E AST O REGONIAN
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2021
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A10
ON THE SLATE
FRESH
START
Tuesday, Sept. 7
Prep volleyball
Hermiston at Hanford, 7 p.m.
Pilot Rock at Riverside, 6 p.m.
Umatilla at McLoughlin,
5:30 p.m.
Ione/Arlington at Dufur,
6 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
Hermiston at Kennewick,
7 p.m.
Umatilla at Trout Lake, 4 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
McLoughlin at Irrigon, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 8
College volleyball
Blue Mountain at WWCC,
6 p.m.
College men’s soccer
Wenatchee Valley at Blue
Mountain, 4:15 p.m.
College women’s soccer
Yakima Valley at Blue Moun-
tain, 2 p.m.
EOU at Whitman College,
6 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
Baker at Riverside, 5 p.m.
Ontario at Pendleton, 4 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 9
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Hermiston goalie Lindsey Pasena-Littlesky grabs a Hanford shot on goal during a soccer game on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021, at Kennison Field.
Pasena-Littlesky a perfect fi t for the Hermiston girls soccer team
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — When Lind-
sey Pasena-Littlesky was in the fi rst
grade, she wanted to be president of
the United States when she grew up.
In the fi fth grade, she wanted to
be a lawyer. That still is her ambi-
tion, but for now, she will embrace
her new job as starting goalkeeper
on the Hermiston girls soccer team.
“I made a decision to go to Herm-
iston because of all the academics
and the Pathways program to help
my career,” said Pasena-Littlesky,
who has a 3.8 GPA. “They have a
business one and I was able to get
more (Advanced Placement) classes
than I had at Pendleton.”
Pasena-Littlesky and her family
moved to Hermiston during the
summer, and the position on the
soccer team was a bonus.
“The environment is diff erent,”
Pasena-Littlesky said of the Herm-
iston program. “It’s way more
competitive. We train a lot harder,
we work harder. We push each
other. I really love it. I am working
harder than I ever have.”
Hermiston soccer coach Freddy
Guizar was excited to welcome
Pasena-Littlesky to the program.
She was the Intermountain Confer-
ence goalie of the year as a sopho-
more and a junior at Pendleton.
“She is a good leader, it’s just
natural for her,” Guizar said. “She
was a captain for Pendleton last
year on a young team. She is one of
those girls who is willing to carry
her team on her back. She is willing
to sacrifi ce to help our team out. I
am super excited to have her this
year.”
Though Pasena-Littlesky has
only been with the Bulldogs a short
time, she said she feels welcome.
“I love the team,” she said.
“Since I met them, they have treated
me like family. Playing together is
like a whole diff erent experience.
Freddy sees what we don’t see in
ourselves. He pushes us. The fi rst
day of tryouts, we ran 3 miles. I’ve
never done that. Freddy was a goalie
himself and I have learned a lot
from him.”
Pasena-Littlesky also is making
history with the Bulldogs.
“She is native playing in a
minority school,” Guizar said. “She
is the fi rst native we have had play-
ing goalie at our school.”
Pasena-Littlesky’s mom is from
the Hopi Tribe in Pueblo, New
Mexico, while her dad is part of
the Ogala Lakota Nation in South
Dakota.
See Start, Page A11
Echo/Stanfi eld enters second season in BMC soccer
Young Cougars still
learning the game
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
ECHO — It’s never easy to
start a team from scratch. It’s
even harder when half of your
players have never played the
game before.
E cho/St a n f ield g i rls
soccer coach Ayleen Sando-
val has gone through the
growing pains with her
team, but now that the
Cougars are in their second
season, things are starting to
fall into place.
“Last year, we started with
seven players, then it got up to
eight,” Sandoval said. “This
season, we have 12 girls. The
standard is 11 girls on the
fi eld, and seven is the mini-
mum. Teams were great last
year to play us 7-on-7. The
girls are adjusting to 11 girls
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian on the fi eld.”
When the schools were
Echo’s Emily Hancock controls the ball during a home game Friday, Sept. 3, 2021,
trying to get the program
with Trout Lake.
off the ground last year, they
needed a coach and Sandoval
was approached about apply-
ing. She did, and got the job.
