Why Wesleyan? - West Virginia Wesleyan College

Wesleyan athletic fans willalso see two new headcoaches roaming the sidelinesthis year as the men’sbasketball and women’ssoccer teams each announced new hiresin the spring. Jeff Price (pictured) takesover the reigns of the Bobcat basketballprogram after spending a year as a scoutfor the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA.Prior to that, Price was the head coach atDivision I Georgia Southern University.Looking to continue the recent excellencein women’s soccer is new head coachPatrick Holguin. Holguin comes toWesleyan after serving as the head men’sand women’s soccer coach at MariettaCollege (OH) for 12 years. Holguinfinished his career at Marietta as thewinningest coach in the history of theschool’s women’s soccer program.Overall, the 2009–2010 athletic seasonwill go down among the best in schoolhistory. To go along with the teamaccomplishments, Wesleyan racked up81 All-WVIAC honorees, 15 All-Regionselections, two All-Americans, fourWVIAC Coach of the Year awards, oneAtlantic Region Coach of the Year, twoRookie of the Year winners (one at theRegional level and one for the WVIAC),two Most Valuable Player honors, andfour Player/Athlete of the Year awards.In recognition of the school’s athleticsuccess, Wesleyan was again awarded theWVIAC Presidents’ and Commissioner’sCup trophies. The trophies honor allaroundathletic excellence among itsmember schools. The Bobcat athleticdepartment has now won nine Presidents’Cup trophies since its beginning in1993–94. Wesleyan has also dominatedthe Commissioner’s Cup trophies bywinning 17 of the past 19.Nicole Andreini ’10PREVIEWWith the beginning of the 2010–2011athletic season here, West Virginia Wesleyan’sfall sports teams are looking to duplicateand improve upon the success of 2009–2010.The 2009–2010 fall season saw the women’ssoccer team, the men’s and women’s crosscountry teams and the women’s tennis teamwin WVIAC championships. Each of the fourchampionship winning teams will look toreload this season. For football, men’s soccer,volleyball and men’s and women’s golf,expectations are high as each team returns anabundance of experience needed to challengefor a conference title.Head football coach Dennis Creehan andhis staff enter their second season at the helmof the Bobcat football program. Wesleyan wasarguably the youngest team in the conferencein 2009 and returns 23 players with startingexperience this year. Among the notablereturnees are senior captain and defensivetackle Mike Price, quarterbacks Zane Zebraskyand Adam Neugebauer, and defensivebacks Ottis Scott, Antoine Staten, ValentinoWilliams and Fellipe Teixeira.The Bobcat offense features a new lookas offensive coordinator Gary Goff recentlyjoined Wesleyan. Goff brings the Air Raidoffense to Wesleyan, which was made famousby former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach.Prior to Wesleyan, Goff served as the offensivecoordinator at Princeton University andDivision I New Mexico State University.The women’s soccer team opens up thenew season under the leadership of newhead coach Patrick Holguin(pictured at left). The LadyBobcats will be looking towin their fourth consecutiveWVIAC crown and make arun in the NCAA tournament.Wesleyan returns reigning WVIAC Player ofthe Year Meghan Zayas in addition to nineother players with starting experience. Thegoalkeeper position is in good hands as bothCaroline Lalley and Lauren Hessian return tobattle for the starting spot.Two other sports expected to continue theirWVIAC dominance are the men’s and women’scross country teams of head coach Jesse Skiles.The women’s squad has won 15 of the past16 championships, while the men’s teamhas won three of the past four. The men’s teamgraduated only onesenior while thewomen’s teamlost four. The topfive runners on themen’s side all return,including top finisherNate Edwards. For the women, three of the topfive runners will be back.The volleyball team is poised to make atitle run under second year head coach JackieMurphy. The Lady Bobcats are loaded withveteran experience from a team that finishedthe year ranked fifth in the conference.Wesleyan will also bring in a large andtalented recruiting class that should providedepth and competition. All-WVIAC outsidehitter Jess Pattyn and setter Hayley Barhorstare expected to lead the charge this season.The men’s soccer team was hindered byinjuries in 2009, but enters the new seasonhealthy, experienced and hungry to regaina WVIAC championship. Legendary headcoach Gavin Donaldson has his team readyto go as ten players with starting experiencereturn. With the addition of another deepand talented recruiting class, the Bobcatsare expected to contend for the WVIACtitle. Leading the way is goalkeeper RyanMcDougall, mid-fielders Joe Johns andMichael Scruggs, as well as forwardDiego Michelato.The defending WVIAC champion women’stennis team is without the services ofdeparting senior Nicole Andreini, but returnsthe remainder of their top six intact. The LadyBobcats look to improve on their back-tobackNCAA Atlantic Regional appearancesbehind the attack of returnees Olga Demina,Samantha Coral and Maisa Shigematsu.For the men’s and women’s golf teams,experience is the key heading into the 2010–2011 campaign. NCAA qualifier Mike Gervaisis the only departing senior between the twosquads, meaning the future is bright for theBobcat golf program. The women are led byjuniors Callie Witkosky and Katie Alvaro, whilethe men will look to senior Mark Johnson tolead the way.View team schedules and stay currentwith Bobcat athletics by visitinghttp://bobcats.wvwc.edu.SUMMER/FALL 2010 SUNDIAL 21