The Rise of Idaho State Soccer

Editors Note: This is the first of a three-part series discussing the birth of the Idaho State soccer program and its quick rise to winning three straight Big Sky Conference championships. This story recaps the the birth of the program to winning three straight titles. Upcoming stories will discuss the culture of the program and recap key individuals involved with the growth of the program. 


POCATELLO, Idaho- Idaho State's women's soccer program was born in 1998, and, as you might expect from a brand new Division I program, staggered through a 2-14-1 inaugural season. Just six seasons later, the Bengals were the pride of the Big Sky Conference, a three-time conference title winner who upset the nation's No. 14 team in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Here's a quick look at each of those seasons during ISU's mercurial rise under coach Gordon Henderson.

1998
Idaho State Athletic Director Irv Cross was looking for a coach to start the new women's soccer program and he found the perfect man for the job: Gordon Henderson, who had undertaken a similar task in building the North Dakota State program from the ground up.

"I was intrigued by the Idaho State job," said Henderson in reflection. "My wife was from California, so the prospect of moving closer to home suited our family at the time. I do know I had a spring season to prepare, but we were literally starting everything from scratch: identifying the field where we would play, beginning to contact players… there existed a club team at the time, some of our players came from the club team. I also had to get out and establish myself in the local community, get to know the players in Idaho, first and foremost, and then identify players from where our recruiting hotbeds would be. The closest would be Salt Lake and the northern Utah area."

The Bengals ended their first season 2-14-1, 1-6 in Big Sky play, their only wins coming over Albertsons College, 5-0, and in overtime over Northern Arizona, 2-1. They did manage a 0-0 tie with Boise State in the second game of the season.

Despite the record, Henderson was encouraged by his team's competitiveness. The Bengals lost 7 games by just one goal, including two in overtime.  "We took great pride in being defensively solid at the start. If teams can't score, they can't win," said Henderson. "I must have used that phrase a thousand times. There are not many programs around the country where, when you look at the inaugural season, the scores were all close."

All-conference: Shannon Blaker (second team); Trish Bolander (honorable mention).

1999
The growth of returning players and the addition of new contributors like Ashley May, from Pocatello, Jill Shade, part of the Calgary quadrumvirate, Ilsa Gramer, and Brooke Alton from Oregon gave the Bengals more offensive options, and the program took a step up, going 7-9-3 overall, 2-3-2 in conference play. The Bengals beat local rivals Boise State, 2-1 and Utah State, 2-0, and had shutout wins in conference play over Eastern Washington and Portland State.

"We now had more attacking options, we shored up the center defenders," said Henderson. "You talk about the spine of the team, that allowed us to have the personality and speed we needed to attack. We were winning more balls; we had more possession of the ball."

The Bengals took advantage of those possessions to get more shots—they went from 119 shots on goal in year one to 276 in year two, and from 11 goals to 28.  "We more than doubled our shot percentage," said Henderson. "We more than doubled our goal output. For a second-year team, that was impressive."

And the Bengals continued to play solid defense. The coaches and the players were beginning to sense something special was happening in Pocatello.

All-conference: Chrissy Nelson (first team), Trish Bolander (first team), Brooke Roberts (second team), Ashley May (honorable mention), Sarah Moravitz (honorable mention).

2000
The talent influx continued with the arrival of Heather Hunt, Stacey Peterson and Janel Graham. With higher expectations, Henderson put together a tougher non-conference schedule to prepare his team for the Big Sky wars. And the Bengals got off to a strong start, tying Utah in double overtime, then winning 7 of their next 8, including victories over Boise State, Idaho and Gonzaga.

"The first game we played Utah – it was a fantastic game, we tied 3-3," said Henderson. "Coming out of that game, I went, 'Okay.' That year also began another important development – that was our fans. We began to establish who we were, and our fans were fervent, they were ardent, they helped us win at home. We started to see 500 to 1,000 fans."

When conference season came around, ISU got over one hump, beating Weber State, a team they'd really struggled with, 2-1 in overtime, on a goal by Jill Schade. That propelled the Bengals to a 5-1-1 mark in Big Sky play, but it also set them up for a big disappointment. ISU had beaten Northern Arizona 3-1 in regular season play, but they lost to the Lumberjacks 1-0 in the first round of the conference tournament.

"It was an incredibly important lesson for them," Henderson said of the loss that ended the season for the 12-5-2 Bengals.  "Just when they thought they were there, the first time in the Big Sky tournament was a different kind of pressure. It's a one-off, win or go home. You can't coach that; you have to experience it. That was the experience we had to have."

All-conference: Chrissy Nelson (first team), Jill Schade (first team), Shannon Blaker (first team), Heather Hunt (second team), Ilsa Gramer (second team), Rissa Raveaux (second team), Emily Hubbard (honorable mention).

2001
The Bengals took two big steps forward in this season, winning the right to host the Big Sky Conference tournament by going 4-1-1 in league play, and then taking advantage of that home field by edging perennial rivals Montana and Weber State, 1-0, in both tournament games. The Bengals met Weber State, the only conference team to beat them, 3-1, in the title game.

"I was curious to see how the team would react," said Henderson. "To their credit, they limited the number of opportunities for Weber. It was a very even game on shots and saves. It was one of those things where it was an important step for us, after losing in the semifinals the year before, finding a way to win a game with two very evenly-matched teams, just finding a way to win a tight game."

The Bengals won when Hollie Christensen lofted a corner kick that Brooke Alton headed into the net in the 57^th minute of the game. The Bengals then held off the Wildcats the rest of the way, and got their first conference title. "When that final whistle went, I remember the players just dog-piling," said Henderson. "That expression of joy, you just can't replace that."

