Colorado College Athletics

GLORIES OF THE PAST, A DRIVING FORCE FOR THE PRESENT
Tigers Strive to Maintain Storied Tradition

A pioneer in the evolution of collegiate women's soccer since the mid-1970s, as well as a perennial contender for the national championship in the late 1980s and early '90s, CC remains poised as ever to rekindle the memorable achievements of its past. Another talented and driven team shoots for the stars in 2011 while celebrating its sixth anniversary in C-USA, determined to add yet another exciting chapter to a proud history that now spans 37 years overall. 
       

The Early Years
It all began in the spring of 1975. Officially formed as a club program, women's soccer at Colorado College quickly earned a reputation as one of the most popular sports on campus. Steve Paul, a freshman reserve on the NCAA Division III men's team, agreed to serve as coach and molded a team that went undefeated (8-0). That fall, the Tigers followed up with a 10-1 record, including a 4-0 mark in the inaugural CC Invitational, a tournament they won without allowing a goal in victories over the University of Colorado, Western State, Colorado State and Northern Colorado.

The first invitational in state history at the women's intercollegiate level, the competition would continue for the next decade but needed only three years to become a national event. That happened in 1978, the same year that Paul's troops attained varsity status. The Colorado College Invitational expanded to 11 teams, including Stanford, Cal-Santa Barbara, Texas and Wyoming. It received coverage from Soccer America Magazine, as well as from local and regional news media. By 1981, when CC hosted the seventh annual event, the University of Arizona and Indiana had joined the field. The Tigers won the tournament for the third time in 1983.

Colorado College co-founded the Rocky Mountain Women's Intercollegiate Soccer League in 1977 with charter members CU, CSU, UNC, Western State and the CU Medical Center. After merging with the men to form RMISL in '78, the Tigers won league titles in '81 and '82. They were undefeated in league play and ranked as high as No. 9 nationally in the fall of 1982, going 14-4 overall in Paul's final season at the helm.

Paul, who was inducted into the Colorado College Athletics Hall of Fame in May 2004, left with an eight-year record of 110-46-7. His program had produced its first All-Americans in Kristen Fowler (1980), goalkeeper Robyn Waltz (1981) and Kathy Ludwig (1982), as well as several All-RMISL selections in Fowler (three times), Cheryl Murphy, Debbie Parks and Judy Sondermann. The school initially offered athletics scholarships for women's soccer in the fall of 1981, and as Region VII champions, the Tigers received their first bid to the national post-season tournament in Chapel Hill, N.C., that same campaign. Meanwhile, increasing efforts to comply with Title IX legislation promised an even brighter future.
    

Birthplace of the National Championship
While establishing its own storied tradition, CC carved a special niche in the history of collegiate athletics as well. In 1980, Paul spearheaded an effort that brought seven teams to Colorado College from schools across the United States. At stake? The first-ever national collegiate championship for women's soccer.

The Tigers, who had attained their varsity status just two years earlier, didn't even participate after posting a 12-7-1 record that season. Instead, they let legitimate contenders from the University of North Carolina, Harvard, Texas A&M, UCLA, Cortland State of New York, Northern Colorado and Colorado State battle each other for bragging rights at present-day Washburn Field. Another and certainly no less important reason for the tournament was to earn an official sanction for the sport from the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. And, by complying with and fulfilling guidelines set forth by the AIAW, Paul and his fellow organizers ultimately achieved their goal.

After the Red Dragons of Cortland State claimed that inaugural crown, collegiate women's soccer was off and running. North Carolina hosted and won the competition in 1981, under the AIAW's sanction. A year later, the National Collegiate Athletic Association took over sponsorship of the event and crowned the University of Central Florida as champion. The rest is history. Colorado College, a pioneer in the development of the sport itself, takes great pride as the birthplace to the national tournament.
 

