Nov. 3, 2015
MW CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
SPARTANS HEAD TO MW TOURNAMENT AS NO. 2 SEED#2-San José State will meet the winner of UNLV vs. New Mexico in the semi-final match of the Mountain West Championship on Thursday, November 5 at the SDSU Sports Deck in San Diego, Calif. It is the first appearance in the MW Tournament for San José State, which will enter after winning its final two regular season contests.2015 MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIPSemi-Final MatchThursday, November 5, 2015, 4:00 p.m. PST
San Diego, Calif.
SDSU Sports Deck (1,250)#2-San José State (10-7-2, 8-3-0 MW) vs. #3-New Mexico (9-8-1, 7-3-1 MW) or #6-UNLV (11-9-0, 6-5-0 MW)LIVE STATS
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Lauren Hanson WINS MW COACH OF THE YEARSecond-year Spartans head coach Lauren Hanson is the 2015 Mountain West Coach of the Year. She led the team to an 8-3-0 record in conference play, and notched the program's first 10-win season since 2010. Hanson is San José State's first-ever Coach of the Year in the Mountain West in any sports since aligning with the conference in 2013. The Spartans finished the regular season in second place and with a first-round bye in the Mountain West Championship Tournament. San José State was predicted to finish in seventh place in the preseason coaches poll.FIVE SPARTANS ARE ALL MW PLAYERSThe Mountain West announced that Zoe Makrigiannis, Darlene Rodriguez and Dorthe Hoppius are first-team all-conference honorees. Additionally, freshman Darriell Franklin is a second team all-conference player and Rachel Docherty is an honorable mention defender. Makrigiannis, who registered six shutouts in conference play, is the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year. Five conference honorees is tied for the most in program history with the 2009 team which had five All-Western Athletic Conference players.HOW IT ALL UNFOLDEDSan José State started the conference season guns blazing, winning six of the first seven matches. The run included four straight wins on the road, all by way of shutouts by the Spartan defense and the eventual defensive player of the year, keeper Zoe Makrigiannis. Freshman Darriell Franklin had game-winning goals in the first two conference matches, and she went on to add two more throughout the year. Dorthe Hoppius kicked it into gear down the stretch, scoring five goals and giving SJSU its fifth road victory with a golden goal in overtime at New Mexico. San José State fell, 2-1, to San Diego State in a battle for first place at the SDSU Sports Deck. It was the first of two losses in a row, as UNLV came to San Jose and shutout the Spartans, 1-0. But, SJSU finished strong with consecutive 2-0 shutouts of Nevada and Fresno State to finish 8-3-0 in MW play, which was good for second place and a first-round bye in the championship tournament.MAKRIGIANNIS' CAREER SNAPSHOTZoe Makrigiannis, the 2015 MW Defensive Player of the Year, has logged over 1,000 minutes in all four years of her Spartan career, and has a record of 23-27-6. She is the program's all-time leader in shutouts with 16, second all-time with a 1.20 career goals against average and fifth all-time with 223 saves. 2015 marks the second consecutive year which the Surrey, B.C., Canada native has garnered first-team all-conference recognition.SPARTAN UP, LOCK DOWNZoe Makrigiannis is the defensive player of the year for a reason, but before opposing forwards get to her, they have to crack a very tough backline. Starters Rachel Docherty, Claire Berkley and Myia Wilkes were a huge part of why San José State outscored its MW foes 15-6 this season. Nine of the 11 opponents during conference play were held to less than five shots on goal, including Nevada, which didn't even get one shot off in the contest on Oct. 25.THE TURNING POINTSan José State went 0-3-1 in the four nonconference matches leading up to MW play. The team lost back-to-back matches at home to San Francisco, 3-1, and CSUN, 4-3. Dorthe Hoppius had a hat trick against CSUN, but the Spartans still weren't able to pull out the win. But SJSU went on the road for the opening weekend of MW action and beat Wyoming, 1-0, in overtime, and Colorado State, 2-0. Freshman Darriell Franklin scored the game winner in both of those contests, and the Spartans went on to win four of the next five matches.ALL HOPPED UPFirst-Team All-Mountain West forward Dorthe Hoppius scored five goals during MW play, three of which were game-winners. The native of Dorsten, Germany scored in four consecutive conference matches during which the Spartans went 3-1. She sent the Spartans home with a victory with her golden goal in overtime at New Mexico on Oct. 16, and punched SJSU's ticket to the championship with her game-winner versus Nevada on Oct. 25. In the team's nonconference finale versus CSUN, Hoppius recorded the 10th hat trick in program history.FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT WITH FRANKLIN-HOPPIUS TANDEMDarriell Franklin's eight goals matches the San José State record for goals in a single-season by a freshman. Together with Hoppius, the freshman-sophomore tandem combined for 16 goals, second only to San Diego State's Pruitt-Mitchell combination which scored 18 times. Franklin came in and was the immediate source of offense for the Spartans, but the two started firing on all cylinders together after Hoppius assisted Franklin's game-winning goal in overtime in the conference opener at Wyoming.LAST TIME AT A CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPSan José State is playing in a conference championship tournament for the first time since the 2011 Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championship. The fourth-seeded Spartans faced fifth-seeded Idaho in the opening round and fell, 2-1. The Spartans' last victory at a championship tournament was a 2-0 win over Boise State in the opening round of the 2010 WAC Championship.