The Bengals' season ended at 11-7-2 after they lost to a very good Portland team, 5-0, in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Pilots featured Canadian national team star Christine Sinclair, who went on to a long and successful international and professional career. "She toyed with us," Henderson said. "We were chasing that whole game. But it was just another elevation for us. It would not be the last time we played Portland."

All-Conference: Brooke Alton (first team), Janel Graham (first team), Stacey Peterson (first team), Holly Emery (second team), Ilsa Gramer (second team), Trish Bolander (second team), Heather Hunt (second team), Emily Hubbard (honorable mention).

2002
No longer the hunter but now the hunted, Idaho State got off to an uneven start in 2002, at one point losing 6 of 9 games in a mid-season stretch. When ISU lost to Montana to open Big Sky play, the Bengals were at a cross roads.

"We were kind of limping, it was a winded group going into conference games," said Henderson. "We lost 1-0 to Montana, they scored early on and we could just never get over the hump. If we'd gone 0-2 in conference, the season might have been much different, with only 6 conference games. But we beat Eastern Washington 1-0 when Ilsa Gramer got a header for the win. That gave us a feeling of relief. The fact that we'd beaten a team that was probably going to be a top seed gave us some belief."

The Bengals spent the rest of the conference schedule just finding ways to win, capturing three wins by a single goal and finishing 5-1 in league play to earn the top seed. In the conference tournament, ISU took an early 2-0 lead over Eastern Washington, gave up a goal in the 86^th minute and then hung on for dear life and a 2-1 win.

"The final was a game I'm sure the players remember," said Henderson. "It was at home, we had a fantastic crowd, it was overcast, muddy and we were playing a good Portland State team. They took it to us – they outshot us, they were putting pressure on us. It was 0-0 and it was nervous time. Here we go again."

The game went into overtime scoreless, and in the 95^th minute, Shawna Park played a long pass behind the Viking defense, and Stacey Peterson used her sprinter's speed to outrun the defense to the ball. "Stacey Peterson, with all her speed and her leg brace still on, found a way to dribble past the last defender," said Henderson. "You could literally feel the whole bench stand up, you could feel the whole crowd stand up. She's one-on-one with the keeper…The goalkeeper came out to charge the ball, and to her credit Stacey slotted the ball and won the final. It was one of those moments I just stood on the bench and I just watched the team, the celebration, the dog pile, the mud on the uniforms. I have some incredible photographs from that day."

The Bengals' reward for their second consecutive conference crown was another meeting with the mighty Portland team in the NCAA first round. ISU was more competitive this time, losing 3-0 as Sinclair netted two goals for the Pilots.

All-conference: Brooke Alton (first team), Ilsa Gramer (first team), Stacey Peterson (first team), Heather Hunt-Jones (second team), Shawna Park (second team), Janel Graham-Smith (second team), Ashley May-Steel (second team), Hollie Christensen (honorable mention).

2003
How would you summarize the 2003 season? "It was a very strange feeling season," said Henderson, who noted the Bengals returned most of their key players from the 2002 championship team, but suffered significant injuries, including losing leading scorer Stacey Peterson, and went through a taxing 7-game losing streak during which ISU lost every game 2-0.

"Psychologically, that had an impact on the team," said Henderson of the losing streak. "It's like, 'What's going on here? We're used to winning.' It was just a strange time."

The Bengals started the conference 0-2 with losses to Montana and Weber State, and "now we're with our backs to the wall. One more loss and we don't know if we're going to make the conference tournament," said Henderson.  

The season came down to a home contest with Eastern Washington that Henderson characterized as "literally a Cup Final for us. We couldn't lose this game."

The Bengals fell behind 1-0 in the fourth minute, but Jamie Meehan scored a header right before half to give ISU a lift. Then Meehan, "who had one of the longest throw-ins you've ever seen," noted Henderson, made a throw into the EWU penalty box which Janel Graham-Smith played into the winning goal in the 86^th minute. The Bengals rode the momentum of that win into a 4-2 finish in Big Sky play, cementing their spot in the post-season.

Once again in the Big Sky tournament, ISU found a way to win, squeezing out 1-0 victories over Northern Arizona and Montana for their third straight title. Shawna Park and Jennifer Loo netted the game winners, respectively.

But the celebrating wasn't limited to the Big Sky Conference tournament this time. In the NCAA tournament, ISU drew the University of Utah, who was ranked 14^th in the nation, and who had beaten the Bengals 2-0 earlier in the season, in Salt Lake City.

"We went in with a different strategy," said Henderson. "We knew if we tried to match them head-to-head, we'd probably come out behind. We went in with a defensive posture. We were outshot in the game, but we managed to take it into overtime. We knew if we couldn't win it in overtime, if we could take it to penalty kicks, you never know what will happen."

What happened was that Bengal goalie Shannon Boyle was able to stop one of the Utah PKs, opening the door for ISU to get the winning kick, which was supplied by Heather Hunt-Jones, as ISU won 5-4 on PKs.

"I remember the players on the sidelines, they were all linked arms, all ready to run on the field, they had that much confidence in (Hunt-Jones)," said Henderson of her game-winning kick. "The pressure on these players was immense. She slots it, and all of a sudden, the benches cleared, they were sprinting on to the field, tackling their teammates. The fans were going nuts, we had great support from the community, busloads of fans coming down for the game. For them to have that experience, I was so happy for them."

The greatest Bengal soccer season ever ended at 10-9-2 the next game, when they lost to BYU 2-0 in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Shortly thereafter, Henderson departed to take over as head women's soccer coach at the University of Arkansas.

All-Conference: Hollie Christensen (first team), Heather Hunt-Jones (first team), Shawna Park (first team), Janel Graham-Smith (second team), Ashil Kimenker (honor mention), Jennifer Loo (honorable mention), Chantal Kim (honorable mention).