4 $5» Wednesday, Nov. 14,2012 •
P R IN T : Sports
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Cougars emerge from mist to win
Freshman forward No. 23 Tayler Ficek was in the middle o f the action all night in the game against Shoreline on Saturday. Ficekscored the winning goal in sudden death overtime leading the Cougars
to a 1-0 victory. The win puts the Cougars in the NWAACC semifinals against Spokane on Saturday at Starfire Stadium in Tukwila, Wash.
David Beasley
Associate Sports Editor
A quiet haze fell over Oregon
City Saturday evening as the chill
of fall enveloped OCHS Pioneer
Stadium. Thrust in to an alter
nate dimension, the playing field
morphed in to a Brigadoon time
warp. A giant dolphin emerged
out of the mist chanting and yell
ing, along with him were a pod
of underlings entranced by his
presence.
The NWAACC women’s
soccer quarterfinal game against
Shoreline was a surreal event
for the Cougars, ending with a
spectacular 1-0 finish in the 5 th
minute of sudden death overtime.
“Oh my gosh, it’s such a
relief,” said sophomore forward
Courtney Johnson on winning in
dramatic fashion. “We’ve been
working hard all season and it
means the hard work pays o ff ”
The cold weather was an
added inclement.
“We knew we needed to
stay warm, so constantly during
warm-ups we tried to stay warm
and stretch,” said Johnson. “It’s
definitely a change, but I think
we adjusted well.”
The Cougars began with
excellent short passes and team
work to control the ball. Then,
the Dolphins picked up momen
tum towards the end of first half.
Clackamas showed a lot o f fancy
footwork despite the debilitating
cold. Often times the Cougars
flicked the ball effortlessly, pass
ing it behind or to their side with
surprising whip kicks.
Clackamas fired off some nice
attempts at the goal during the
last few minutes of first half and
no score had been made by either
team at half time.
The Cougars were amped up
with an aggressive start to the
second half creating good shots at
the goal early. However, the rigid
cold reflected the stalemate of the
battle. The end of regulation time
showed no score from either team
resulting in a ten minute overtime
of sudden death.
“That was one o f the most
hard fought good efforts I’ve
seen,” added head coach Janine
Szpara.
Suddenly the perfect opportu
nity to score opened up, as Kelsie
Knight passed a laser assist to
Tayler Ficek, who scored! Goal!
“I was in the right place at
the right time,” said Ficek of the
game winner.
The home crowd erupted with
cheers for the Cougars’ victory.
“They played hard all year,”
said fan Dan Scharbach. “Tonight
they played aggressive and when
they play aggressive they win.”
The Cougars talked a lot about
how much work they have put in
Freshman forward Tayler Ficek uses some nifty footwork to split the Shore
line defense on Saturday night.
to get to this point. Now, they
are only two wins away from the
ultimate goal.
“We worked really hard every
day,” said Ficek. “NWAACC
Champions was the goal from
day one.”The Cougars advance
to face Spokane in the Final Four
on Saturday, Nov. 17 at Starfire
Stadium in Tukwila, Wash.
Alumni game reconnects new and old
Andrew Millbrooke
Sports Editor
The Clackamas Community
College men’s basketball team
used a fresher set o f legs and
lungs to ease past a team of
alumni players in both 20 min
ute sessions of a pre-season
scrimmage on Friday night in
Randall Gym. The Cougars beat
the alumni 43-41 and 47-39 on
the scoreboard, but the games
were more a chance to meet
former players and have them
re-connect with one another.
“It’s a lot of fun to see all
these guys that played here over
the years,” said head coach C lif
Wegner, who is entering his
14th season at the helm o f the
CCC men’s program. “They are
a really good collection of guys
and they can all shoot the ball.”
The alumni kept it close in
game one with some outside
shooting and the all-around play
o f two-time NWAACC player
of the Chehales Tapscott, who
is going to play professional
ly overseas or in the NBDL,
the development league o f the
NBA. Tapscott said he will
know where he is playing at the
end o f the week.
“It’s fun to play against the
new guys and evaluate the tal
ent,” said Tapscott. “I feel they
have a pretty solid team.” The
current crop o f Cougars were
definitely lighter on the feet,
getting up and down the court
quicker than the veteran alumni
squad.
“We played sloppy,” said
Tapscott. “A lot o f guys are out
o f shape and haven’t picked up
a ball in a while.” The Cougars
held on to win 43-41 in the first
game.
The second game featured
some thunderous breakaway
dunks from both teams. For the
alumni, Tapscott (2008-10) and
Ervin Simms (2003-06) both
brought the house down with
rim rattling slams. Six foot five
sophomore wing Brock Lutes
got a head o f steam to slam one
down for the Cougars as they
sped away to a 47-39 victory in
game two.
Besides Lutes, coach Wegner
liked what he saw out o f fresh
man guards Michone Hopkins
and Drew Walters.
Wegner
also’ praised the inside play of
6-foot-9 sophomore posts Matt
Bryant and Jordan Barber.
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No. 33 Freshman Michone Hopkinds dribbles his way to the basket in a scrimmage against CCC alumni on Friday.
“I was pleased w ith our
perform ance,” said Wegner.
Tapscott thinks that the Cougars
are in good hands with Wegner
at the helm.
“H e’s a great coach and a
great person,” said Tapscott.
“He knows what he’s doing. He
does a great job recruiting and
making sure his players move
on to the next level.”
The m en’s team begins
real action with two games
this week. Friday, Nov. 16 the
Cougars host Northwest Indian
College at 7 p.m. in Randall
Gym. At 2 p.m. on Sunday,
Nov. 18 they host Bellevue in
a rematch with the team that
knocked the Cougars out of last
season’s NWAACC tournament.
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