4B | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019 | COTTAGE GROVE
CG boys soccer player suffers gruesome injury against Elmira
By Nick Snyder
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
In the Lions second game of the week, they continued
their winning ways defeating Elmira (2-3, 0-1) 4-0, however
the story of the game was a devastating injury to junior for-
ward Shambay Gabriel Tripp, who is also a member of the
basketball team.
Mid-way through the second half, Tripp elevated for a ball,
but upon landing suffered a complete fracture of both the
tibia and fibula in his lower right leg, as well as a dislocated
ankle.
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“It was a non-contact injury. He just basically went up for
a normal header, but then he came straight down and, being
artificial turf, it doesn’t give when you land,” said coach Vern
Stewart, who was also quick to point out the fact that no one
on either team was at fault. It was simply the kind of unfortu-
nate freak accident that is bound to happen, albeit rarely, in
in all manner of sports.
“[Elmira head coach] Ryan Chambers and I both looked
at each other and we both said, ‘did we just hear what we
thought we heard?’ because you could hear the crack of the
break when he came down. We both instantly ran out, we
didn’t even wait for the official to call us on the field,” Stewart
continued.
Stewart had the foresight to throw his jacket over the
gruesome injury to limit the other young players’ exposure
to such a grotesque sight. Nonetheless, a few players in the
vicinity became queasy and Stewart himself, despite his de-
cades of experience, was still shaken by the weight of the sit-
uation.
“It was 22 minutes and 39 seconds left in the game. That
Soccer from B1
NICK SNYDER/CG SENTINEL
Senior forward/midfielder Annie Gibson-Becker
takes a shot on goal in the second half against
Marshfield.
While the players them-
selves
celebrated
the
league-opening win, head
coach Reed Levings sees
several areas for improve-
ment as the team heads
into the meat of the league
season, with upcoming
games against Junction
City and Marist Catholic.
“The ball wasn’t on our
defensive half that much
and when it was we didn’t
make the greatest plays on
the ball,” said Levings.
“Once again, it’s passing.
We’re forcing it either out
of bounds or into their for-
wards and it’s, like, ‘no, you
need to move, find your
teammates.’”
Indeed, there were a
number of missed oppor-
tunities - particularly in
the second half - to make
the 4-0 final score even
more lopsided. Levings be-
lieves communication and
more confidence in deci-
sion-making can combine
to make this team a real
threat throughout league
play.
“We talked about there
being a difference be-
tween talking and com-
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At the time of the injury, the Lions held a 3-0 lead and
almost three-quarters of the game was already in the books.
Elmira gave Cottage Grove the option of ending the game
early due to the traumatic nature of what happened, but the
Lions decided to finish the game in Tripp’s honor, with a final
goal by senior Shane Raum sealing the victory.
An ambulance eventually arrived to the field, stabilizing
Tripp’s leg and transporting him to the hospital where he un-
derwent successful surgery on Fri., Sept. 27. He is expected
to miss the remainder of the soccer season and his availabil-
ity for basketball season is in doubt.
“It’s terrible that it happened and, you know, it depends on
what the team does after this point. We’ll find out how we
are, we’ll get together on Monday for our practice and we’ll
talk about it and dedicate the rest of the year to Shambay.”
After edging out their last four opponents by a total score
of 21-3, Cottage Grove will look to make it six victories in a
row when they travel to Junction City on Thurs., Oct. 3 for
their third league match of the season.
municating, where talking
is just noise, but actually
communicating with your
teammates where you’re
at, what they need to do.
Do you have pressure? Can
you hold the ball? Do you
need to dribble in space?
Am I open out wide? Just
being more descriptive
with your communica-
tion.”
The team headed to El-
mira (0-3-3, 0-1) for their
second game of the week
on Thurs., Sept. 26, domi-
nating the match and win-
ning 6-0 for their second
consecutive league victory.
Cottage Grove will next
match up with Junction
City (0-8, 0-2) in a home
match on Thurs., Oct. 3
before making the trip up
to Eugene on Tues., Oct. 8
to take on rivals and league
favorites Marist.
Boys soccer makes it
a sweep of the Pirates
Not to be outdone by the
girls, the Cottage Grove
boys soccer team made the
trip to Coos Bay to take on
a Marshfield team riding a
two-game winning streak.
After going down 0-1
early in the second half,
the Lions (5-2 overall, 2-0
league) found their re-
solve, scoring three quick
goals to defeat the Pirates
(5-2, 1-1) by a score of 3-1
and secure their fourth
consecutive victory, their
scoreless 0-2 start to the
season now decidedly in
the rearview mirror.
“That’s just our signa-
ture this year. It takes us a
half to get going,” said head
coach Vern Stewart, laugh-
ing.
“Fortunately, we don’t
get too far behind. We still
play pretty good defense,
so we don’t often get be-
hind and have this huge
hill to climb. But we were
behind in this one, we were
down 1-0, and we could’ve
just packed it in and gone
home with a loss, but our
guys are really finding the
will to fight.”
And fight they did in the
second half. After subbing
in for starter Evan Snauer,
junior forward Shambay
Gabriel Tripp got the Lions
on the board in the 61st
minute off of a throw-in,
finding the loose ball in the
box and finishing.
According to coach
Stewart, the team had
spent the last week practic-
ing their set pieces, prac-
tice that paid off in a big
way with not only Tripp’s
goal, but another just 10
minutes later when soph-
omore Jayden Cameron
sent a corner kick into the
box which was headed in
by freshman phenom Aldo
Rea.
“Nobody could have
stopped that, not even a
six-foot-plus
defender,”
said Stewart about Rea’s
go-ahead goal, his fifth in
the last three games for the
Lions.
The final goal was
scored by Cameron, a long
strike that went through
the hands of the Pirates’
freshman goalie, Daniel
Garcia, and gave Cottage
Grove the insurance they
needed to breathe easy
over the closing minutes of
the game.
The Pirates came in as
a top-10 ranked team in
OSAA 4A soccer with wins
over Astoria, North Bend
and, most notably, a 5-1
drubbing of a Tillamook
team that beat the Lions
4-0 in their first game of
the season. The Lions seem
to have come a long way
since that opening match
and Stewart sees the mak-
ings of a truly competitive
team coming together.
“I wouldn’t say we have
any superstar on our team,
you know, we have some
players that are doing the
job in the positions that
they’re assigned, but I
think from the defensive
side to working it through
the middle, as long as
we’re all relaxed and our
passes are on target and
our movement is the way
it should be, we’re pretty
well-rounded.
“I’m looking forward
to the rest of the season. I
think it’s going to be one of
those, ‘oh, I didn’t realize
we were that good’ kind of
thing,” said Stewart.
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