Soccer Webcasts Begin Saturday

The first of our live soccer Webcasts take place this Saturday. We will provide a Webcast of both the men's and women's soccer matches against Linfield. The women's match begins at noon and the men's match begins at 7 p.m.

You can access the Webcasts by Clicking Here.

If you were wondering...we will still have Live Stats available along with the Webcast. So, although it is not video, you can follow along on the screen while listening to the action. Cool, huh?

Something For The Entire Family

It's not Ringling Bros., but there will certainly be something for everyone this weekend in Forest Grove for the Boxers' sports fan. A busy weekend for those of us working at the PAC and Lincoln Park, but also for anyone hoping to see a little volleyball, soccer or softball (no, that's not a typo).

Here's the weekend rundown and preview...
VOLLEYBALL: If it wasn't for practice, the Pacific volleyball team might not remember what their home floor looked like. The Boxers have not played at home since they began the season with four matches at their own Boxer Kickoff Volleyball Invitational. Six matches later, the Boxers are home for a weekend set against Whitman on Friday and Whitworth on Saturday.

This has the possibility to be a momentum-building weekend for Lena Chan's team, who enters with a 1-1 NWC record. Whitman has struggled so far in 2008. They have gone 0-11 and are dealing with a depth problem. The Missionaries have only nine players on the roster (six plus the libero start a match) and are without their their top players from 2007: Rosa Brey and Lydia Hayes.

A quality win over Whitman could give the Boxers some confidence as they enter their Saturday match with Whitworth. The Pirates are much improved, entering with an 8-6 record and 1-1 conference mark, but have lost five of their last seven matches. The losses included a four-set loss to an improved Lewis & Clark squad and losses to a pair of like opponents to Pacific, UC Santa Cruz and Cal State East Bay.

Lena Chan said that her team felt good about their performance against the No. 10 ranked Loggers last week, despite falling in three sets, and that she was pleased about how the lineup is picking up on her system of play. We will have a chance to...finally...see that in action this weekend.

WOMEN'S SOCCER: The question for the Boxers is how do they keep the run going? Pacific is enjoying their first three-game winning streak since the 2005 season thanks to last Saturday's 2-0 shutout of Pacific Lutheran and Sunday's 1-0 double overtime victory over Lewis & Clark...their first over the Pioneers since 2004.

The Boxers have done it with a very stingy defense, allowing their last three opponents a total of 28 shots and 16 shots on goal. Goalie Erin Ichimura was named NWC Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week after holding Warner Pacific, PLU and L&C scoreless. On the offensive end, Pacific has shown a much faster pace of play then they showed in the first three matches of the year. And they have played with more urgency and haven't been afraid to pull the trigger. The Boxers have taken 47 shots in the last three matches as compared to 14 in their first three matches.

If Pacific can keep up the offensive intensity against Linfield, who took a total of 19 shots combined in a 2-1 overtime loss to Whitworth and a 3-0 shutout at the hands of Whitman last weekend, the Boxers should come out of Saturday with their first 3-0 conference start since 1994.

MEN'S SOCCER: The good news that the Boxers have posted two consecutive shutouts against NWC teams. The bad news is that they haven't been able to put the ball in the net over the last 220 minutes. The numbers don't quite tell the tale. Pacific has outshot opponents by a 36-20 margin in those two matches, but have been unable to finish things off.

The defense, meanwhile, has done its job and more. Goalkeeper Andrew Stevermer has made 11 saves in the last two matches and the starting back line of Brandon Porter, Taylor Kane, Jared Komo and Anthony Jaeger have held their own well. Kane, a freshman out of Portland's Central Catholic High School, has been especially impressive with his pace in both the defense and midfield.

Saturday's match against Linfield will be the last at home under the lights in 2008 (they will, however, play a night match at Linfield on Oct. 26). The Wildcats will be looking to right the ship after losing their first two NWC matches to Whitman and Whitworth.

SOFTBALL: The team's non-traditional fall practice season will end with a game against a team of Pacific alums Saturday at noon. This will be a great first preview of this spring's team, in particular the newcomers to the program. Head Coach Tim Hill said he will break the team into two teams, one playing half of the game and then the other playing the final innings. Each team will feature six freshmen each. Pacific will hit the field this spring with somethng to prove. Their 31-9 record and second place finish to defending national champion Linfield was not enough to earn the team what should have been a well deserved playoffs berth.

