4% e Clackamas Print
Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011
sportsed<5>clackamas. edu
I bet you don’t show
up to games either
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By John William Howard
Sports Editor
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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.
■
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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.