2008-09 Women's Wrestling Season Review
SMALL BUT MIGHTY: No one can tell the Pacific women's wrestling program that a small team cannot win or that quantity trumps quality. The Boxers needed just four wrestlers to grapple to a third place finish at the second National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) Women's National Championships, held in Hampton, Va.
Pacific compiled a total of 35.5 points, thanks to a national championship by Rebecca Hoffman in the unlimited class, second place finishes by Caronne Rozet at 121 pounds and Summer Scott at 130 pounds, and a third place finish by Summer Steenberg at 130 pounds. Two regional rivals bettered the Boxers in the tournament. Simon Fraser finished second while Yakima Valley CC won the national title at 73 points.
The third place finish is even more impressive considering the lack of competition the Boxers had leading up to the national championships. The majority of the team had not competed since Jan. 10 when they wrestled at the Cliff Keen National Duals, which was a freestyle competition (the NCWA Nationals is wrestled collegiate style).
HOFFMAN IS A NATIONAL CHAMPION: Rebecca Hoffman made up for losing her freshman season for injury, coming back to not only wrestle a complete season, but to become Pacific's fourth women's wrestling national champion and first at the NCWA level.
Hoffman went 2-1 at the NCWA Nationals in a combined 72 kg./unlimited bracket, picking up a victory in the preliminary round over San Jose State's Erin Fierro and taking a loss to eventual 72 kg. champion Taylor Dick from Simon Fraser. She used her second pin of the competition to win the unlimited class championship match over Erin Patterson of Mercer.
The wins came at the right time for Hoffman. The two victories in the nationals were her only victories in competition in collegiate style. She finished with a 3-6 record (the third came by forfeit) in collegiate style matches and 1-2 in freestyle bouts.
GREAT SCOTT: Injuries limited much of Summer Scott's season, but she too came alive just when the Boxers needed her most. Scott reeled off a string of six consecutive victories through the middle of the season and went 5-1 at the NCWA Nationals. At the nationals, Scott racked up two pins and a technical fall on her way to advancing to the 59-kilogram championship match.
In the final, Scott met Yakima Valley's Ashlee Phy, who Scott had beat 5-1 in her final match of the preliminaries. Phy was able to get the best of Scott in the final, though, scoring a close 6-5 decision to win the title. Despite the loss, it was Scott's second All-American trophy and her best finish at a national tournament. Scott finished with a 6-4 record, all in collegiate style competitions.
CAME OUT SMELLING LIKE A ROZET: Much like Scott, freshman Caronne Rozet saw much of her season erased by an injury that kept her off of the mat. Rozet made it back to the mat just in time for nationals, and made a big difference in Pacific's team placing.
Rozet finished with a 2-1 record in a combined 51/55/59-kilogram bracket at the NCWA Nationals and finished in second place among 59-kilogram competitors. Rozet advanced to the 59-kilogram final, where she lost to Simon Fraser's Laura Wilson by a 19-3 technical fall. Wilson ended up being the only opponent that Rozet lost to in collegiate style competitions all season, compiling a 5-1 mark. Rozet also finished with a 0-2 mark in freestyle competitions, with both matches coming in November prior to the injury.
ENDLESS SUMMER: Sophomore Summer Steenberg finished the season as the Boxers' most successful wrestler, compiling a 7-2 record in collegiate style matches at 59 kilograms. Steenberg also finished up with her second All-American trophy, finishing third at the NCWA National Championships.
Steenberg won her first five collegiate style matches of the year, which included a pair of falls at nationals over Auburn's Aura Creech and Colorado's Jen Brouillette. Eventual national champ Ashlee Phy ended the streak with a pin of Steenberg, and teammate Summer Scott relegated her to the third place match. In the consolation final, Steenberg met Creech again and ended the match again with a first round pin. In Steenberg's seven collegiate style victories, all but one ended by way of fall.
HARD TO COME BY: During the 2009 season, dual meet competition was a hard to find commodity for the Boxers. Pacific managed to wrestle all of their duals in October and November, but saw two pairs of duals against Simon Fraser and Douglas cancelled due to travel problems. Another Pacific trip to the Lone Star Duals in Texas was cancelled due to a lack of healthy wrestlers. Pacific wrapped up the year with a 1-6 record. Their one win of the year cane in an 18-6 win over Yakima Valley CC in a collegiate style dual on Nov. 15. Four of the duals were wrestled freestyle.
