Erin Blasinski
Managing Editor
Fall sports coaches Q&A
Marty Shirley, men’s soccer
David Dixon, women’s soccer
Chris Layne, cross country
Q. Please describe the season overall.
Dixon: We had a slow start, with so many new players. We had a great
second half of the season and a great playoff run, as we finished AAC Champions
and two games away from the National Tournament.
Shirley: We had a good season.
Layne: It was definitely a successful season for both the men and the
women. This was the first year we’ve sent both teams to nationals.
Q. Did the team meet your expectations this year?
Dixon: At the end of the year we were the team that I expected us to be.
Shirley: We never achieved our goals of winning the conference and going
to the regional tournament. However, we have been men of character and this
outweighs any wins.
Layne: Each team sat down at the beginning and set goals. Both teams
achieved all their goals.
Q. What were the team goals? Were they met?
Dixon: We had several team goals and met some of them and didn’t quite
accomplish some of the others. Our biggest goal was to make it to the National
Tournament and we fell a little short.
Shirley: Our goals were to win the conference and go to the regional
tournament. We did not meet them.
Layne: Our goals were to win conference, region and to make it to
nationals.
Q. Were there any outstanding players who led the team all year?
Dixon: Bianca Spoto and Kim Morris were great all year for us. The entire
team playing together at the end of the season was the reason for our success.
Shirley: Ali Mohamed was conference player of the year. Brian and Steven
and Ali made first team, David Lilly made 2nd team and Justin Fuller made 3rd
team, Eric made Academic All-American NAIA and NSCAA. Eric and Justin Ruetz made
the AAC Academic team.
Layne: The men were led by Sean Bowman and Chris Wright, as well as
senior captain Shane Oakleaf. The women were led by Marta Zimon, Megan Lease and
Lauren Gross. Megan finished 30th at nationals and earned All-American honors,
while Marta was our conference and region champ. She also broke the school
record this season.
Q. What are your hopes for next year?
Dixon: We want to win the Conference and Regional Championship. We also
want to get to the NAIA National Tournament and compete for a National
Championship
Shirley: To build off of this year and continue to strengthen our
commitment to God as players and as a team, be more fit coming in and recruit to
fill needs of the team.
Layne: To improve on our finish at nationals this year. If recruiting
goes well, we'll set our sights on top 10 next year.