CC's Golden Era
The early 1980s presented a dilemma in terms of gender equity. Deciding ultimately to upgrade a women's sport rather than downgrade its Division I hockey program, the administration at Colorado College chose soccer as beneficiary of the change. Dang Pibulvech, an assistant at Central Florida, was hired as Paul's successor. The Tigers celebrated his arrival with a 14-0-2 season in 1983 that saw them reach No. 7 in the national rankings but receive no bid to the NCAA playoffs.

Competing primarily against Division I teams for the first time in 1984, CC took the next step. Pibulvech's squad finished with an impressive 11-4-1 record including a 1-1 mark in the NCAA Tournament, defeating George Mason University, 2-1, in the first round before bowing out, 1-0 in a penalty-kick shootout after double overtime, to the University of California-Berkeley in the quarterfinals. In 1985, the Tigers officially entered the ranks of Division I and made their first of five national semifinal appearances within a span of seven years.

Janine Szpara, the starting goalkeeper from 1985 through 1988, is one of only two student athletes in school history to earn All-America honors in her sport for four consecutive seasons. Szpara, along with former women's soccer standouts Fowler, Tara Nott, Kerri Tashiro and Mary Everett, also have been inducted as individuals into the school's Athletics Hall of Fame.

Starting with the undefeated season in 1983, the Tigers entered a "Golden Era" that would yield eight consecutive NCAA playoff bids (1984-91), two appearances in the championship match (1986 and '89) and an overall winning percentage of .757 (164-49-11) against varsity opposition. The only prize that eluded them was the national title, as both trips to the finals ended with narrow defeats to North Carolina. The entire 1986 team, including Szpara and Tashiro, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in October 2006.
 

Moving Ahead, Decade by Decade
A powerhouse among the Division I elite through the early 1990s, Colorado College can boast of 32 winning seasons in its previous 36 years of existence. In 2000, the Tigers ushered in the new millennium with 13 victories, their most since 1991. A year later they also recorded the program's best winning percentage (.667) in a decade, going 11-5-2 while suffering CC's fewest losses since 1992. In 2004, Bennett's first season at the helm, they lost just twice in their final 13 games and finished 9-5-2. In 2005, they earned a Top-25 ranking after a 5-0 start capped by a stunning victory at the University of Nebraska.

They took another huge step forward in 2006, tying for fourth place in their inaugural season as a member of Conference USA, then earning an NCAA tournament bid after upsetting UTEP and regular-season champion SMU in the league playoffs. Along the way, Bennett's troops attained a Top 25 national ranking and climbed as high as No. 8 in the Central Region poll. Despite falling to UAB (Alabama-Birmingham) in the C-USA championship game and to the University of Colorado in the NCAA opening round, the they posted the program's highest victory total (15) since 1991.

In 2009, en route to a 12-6-2 overall record that fell just short of earning them another NCAA bid, CC went 8-2-1 in league play to finish second in the Conference USA standings before falling to nationally-ranked University of Memphis in the league semifinals. Last fall, despite significant graduation losses and another very challenging schedule, the Tigers finished 8-7-4 while producing four all-conference selections. 

History speaks for itself. Colorado College's tradition of excellence has produced 14 All-Americans who have claimed a total of 23 plaques. Seven players have earned the ISAA/Adidas Scholar Athlete Award a total of 10 times, while many others have earned all-region recognition and district all-academic honors. Several alumni such as Szpara, Tami Carteen, Martina Holan, Charry Korgel, Robyn Neigel and Kris Zeits have gone on to play professionally. A handful more, including Maryclaire Robinson, Liza Grant and Karla Thompson, have graduated to the collegiate coaching ranks. Holan, who now goes by her married named of Martina Franko, played for Canada at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

The Tigers own an incredible winning percentage of .817 (206-38-21) in 265 all-time games on the CC campus (Stewart and Washburn Fields) under Bennett and former coaches Pibulvech, Carl Beal (1991-93), Nicole Crepeau (1994-98), Greg Ryan (1999-2002) and Erik Oman (2003). That includes a 6-1 record on Washburn's AstroPlay surface. Toss in a 12-3 mark in 15 all-time matches at  Stetson Hills Soccer Field in northeast Colorado Springs, along with a season-opening loss to William & Mary at Fountain Valley High School in 2001, and they officially are 218-42-21 (.813) in 281 home outings overall entering the 2011 season. And, with the thin air at 6,200 feet above sea level, there's no reason to think out-of-town visitors will fare any better in the future.   
     

