Sports
The Wichitan October 21, 2009
’Bama showdown
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Doubles team takes seventh at nationals MSUmustangs.com For the Wichitan
Vjekoslav Stipanic and Bozo Zaputovic split a pair of matches to claim seventh place at the ITA National Small College Championships. The teammates both come from Montenegro, where Zaputovic said they played against and alongside each other since
childhood. Stipanic and Zaputovic fell to Southern Indiana’s Diego Gimenez and Joseph Boesing 6-2, 5-7, 10-7 in the consolation semifinals before rallying to defeat Metro State’s Scott Bradley and Georgie Perez 6-2, 6-4. They completed the fall season with an 11-3 mark as doubles partners.
Photos by Brittany Norman Zaputovic and Stipanic traveled to Alabama to compete in the ITA National Small College Championships. They took seventh overall.
MSU athlete hangs up cleats and takes on new role
dents at Arlington High School. They shared a love of soccer, and each other. Tonia was an AllState soccer player two years in
a row in high school. Joe, also an avid soccer player, graduated one year before Tonia and walked on to the men’s soccer team at the University of North Texas. Before he finished his first year as a starting forward for UNT in 1986, Tonia discovered she was pregnant with his child. Tonia had just graduated high school. Joe had to quit his soccer career to support his new family. Heather Primavera was born on March 22. 1987. Although her parents were young and inexperienced, they soon had a good idea of what their blueeyes, freckled face little girl was capable of. Joe coached Heather’s recreational soccer teams until she was 10 years old. She played for five club soccer teams during the next eight years. She attended Mansfield High School where
she was a member of the junior varsity squad her freshman year. She made the varsity team as a sophomore and played as the goalkeeper through her senior year. She won All-District 4-5A accolades two years in a row. She was a two-time all-region pick while tying the Mansfield High School single season shutout record with 13. At MSU, Heather was a threeyear starter for Coach Jeff Trimble. Heather won her first collegiate start on October 19, 2005 against Northeastern State. In 2006, she started 17 matches and compiled a 9-7-1 record with six shutouts. In her second year, she led the Lone Star Conference with a 0.83 goals against average and was ranked 35th in the NCAA Division II rankings. She was also
named to the Lone Star Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll. Her senior year she was named to the All-Lone Star Conference Honorable Mention team after posting a 12-6 record with three shutouts. Heather graduated from Midwestern State in May with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication. She planned to stay in Wichita Falls so she could work on getting her teaching certificate to become a high school soccer coach. Grad school occupied her mind until the day Jeff Trimble, head women’s soccer coach, offered her a job. “At first I thought it would be kind of weird because I’ve played with most of them (players on the team) for the last three years,” Heather said. “But it’s not at all.”
Heather’s roles on the team include filing and keeping up with all the new, incoming freshman recruits and handling all the travel arrangements for out of town games. She must also organize and file statistics from all games, including information from the opposing teams. “Coach (Trimble) loves having me around because I’m a girl and I can deal with all the girl stuff,” Heather said with a laugh. “Girls come in crying and he doesn’t know what to do sometimes.” Heather is currently working on her master’s degree in Kinesiology. She will continue coaching at MSU for as long as she can. Her main goal is to become the head women’s soccer coach at the collegiate level. “My love for soccer will never end,” Heather said.
MSU turned up the pressure after the intermission and found the back of the net after Kyle Hyden served a cross into the box from the left corner. Hyden’s serve initiated a three-header combo in the middle of the box as Craig Sutherland redirected to Jake Landon who sent it to the far post to Nick Auditore, who deposited his team-leading eighth score of
the season to push the lead to 2-0 in the 59th minute. Midwestern pressured St. Mary throughout the game, outshooting the Rattlers 31-3 including 13-0 edge in shots on goal. Senior forward Bryan Sajjadi helped to put the game away by playing a part in the last three goals scored by Midwestern in the last 22 minutes of the game.
