Corvallis Gazette-Times

Individual honors superseded team accomplishments for the Oregon State fall Olympic sports programs.

The cross country team advanced to the postseason and placed 13th at the recent 30-team NCAA West Regional at Blue Lake Park in Portland, but the men’s and women’s soccer teams and the volleyball team did not/will not compete in their sport’s respective NCAA tournament this year after having relatively disappointing seasons.

The golf teams resume their seasons in January 2007. In that sport, NCAA participation is determined by results of the fall and spring tournaments.

The Beavers also dropped four of a possible five points to Oregon in the annual Northwest Dodge Dealers Civil War Series, which OSU has dominated by a 12-5 score the past two years. Women’s golf defeated the Ducks, but the men’s golf and soccer teams were 0-1 and volleyball was 0-2.

Here’s a brief rundown of the cross country, soccer and volleyball seasons:

Cross country

The Beavers placed eighth at the Pacific-10 Conference meet for the second year in a row, and dropped one spot to 13th at the regional when a sickness-ravaged team couldn’t hold on to its mid-race position in eighth or ninth place.

OSU’s top regional placer was senior Neoma Palmer, who took 36th in 22 minutes, 27 secnds for 6,000 meters.

Junior Kaitlin Poggi, the team’s top runner for much of the season, was 57th in 22:53.

The Beavers were 3-7, the most wins ever by the program, which was on hiatus from 1988-2004.

OSU competed all season without top runner Ashley Younce, who missed her final year of eligibility to study abroad in Austria during the fall term.

Women’s soccer

OSU started quickly and was 7-2-2 after a 2-1 overtime victory against Portland State at Lorenz Field on Oct. 1.

The possibility of the program’s first NCAA berth looked even more promising when an overtime goal by freshmen midfielder Melissa Peck powered the Beavers past Arizona State, 2-1, in their Pac-10 opener, raising their record to 8-2-2.

However, that was their high-water mark. They lost their next eight Pac-10 games, including a 2-1 overtime heartbreaker at Oregon, and finished 8-10-2.

Junior forward Jodie Taylor was selected as a first-team Pac-10 all-star for the third consecutive season, an unprecedented honor at OSU.

She had eight goals and seven assists for a team-high 23 points, and scored four game-winning goals.

Heading into her senior year, she ranks first in career game-winning goals (14), second in total goals (33), third in points (81) and seventh in assists (15).

Sophomore defender McKenna Martindale was a third-team CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District all-star.

Men’s soccer

The Beavers suffered through only the their second losing season in the past five years, as they were 5-12-2 overall and 0-9-1 in the Pac-10.

Senior forward Robbie Findley was a first-team Pac-10 all-star for the third year in a row after scoring six goals and five assists for 17 points.

He became the first player in school history to earn three first-team citations; he was a second-team all-star as a freshman, when he was also Freshman of the Year.

Findley finished his career tied for first at OSU in game-winning goals (10), third in goals (28), third in points (71) and tied for fourth in assists (15).

Junior defender Alex Christensen, junior midfielder Brett Gardner, senior forward Bryan Jordan and sophomore defender Daniel Leach were honorable-mention all-conference.

Leach, Gardner and senior midfielder Lucas Egenwall earned first-team CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District honors.

Volleyball

The Beavers (3-20, 0-14) conclude the home half of the Pac-10 season tonight against No. 15 California and Friday night against No. 3 Stanford at Gill Coliseum.

With road matches at nationally-ranked USC and UCLA awaiting next weekend, the Beavers will be hard-pressed to not finish winless in the Pac-10 for the first time in program history.

Injuries and inexperience teamed up on OSU this season. Second-year coach Terry Liskevych has used eight true freshman in prominent roles and the Beavers suffered a major blow when freshman setter Camilla Ah-Hoy was lost for the year after suffering a mid-season knee injury.

Liskevych continued the rebuilding job on Nov. 8 when the Beavers announced the signing of 6-foot middle blocker Kiersten Sambrailo of Watsonville, Calif., and 5-11 setter Kaitlan Locke of West Linn to letters of intent.

They’ll join the team for the 2007 season.

“We are still evaluating our needs and plan to add one or two more players in April,” Liskevych said.

“But we are excited to have Kiersten and Kaitlan join this program as we continue the process of revitalizing volleyball at Oregon State.

“(They) bring added height and athleticism to the foundation we’ve established here.”