Mount Hood

Western Lacrosse stands tall against the Rippers

Lake Larsen | Sports Editor

The freashman heavy Western Lacrosse team took the field on a sunny Oct. 14. The Wolves were pitted against the Rippers, a men’s league team, for their home debut of the fall lacrosse season.

Previously the Wolves split their last four tournament games with two wins and two losses. With this matchm Western hoped to gain experience and add to their winning column.

The first quarter was messy for Western. Unable to win a faceoff, the Wolves quickly fell into a 0-2 hole before finally finding the back of the net. Poor defensive play led to Western falling to a 2-4 score at the end of the first.

“We were playing against an offensive set we hadn’t practiced against. The different look took us a bit to react to,” said senior history major and defenseman Bryce Hinkle.

The Wolves finally found their offensive footing in the second quarter. The senior led offense found the cage six times to capture the lead over the Rippers. Visibly tired, the Rippers offense struggled to hold a possession while the deep bench of the Wolves lead to an offensive run.

Not ready to give up, the Rippers came storming back in the 3rd quarter. After a couple of missed shots and poor goalkeeping from Western, the Rippers buried four shots to bring the game within three points.

It was anyone’s ballgame as the clock began to run in the final quarter of play. Carrying off their momentum from the third, the Rippers fought their way back to bring the game within one. Great defensive efforts were made on both sides of the field as the Rippers battled to retake the lead.

With just a handful of minutes left to play, the Wolves’s offense cemented their lead with a pair of goals. Western lacrosse’s home debut came to a finish with the Wolves on top, 14-11.

 

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu

Discovering Club Sports

Lake Larsen | Sports Editor

Whether students are looking to continue their competitive passion for high level athletics or just wanting to learn something new, a viable option is Western’s Club Sports. Joining a team gives students the ability to compete nationally in competitive team sports. Club Sports are open to student of any skill and experience level — many rosters are full of students who have never played the sport before coming to college.

The teams within Club Sports are split into two types: Tier 1 and Tier 2. The Tier 2 sports are geared more toward practicing and enjoying the sport while the Tier 1 sports are about competition with other schools and competing within a national league. Below, I’ve listed the Club Sports currently offered at Western.

 

Tier 1:

Dance Team

Joining the Dance Team allows male and female students the chance to perform in front of the school at home football and basketball games.

Contact the club president Olivia Ashmanskas at oashmanskas14@wou.edu

Men’s Rugby

Playing for the Men’s Rugby Team gives male students the ability to compete against other schools in this full-contact sport.

Contact the club president Chris Davis at cwdavis@wou.edu

Women’s Rugby

Being the only full-contact female club sport, the Women’s Rugby Team is a way for female students to compete in an aggressive sport.

Contact the club president Ciara Brady at cbrady16@wou.edu

Men’s Soccer

The Men’s Soccer team is for male students who want to participate in a higher level of soccer.

Contact the club president Nash Idler at nidler14@wou.edu

Men’s Lacrosse

Being a full contact sport, the Lacrosse Team is another option for male students looking to get involved in hard hitting and fast paced competition.

Contact the club president Justin Morales at jmorales17@wou.edu

Rock Climbing

Whether a student wants to learn how to climb or compete against other schools, the Rock Climbing Club gives the option of a relaxed or competitive experience.

Contact the club president Kayla Baker at kmbaker15@wou.edu

 

Tier 2:

Women’s Soccer

Competing against other schools all around the west coast, the Women’s Soccer Team is for female students looking to play soccer at a high level.

Contact the club president Haylie Shinsato at hshinsato14@wou.edu

Disc Golf

Brand new this school year, the Disc Golf Club is a way for students to learn about and compete in the sport.

Contact the club president Lucas Castanon at lcastanon15@wou.edu

Martial Arts

No matter what the skill level, the Martial Arts Club grants students the chance to show off their martial art skills with others.

Contact the club president Alex Buschauer at abuschauer14@wou.edu

Running Club

Running with the Running Club gives students the chance to participate in team practices on many different courses and trails as well as the chance to join in on some competitive events.

