SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015
1B
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HERMISTON
Sports shorts
Timberwolves
to wear patch
honoring Saunders
Hermiston blanks Pendleton at home
MINNEAPOLIS
(AP) — The Minnesota
Timberwolves will wear a
commemorative patch on
their jerseys
during the
new season
honoring
team
president
and coach
Flip Saunders.
Saunders died Sunday
after battling cancer. The
team said Tuesday it will
wear the patch for all home
and road games starting
with Monday’s home opener
against the Portland Trail
Blazers.
The Timberwolves also
plan to wear a specially
designed warm-up shirt
during all games through
November. The shirt says
“WE,” which the team says
symbolizes its togetherness.
The gray shirt has black
lettering, with the name
“Flip” across the heart.
Bulldogs rout
rival in final
playoff tune-up
U.S. Soccer star
Wambach set to
retire in December
(AP) — Abby Wambach,
the leading career
scorer — male or female
— in international soccer,
announced her retirement
from soccer on Tuesday
shortly after the
FACES U.S. national
team celebrated
its Women’s
World Cup
victory at the
White House.
Wambach,
Wambach
35, said before
the World
Cup this past summer in
Canada that she wanted to
cap her 15-year career with
the game’s most prestigious
championship. She got her
wish.
Wambach, who grew up
in Rochester, New York, has
appeared in 252 international
matches with 184 goals.
She will play the ¿ nal
four matches of the national
team’s 10-game victory tour
before stepping away from
the team. Her ¿ nal match
will be Dec. 16 against
China in New Orleans.
“It may be
counterintuitive,
but fans are
actually not
tuning out when
it happens. I think
it’s fascinating
strategy used
by Pop (Gregg
Popovich) and
other great
coaches, so it’s
part of what
draws people in.”
— Adam Silver
NBA Commissioner
telling ESPN’s ‘Mike &
Mike’ on Tuesday morn-
ing that the NBA’s ‘Hack-
a-Player’ rules are not
likely to change in the
near future. Silver said
he agrees that it’s bad
entertainment-wise, and
will continue to monitor
games with the competi-
tion committee.
teams ¿ ve seniors scored on
Senior Night in a 6-0 win.
“Tonight I was really
focused on the team’s
mentality going into the
play-in game,” said Herm-
iston coach Rich Harsh-
berger of the Bulldogs’
home game on Saturday in
the OSAA’s Round of 24.
“We came out and got the
result we needed to and had
some fun.”
Junior Freddy Rodriguez
scored the ¿ rst goal of
each half for the Bulldogs
(10-2-2, 4-1-1 CRC) and
Harshberger said it was his
best game of the season in
regards to possession reten-
tion and play-making.
East Oregonian
The Hermiston boys
soccer team had nothing
to play for but momentum
and bragging rights in
Tuesday’s Columbia River
Conference ¿ nale against
rival Pendleton, but for the
Bulldogs that was plenty.
Hermiston sent itself
into the postseason with
its highest goal output of
the season, and three of the
Boys Soccer
Hermiston
Pendleton
6
0
“He was really con¿ dent
on the ball,” he said.
Rodriguez scored his
¿ rst goal in the 15th minute,
then found the net again
in the 41st minute to give
Hermiston a 3-0 lead.
He also drew a hard foul
in the box that set up senior
Edwin Rosales’ penalty kick
goal in the 32nd minute.
Senior Enrique Leal
added an off-foot goal into
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
sixth-place team from the
Northwest Oregon Confer-
ence. Parkrose (5-8) lost at
Liberty 3-2 on Tuesday to
set up the meeting and is
2-6 on the road this season.
No. 26 Pendleton (4-9-1,
1-5) could have earned
an automatic road play-in
game with a win, but didn’t
see its season end with the
loss.
The Bucks tied No. 27
The Dalles for third place
in league play with each
team winning once in their
head-to-head match-ups.
A coin À ip will determine
which team plays at No.
10 Putnam (5-6-3) in the
play-in round.
PENDLETON
Bulldogs get their point across
Win secures home
playoff game
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
Hermiston came into Tuesday’s girls
soccer game against rival Pendleton
with a chip on its shoulder and looking
to prove a point.
