Cal Poly Pomona Athletics

Since 1999, there has never been any question as to who is the best player in the women's soccer history of both Cal Poly Pomona and the California Collegiate Athletic Association. It's three-time All-American Ruth Van't Land-Parkes.

"Our 1999 team had a lot of great chemistry," Parkes said in an interview this week. "When I got the call about being selected for the Hall of Fame, it opened up the door to a lot of great memories when I was at Cal Poly. That team made a lot of those memories as we had a lot of great personality and played well for one another."

Through her Bronco career from 1997 through 2000, Parkes collected 76 goals and 29 assists for a total of 181 points. She continues to rank first in the Cal Poly Pomona and the CCAA record books for all three categories. Parkes is also a two-time CCAA Athlete of the Year, one of just two student-athletes to achieve that honor in two different years.

In the 1999 season, Parkes led the Broncos to the NCAA Division II National Championship match in the program's first postseason trip. Although CPP lost to Franklin Pierce, 3-1, in the title match, Parkes - an NCAA Championships All-Tournament Team selection - set a new benchmark for soccer success at this university. That year, she guided CPP to marks of 17-6-1 overall and 12-3 in conference play as the Broncos captured the CCAA title.

After that record-setting campaign, Parkes was selected as the D-II Player of the Year by the National Soccer Coaches of Association of America and she continues to be the only student-athlete in Broncos' soccer history - man or woman - to achieve that top honor.

In putting CPP in the national spotlight, Parkes also received plenty of attention in the regional media. After the 1999 season, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin selected Parkes as one of the area's Top 100 Athletes of the Century.

Parkes became the CCAA's all-time goals and total points leader in one historic match. Against Cal State L.A. on Oct. 16, 1999, in her junior season, she scored two goals.

It was the first of the two that made history as it was the 45th of her career and it broke the record set by Cal State Dominguez Hills' Heather Roland in 1997. The first goal also tied her for the record of 105 points in a career set by Jackie Powers of Cal State San Bernardino in 1993.

Later in that same match, Parkes' assist to Michelle Maitland gave her the record-breaking point, 106. It was the first time in CCAA soccer history that a player broke two career records in one match.

Parkes earned All-CCAA First Team honors in each of her four years as a Bronco and she received All-American recognition in her final three seasons. To this day, she's the only three-time All-American in Cal Poly Pomona soccer history.

In addition to owning the school's career records for goals, assists and points, Parkes also set plenty of single-season marks. Her 33 goals and 66 points in 1998 both are ranked No. 1 in the program record book and her nine assists in 1999 are tied for first in that category.

In just her sixth collegiate game in 1997, Parkes scored four times against Azusa Pacific to match the program record for most goals in a single game.

Parkes, who studied hotel and restaurant management in college, came to Cal Poly Pomona after prepping at Ontario Christian High School where she was named CIF Player of the Year in 1996.