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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 2019)
7A Wednesday, November 20, 2019 The Observer EOU women hope for top-10 finish, men aim for top-20 Tomas Carradero/NCU Athletics The Eastern Oregon women’s soccer team celebrates during its win over Rocky Mountain Friday in the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament. The Mountaineers begin the NAIA playoffs Friday in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Bound for Arkansas By Ronald Bond The Observer LA GRANDE — There’s a little ex- tra motivation for the Eastern Oregon University women’s soccer team as it heads to the NAIA national tourna- ment after the Mountaineers learned they’ll have to hit the road — and win two games in Arkansas in two days — to reach the championship tournament fi nal site at Orange Beach, Alabama. The Mountaineers, who claimed an automatic berth to the national tournament by winning the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament last week, learned Monday it will meet Bethel University of Tennessee in Friday’s fi rst round, with the winner on Saturday facing bracket host John Brown University on JBU’s home fi eld in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. “There’s defi nitely some frustration there. I think me along with a lot of other people think we should have got- ten a home bid,” EOU senior forward Nan Kiebert said. “That’s one thing that really irks me and motivates me to want to win the fi rst game more, in order to prove we deserved that automatic bid.” Both contests are in Siloam Springs as part of the new format for the now 46-team national tournament. The No. 3 and No. 2 seeds in each bracket meet Friday, with the winner turning around to meet the No. 1 seed. EOU head coach Jacob Plocher said ahead of the national tournament seeding he was hopeful his team would get a home bid, but where the game is played doesn’t detract from the overall goal. “We usually travel well and are able to show up for those games,” he said. “In general with how things have shaken out with the national poll or the conference stuff, the girls are still hungry. It’s been the goal from day one to get back to Alabama. It’s time to show up and perform and get the results we’re capable of.” The Mountaineers (15-2-2 overall) reached as high as No. 6 in the nation early in the season and had aspirations to potentially host one of the opening round brackets. Two losses and a tie, though, during CCC action dropped EOU from the national rankings. East- ern won its fi nal six matches — fi ve by shutout — to secure its national bid. “Winning (the CCC) tournament was huge,” Kiebert said. “I think we can build off of that. It’s keeping us motivated and bringing our confi dence up. As a team, every time before a game we go over individual goals but then talk about things we can work on during the game. We’ve been good about going out and being successful with our goals (during the games).” The Mountaineers bring one of the nation’s top defenses into the match, as EOU has recorded 12 shutouts and allowed only 11 goals on the season. See Women / Page 8A Men’s soccer begin nationals in Kansas By Ronald Bond The Observer LA GRANDE — The fi rst- ever NAIA postseason run for the Eastern Oregon Uni- versity men’s soccer team is taking the Mountaineers to Baldwin City, Kansas. “It’s going to be exciting,” senior defender Jack Rose said. “We got nothing to lose. (We’re) going to give it our all and see what we can get out of it.” Eastern’s draw in the fi rst-round bracket includes No. 16 Baker University, of Kansas, which the Moun- taineers meet Friday, with the winner then squaring off Saturday against 18th- ranked Tennessee Wesleyan for a spot in the fi nal 16 in Irvine, California. “The guys are ready for it,” head coach Zach Mills said. “They’re buzzing about being able to play.” Eastern (9-9-3 overall) claimed its automatic bid to nationals as the runner-up in the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament. The Mountaineers enter having gone 5-1-2 in their last eight contests, approaching each with a back-against-the-wall mentality. “(It was) drilled into us that every game from now on was a cup fi nal,” Rose said of the mindset begin- ning with the Mountaineers’ Oct. 20 win over Walla Walla. “We couldn’t afford to lose another game. The Ronald Bond/Observer fi le photo Michelle Herbes is the only member of the 11th-ranked Eastern Oregon women’s cross country team with national experience as the team gets set for Friday’s run. By Ronald Bond The Observer LA GRANDE — For the fi rst time since 2012, both the Eastern Oregon Univer- sity men’s and women’s cross country teams will have full squads competing at the NAIA national champion- ships. The EOU women, ranked 11th in the nation, are sending a complete team to Friday’s national champi- onship race in Vancouver, Washington, accomplishing the feat for the fi rst time in seven years. In the fall of 2012, EOU all-time great Karlee Coffey fi nished second individually to power the Mountaineers to a 13th- place fi nish, one spot ahead of the EOU men’s 14th-place showing. The teams are coming off of third- and fourth-place ef- forts for the men and women, respectively, at the Cascade Collegiate Conference meet Nov. 8. The conference is sending fi ve teams to nation- als on the women’s and fi ve on the men’s side, and four of those 10 teams are in the top 10 nationally. Eastern Oregon head coach Ben Welch said the women’s team has exceeded his expectations so far. “Been really pleased with that, actually,” he said. “I would have been happy if they were just in the top 20.” Welch pointed to two items as factors in the Moun- taineers’ surge this season — having two runners in Michelle Herbes and Megan Boals who are consistently able to be near the front, and the ability of the rest of the team to have different runners perform well in any given race. “That is one of our strengths — if someone is having a bit of an off day someone else can pick them up. It takes a little bit of the pressure off of them,” he said. Welch also said the runners outside of Herbes and Boals — which at nationals will include Lisa Megargee, Mack- enzie Trainer, Stormy Bul- lard, Ella Coughlan and Katie See Cross / Page 9A Ronald Bond/Observer fi le photo Eastern Oregon’s Javier Moran, right, leads the Mountaineers with seven goals on the season as they begin their national run. pressure was on for us to go ahead and make the most out of every game we had.” Mills thinks EOU could have an advantage against Baker simply because it has had to play win-or-go-home soccer for close to a month. “I think that’s why we were so successful at the end of the year and why we made it to the (conference tournament) fi nals,” Mills said, noting that the urgen- cy might have been missing some in the fi nal. “One of the reasons we didn’t get the tournament trophy at the end was we knew we were in nationals. Yes, we wanted to win and played hard, (but) we play very well un- der pressure. It’s almost like (our players) have a chip on their shoulder, that they have something to prove.” The Mountaineers had their share of tight contests during the season and their tournament run. Of EOU’s 21 matches, 12 were decided by one goal or fewer. Eastern went 4-5-3 in those games, including its two CCC tournament ties that ended in shootout victories. “It’s been an up and down year, but the seniors have been able to round up the younger guys on the team and use our experience to help them get to this stage,” Rose said. Mills said he believes his squad is similar to the Wildcats. “Just record-wise, both teams had a crazy season, and to be in the tournament See Men / Page 8A EOU Athletics photo Eastern Oregon’s Alex Navarro, front, is competing at the NAIA national meet for the third time.