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Milestone Events
• 1975 – In their inaugural year as a club program, the Tigers go 8-0 in the spring season and 10-1 in the fall, including a 4-0 mark in the first Colorado College Invitational Tournament.
• 1978 – The Tigers attain varsity status while the CC Invitational expands to 11 teams and receives national coverage in Soccer America magazine.
• 1980 – Colorado College serves as host for the first national championship tournament.
• 1981 – CC initiates athletics scholarships for women's soccer and receives its first bid to the AIAW-sanctioned national tournament in Chapel Hill, N.C.
• 1983 – Dang Pibulvech is hired as head coach. Tigers go undefeated at 14-0-2 and attain a No. 7 national ranking, but receive no national bid.
• 1984 – CC earns a trip to its first NCAA Division I Tournament and advances to the second round.
• 1985 – In its second consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament, CC reaches the semifinals for the first time before losing to eventual champion North Carolina, 3-2.
• 1986 – CC advances to its first national championship game but falls to North Carolina, 2-0. The Tigers defeated California and UMass on their way to the final.
• 1989 – The Tigers wind up national runners-up for the second time after losing to North Carolina in the NCAA championship match (2-0). Their final record of 16-4 includes playoff victories over Massachusetts (5-2) and Santa Clara (2-0).
• 1990 – CC reaches the national semifinals for the third time in six years. The Tigers fall to North Carolina, 2-1.
• 1991 – Under first-year coach Carl Beal, CC earns a post-season bid for the eighth consecutive season and advances to the NCAA semifinals for the fifth time in seven years while tying a school record with 17 victories.
• 2000 – After tying a school record with eight consecutive victories to start the season, the Tigers go on to win their most matches since 1991 while finishing 13-7.
• 2001 – With a final record of 11-5-2, CC records its best winning percentage (.667) since 1991 and fewest losses since 1992.
• 2002 – A very young Colorado College team recovers from an 0-3 start to record the program's third consecutive winning season (8-7-2), with three Tigers being voted to the national All-Independent team.
• 2004 – Geoff Bennett is hired as head coach.
• 2006 – In their inaugural season as an affiliate member of Conference USA, the Tigers finish as runners-up in the league's post-season tournament and make their first appearance in the NCAA playoffs since 1991.
• 2008 – After tying for fourth place in the league standings for the third consecutive season, CC reaches the Conference USA semifinals before finishing with a winning percentage of .636 (13-7-2) overall.
• 2009 – The Tigers go 8-2-1 in league play to finish second in the regular-season standings before falling 1-0 to the University of Memphis in the semifinals of the Conference USA tournament.
• 2010 – Colorado College deals regular-season champion UCF (University of Central Florida) its only Conference USA defeat of the season and loses only one of eight non-league matches while finishing with a winning record of 8-7-4.
• 2012 – Colorado College captures its first Conference USA regular-season championship with an 8-2-1 league record and returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006 after receiving an at-large berth.
• 2013 – Colorado College claims the Conference USA regular-season championship with an 8-1-1 record won the C-USA tournament with a 3-0 victory over North Texas. The Tigers played host to an NCAA Tournament game at Stewart Field for the first time since 1991.
• 2014 – Colorado College joins Mountain West as an affiliate member.
• 2015 – Colorado College competes as Team USA at World University Games
• 2018 – Colorado College wins Colorado Cup.