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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 2018)
9A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2018 ASTORIA FISHERMEN GIRLS SOCCER • BOYS SOCCER • CROSS COUNTRY Big numbers should help Astoria cross country By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian W hether as a run- ner or a coach, Andrew Fick has always loved a challenge. And as the Astoria cross country program begins another season, the former Astoria runner — now cross country coach — has his wish. While the Astoria boys are looking to climb back up the Cowapa League ladder, the Lady Fishermen need to replace some key seniors lost to graduation. “I’m excited for the sea- son,” Fick said. “It seems like we’re set to continue our pos- itive momentum for both the men’s and women’s teams. “We have good numbers out early on, and our student-ath- letes have been working hard and have a positive mindset as we start the season.” The Fishermen had a cou- ple of uncharacteristic lower division finishes in last year’s Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian Healthy numbers will help this year’s Astoria cross country team. district meet. The Astoria boys were fifth out of six teams, just three points ahead of last-place Banks. The Lady Fishermen were third out of four teams. Banks and Seaside did not have enough girls athletes to score in the team standings last year, and the Cowapa League said farewell to traditional league power Scappoose, now a 5A school. That leaves the girls’ side with potentially just three full teams. Fick and the Fishermen are just concerned with rebuilding their own program. “For the women’s team, we’re looking pretty strong, and we’re feeling hopeful to be a competitive force again this year,” Fick said. “We gradu- ated three of our senior lead- ers McKenzie (Burnett), Kathy (Perez), and Libbie (Nash), but we’re set to continue to build off an overall solid season.” As freshmen last year, Sophie Long, Abby Groncki and Emma Roe all finished in the top 20 in the league cham- pionship race, and McKenna Long was 25th. McKenna Long is back for her junior year, while Sophie Long, Groncki and Roe will be three of the Cowapa’s top sophomores. “We have Ally Pritchard (So.) returning, who has been doing a lot of summer running and is looking really strong,” Fick said. “Lindsay Riutta is an incoming freshman who ran well in middle school and is looking strong early on.” In addition, “we have sev- eral new runners this year, and it will be fun to have that energy as we move forward into the season. Last season we were proud of our accomplish- ments, like winning a couple of big invitationals, but it was a real challenge not being able to get to state.” This year, “with Scappoose moving to 5A, that will change things a little, but you never know who’s going to show up. You can count on strong pro- grams in the Cowapa. We’re Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian Despite some key losses to graduation last year, the 2018 Astoria boys soccer team should still be a major challenger in the Cowapa League. just going to work hard, have fun and compete at the highest level we can.” On the boys’ side, Fick said “we have a lot of our runners returning, which will help us be more competitive, as we have more experience and our guys know what it will take to compete in our league.” Astoria’s top returner is sophomore Nikolai Boisvert, who was 25th out of 39 run- ners in the district meet. Out of 14 runners practic- ing the first week, the Fish- ermen had just three seniors (Parker Ivanoff, Calvin Kaul and Elias Simmons). “Everyone seems to be working pretty hard, and there’s going to be competition to get those varsity spots in the big races,” Fick said, “so it will interesting to see how we stack up individually and as team. “We have lots of room to grow from last year, so I’m excited and I know our guys are excited to see what we can do this year.” Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian It will be a young team that takes the field for Astoria girls soccer in 2018. Girls will chase Valiants A ‘start over’ year for Astoria boys soccer squad ASTORIA By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian The highlight of 2017 was a 2-2 tie against the No. 1-ranked team in the state. The Astoria boys soccer team went on to finish 9-5-2 overall, a respectable record coming off a 5-8 season the year before. The Fishermen even managed to advance to the Sweet 16, where they fell in a first-round game at Stayton. It’s time to reload for the Astoria boys and head coach Lee Cain. Time to come up with another all-league goal- keeper, which would be Asto- ria’s third Goalkeeper of the Year in three years. But Cain is also realistic, and he knows a rebuilding project when he sees it. “We lost seven seniors, so it’s a ‘start over’ year, and a rebuild,” Cain said. “The losses were pretty well distrib- uted, so our focus is on build- ing a program, and building the skills of the players we have.” Astoria was responsible for Seaside’s only non-win in league play last year, a 2-2 tie Sept. 23 at Seaside. THE COWAPA Speaking of Seaside, the entire 4A level may be chas- ing after the Gulls this sea- son. Woodburn may be the favorite on paper, but Seaside claims it will be even better than last year’s team, which was ranked No. 1 for much of the season. “I don’t know what Valley ASTORIA BOYS SOCCER Coach: Lee Cain, 3rd year 2017: 9-5-2 (5-3-2 league) Playoffs: Defeated Gladstone (1-0) in play-in, lost at