Men's Soccer Photos Online

It doesn't take long for people to find things on this site. Take, for example, the photos from the Pacific/La Verne men's soccer match that we posted on our Online Photo Store yesterday.

The photos finished uploading at midnight. By 1 p.m., this afternoon, the page had been accessed nearly 200 times.

If you haven't had a look, check out the shots taken by Jaime Valdez, who has shot Pacific Athletics events for me since 1999. He is one of the best sports photographers in Portland and I am lucky to have him working for me. He also does weddings if you are looking for some memories.

We will be adding more photos over the next few weeks from all of our sports, including some from last year. Keep visiting the photo pages and see what's new.

By the way...if you see one you like, you can purchase it or have it put on a t-shirt or coffee mug.

Why Isn't (Your School Here) in My Paper??!!

There was a letter to the sports editor in Sunday's edition of The Oregonian that I can sympathize with, because it describes the daily plight of myself and many other small college sports information directors. While the letter specifically addressed Western Oregon University's football program, one could plug in the name of many local schools and programs, including Pacific.

"I'm beginning to give up on seeing anything on Western Oregon University in your sports section," the writer laments. "...75 percent of the roster comes from local communities, former prep athletes from communities that read your paper.

"I understand that Monmouth [located roughly an hour and a half south of Portland] may be a little bit out of the way for your reporters to travel. It's interesting that it's a closer drive from Portland than either UO or OSU but maybe not as convenient as PSU. It's a shame that a stadium filled with 3,000 spectators for a home game, a 9-2 record (2007), and playing in the competitive GNAC conference are big enough reasons to warrant a preseason write-up...much less game coverage."

The Oregonian, and just about every other daily, semi-weekly and weekly papers gets a hundred of those letters each year. The fact of the matter is, however, that no amount of letters or threats to drop subscriptions is going to change it.

Ever since the Internet boom began at the turn of the 21st Century, newspapers have seen their market share and their advertising revenue drop dramatically. People are turning to more immediate ways to get their news and information, such as Web sites and cable television. In our "now" society, many are not content to wait until tomorrow to get their scores, stats and analysis in the paper when they can have it sent to their Blackberry or listen to it on their iPod.

As a result, newspapers are cutting back on their coverage and changing their priorities in terms of what is newsworthy.

Here are some examples that have relevance when it comes to Pacific Athletics:
• The Oregonian has seen subscribers and ad revenue drop significantly over the past three years. As a result, the paper has cut back both on pages (which means less content) and offered enticing early retirement packages to longtime employees. Among those who have taken those retirements was Norm Maves, Jr., who was the last bastion of regular small college coverage at The O.

• Pamplin Media Group, which owns both the weekly Portland Tribune and the Forest Grove News-Times (along with 14 other small community newspapers in the Portland area) has lost a great deal on money, primarily related to reduced readership. The Tribune recently had to cut back to one print, on Thursdays, instead of two.

• The News-Times is not immune to the revenue drop. With the expected departure of Sports Editor Zack Palmer over the summer, the paper made a permanent cut to two sports pages per week and attempted to fill the sports position with a part-timer. (Not surprisingly, the paper was unable to fill the part-time position and Palmer continues to write and edit the paper from outside the area.)

• With the cuts in available space, the papers have to decide which teams will draw the most readers, in turn making the business the most money. Division I sports, and specifically Division I BCS football, is king in the college world, which is why you see the overwhelming coverage to Oregon, Oregon State and the Pac-10. The pro sports share that tier (in this market, that means football and basketball). After that, it is prep sports and the steady coverage of high school football, basketball, baseball, softball any anything else with a "HS" after it.

That often leaves recaps from the Pacifics, Linfields, Concordias and Lewis & Clarks of the world on the cutting room floor. Even a really compelling story, such as George Fox's run at the Division III baseball national championship, the end of Lewis & Clark's 27-game football losing streak or the plight of the wrestler at Clackamas CC who overcame addiction to be a national tournament favorite, all takes a great deal of work to make to print.

FOR SOMEONE WHOSE JOB it is to both inform the public about our teams and pitch stories that would be attractive to readers and put the school in a positive light, the current state of newspapers is quite disheartening.

