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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 2011)
4% e Clackamas Print Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011 sportsed<5>clackamas. edu I bet you don’t show up to games either -.’yr •■.yjrj— I ' ; By John William Howard Sports Editor B | figgj ¡J I f you were in O regon C ity on a Saturday afternoon in th e m id 1970s, its likely th at your plans w ould include taking in a football gam e. N o t by driving dow n to Eugene o r Corvallis b u t right there in th e city. You’d pack your food an d beverage o f choice an d head over to join th e horde o f fans at Pioneer Stadium a n d take in real college football w ith several thousand othei fans. C o m m u n ity college football wasn’t the only sp o rt th a t drew the attention o f th e public. Basketball gam es held in Randall H all were full, com plete w ith a pep band and a cheer squad. Football an d basketball games were cov ered by The Oregonian a n d people cam e from all over the area to watch the teams play. After all, the college sports team s were m ade u p m ostly o f hom egrown players from schools ju st a few m inutes away by car. T h a t was the ‘70s. Som ewhere along th e line, things changed. Football was cut in 1978 and m any sports have been added since, b u t attendance and fen support seems to have dw indled miserably. O ftentim es a w om ens soc- ■' g ^ ^ a m e can t m uster m ore fens than players and the holes in the audience at basketball games w ould im ply -< that the teams are terrible and n o t w orth watching. This, however, is completely backward. Clackam as has built o ne o f th e strongest athletic program s in the entire league, w inning 16 N W A A C C rides and one N JC A A title since 2000. T hey’ve taken either first or second 32 times in the last 11 seasons including back to back m en’s • < basketball tides in 2 009 -1 0 a n d back to hade Women’s soccer tides in 2004-05. T h a t begs th e question: w here are ail die spectators? Norm ally w hen a team has success, the fens follow. In this case, the success is largely unknow n to outsiders. Few even know ab o ut th e 2011 N JC A A tid e w on b y the wrestling team . Even fewer know that w om ens soccer has advanced to the N W A A C C Final Four six o u t o f the 10 years th a t th e program has existed. I happen to th in k th a t sucks. Its n o t entirely on the athletic departm ent. T his is happening at th e junior college level all over d ie N orthw est. M edia coverage has e dow n th e toilet, fens have dw indled to naught and program s are often dismissed as “just com m unity colleges. T h e source for that, I. th in k comes from several dif ferent places. T h e first is th a t it’s m uch easier now to see sports w ith o u t getting o ff o f your living room couch. E S P N m ade things easy enough, b u t w ith th e rise o f handheld technology like th e iPad an d the A ndroid, fens can see stats, highlights and even stream televised games live wherever they are- T h a t’s a fer cry from th e ‘70s and ‘80s w here the hom etow n team was by fer die easiest team to watch. I t wasn’t Division I b u t by golly it was still college football right in b u r backyard. T h a t leads to another reason. M a n y m any years ago, th e college team s in th e state o f O regon were good for nothing. T h ey were at th e b ottom o f the th e n Pac-8 an d were hardly w orth watching. M em ories from those decades are m osdy bad, including the 1983 “toilet bowl,” a Civil W ar ending in a scoreless tie an d featuring 11 fumbles, five interceptions an d four missed field gods. In recent years, things have changed around. N o t only is college football considerably better at O regon and O regon State th an It was years ago, b u t they’ve im proved in m any sports across the board. Fans th a t w ouldn’t have been caught dead in D ucks gear no w sport it proudly an d the hom etow n team is throw n to th e wayside. I th in k its tim e there was a little b it o f a revival. Yes, th ere are m ore players from outside th e area than there used to be, b u t it’s still a chance to see h igh school stars com pete a t the next level. T h e rosters are filled w ith athletes from Molalla, Rex P utnam , O regon Q t y W est l i n n , G ladstone an d Estacada high schools, ro nam e a few. T h ey re hom egrow n, they’re hom etow n an d they’re good. W h y n o t give them a chance? After all, retro is m aking a comeback. ■ m BB , Clackamas defender Brianne Paisleyfights Pirateforward Shelby Solomon fo r the ball during the first h a lf ofthe N W A A C C Semi-final on Nov. 19. Clackamas lost 1-0 in on a goal in the 29th m inute a n d were knocked from the tournament. By John William Howard Sports