Mount Hood

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

Defensive domination

Lake Larsen | Sports Editor

The Wolves’ looked to extend their winning streak to two as they took on the Simon Fraser Clan at McArthur field on Sept. 20 for the first home game with school in session. Coming into this game, Western had been on the losing end for the majority of the season. The Wolves’ had yet to be in the winning column at home having lost the first three games of the year. On the road, the Wolves’s season had taken a turn for the better as they picked up the win against Humboldt State in the week leading into their game against the Clan.

Saturday’s game was over fairly quickly as Western jumped to a 54-6 lead at halftime. Western’s defense was nothing short of exceptional as the Wolves’ forced an astonishing 10 turnovers. Seven of these turnovers were interceptions which is a single game Western football record and tied the Great Northwest Athletic Conference record. Three of the turnovers resulted in touchdowns for Western.

The special teams took some inspiration from the defense as they scored some points of their own. With seven extra points, a field goal, a blocked a punt returned for six points and a blocked extra point returned for two points, the defense and special teams scored the vast majority of points.

This record-breaking effort was met with a dysfunctional Western offense. The offense of Western found the endzone the same number of times as their defense, totaling three touchdowns. However these scores came at a cost as they turned over the ball five times, one of which resulted in a Clan touchdown. While this game will go down as a 54-13 victory for Western, it was anything but for the struggling Western offense.

 

Contact the author at llarsen13@mail.wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Paul F. Davis

Home-field advantage

Lake Larsen | Sports Editor

In recent seasons, Western softball has been littered with canceled practices and delayed games. While rain delays can be common occurrence in softball, especially in Oregon, these delays weren’t at the hand of the weather but instead the result of unfavorable conditions of the field. Due to these conditions, the playing surface has finally received a much needed renovation.

Over the previous summer, the softball field was transformed from an unplayable mess to a top of the line facility. The new field features a modern drainage system in the grass outfield to help lower the possibility of rain delays. It also has an entirely-turf infield complete with Western logos.

While the new playing surface is a welcomed change, the most exciting change for Western’s new field is simple: it will be able to host home games again.

“Two years ago we didn’t have any home games at all, we had to travel everywhere,” said senior first baseman Jenna Kelly.

“It’s hard to gain fans, too, when we’re not even here to have (home games),” added senior second baseman Raynne Whitaker. Because of the lack of home games for the previous seasons, the players greeted with open arms the ability to host games again.

“It’s a privilege to be a part of this, to be able to experience with my senior class,” noted senior catcher Nicole Miller.

Looking beyond the excitement of the new field and being able to host games again, the gift of the renovations are not forgotten by the team.

“(President Fuller) came and watched one of our home games last season when we had to tarp the field multiple times and we were out here doing fieldwork in between,” explained senior utility Cheyanne Rimer as to why the field was renovated.

“He came and watched that and realized this isn’t really how it’s supposed to be. (We’re) supposed to be here for game day, and not worry about loading bags of dirt onto the field and making sure that the field is playable. So I just wanted to really make sure that he knows that were thankful for him,” Rimer added.

The opening of the new field will allow Western Softball to no longer endure the headache of constant field management paired with the anxiety of not knowing if a game will need to get canceled due to conditions.

 

Contact the author at llarsen13@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Paul F. Davis

Upcoming games: October

Lake Larsen | Sports Editor

10/6

Varsity-

Cross Country Lewis University. DII Conference Crossover 10 a.m.

Softball @ College of Siskiyous (eugene) 12 p.m.

Softball @ University of Oregon 2:30 p.m.

Soccer vs. Simon Fraser 1 p.m.

Football @ Texas A&M University Kingsville 7 p.m.

Volleyball vs. Western Washington University 7 p.m.

Club-

Lacrosse Fall Shootout

Men’s Soccer vs. Willamette  1p.m.

 

10/7

Club-

Lacrosse Fall Shootout

Men’s Rugby vs. Central Oregon Community College 1 p.m.

Men’s Soccer @ Central Oregon Community College 1p.m.

 

10/9

Varsity-

Soccer vs. Saint Martin’s University 3 p.m.

 

10/11

Varsity-

Volleyball vs. Saint Martin’s University 7 p.m.

 

10/13

Varsity-

Cross Country @ Warner Pacific Cross Country Classic 9 a.m. M 9:30 a.m. W

Softball @ Oregon State University 12 p.m.

Softball @ Oregon State University 2 p.m.

Volleyball vs. Seattle Pacific University 4 p.m.

Soccer @ seattle Pacific University 4 p.m.

Football @ Central Washington University 6 p.m.

Club-

Men’s Soccer Vs. Portland Community College 1 p.m.

Men’s Rugby Vs. Seattle University 4 p.m.

 

10/14

Club-

Lacrosse vs. Rippers 2 p.m.

Men’s Soccer @ Willamette 2 p.m.

 

10/18

Varsity-

Volleyball @ Northwest Nazarene University 7 p.m.

 

10/20

Varsity-

Football v. Humboldt State University 1:05 p.m.

Volleyball @ Central Washington University 3 p.m.

Soccer @ Western Washington University 5 p.m.

Club-

Women’s Soccer vs. University of Oregon 4 p.m.

 

10/22

Club-

Women’s Soccer vs. Central Oregon Community College 11 a.m.

 

10/25

Varsity-

Soccer vs. Central Washington University 3 p.m.

Volleyball vs. University of Alaska Anchorage 7 p.m.

 

10/27

Varsity-

Volleyball vs. University of Alaska Fairbanks 2 p.m.

Soccer @ Saint Martin’s University 2:30 p.m.

Football @ Azusa Pacific University 6 p.m.

Club-

Lacrosse vs. Alumni 1 p.m.

Men’s Rugby @ Oregon Institute of Technology 1 p.m.

Men’s Soccer @Portland Community College 8 p.m.

Women’s Soccer vs. Willamette 4 p.m.

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