SPORTS
Page 8 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
Teams set for the 2017 NWSL playoffs
The Portland Thorns are hosting a
home playoff game for the second
year in a row in the National
Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). The
team’s semifinal match against the
Orlando Pride will be held at
Providence Park on Saturday,
October 7 at 12:30pm. In the other
semifinal game, the North Carolina
Courage take on the Chicago Red
Stars at Sahlen’s Stadium at
WakeMed Soccer Park in North
Carolina on Saturday, October 8 at
12:30pm.
Both playoff games, as well as the
championship match on Saturday,
October 14 at Orlando City Stadium,
are televised live on Lifetime.
In an interesting twist of regular-
season scheduling, the four teams
that had secured playoff berths prior
to the final weekend of league games
played each other, with results of the
two matches impacting final place-
ments in the playoff bracket.
First-place North Carolina (16-7-1,
49 points) — which features Abby
Erceg,
Lynn
Williams,
Yuri
Kawamura (currently on the disabled
list), and others — fell 2-3 to the
Orlando Pride (11-6-7, 40 points) —
which includes Marta, Chioma
Ubogagu, Alex Morgan, and others —
in front of 7,020 fans. Stalwart
defender Erceg has anchored the
Courage backline this season,
holding opposing teams to only 22
goals, the second-fewest allowed in
the league.
At Providence Park in front of a
sellout crowd of 21,144 fans, second-
place Thorns FC (14-5-5, 47 points) —
featuring Nadia Nadim, Christine
Sinclair, Tobin Heath, and others —
defeated the Chicago Red Stars
(11-7-6, 39 points) — which includes
Yuki Nagasato, Sofia Huerta,
Danielle Colaprico, and others — by a
score of 3-1.
Orlando’s win coupled with
Chicago’s loss allowed the Pride to
jump into third place, pushing the
Red Stars down to fourth place.
The Thorns ended the regular
season just two points behind North
Carolina, who took home the NWSL
Shield, which is awarded to the club
with the best regular-season record.
Seattle Reign FC, whose roster
considered “endangered.”
Using improved methods for
assessing the cats’ population,
experts estimated there are at least
about 4,000 in the wild, though there
could be as many as 10,000.
Scientists have managed to survey
only a small fraction of the animal’s
high-mountain range, an area
covering some 695,000 square miles
crossing into 12 countries in Asia.
Doing the research “is difficult,”
said Peter Zahler, coordinator of the
snow leopard program at the Wildlife
Conservation Society, who was
involved in the multi-agency team’s
assessment. “It involves an enormous
amount of work in some of the most
remote and inhospitable regions of
the world.”
New
technologies,
including
camera traps and satellite collaring,
are “giving us better information
about where snow leopards are and
how far they range,” he said.
Some
positive
developments
included an increase in the number of
protected areas, as well as stepped-up
efforts by local communities to
NBA coaches helping
create instructional videos
By Tim Reynolds
AP Basketball Writer
IAMI — National Basketball Association (NBA)
coaches are about to start offering instruction to
anyone who can get online.
The National Basketball Coaches Association (NBCA)
announced it is embarking on a partnership with a
company called eCoach to produce instructional videos
about the various skills of the game. The content will be
offered for the first time this fall.
“This technology and content is unprecedented and will
totally change the way we communicate our game to the
rest of the world,” said Dallas coach Rick Carlisle, the
NBCA’s president. “In my 12 years as president of the
NBCA, this is without question the most exciting en-
deavor we have been a part of.”
Organizers tout the project as an “online basketball
university,” and there will be a special emphasis on
reaching markets in China, India, Brazil, Africa, the
Philippines, Australia, and Europe.
Most of the videos will be between two and four minutes,
touching on various topics and done differently for
varying skill levels. Beginning next year, the videos will
be subtitled into many languages.
Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said he thinks it will be a
tremendous boost to growing the game, both
internationally and in the U.S.
“Kids from the Philippines to China to Europe to South
America can access drills to learn fundamentals,”
Spoelstra said. “I think all of us have been really searching
for a way to house all of the fundamentals and basics that
are getting lost, particularly in the youth American game
with AAU. [We want] to find a way to tap back into that,
and then use the coaches at our level to help teach the
game and grow the game globally.”
M
NWSL PLAYOFFS. Nadia Nadim of the Portland Thorns dribbles the ball during the team’s fi-
nal regular-season National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) match against the Chicago Red Stars
at Providence Park on September 30, 2017. The Thorns, who finished league play in second place,
are hosting a home playoff game for the second year in a row. The semifinal match against the Or-
lando Pride will be held at Providence Park on Saturday, October 7 at 12:30pm. (AR Photo/Jan
Landis)
includes Nahomi “Naho” Kawasumi, cheered on their team. The 2017
Rumi Utsugi, Megan Rapinoe, and numbers resulted in new NWSL
others, ended its season in fifth place records for both total and average
with 34 points and an overall record attendance in one season.
