Fans,
And here's the #1 moment...
1.
Men's Soccer Defeats Oral Roberts to win the Summit League Tournament
Winning the regular season title was not enough for head coach Dr. Eric Johnson and his Leatherneck squad. The top-seeded Leathernecks were led during the regular season by 'Defensive Player of the Year' Charlie Bales, First Team selections Andy Ryan, Alexis Dominguez and Second Team picks Mariano Leo, Nathan Bruinsma and Husref Jupic. Johnson brought home 'Coach of the Year' honors for the fourth time in his career, and during the 2012 season became the Summit League's all-time winningest coach.
Western defeated Oakland in the semifinals 1-0. In the championship Western erased a 1-0 deficit to eliminate Oral Roberts 2-1 to win the title and make its fifth NCAA College Cup appearance in the last eight years. Bales (who scored the game-winning goal against ORU) was voted the Tournament Most Valuable Player and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Dominguez, Leo and Jupic.
The
Leathernecks eventually fell to Northern Illinois in the opening round of the
College Cup but closed out their memorable season at 13-7-1.
#GoLeathernecks
1. Men's Soccer Defeats Oral Roberts to win the Summit League Tournament
2. Men's Basketball has a memorable run in The Summit League Tournament,
earns spot in first-ever Division I post-season tournament.
3. Freshman Sammy Marshall is crowned Division I NCAA Stolen Base Champion
4.
Jenna Verity named a Rhodes
Scholar finalist; Laura Lins receives the Lincoln Academy Student Laureate Award
5.
Women's
Basketball Eliminates Oral Roberts in Summit League Tournament, advances to
semifinals
6. Leatherneck
Baseball knocks off No. 8 ranked Georgia
7. Football
knocks off Southern Illinois in memorable final minute to secure Homecoming
2011 win
8. Remy
Roberts-Burnett hit the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer to defeat IUPUI
9. Women's
Basketball drains a single-game record 15 3-point field goals in a win over
Oakland
10. Ceola
Clark III makes history with his second Summit League Defensive Player of the
Year award
11. Jamie
Goss tied the Western Illinois career RBI record
12. Doug
Ogilvie named Summit League Diver of the Year
HONORABLE MENTION
- Kristin Tschudin (women's golf) gets a hole-in-one during the Creighton Classic
-
Dustin Hunter broke the Western Illinois single season strikeout record
of 100 set in 1968 by Paul Reuschel. Hunter amassed 106 strikeouts in
2012 and posted a game high 15 strikeouts (second-most all-time) in a
4-1 baseball victory in seven innings versus IPFW.
- Kurt Slattery (men's golf) won the individual title at the Detroit Invitational.
- Leatherneck Football held the distinction of being the only team in the country to play both finalists for the NCAA Division I playoff championship game (North Dakota State/Sam Houston State).
- Men's Basketball game versus Eastern Illinois brings largest crowd in two years, Leathernecks defeat their in-state rival 64-48.
- Every Leatherneck sport program surpasses the NCAA APR benchmark score.
- Cait Egan became the ninth player in Leatherneck Volleyball history to record 1,000 career kills.
- Bridget Murphy was named the 'Most Valuable Player' during two tournaments in September.
- April Hall was named Leatherneck Volleyball head coach in the spring.
- Western's distance medley relay squad of Carianna Cottone, Amy Byers, Krystle Eskridge and Chelsea Lynes captured the Summit League Indoor track and field title with a time of 11:57.67. The mark was the second fastest time in program history and easily bests the previous meet record held by North Dakota State in 2011 (12:02.73).
- Four Fighting Leathernecks competed at the NCAA Track and Field West Preliminary Rounds. Nichole Manning (women's pole vault), Nathaniel Marshall (men's hammer throw), Dana LaRue (women's shot put) and Jamario Taylor (men's high jump) advanced to the NCAA regionals.
- Michael Castel earned Second Team All-Summit League honors at cross country meet and advanced to the NCAA Midwest Regional.
- Women's Softball posted a 10-game win streak midseason.
- Saule Kontautaite broke the Women's Basketball single season three-point record of 62 set by Doshia Woods in 2000-01. Kontautaite hit a total of 67 from beyond the arc in the 2011-12 season.
- Nikko Watson
earned MVFC All-Newcomer honors after appearing in just four football
games. He rushed a total of 485 yards on 90 attempts (5.4 apc) with
three touchdowns and averaged 121 yards per game.
