DENVER – MSU Denver has for decades been a leader in providing equal opportunities for women in intercollegiate athletics.
Today is the 13th installment of a 52-part tribute by Roadrunners Athletics to pioneers and leaders in intercollegiate athletics at MSU Denver.
Each Thursday, a key female figure in Roadrunners athletics history will be recognized.
Today, soccer star Tonja Ridgeway is featured.
Inducted into the MSU Denver Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006, Ridgeway was one of the first dominant women's soccer players in school history, earning first team All-America honors in 1985. She is still 12
th in program history in goals (27) and assists (18) and 13
th in points (72).
Her freshman season was one for the books, and she still holds school record for freshmen in goals per game (0.89) and points per game (2.26).
After sitting out her second season on campus, Ridgeway returned to the pitch in 1987 and scored four goals and an assist for nine points. She was held to just three assists as a junior, but bounced back to net six goals and add five assists for 21 points as a senior.
She was an All-America first team selection as a freshman.
Title IX, the groundbreaking law prohibiting sex-based discrimination at schools that receive funding from the federal government, went into effect just over 50 years ago – on June 23, 1972.