Portland this year also had the best
of 9-8-7, missing the playoffs. Naho
topped the NWSL assist chart this home record — 10 wins, 1 loss, and 1
tie — in the league, which set a new
season with nine.
Sky Blue FC, a club with players single-season record for home wins at
such as Sam Kerr, Tasha Kai, Providence Park and stands as the
Christie Pearce, and others, will also best home record in the NWSL this
be watching the playoffs from home year. In addition, the team allowed
despite multiple-goal performances the least number of goals against —
by Kerr and her squad in the latter 20 — and goalkeeper Adrianna
Franch posted a league-leading 11th
part of the season.
The Australian playmaker scored shutout during the regular season.
Portland, North Carolina, Orlando,
her 17th goal of the year over the
weekend, which broke the all-time and Chicago are now the four clubs
for
the
2017
NWSL
NWSL record for most goals in a vying
single season. Kerr already owns the championship. Past winners have
all-time NWSL record for most career included the Thorns in the inaugural
goals, with her most-recent tally 2013 season, FC Kansas City in 2014
and 2015, and the Western New York
placing her at 43 goals overall.
Sky Blue finished just a point Flash (now the North Carolina
behind the Reign in sixth place with a Courage) in 2016.
Providence Park is located at the
10-11-3 record and 33 points.
The Thorns squad broke several corner of S.W. 18th Avenue and
club and league records this year, Morrison Street in Portland. To learn
including two involving home more, or to buy tickets for the October
attendance. In 12 matches held at 7 semifinal match, call (503) 553-
Providence Park, 211,830 fans — an 5555 or visit <www.portlandthornsfc.
average of 17,653 per game — wildly com>.
Long-endangered snow leopard upgraded to “vulnerable” status
Continued from page 16
October 2, 2017
protect the animals from poachers.
Communities were also working to
prevent cases of local herdsmen
retaliating for lost livestock by
building predator-proof livestock
corrals, team member Rodney
Jackson of the Snow Leopard
Conservancy group said in a state-
ment.
Still, the animals are hunted for
their thick fur and bones. They also
face declining numbers of wild prey,
as domestic livestock have degraded
grasslands.
Whether they might be impacted
by
global
warming
remains
uncertain. But scientists agree the
Himalayas are one of the world’s most
susceptible regions to climate
change.
“Saying snow leopards are now
‘vulnerable’ rather than ‘endangered’
doesn’t mean they’re safe,” Zahler
said. “It doesn’t take much to make
large predators disappear from
landscapes. We’ve seen it happen
over and over again around the
world.”
Japanese video gaming adapts new tech for familiar titles
Continued from page 2
division, said Japanese culture is at
the root of visual storytelling that
began with manga comic books, went
on to animation and films, and now
allows for an interactive element in
games.
Many people used to play games,
Morita added, but they have stopped
as they got older. But with new
technology like the virtual-reality
headset that Sony has developed and
an array of software products coming
out, the time may be finally ripe for
the Japanese game industry to reap
the rewards, he said.
“We want people to once again
remember and rediscover the fun of
games,” said Morita. “We want people
to re-experience that joy, that
emotion.”
Square
Enix
Holdings
Co.
president Yosuke Matsuda said his
company is putting out the 15th game
of the longtime hit “Final Fantasy”
series. Long lines formed at its giant
booth at the Tokyo Game Show for a
chance to try it out.
“Japanese games are loved by the
world,” he said.
Angelina Jolie on
her Cambodian
epic and the
power of family
Continued from page 16
says. “This could be
Myanmar.” But it also con-
cludes Jolie’s most massive
undertaking — a movie
made for an entire country.
“I
didn’t
plan
on
becoming a director,” Jolie
says.
“But
through
directing I’ve had to learn a
lot. And I’ve tried different
styles and I’ve learned
different things. When I
did Unbroken, I was going
to the classics that I loved
and trying to understand
that. This one, I think I
finally found something
that was just mine, that
wasn’t something that I
was in any way trying to
emulate. I was thinking: I
know children and I love
the way children look at
things.”
Give
blood.
To schedule a blood
donation call
1-800-G IVE-LIFE or
visit HelpSaveALife.org.
Retirement Living
. Studio & One-Bedroom Apartments
. Beauty and Barber Shop
. Activities, Clubs, and Garden Area
. Safety, Security, andCompanionship
. Federal Rent Subsidies Available
Westmoreland’s
Union Manor
Marshall
Union Manor
6404 SE 23rd Avenue
Portland, OR 97202
2020 NW Northrup Street
Portland, OR 97209
503 . 233 . 5671
503 . 225 . 0677
Kirkland
Union Plaza
Kirkland
Union Manors
1414 Kauffman Avenue
Vancouver, WA 98660
3530 SE 84th Avenue
Portland, OR 97266
360 . 694 . 4314
503 . 777 . 8101
www.theunionmanors.org