Editor Itsay s a lot about the close-knittedness o f a group when they can laugh together. It says even more when they can cry together, as was the case in the huddle around H ead Coach Janine Szpara after the Cougars fell 1-0 to the Pirates o f Peninsula College in last Saturdays NW AACC w om ens semi-final game at Starfire Stadium in Tukwila, Wash. Looking across the field from the press box, it seemed that things might be a little in the Pirates fevor. For one, Pirates fens made up the majority o f the spectators, hooting and hollering and waving their black and gold scarves. For another, Peninsula 'fielded 25 wom en while Clackamas had only 14 players on their roster. T hat’s 11 starters and only three subs. “[Coach Szpara] has said it all season, it’s n ot about how big the team is, its about having the right players,” said Assistant Coach M iriam Coto. T think, with 14 play ers, we had the right players ... I’d rather have 14 and be a dose team, a family. ’ Clackamas walked on ro the field composed. Stoic and focused, it was a stark contrast ro the team wearing yellow and white. T he Pirates jum ped up and down an a cheered in their huddle while the Cougars stood together in a quiet, tight circle. Clackamas kicked off and from the m om ent the ball was p u t in to play it was dear that it w ould be a rough, physical game from start to finish. For a while, the referee allowed the players to push one another around b ut before long, the whistles started to pile up. In the 29th m inute, the physicality took a turn for the worse. During an attack by die Peninsula offense, Clackamas defender Ali Scharbach made an attem pt to steal the ball from Pirate forward Shelby Solomon and dipped her foot, bringing her to the ground inside the 18 yard box. O n th e resulting penalty kick, Peninsulas Jackie Rodgers went high and left post, freezing Clackamas goalkeeper Tori Wilkinson as the shot sailed past her and into the net ro give Peninsula the 1-0 advantage. “Penalty kicks... it’s one o f those things that you guess and hope for the best If you guess wrong you guess wrong and if you guess right you guess right,” said Wilkinson, ‘i could tell which side she was going to b ut you can never tell whether they’re going ro go high or low. You just have to guess ... I tried and I just couldn’t get there in time.” W ilkinson didn’t take any tim e to dwell on the goal. She had plenty o f other things to worry about, namely the feet that Clackamas was outshot 12-5 and the ball spent m ost o f the game on Clackamas’ half o f the field. T he defense and W ilkinson stepped, up b u t every time Clackamas made an attem pt to push the ball down the field, Peninsula would corral it and boom it back on the attack, making it difficult for the Cougars to get a rhythm going. . ‘W e like to play soccer. W e don’t just play kick and chase,” said Coto, who spoke for Szpara after the post game huddle. ‘W e come o ut and we try to play our game, but,it’s.haid to do that when teams are just booting the ball up and you can’t get the ball on the ground.” After halftime concluded, Clackamas continued to-be pounded by the Peninsula attacks, making little headway and having few chances at getting in to scoring position, let alone taking an actual sh o t T he jeers from the Peninsula crowd grew louder w hen the men’s team arrived and even louder as the d o ck ticked nearer to th e Pirates first trip to the NW AACC finals in just their second year , as a program. Clackamas hurried and m ade every attem pt to. tie b u t eventually the final whistle sounded, ending the Cougars season and their hopes at a tide. “W e don’t know what we feel yet,” saida tearful Sandra Tinoco. “I gpt hurt early and it just sucks that I couldn’t be there for m y team like I wanted ro be. A nd I think most o f us felt that way.” Tinocos thoughts were echoed o n the faces o f nearly all her teammates w ith the exception o f Wilkinson, who seems to share some o f former N C A A star Szpara’s steel. “ [As a goalkeeper] you see everything,” said Wilkinson. ‘W e ’d have glimpses where I’d be like ‘go go go! Keep doing that!’ and then we’d break down again and we’d stop. A team with a first year head coach and a large class o f freshmen returning, Clackamas is sure to find further success next season alter climbing to the Final Four as the second smallest team in the entire league. T h e Cougars finished the season at 1 1-5-1 and took hom e their sixth Southern Region championship since the programs birth in 2002. M idfielder Sandra Tinoco looks to m ake a pass during Saturdays semi fin a l game. Tinoco was injured in the fir s t half, b u t continued to pla y M idfielder Kelsie K night a n d Deidra Woodward o f Peninsula collide midair.
