College Athlete of the Week: Tanya Zickefoose

Published 12:01 am Friday, September 30, 2011

Player: Tanya Zickefoose

Year, school: Junior, Northwest Nazarene University

Sport: Soccer

Hometown: Edmonds (Meadowdale High School)

What she did: Made seven saves in a 1-0 win over Simon Fraser on Saturday to record her third shutout o

f the season.

What’s next: The Crusaders (4-4) were scheduled to play at Central Washington on Thursday afternoon, then travel to Seattle to face Seattle Pacific on Saturday.

The two-minute drill

You stopped seven shots against Simon Fraser in a 1-0 shutout win over the weekend. So tell us, were any of the shots that close to getting by you?

A few of them were. What was going through my head was I felt like my teammates were playing really well, and I really didn’t want to let them down. I felt like my awareness was higher than usual because I didn’t want to let my teammates’ hard work go to waste.

That was your third shutout in eight games this season. What’s been working well for you?

Honestly, I feel like a big part of it has to do with team chemistry. We’re all really good friends. There’s a desire to work harder, and it fuels you when you’re on the field.

Are you a new starter or did you start as a freshman?

I started for three years.

Are you more comfortable now?

A lot more comfortable. It was kind of nerve-wracking coming in as a freshman. Everything is new, and you don’t want to mess up. You don’t want to look stupid. Now I have a hang of things. The atmosphere is a lot more comfortable.

So you came in as a starter?

My senior year (at Meadowdale,) I was really late recruiting-wise. I had a tryout the spring of my senior year. I was basically a walk-on. Then I ended up winning the starting job.

At Meadowdale, did you have any other offers?

It’s kind of interesting. I never wanted to come to NNU. Because my parents came here, and I heard about it so much, it kind of turned me off because I’d been hearing about it for so long. My junior and senior year, I wouldn’t say I was slouching on my college choice, but I wasn’t really stressing out about where to go. I started praying about it, saying: “God, show me where to go.” I ended up coming to Main Event, which is an event with Nazarene churches from all around country, with sports and Bible readings and music, and it was at NNU. I was on the soccer team for my church, so I came here to be a part of Main Event. It was such an awesome experience I was like, “God, if this is where you want me, I’ll see what I can do.” I tried out for the basketball and soccer teams and got a spot on the soccer team.

If you play goalkeeper and play basketball, you must be pretty tall.

I am 5-6.

That’s not tall at all.

But not short. I’m kind of in the middle.

So what kind of a basketball player were you?

Definitely a defensive player. I was nowhere close to a standout making shots — I’ll put it that way. I have quick feet and quick hands, and that made basketball a little more bearable.

I have to admit, I’m fascinated by your name. I’m guessing with a name like Zickefoose, you don’t need any nicknames?

I have some nicknames, but they kind of faded out since I’ve gotten older.

Any that you remember?

My teammates here call me Tan-Tan. In high school I was Foose or Zicka or Zick.

Hate to say it, but Zickefoose sounds kind of like a Dr. Suess name.

(Laughs) A little bit, maybe.

Do you have any funny stories of people messing up your name?

It’s more misspelling it. They get the A instead of the E. In class, they might say “Zickenfoose” or add a random letter. The mail my parents have gotten, sometimes they’re like: “Who are they sending this to? That’s not even close to our name?”

This is before your time, but there was a basketball player at West Virginia named Kevin Pittsnogle who had such a huge game in the NCAA tournament the phrase “You got Pittsnogled” became popular for a while. You think a few more shutouts and we might be telling people they got Zickefoosed?

(Laughs) Maybe, I don’t know.

You don’t sound that excited about hearing your name as a verb.

I’m not sure. It’s kind of overwhelming.

So what’s Nampa, Idaho, like?

It’s wonderfully simple. That’s what I’ve grown to love about it. Especially growing up in Seattle, where it’s so big. So that’s the best word I can use to describe it.

It’s nothing like Edmonds?

Nope.

Is that a good thing?

In some ways. I thought I would miss the ocean and all the things about being on the West Coast. But coming here, it’s got it’s own beauty to it.

So what’s next on the soccer field?

We play Central on Thursday (last night) and SPU on Saturday.

Are they going to get Zickefoosed?

(Laughs) That would be really good if it happened, yes. (Laughs)