Weekend Observations

Some notes from the first weekend of Pacific action...

• Don't take the women's soccer team's 0-2-0 record as a sign of another dismal season. This team appears to be much improved over the squads of the recent past. Against Cal State East Bay, the Boxers showed some great job passing the ball through the midfield and made some strong defensive stops. Their pace, in particular, was noticably faster, and they were markedly more aggressively.

Joy Boswell's squad didn't exactly get an easy start. UC Santa Cruz opened the season ranked No. 25 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll. Cal State East Bay, meanwhile, is no pushover. they finished 11-7-1 in 2007 and returned eight starters from last season. Very experienced.

• The Pacific volleyball team still has some kinks to work out. They got a good first win in the Boxer Kickoff Invitational against Neumann (Pa.), who competed in the 2007 NCAA Division III playoffs, but struggled in their final three matches, falling to Cal State East Bay, UC Santa Cruz and Christopher Newport. It is obvious that the Boxers are still adjusting to head coach Lena Chan's new system...and an adjustment to a new coach and a new style of play always takes time.

In the meantime, the Boxers have to concentrate of tighter passing and keeping down the unforced errors. In four matches, Pacific committed 95 attack errors and 11 ball-handling errors.

• A common opponent for the Boxers over the last few years, this may be some of the last times we see Cal State East Bay in competition for a while. A long-time dual affiliate between NCAA Division III and the NAIA, the Pioneers are in the first year of a three-year transition period to NCAA Division II. They are slated to become full members and join the California Collegiate Athletic Association in 2011. Their teams will transition to playing primarily a Division II schedule beginning in 2009.

• Prayers and thoughts for those in Louisiana as Hurricane Gustav bears down. The storm, currently at a Category 3, is expected to make landfall Monday morning.

I wrote some stories on some sports information directors who survived Katrina back three years ago and their strggles with moving along with their athletic programs across the south, seeing jobs eliminated, seasons cancelled and homes destroyed. One SID, Jack Duggan at New Orleans, had to ride out the storm as his wife gave birth to twins as the storm ripped through the Bayou.

Hearing those kind of stories makes me very thankful and blessed to live here in the Northwest. I can handle the winter rain and snow just fine.

Let The Games Begin!

There won't be any parade of nations, torch relay or lighting of the cauldron, but it is time to declare the Games of the 2008-09 Pacific Athletic Season open.

And if you are a fan of women's soccer or volleyball, this is your weekend to be in Forest Grove.

The women's soccer season begins today with not one, but two matches. Pacific Lutheran and Cal State East Bay open things in a neutral site match that begins at 4 p.m. The Lutes are looking to move up in the Northwest Conference standings after finishing with just five wins in 2007. They have been picked to finish in a tie for sixth with Pacific in the conference in the preseason coaches poll. Cal State East Bay, meanwhile, recently announced that they have applied for member in NCAA Division II after years as a dual member of NCAA Division III and the NAIA.

The hometown Boxers, meanwhile, open their season against Division III independent UC Santa Cruz under the lights at 7 p.m. Head Coach Joy Boswell hopes to open the season by building on the momentum that they built in their 2007 season-ending double-overtime victory over Puget Sound, the first in the program's history.

The four teams flip-flop opponents on Sunday, with the Lutes taking on the Banana Slugs at noon, followed by the Boxers and Pioneers at 2:30.

If you can't make it to Lincoln Park Stadium, we are able to offer Live Stats for the first time for both men's & women's soccer. This allows you to follow the stats of the game real time. Log in at goboxers.com/live.

The Pacific volleyball team, meanwhile, begins the Lena Chan era by hosting the fourth annual Boxer Kickoff Volleyball Invitational, Saturday and Sunday at the Pacific Athletic Center. Seven teams and 14 matches in two days will make for a lot of volleyball, but it will be some fast-paced action with four participating teams ranked in the preseason Division III national poll.

Pacific opens the tournament against Neumann (Pa.) Saturday morning at 10 a.m., and close action at 8 p.m. against Cal State East Bay, who is 1-2 all-time against the Boxers in the Kickoff Tournament. On Sunday, the Boxers face UC Santa Cruz at 1 p.m. and Christopher Newport at 8 p.m.

Rounding out the tournament field is defending NWC champion Pacific Lutheran, who went a perfect 16-0 in conference play in 2007, and Puget Sound, who finished second in the NWC and then beat the Lutes in the NCAA west semifinals before advancing to the national quarterfinals.

Log on to the Boxer Kickoff Web page for a complete schedule of events. Live Stats will be available for all Pacific matches, with box scores of all matches posted on the Boxer Kickoff page throughout the day.

Here's to a great weekend of Boxers' action and another relatively sleepless weekend for your local neighborhood SID. But before we go, an enduring question for the audience...how tough can a slug really be? And if you go after one with a can of Morton's, is that "a-salt and battery?"

Hope to see you in Forest Grove this weekend!