The Bulldogs believe their message
was sent following a 2-1 win on the
natural pitch at Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College that concluded Columbia
River Conference play.
“We know how to play on grass,”
said Hermiston’s Alysia Garcia, who
scored the game-winning goal in the
73rd minute.
Garcia was referencing some
bulletin
board
material offered up Girls Soccer
by Pendleton (5-7-2,
1-4-1 CRC) head
coach Paul Parker
Hermiston
following their 1-1 tie
in Hermiston (4-4-6,
2-1-3) two weeks
ago.
“Take these guys
off turf and I think it
Pendleton
would be a different
game,” the ¿ rst-year
Buckaroo coach said
at the time.
The Bulldogs took notice, and
used the added motivation to put forth
just their third multi-goal game of the
season.
“Basically what it came down to
was composure,” said Hermiston coach
Danielle Turner. “You’re working hard
to get those opportunities and you’ve
got to ¿ nd a way to ¿ nish them.”
Hermiston was much better at
¿ nding the frame in the second half,
though, and appeared to shooting
blindly at times in the ¿ rst half.
“Sometimes we just sort of kick it
instead of placing it, and that’s some-
thing we’ve been working on,” Garcia
said.
“The second half we stepped up,
calmed it down a little bit and started
playing our game,” Turner said.
Despite controlling possession for
2
1
See BULLDOGS/2B
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Pendleton’s Nikkola Cook and Shaelynn Gilbert (8), of Hermiston, position themselves to head the
ball during Tuesday’s soccer game at Blue Mountain Community College as Hermiston’s Kali Torres
(7) provides backup.
PENDLETON
T-Wolves presented with Presidents Cup
BMCC athletes earn award
for work in classroom
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1939 — Kansas State’s
homecoming game against
Nebraska is the second
college football game ever
televised, following Fordham
vs. Waynesburg in New
York earlier in the fall. The
Cornhuskers win 25-9 before
a limited Nebraska television
audience.
2006 — Oregon State
upsets the Trojans 33-31,
ending USC’s 27-game
Pac-10 winning streak.
the side of the net in the
47th minute and senior John
Mejia scored off the dribble
from the top of the box
in the 60th. Junior Ruben
Lopez added the ¿ nal goal
in the 62nd minute to push
Hermiston past its previous
season high mark of ¿ ve
goals scored in a 5-2 win
over Century.
With an eye toward the
playoffs, Harshberger was
able to rotate through his
bench and give several
players meaningful minutes
while resting regulars.
No. 4 Hermiston’s
play-in game will be
Saturday at Kennison Field
against No. 16 Parkrose, the
Staff photo by Matt Entrup
NWAC Executive Director Marco Azurdia, far right, pres-
ents Blue Mountain Community College President Ca-
mille Preus, center, and Athletic Director Brett Bryan with
the Presidents Cup on Tuesday.
The trophy cases have been ¿ lling up
at Blue Mountain Community College
in recent years as the athletic department
enjoys its most recent run of success on
the playing ¿ elds.
But NWAC Executive Director Marco
Azurdia was on campus Wednesday to
deliver a trophy representing the Timber-
wolves’ excellence in the classroom.
Three years ago the NWAC created
the Presidents Cup to award its members
whose athletes were the top performing
students in the Northwest junior college
association. The award is given in large
and small school distinctions based on
the number of sports a college offers, and
Blue Mountain was this year’s recipient
for small schools.
It is the ¿ rst time the Timberwolves
have won the Presidents Cup, which will
be on display at the school until next
year’s recipient is named.
Points are awarded for GPA, credits
completed and degrees or certi¿ cates
earned. Clackamas Community College
won for large schools.
Before presenting the cup to BMCC
President Camille Preus, Azurdia
explained the thought process behind its
creation.
“Athletics is really just the carrot, and
education and character development
is very important for us,” he said. “Our
motto is, ‘What good is an increase in
knowledge without a change in char-
acter. And so that’s what we want to be
about.’”
Azurdia also presented the Timber-
wolves with a banner that will hang from
the walls at Mosby Court.
———
Contact Matt Entrup at mentrup@
eastoregonian.com or (541) 966-0838.