Year in Review
June 16, 2005 03:35 PM | General
June 16, 2005
 2004-05 presented West Virginia University fans with a highlight reel's worth of excitement. WVU Sports Communications |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Ed Pastilong -- the man in charge of the West Virginia University athletic department -- can often be seen these days wearing a big grin on his face. And he should smile because collectively, his department put together one of the finest athletic seasons in school history.
From last summer until this month, West Virginia University has reaped the positive publicity of having its men’s basketball team nearly advance to the Final Four, the football team qualify for its second straight New Year’s Day bowl appearance, the women’s basketball team go all the way to the WNIT finals, the women’s soccer team make its fifth straight NCAA tournament appearance, and a pair of magnificent athletes collect national titles in wrestling’s Greg Jones and women’s track’s Megan Metcalfe.
It truly was the year of the Mountaineer.
And that Mountaineer pride was never more evident than in Coach John Beilein’s emerging MEN’S BASKETBALL program that captured the hearts of hoops purists from coast to coast. West Virginia came into the season picked near the bottom of the Big East Conference and wound up finishing tied for seventh with Georgetown at the end of the regular season.
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| Mike Gansey points to the sky after hitting his free throw to beat Villanova in the Big East semifinals at Madison Square Garden.
AP photo |
Then WVU caught fire in the Big East tournament, beating Providence for the third time, and upsetting higher-seeded Boston College and Villanova to make a surprise trip to the finals against Syracuse.
The magic continued in the NCAA tournament with West Virginia pulling out nail-biters against Creighton, Wake Forest and Texas Tech before coming one basket shy of beating Louisville and making just its second-ever trip to the Final Four. WVU cracked the national rankings for the first time since 1998, finishing 12th in the Coaches Poll.
Center Kevin Pittsnogle and Mike Gansey became household names and Beilein was presented with a well-deserved contract extension at the end of the season.
Across campus at the Milan Puskar Center, fourth-year coach Rich Rodriguez kept FOOTBALL at the top of the Big East standings for a second straight year.
The Mountaineers were regular occupants in the Top 15 until a pair of late-season losses to Boston College and Pitt nearly knocked them out. But West Virginia recovered with a determined performance in the Gator Bowl against Florida State losing to the perennial national title contenders, 30-18. Defensive back Pacman Jones was the sixth overall player selected in the 2005 NFL draft, becoming just the school’s eighth player to be picked in the first round.
Quarterback Rasheed Marshall was named the Big East offensive player of the year and also joined Jones and Chris Henry in the NFL draft. One of the country’s top recruiting classes has WVU fans enthused about another strong football campaign in 2005.
Mike Carey’s WVU WOMEN’S BASKETBALL program took another step in the right direction by making back-to-back post-season trips for the first time in school history. In 2004 WVU advanced to the NCAA tournament where it lost at Ohio State. This year WVU wasn’t able to get back to the Big Dance, but it did make an impression in the WNIT advancing all the way to the finals, beating Maine, St. John’s, Wake Forest and Kentucky along the way.
Sophomore guard Meg Bulger was a WBCA/Kodak honorable mention All-American selection and captured the BIG EAST scoring title. Senior point guard Yolanda Paige led the nation in assists, was an AP honorable mention All-American and became the first player in school history to make a WNBA roster. She currently plays for the Indiana Fever.
Coach Nikki Izzo-Brown’s nationally recognized WOMEN’S SOCCER program kept the ball rolling in 2004 with its fifth-straight NCAA tournament appearance. The Mountaineers went on the road to beat SMU in the first round of the NCAA tournament before falling at Texas in the second round. Senior Laura Kane was named a third-team All-American by the NSCAA and Ashley Banks, the Big East co-rookie of the year, was named to the Soccerbuzz freshman All-American second team.
West Virginia has managed to win at least 15 matches in each of the last five seasons and owns an impressive 80-24-4 record during that span. Izzo-Brown is expecting another outstanding season in 2005 after landing the nation’s fifth-best recruiting class.
Soccer has also made a revival down the hallway in the men’s program. Second-year coach Mike Seabolt orchestrated an impressive turnaround by leading MEN’S SOCCER to its first post-season appearance since 1999. Behind the play of all-Big East midfield Aaron Pitchkolan, West Virginia pulled off a regular season upset of nationally rated Notre Dame and stunned No. 11 St. John’s in the first round of the Big East tournament.