Contact the club president Sean Martinez at smartinez17@wou.edu

Tennis Club

The Tennis Club gives students the opportunity to hone in their tennis skills against different students in a relaxed or competitive environment.

Contact the club president Jacob Bering at jbering16@wou.edu

Wrestling Club

Meeting several times a week, the Wrestling Club gives students the opportunity to spar with their fellow students to help grow their wrestling skills.

Contact the club president Todd Sjullie at tsjullie17@wou.edu

 

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu

Wolves’s Men’s Rugby lose close match against COCC Bobcats

Lake Larsen | Sports Editor

Clouds covered the sky and rain began to fall as Western Men’s Rugby took the field to battle against the Central Oregon Community College Bobcats. A week prior, Western Rugby took on Oregon State University and pulled off an upset beating them 31-29. Hoping to continue their season in the winning column, the Wolves matched up against the Bobcats.

The first 20 minutes saw offensive domination by the Wolves with the ball only crossing back over midfield once. However, despite the offensive pressure, Western was only able to score one try, missing the conversion.

Shortly after their try the Wolves’ defense fell back on their heels. The Bobcats scored and were able to complete their conversion to take a 7-5 lead with close to 15 minutes left on the clock in the half. After a few defensive stops by Western, the Bobcats once against found themselves on the board with another try. After missing the conversion the Wolves were down 12-5 going into the half.

Western needed to make some adjustments at halftime in order to stall the offensive momentum of the Bobcats.

“We made some substitutions because some guys were a little fatigued,” said senior criminal justice major Chris Davis. “But overall it was more so just getting back to the basics… settling back down and getting back to what we do well: running our offense.”

Shortly after the half Western started to battle back, bringing the score to 10-12. However both defenses were relentless as no points were scored either way for the majority of the second half.

As the clock came down to just a few minutes left, the Wolves pulled ahead 15-12. Unfortunately for Western, this lead was short lived as the Bobcats scored a try and conversion to retake the lead. With just a few minutes on the clock Western was unable to recover the lead, finishing the game 15-19 with the Bobcats on top.

Despite the loss, Western still kept their heads high.

“It was encouraging because this team was the conference champion last year and we matched up pretty well,” said Davis. “I think that going forward for the rest of the season, only a two point loss to a really good team like this can be pretty encouraging”

 

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Ashlynn Norton

Opinion: From the Sports Desk

Lake Larsen | Sports Editor

The football program has been a part of Western Oregon University since 1923. However, the end might be in sight.

Western belongs to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and competes at the NCAA DII level for football. Along with Western there are four other schools: Central Washington, Simon Fraser, Azusa Pacific and Humboldt State that complete the conference.

As of July 17, Humboldt State announced that the 2018 season will mark the final season for football at their school. Due to this loss in the conference, I believe that the GNAC might be seeing its final days, leading to an eventual death of Western football.

After losing Humboldt State, the GNAC will only have four members. For a comparison, the average NCAA DI conference hosts about 12 teams, meaning the GNAC size is far below average. Due to this, Western is forced to play every team in the conference twice in order to field a full season of games.

With Humboldt State no longer on the schedule, Western will be forced to travel approximately 1,000 miles at the closest to play another opponent. This is due to NCAA DII football being very sparse on the western half of the United States with only five teams west of Colorado. The added travel will lead to student athletes being away from classes for a longer period of time as well as an increased cost — something that Western Oregon, per the fiscal year 2019 working budget, already budgets $85,630 for.

If Western wants to continue to field a football program, the answer might lie in moving up a competition level to NCAA FCS (DI-AA). The FCS level hosts far more teams much closer for Western to travel to. However, in order to join, Western would have to pass a multitude of obstacles, something that the school would need to investigate if they wanted to keep a program.

Regardless of which route Western wants to take in regards to a football program, action needs to be taken. The GNAC is already a tiny conference in comparison to the rest of collegiate football conferences and with the loss of Humboldt State, Western’s options are dwindling. Traveling hundreds of miles for games will only increase the budget making the funding side of the program increasingly more difficult. If the school doesn’t act soon, I believe there will no longer be a team to watch.