But rather than beat our heads against the walls trying to get every piece of information in the local papers, we have adapted with the changing technology. Kelly Bird, my good friend and the sports information director at Linfield, has talked a lot about how, these days, the school's athletics Web site IS the newspaper and primary media resource for our programs.

I have embraced this approach to our Web site, which is why you see a great deal of detail in our game recaps, previews and reviews. You aren't going to find the information anywhere else, so let's give you all you can on the site.

This is also why you are seeing Pacific put more resources into more Web content and multimedia. As action photos are taken this season, you will see more photos put on our online photo galleries. We have began this blog, which provides another look into the world of Pacific Athletics. With the help of my student intern, we will begin adding more features and profiles on Pacific student-athletes. And we now have our E-Scores service, for those of you who have to have your Pacific score now.

Later this month, we will begin a new foray into Webcasting with live streaming of selected sporting events and Podcasts featuring interviews and highlights. More details on both will be coming in the following week.

As we make all of this information more directly available to you, the loyal Pacific University fan, this doesn't mean we won't keep approaching the newspapers, television and radio stations with stories on the exciting things going on in Boxer Athletics. We continue to work hard to try to put Pacific's story in The Oregonian, on KGW and many other outlets. We just are approaching things differently.

The industry is changing and adapting. It only makes sense that we do too.

Remembering 9/11

I am sure you remember where you were when you first heard about the 9/11 attacks.

I was in bed. Our alarm went off around 6:45 a.m. and, as usual, tuned to a radio station. As I hit snooze, I remember thinking that it seemed odd that the voice of Peter Jennings would be on this particular soft rock station. When the alarm sounded again nine minutes, I realized it was no fluke. It was Jennings covering the news that terrorists had flown planes into the World Trade Center Twin Towers.

Both my wife and I went to work that day. My wife, as a fourth grade teacher, had the tougher job of trying to explain to those kids what had happened and why someone would want to do harm to so many people.

Here at Pacific University, people were given the option to come into school or stay home. I came to work, but it was a very quiet day. What do you say to people when you see something like we saw in New York? I sat in the office most of the day glued to the television. I am not sure how productive I was that day.

On the way to the office today, the radio played clips of that day and reminders of the horror we all went through that day. I would be lying if I said I didn't get emotional hearing them again.

As we remember the 9/11 attacks seven years later, it seems only appropriate that our women's soccer team will be playing today. I will particularly think of that day when I see goalkeeper Erin Ichimura come out wearing the yellow No. 40 jersey.

Why 40? That was the jersey that former Pacific goalie Shannon Tillman had made after her cousin, Pat Tillman, was killed in combat in Afghanistan. Most everyone knows the story of Pat Tillman, the former Arizona State and Arizona Cardinals standout who gave up his pro football career after 9/11 to join the Army. He was later killed in Afghanistan in a friendly fire incident. Pat Tillman wore No. 40.

I got to know Shannon a little bit when she was here at Pacific. A media and theatre major, she was a very outgoing individual with a great view on life despite of what her family had been through. I always had a great desire to talk to her about Pat and even do a story about her cousin had affected her life, both before and after 9/11. I never had the courage to do it. I never had the courage to even talk to her about him. I wish I had...if anythng just to gain perspective.

I also knew of the Tillman family's desire not to speak to the media about Pat's death. While Shannon seemed to speak openly in public about Pat, I still respected it. Shannon tried to deal with it in her senior project, a play she wrote and directed called "And Pat Had A Brother..." Not surprisingly, this way of Shannon dealing with her cousin's death was publicly decried by the rest of Tillman family, which included letters in the local News-Times.

I am not sure where Shannon is these days, but I hope she is doing well and is successful in whatever she is doing. If you are reading this blog, drop me a line and say hi.

Whatever you are doing today, I hope you take time and pause to remember that horrible event seven years ago that changed our country and all of our lives.

Our women's soccer team will play today. Its a reminder to me that the terrorists didn't bring down America that day. We continue to win the battle against terrorism by continuing to work, play and live. God Bless America.

California Dreamin'

Hello all from sunny Southern California! I am in Claremont with the Pacific volleyball team as they play at the Pacific Coast Classic, which is co-hosted by Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps colleges (which is actually all one consortium of colleges along with Scripps and Harvey Mudd Colleges, but I digress). The team arrived Thursday night, but I flew in this morning after working our men's soccer match in Forest Grove Thursday night.