Sajjadi touched a give-and-go which resulted in Fitzgerald’s second goal of the season in the 79th minute, then threaded a cross to Tex McCullough for another assist in the 82nd minute. Sajjadi finally scored after converting a penalty kick in the 90th minute. “We played more consistent for a 90-minute period without a lot of letdown,” Elder said.
The Mustangs defense allowed goalkeeper Raul Herrera to record his ninth shutout of the season, without having to make a save. With the shutout, Herrera tied former MSU standout David Stockton with the most shutouts in a season since Midwestern became a member of NCAA Division II in 1995, but needs two more to match Jeff Henscheid (1980) and Kevin Payne (1986). The Mustangs, who improved to 10-1-2, extended their unbeaten streak to 12-straight matches while stretching their home unbeaten string to 19. With the loss, St. Mary’s dropped to 4-8-1 on the season. Midwestern State moved ahead seven spots to No. 11 in the latest National Soccer Coaches’ Association of America/adidas national poll released Tuesday afternoon. Midwestern State is one of six teams in the South Central/Midwest Region to receive a national ranking joining No. 4 Fort Lewis (Colo.), No. 6 West Texas A&M, No. 16 Colorado Mines, No. 17 Truman (Mo.) and No. 25 Metro State (Colo.). The Mustangs have carried a ranking in the last 41 national polls dating back to the 2006 season. Midwestern faces a pair of critical regional and Lone Star Conference matches this weekend as the Mustangs take on Eastern New Mexico Friday in Portales before battling West Texas A&M Sunday in Canyon. The Mustangs have faced these two teams earlier in the season. On Sept. 18, it took two
overtimes, but the game ended in a 0-0 tie with West Texas A&M, and two days later, MSU picked up a 5-0 win over Eastern New Mexico. Both games were played at the MSU Soccer Field. With the win, Midwestern State moved up a spot to No. 2 in the South Central Region Tuesday when the NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Committee released its weekly rankings. The Mustangs (10-1-2), who are currently riding a 12-match unbeaten streak, moved into the top two when Truman dropped a match to Lewis (Ill.) last week. MSU trails top-ranked West Texas A&M (11-1-1), but are ahead of No. 3 Truman (Mo.) (10-2-1) and Incarnate Word (Texas) (6-4-3) in the South Central Region. Fort Lewis (Colo.) tops the Central Region followed by Colorado Mines (11-2-3), Metro State (Colo.) (9-4-2) and Regis (Colo.) (7-3-4). Top-ranked teams advance to the NCAA Division II postseason when the final regular season rankings are published Nov. 3. Championships selection is set for Monday, Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. on NCAA.com. The top two teams from the South Central Region and top two sides from the Central Region will meet at the site of the Central Region’s top team on the weekend of Nov. 13. The winner will then advance to the NCAA II national quarterfinals the following weekend against the West Region winner for the right to compete in the Final Four.
Vanessa Vick For the Wichitan
Heather Primavera knew she was destined to become a soccer player by her fifth birthday. Heather’s mother and father, Joe and Tonia Primavera, enrolled her in recreational soccer at the age of five. From that day on, Heather’s life revolved around her love of the game. She played throughout grade school, junior high and high school. Heather was recruited to play for MSU in 2005. She spent four years on the women’s soccer team, leading the girls to many victories as captain and goalkeeper. Today, Heather Primavera is the first assistant women’s soccer coach at MSU. It’s only natural. Soccer runs in the family. Joe and Tonia first met as stu-
Heather Primavera, former goalkeeper for MSU, is now the Assistant Coach for the women’s soccer team. Photo by Patrick Johnston)
Mustangs pound St. Mary’s 5-0, move to No. 11 in natonal rankings Kaitlin Morrson Sports Editor
Midwestern State took the lead early in the first half of Sunday’s game against St. Mary’s (Texas) at the MSU Soccer Field and never looked back. Tyler Murphy scored his first goal of the season off a header from Nathan Fitzgerald in the third minute of the match.
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