 

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu

Wolves’ scoreboard

Lake Larsen | Sports Editor

Date Sport Opponent Score

Varsity
10/6 Football @ Texas A&M Kingsville W 13-7
Women’s Soccer vs. Simon Fraser University L 1-3
Volleyball vs. Western Washington University L 0-3
Cross Country Conference Crossover @ Lewis University Men place 9th
10/9 Women’s Soccer vs. Saint Martin’s University W 1-0

Club Sports
10/6 Men’s Soccer vs. Willamette University L 0-7
Lacrosse vs. University of Portland W 7-5
Lacrosse vs. Humboldt State University W 6-2
Lacrosse vs. Montana State University L 3-10
10/7 Men’s Rugby vs. Central Oregon Community College L 15-19
Men’s Soccer @ Central Oregon Community College W 5-2
Lacrosse vs. University of Montana L 2-9

Western Women’s Soccer secedes to Simon Fraser Clan

Lake Larsen | Sports Editor

Saturday, Oct. 6, the Wolves looked to turn their season around and climb the rankings within the GNAC with their match against the Simon Fraser Clan. After losing two in a row to top ranked opponents in conference play, the Wolves had a lot of work ahead of them. If Western was able to pull off a win against Simon Fraser, they stood a chance to move up in the rankings within the conference. But the Clan had other plans.

It was a tight game for the entire first half. The Clan’s defense got the better of Western’s offense, holding them to only two shots and no points.

Western’s defense didn’t stand as tall as they gave up eight shots. However, due to effective goalkeeping by junior criminal justice major Alex Qualls, the Wolves kept the game scoreless going into the second half.

The second half did not go the way the Wolves had hoped as they gave up two unanswered points to the Clan. Western started to mount a comeback by scoring a goal to bring the game within one. The goal came off the foot of first-year communications major Hannah Cabral with the assist coming from sophomore early education major Alyssa Tomasini. Cabral’s goal marked the first of her collegiate career and the assist was Tomasini’s third of the season.

The Wolves’s comeback came to a screeching halt when the Clan scored their third goal off the foot of a Western defender. This would be the final point of the game as Western’s offense stood no match for the Clan defense. The Wolves finished the game in a 1-3 loss.

 

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Ashlynn Norton

A league of change

Lake Larsen | Sports Editor

IMLeagues has taken over the Western Oregon Intramural and Club Sports scene. After becoming a large part of the school in the previous school year, the scheduling and managing website now controls all aspects of Intramural and Club Sports. If students wish to join or play any sports this year, it’s important for them to familiarize themselves with the site.

Intramural and club sports are very popular activities among the student body at Western. With the integration of IMLeagues, participation in these have never been easier.

“You don’t have to go to 12 different places to be able to see if you can join this club, or that club, ‘can I play intramurals?’ It just lays it out for you.” said Andy Main, Assistant Director of Campus Recreation Intramural and Club Sports.

“Once you’re in, (for) any club that you’re interested in joining you can see: ‘does it fit with my schedule?’” added junior early education major Brianna Jones, who is also the Club Sports Supervisor. “It’s easy to access and see their practice schedule and their game schedule.”

IMLeagues allows students the ability to plan out their game schedules to make the experience as easy and enjoyable as possible.

Visiting IMLeagues gives the user access to many more features used by both Intramural and Club Sports.

“Once you’re in, it’s a very intuitive program. It lays it all out for you, makes it easy to invite friends. It’s easy to join a team, it’s easy to find your schedule… Once you get the quote unquote difficult part out of the way, which is creating the initial account, it makes participation and organizing your life around intramural activities a lot easier,” added Main. Everything a student athlete might need, no matter what level of competition they are playing at, is laid out on the site. Overall, the experience within the app makes playing Intramural just about the sport and gets rid of the headache around running a team.

Joining IMLeagues is the first and biggest step a student can take to get involved with Campus Recreation. Students can join by visiting IMLeagues.com/wou.

 

Contact the author at llarsen13@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of IMLeagues.com

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