Akey adds to staff before spring starts
Gordy Shaw is no stranger to the silver and gold of the University of Idaho, but the last time he worked the Vandals sideline was in 1989.
Idaho football coach Robb Akey announced Monday that Shaw has been hired as the Vandals’ new run game coordinator/offensive line coach.
Shaw’s career, which started in 1977 as a graduate assistant at Cal Poly, has been spent working on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. In his latest coaching job, three years at Hawaii, Shaw worked as the Warriors offensive line coach. During his time in Hawaii, the Warriors allowed a conference-high 71 sacks in WAC play.
In his previous stint with UI, Shaw worked as the defensive coordinator for a Vandals team that went 9-3 overall and 8-0 in the Big West.
Outside of the WAC, Shaw also worked at Wyoming, Northern Colorado, Northern Arizona and spent 13 years on the sidelines at Minnesota. Shaw also brings post-season experience from 10 bowl games.
Soccer bolsters midfield with third signing of year
One more face has joined the University of Idaho soccer team for the 2012 season, this time coming from north of the border.
Elexis Schlossarek, a 5-foot-5-inch freshman midfielder from Delta, British Columbia, will join coach Pete Showler’s other offseason signings for the upcoming campaign.
Before deciding to come to Moscow, Schlossarek led Burnsview Secondary to back-to-back provincial titles and was the youngest MVP of the Canadian Provincial Tournament.
Schlossarek, who has played every position on the field throughout her career, was also voted captain of the TSS Academy U19 Elite team of the Metro Women’s Premier League in B.C.
Schlossarek joins Meli Cortez and J.P. Burgess as midfield additions for the Vandals, all three will enter as freshman next season.
Mortellaro wins for the ninth time
For the ninth time in her career, Idaho senior Kayla Mortellaro walked away with a collegiate first place finish after winning the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational in Hawaii.
Mortellaro used a final round score of 75 to propel her into first place. This tournament has been kind to Mortellaro. It was where she won her first tournament and now her ninth.
As a team the Vandals finished sixth, shooting a 933 through three rounds of play. Idaho coach Lisa Johnson said her team’s short game had a few issues, but overall she was happy with the performance.
“The team was fairly consistent throughout all three rounds,” Johnson said. “We had a little trouble around the greens, which cost us a few shots, but we know we need to work on our short game.”
Texas A&M won the tournament with a 901, while UC Davis came in second.
Idaho’s Kaitlyn Oster tied for 36th and Teo Poplawski tied for 39th.
Next up for Idaho will be the Anteater Invitational in Irvine, Calif. The tournament will run March 26-27 and will be the last tournament before the WAC Championships.