I knew it was going to be a good trip when right across from our hotel was a In-N-Out Burger, some of the best burgers and fries in the world. My combined breakfast and lunch was a Double-Double, fresh cut fries and a Coke. Can't beat it!

I don't travel too much with our teams. When you have 20 sports to work with there is no way that you can go every place (or any place) with the teams. Volleyball is a notable exception, however, when it comes to tournaments. Unlike our own Boxer Kickoff Volleyball Invitational, most tournaments at the Division III level do not keep stats for any of the participating teams. They have to be kept on the bench by players.

So...here I am, keeping stats on my third volleyball trip in four years. No complaints, though. It's a great way to get to know these young women a lot better. A better connection to our players never hurts.

Speaking of stats (or lack thereof)...parents and fans of Northwest Conference volleyball should thank the sports information directors of those schools, who all keep stats for both teams during the course of a match. At most Division III schools, particularly east of the Rockies, schools keep stats for just their school and combine the two teams the next day. With the NWC schools, you have complete stats the same day. What a deal!

And the conference must have found a deal to get teams into the Ontario Sheraton. In the hour I was actually on the property I saw the Pacific Lutheran volleyball team and the Whitman women's soccer team. Whose next??? Perhaps we should contract the Sheraton to be a conference host hotel (attention Matt Newman...).

Some news and notes from the World of Pacific Athletics...
VOLLEYBALL: Four matches for the Boxers at the Pacific Coast Classic. Pacific faces Chapman this afternoon and the host Sagehens this evening. Tomorrow it's over to the other side of campus and a rematch with UC Santa Cruz, followed by a meeting with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Very hot here in the Southland. Too warm even for Keleigh Kremers, who is used to that "dry Texas heat, y'all!" Caitlin Gollehon, however, predicts that freshman Kelsy Takashima will have a great match because of the sweat she has built in pre-match warm-ups in the non-air-conditioned Voekele Gymnasium. We shall see soon.

The wireless connection here at Pomona will not allow me to access our Web servers back in Forest Grove, so Web updates (such as stats) will have to wait until this evening. We will, however, be able to post stories on the site not long after the conclusion of our matches.

MEN'S SOCCER: In their season opener on Thursday, Pacific looked incredible for the first 45 minutes against Warner Pacific. The defense was incredibly tight. At one point, the backline managed to knock down a Knights' flurry that gave them three looks at the net, yet not a shot. Danny Williams' first half goal was well played and a credit to the team's passing ability.

But a full match is a 90-minute affair. I don't know if the Boxers got tired or complacent, but the defense was not as tight in the second half as it was in the first. After the free kick goal by the Knights in the 68th minute, Warner Pacific picked up a lot of confidence and quickly parlayed it into the game-winner. If the Pacific defense can learn to play a full 90, this team will be very good.

The Boxers will play a match against an alumni squad on Sunday afternoon and return to action on Monday against LaVerne. This will be the Boxers' first ever meeting in men's soccer with the Panthers, who made it to the SCIAC's postseason tournament in 2007, are 1-0-0 on the year and play NAIA member William Jessup this afternoon.

CROSS COUNTRY: Tim Boyce's first full season at the helm begins on Saturday. The Boxers open the season at the Whitman Invitational in Walla Walla. The races will be short course affairs, with the men running 6,000 meters and the women racing 4,000 meters. Even though this year's NWC Championships will be run in Walla Walla, this race is not on the conference course at Veterans Memorial Golf Course. It is, instead, being run at Ft. Walla Walla Park, where I ran my first ever conference XC race for the Boxers back in 1994 (won't divulge my time...wasn't all that great anyway).

The Boxers will be a building team once again. The Boxers return just three runners who competed last fall: All-American Kelsey Owens, Whitney Nelson and Casey Nishimura. The men do, however, return a couple of runners who took last season off in Adrian Shipley (NWC track qualifier in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters) and Dylan Taylor.

The full Pacific cross country season preview will be posted later today on GoBoxers.com (wrote it on the plane this morning while I was free to move about the country, but the FTP limitations keep me from posting from the Pomona campus).

That's all from the Southland as we come up to a half hour before first serve. Go Boxers!