“I have been playing since
I was 3 years old,” said Sando-
val, a 2016 graduate of Herm-
iston High School. “I played in
high school and I was on the
first women’s team at Blue
Mountain. I played defender,
but I also played a couple of
games at goalie at Blue Moun-
tain.”
On her team, Sandoval has
Morgan Gaines, McKenzie
Rose, Keaton Nasario, Emily
Hancock, and sisters Anaitza
and Nayeli Mendez, who had
experience playing the game
before last season.
“Pretty much half the team
has never played before,”
Sandoval said. “When I fi rst
saw them, they said they had
never played before, but it
looked like they had. They are
athletes. I love the work ethic
they have.
See Cougars, Page A11
Prep football
Enterprise at Pilot Rock,
7 p.m.
Prep volleyball
Pendleton at Baker, 6:30 p.m.
Pasco at Hermiston, 7 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at Irrigon,
5 p.m.
Pilot Rock at Wallowa, 6 p.m.
McLoughlin at Griswold,
4 p.m.
Ione/Arlington at Griswold,
TBD
Riverside at Umatilla, 5 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
Pasco at Hermiston, 7 p.m.
McLoughlin at Stanfield/
Echo, 5 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
Prescott at Riverside, 4 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 10
Prep football
Wilsonville at Pendleton (at
PHS), 7 p.m.
Hermiston at Sunnyside,
7 p.m.
La Grande at McLoughlin,
7 p.m.
Ione/Arlington at Imbler,
2 p.m.
Umatilla at Irrigon, 7 p.m.
Pine Eagle at Echo, 7 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at Nestucca,
7 p.m.
Stanfi eld a Culver, 7 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
Catlin Gabel at Riverside,
4 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
Irrigon at Trout Lake, 5 p.m.
Prep cross-country
He r m ist on , G r iswold ,
Weston-McEwen, Umatilla at
Runners Soul XC Fest, Umatilla,
5 p.m.
P e n d l e t o n , H e p p n e r,
McLoughlin, Nixyaawii, Stan-
fi eld/Echo, Pilot Rock, River-
side at Catherine Creek Scamper,
TBD
Prep volleyball
Umatilla, Irrigon, McLough-
lin at Baker Tournament, TBD
Echo at Lyle/Wishram, 5 p.m.
College volleyball
Blue Mountain vs. Central
Wyoming at STARR Invite,
1 p.m.
Blue Mountain vs. Salt Lake
CC at Starr Invite, 3 p.m.
Walla Walla at EOU, 2 p.m.
SPORTS SHORT
Blue Mountain teams to open East Region play
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The Blue Moun-
tain Community College volleyball
team will kick off its Northwest Athletic
Conference East Region schedule
Wednesday, Sept. 8, at Walla Walla
Community College.
Timberwolves coach Ceanna Larson
returns nine players from last year’s
team that fi nished 7-6 in the East stand-
ings and 8-7 overall.
This season, BMCC is off to a 2-2
start after playing at the Northwest
Challenge in Bellevue, Washington.
Emma Barclay, a 5-foot-7 outside
hitter from American Falls, Idaho,
has gotten off to a good start for
the Timberwolves. She had 12 kills
against Bellevue in their tournament
match.
The Timberwolves have a bit of local
fl air with Cloe Davis, a 5-foot-11 right-
side hitter from Weston-McEwen High
School. She had four blocks against
Bellevue.
BMCC will play at the STARR
Invite on Sept. 9 and 10, then will host
Columbia Basin College at 6 p.m. on
Sept. 15.
The BMCC men’s soccer team
will host Wenatchee Valley in its East
Region opener at 4:15 on Sept. 8.
The Timberwolves return 13 players
from last year’s team that fi nished fi rst
in the East with a 6-1-3 record
Led by goalkeeper Aeryn Elder, the
BMCC women’s soccer team opens
East Region play Sept. 8., hosting
Yakima Valley at 2 p.m.
BMCC returns 10 players from last
year’s team, which fi nished 4-5-0.
Blue Mountain
Community
College’s
Amanda
Kvamme (7) hits
the ball during
the fi nal set in
October 2019
in Pendleton
against the Big
Bend Community
College Vikings.
Blue Mountain
is off to a 2-2
start for the 2021
season.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File