Yellowjackets Complete Historic Season

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings men’s soccer team completed one of the most successful seasons in school history with an 11-5-2 record under the direction of fifth-year head coach Dan McNally.  Not only was the season record the second-best in school history, but the standout performance of senior Sam Charles garnered recognition as the Ron Lenz Daktronics Division II National Player of the Year.

“I thought we had a good season,” McNally said.  “Having a winning record is always positive and I think the fact we now have had three winning seasons in a row demonstrates the progress we have made.”

The Yellowjackets began the program turnaround in McNally’s third season as the team went 13-4-1 for the best record in school history.  MSUB followed that with a 10-8 campaign in 2008 and an 11-5-2 record in 2009.  In the first nine years of the program, the Yellowjackets were 39-97-7.  Since McNally’s arrival in 2005, MSUB has gone 44-41-5 putting the Yellowjackets on the map both regionally and nationally.

“I think we have worked hard to establish ourselves as one of the top 10 teams in our region and I think after having three-straight winning seasons we have achieved that,” McNally added.  “The next step for us is to win the conference and qualify for the NCAA Tournament.  It has been a lot of hard work making the program respectable.  It will be even more difficult to turn the program into a national tournament contender, but I feel we can do it.”

Certainly the recruitment of the National Player of the Year has been a major asset to the MSUB success story.  Charles, a native of Chiswell, England, and countryman of McNally, finished arguably the most prolific career an MSUB student-athlete has ever had.  As a senior in 2009, Charles led the nation with 24 goals scored, seven assists and 55 points. He became the first Yellowjacket in school history to be named National Player of the Year, as well as earning Daktronics West Region Player of the Year honors.  He was a two-time Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year (2007 and 2009) and was a two-time MSUB Male Student-Athlete of the Year.  Charles, who was named GNAC Male Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2008, finished his illustrious career with 69 goals, 18 assists and 156 points. 

In an amazing onslaught of the record books, Charles broke the GNAC career points and goals records in just over two years this season.  Beginning with 19 goals in 2007 and 2008, he recorded the record-breaking goal in just the second game of the season against the University of Great Falls.  Charles’ 41st goal in the GNAC came in the 77th minute of the contest, topping the previous record of 40 set by Bobby McAlister of Seattle University (2002-2005).  It was the 48th career goal for Charles, as the GNAC only recognizes records recorded since MSUB entered the league.  Charles scored seven goals in his freshman year while MSUB was a member of the Heartland Conference.

He followed that performance with breaking the GNAC career-points record at No. 6 Cal State University– Los Angeles.  There, he scored the Yellowjackets’ lone goal in a hard-fought 2-1 overtime loss for his 95th point, breaking the previous record of 93 points set by McAlister.  At that time, Charles had 111 career points.

“Sam had a great season and a wonderful career,” McNally said.  “Being named National Player of the Year is a special award and it is great that the award brings recognition to our program on a national level.”

McNally noted that the Yellowjackets benefitted, as well, from strong contributions of other athletes this season.  Junior Chris Andre and sophomore Garion Holian put in great performances and are expected to help fill the void left by the graduation of the senior class.  Holian scored six goals this season, which was the second most on the team, while Andre finished ninth nationally in assists per game at a 0.56 clip.

“I think that Chris Andre and Garion Holian each had really good seasons this year,” McNally said.  “Andre had 10 assists and is tied with Sam (Charles) for the career best with 18.  He really stepped up, as did Garion (Holian) who played very well and definitely will be a real threat for us next year.”

The postseason awards include eight Yellowjackets who were named to the all-conference team.  Charles, a first team selection and GNAC Player of the Year, was joined on the first team by senior defender and cornerstone of the program Tom Milroy.  Andre and Ross Carmichael earned second team honors, while Holian, Jeremy DeHerrera, Tyler Moriarty and Matt Mitchell were honorable mention selections.

Charles and Milroy earned first team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Region honors and Charles was named second team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America for the second year in a row.

The season began at home for the first time in school history with a 6-0 thrashing of Colorado Christian University, followed by a 4-0 shutout of the University of Great Falls for a 2-0 record.  MSUB then hit the road at No. 6 Cal State-LA and at Cal Poly Pomona.  MSUB almost pulled off the upset at CSULA, falling 2-1 in overtime and rebounded with a convincing 2-0 victory at CPP for a 3-1 record.

“I was proud of how we played at No. 6 Cal State-LA and the eventual top seed in the West Region,” McNally said.  “We showed that night that we belong with the best teams.  We followed that up with a great win at Cal Poly Pomona on the road.”

According to McNally, the most troubling game of the year came on the heels of that successful road trip.  MSUB dropped a 2-1 double overtime home loss to Colorado State University-Pueblo.

“I thought a big loss was the Colorado State-Pueblo game,” McNally said.  “That loss really set us back and if we had found a way to win that game we would have been on a roll.  I think it was our worst game of the year.”

The Jackets then edged a scrappy University of Mary team (2-1) beginning a 5-0-2 streak in their next seven games.  During that stretch, the Yellowjackets had two costly ties which, according to McNally, set the tone for the rest of the season and ultimately kept the elusive NCAA Tournament bid at arm’s length.

“I think the games that hurt us the most this year were our ties against Seattle Pacific (University) and Northwest Nazarene (University) at home.  We played well in both games, but made crucial mistakes that cost us dearly.  Looking back on the season, it hurts to know that in the end it was our lack of quality wins at home that cost us.”

Conversely, the best weekend of the season came on the road at Western Washington University and at Saint Martin’s University.  The Yellowjackets won a double overtime thriller at Western Washington, 2-1, for the first win in Bellingham in school history.  The Jackets followed that up with a tough 1-0 victory at Saint Martin’s, the eventual GNAC champions.

McNally feels the priority next season will be to meld the collection of talented individuals into a truly cohesive team.  He feels that recruiting is going well and MSUB will probably bring in at least four international players, combined with the best in-state players available. 

The outgoing senior class has advanced McNally’s rebuilding process since they began in 2006.  The senior class included: Charles, Milroy, ­­­­DeHerrera, Jarred Weisen, Sander Tollefson and Zach Yeager.  The class accounted for 30 of 44 goals and 21 of 43 assists offensively.  In goal, Tollefson played in seven games with three starts going 4-0 with 0.84 goals against average in 430:49 minutes.

“My seniors were excellent this year,” McNally said.  “I will miss their play on the field, but also I will miss them as people.  It will be especially difficult to replace the leadership of Tom Milroy, but other people with naturally step up.”