Stayton (0-4) in first round. All-league losses: Cole Beeson, Trevor Byrd, Jose Gonzalez, Jake Hurd. All-league returners: Aldo Cruz, Sr., Porter Whitsett, Sr. Catholic has, but I think our strongest challenge is going to come from Seaside,” Cain said. “They look real strong, with a lot of physicality.” The Fishermen have five challenging nonleague games this season, before opening league play Sept. 20 (where else?), at Seaside. With only five league teams (Scappoose has moved to the 5A level), it will just be an eight-game league season for Cowapa League teams. THE FISHERMEN Among Astoria’s losses is Jake Hurd, the league’s Goal- keeper of the Year in 2017. Hurd replaced Kyle Birge, the Cowapa’s 2016 Goalkeeper of the Year. There’s actually a long list of players from the North Coast who have earned the award — it’s only natural to assume the Fishermen will come up with another all- league keeper to replace Hurd. ASTORIA YOUTH “We’re going to give Tony Tumbarello a shot at the var- sity spot, and he’s showing a lot of promise,” Cain said. “He’s young, only a sopho- more, but he’s very athletic. “We lost Spark (Owen), probably for most of the sea- son,” he said. “He broke his heel bone, a brutal injury. That’s why Tony is jumping in there, and we’ll be training a brand-new keeper at the JV level. We do have some good backup keepers, but we need them on the field.” Despite losing Jose Gon- zalez, a first-team all-league player, Cain said “our defense should still be strong. Three of our defenders are back. We lost Jose, and that’s a huge hole to fill because he had tre- mendous energy. “And not having (Cole) Beeson in the midfield will be a new experience,” he said of Astoria’s mid, who accounted for a large part of the team’s scoring production over the last four years. “We have to figure out how to play with- out him. He was very signifi- cant. But there’s a lot of skill coming up, and I’m looking at these guys to mature, hoping for this to be a good year.” Astoria’s senior class includes Aldo Cruz, Jona- than Jimenez, Christian Medi- na-Perez, Rodrigo Palacio Rojas and all-league returner Porter Whitsett. A large junior class fea- tures David Bermudez, Dalton Byrd, Riley Cameron, Brooks Fromwiller, Leo Matthews, Michael Postlewait, Evan Randall and Shrey Sharma. With a smaller, less-com- petitive league, Astoria girls soccer coach Tim Fastabend is optimistic about his team’s playoff chances in 2018. Just don’t expect too much suc- cess early on. The Lady Fishermen lost both quantity and quality to graduation last year. In addi- tion to senior all-league play- ers Claire Albright, Sarah Lertora and Haley Ranta, the major loss was Lexi Law, the Cowapa League’s Goal- keeper of the Year. The long arm of the Law is now playing soccer at Mult- nomah Bible College, leaving Fastabend with a big hole in the net to fill. THE COWAPA Four of the last five state champions in 4A girls soc- cer have come from the Cow- apa League — also known as the “Conference of Champions.” The Cowapa finds itself in a unique situation as the 2018 season gets underway. The defending league champion — Scappoose — is no lon- ger there, as the Indians have moved to the Class 5A level. However, the defending state champion is still a part of the league. Valley Catholic finished second behind Scappoose in the league standings last sea- son, but the Valiants got hot in the state playoffs and won four straight, capped by a 1-0 win over Hidden Valley in the state championship. Valley Catholic has a new coach (Kibwe Cuffie), and Life happens... That’s why we’re here! ATHLETICS would like to thank McDONALDS, FULTANOS PIZZA, VAN DUSEN BEVERAGES, CLATSOP DISTRIBUTING & the Astoria community for their continued support of youth athletics. AYA is a non-profit athletic booster club committed to supporting and promoting youth sports, k-12 in Astoria, through volunteer service and financial assistance. “Growing community through youth athletics” COME VISIT US FOR YOUR only SPORTS PHYSICALS $ GIRLS SOCCER Coach: Tim Fastabend, 3rd year 2017: 6-7-2 (4-5-1 league) Playoffs: Lost play-in game at Philomath (0-6). All-league losses: Lexi Law (GK of the Year), Claire Albright, Sarah Lertora, Haley Ranta. All-league returner: An- drea Harris, Sr. the Valiants have five all- league players returning. After the Valiants, second place is up for grabs. Asto- ria finished third in the stand- ings last year. The Lady Fish began the league season by winning three of their first four, but only had one win over their final six games. THE FISHERMEN Despite five returning seniors, “it’s a lot younger team,” Fastabend said. “We’ll probably start two or three sophomores and a couple freshmen. We’ll be young.” The top returner is senior Andrea Harris, an all-league player entering her fourth year on varsity. Other seniors include Nara Van de Grift, Laina Hum- phrey, Claire Tetlow and Gra- cie Cummings, a state-quali- fying sprinter who ran track two years ago. The junior class includes Abigail Albright, Taleigh Cole, Erin Grauff, Baylee McSwain, Elizabeth Whitsett and Brooklyn Zerangue. The roster has five soph- omores: Emma Biederman, Elle Espelien, Hayley Kelly, Meghan O’Meara and Shelby Rasmussen. O’Meara is a transfer from Newport, and will likely start in the midfield, while Fas- tabend will carry two fresh- men on the roster, Maddie Sisley and Karen Zuniga. The candidates to replace Law at goalkeeper are McSwain and Rasmussen. Your local janitorial and paper supply...and much more! 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