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| Greg Jones celebrates his third NCAA title at the 2005 wrestling championships in St. Louis.
Bill Greenblatt photo |
West Virginia’s 12 victories in 2004 were three more than its total number of wins during the prior two seasons in 2002 and 2003. Pitchkolan also became the first WVU player to make a Major League Soccer roster and is now starting for league-leading F.C. Dallas.
Linda Burdette’s GYMNASTICS program has been the model of consistency and continued its winning ways by advancing to its 26th NCAA regional appearance in the last 27 years. Sophomore Janae Cox qualified for nationals for the second straight season and placed 24th in the all-around competition. The Mountaineers tied Maryland for second place at the East Atlantic Gymnastics League championships behind champion North Carolina.
Former Olympic medalist Sergio Lopez has the MEN’S and WOMEN’S SWIMMING programs back on track after just one year heading the program. The men’s team equaled its best ever finish at Big East championships (fourth) and the women finished four spots higher than its 2004 finish of 11th. West Virginia won the last three races of the meet and several competitors were close to qualifying for nationals. Strong recruiting classes in both programs should have West Virginia near the top of the conference in 2006.
The WOMEN’S TENNIS program took a swing at post-season play for the first time under fourth-year coach Dan Silverstein, finishing the year with a 16-7 overall record and placing fifth at the 2005 Big East championships. The Mountaineers have their entire lineup returning for 2006.
Longtime VOLLEYBALL coach Veronica Hammersmith got WVU back on the right side of the ledger by posting its first winning season this decade and its best record in 13 years with an 18-13 overall mark.
The BASEBALL team nearly overcame a rough start when it won just 10 of its first 28 games before dropping a three-game series at Notre Dame to finish the year 25-30. The Mountaineers won conference series’ against Rutgers, Seton Hall and Villanova but managed just a combined 1-10 record against the top four teams in the conference. Senior centerfielder Lee Fritz and sophomore shortstop Doug Nelms earned first-team all-Big East honors.
A solid recruiting class has veteran coach Greg Van Zant expecting a bounce back campaign in 2006.
RIFLE made its return to the range in 2005 and finished the season with a 3-8 overall record and a seventh-place finish at the Great America Rifle Conference championships. The Mountaineers have all but two shooters returning for 2006.
The women’s ROWING team’s varsity four boat took fifth place at the Big East championships and the Mountaineers also had a strong showing at the Murphy Cup to complete the regular season.
The two best individual performances of the year came from WRESTLING’S Greg Jones and TRACK’S Megan Metcalfe.
Jones capped off a storybook career by winning his third national title, defeating Cornell’s Tyler Baier in the 184-pound weight class of the 2005 NCAA championships. Jones became just the 39th wrestler in NCAA history to win three national titles and finished his career as one of the finest athletes in WVU history.
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| Megan Metcalfe crosses the finish line first in the women's 5K at the 2005 NCAA outdoor track and field championships in Sacramento, Calif.
Kirby Lee/The Sporting Image |
Despite fielding an injury riddled lineup for most of the year, veteran coach Craig Turnbull’s grapplers still managed to win a share of the Eastern Wrestling title – it’s sixth in school history.
Like Jones, Mecalfe’s journey to a national title was just as inspiring. Last fall, the senior helped the WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY team to their best-ever finish at nationals, placing 15th. The Mountaineers also captured its first-ever regional cross country title during the regular season.
Metcalfe was idle during indoors before returning to the oval for the outdoor season. She spent the last 12 weeks fulfilling her internship requirements in order to earn a master’s degree in physical therapy and only raced competitively in the 5,000 once before the NCAA East Regionals. She captured that race with the nation’s second-fastest time and then beat the national favorite at NCAAs in Sacramento, Calif., to become just the program’s third national champion.
Her performance at nationals gave West Virginia enough points to finish tied for 20th – the highest ever finish for the school at outdoor nationals. Joining Metcalfe at the national meet were seniors Jennifer Davis, Jennifer Kemp and sophomore Jessica Czaikowski. The distance medley relay team of Kemp, Davis, Susan Davis and Pam Richardson finished sixth at the indoor national championships to help WVU to a 41st place finish.
Considered in its entirety it was, indeed, a year to remember for West Virginia University athletics.
