big Ten title.] Our players have to embrace it and practice at a top level in order to be successful."
The team exudes confidence and chemistry every time it steps on the field, creating a unity that is unsurpassed. A 12th-straight title would match the all-time record set by Michigan swimming & diving for most consecutive Big Ten titles in women's sports.
"Obviously it's an amazing accomplishment for the 25 or so players who wear the Blue and White each year to keep winning this thing," adds Coll. "It strikes a real fear into our conference opponents but most of all, it shows that complacency has never crept into this program and that's what's most satisfying."
Complacency certainly has never been a factor, even in years that the team didn't make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Last year seemed like a season another team from the Big Ten would rise up and snap the streak.
Minnesota came close, tying the Lions at 8-2, but Penn State prevailed in the teams' only regular season meeting, 2-0, at Jeffrey Field. The Nittany Lions validated that win on neutral soil, when after dispatching Iowa and Michigan State (who beat Penn State in October), the women in Blue and White rolled to a 2-1 win in the Big Ten Tournament final over the Golden Gophers.
At the forefront of the attack with Schoepfer is junior forward Danielle Toney. Already topping the team's scoring ledger in 2009, Toney single-handedly led the team to its 2008 Big Ten Tournament crown with blazing speed and precise shooting. Toney proved to be the catalyst of the squad, energizing them to PSU's fifth Big Ten Tournament title.
"My biggest contribution to this team is to do my job as a forward," tells Toney, the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. "Which is to score goals and work hard day in and day out."
With teams in the Big Ten earning more national respect and improving their programs overall, maintaining the streak will be just as difficult this season as it was in 2008. Teams like Illinois, Michigan State, Purdue and Minnesota will be gunning for the Nittany Lions this fall, seeking every weakness as an opportunity to capitalize on a precious win over Penn State.
"The teams in the Big Ten are only getting better," says English sophomore defender Emma Thomson. "So each team we come up against will cause us problems. It's how we focus and how we go into each game with determination that will decide our success."
Aside from encroaching enemies, the team deals with the on-the-field challenges from within, learning from each other and getting better. From the seniors to the freshmen and to the coaching staff, the women's soccer team has not only exemplified what it means to be a champion, but what it takes to stay a champion.
"We all are trying to push each other," explains Christine Nairn, a freshman standout midfielder. "We push each and every practice to prepare the team for games and to be successful."
And it always helps to have a little added competition in training with so many weapons available to Walsh and company.
"This team has so much depth on it that everyday everyone is fighting for a position." Schoepfer clarifies. "That pushes all of us to be our best all the time."
Much of what has been accomplished takes more than just those on the field and on the sidelines. Many on the team credit those, who the typical fan doesn't get to see or interact with, as being one of the most important factors in the team's continued honor to defend the Big Ten championship. And each person will have a different set of people that they rely on for their triumphs.
"I'd have to say the most important support system for our program is Sports Medicine," reports Coll. "My parents are my biggest support system," Toney adds. "They are always honest with me and know exactly how to motivate me."
Of course, respect is always paid to a coaching staff that has continued the success from its predecessors, Patrick Farmer and Paula Wilkins.
"The team wouldn't run without the work of our coaches," Thomson explains. "The time and effort they put into the team is amazing, as can be said for the sports medicine and academic advisors."
"All of the staff and the people behind the scenes are our biggest supporters." Nairn says. "It is because of these people that we have the luxury to represent Penn State when we play."
With honor and pride, the women's soccer team will continue to set its sights on the Big Ten title for a record-matching 12th-straight title to bring home to Jeffrey Field.