B u c s B l o g    

Click the thumbnail for a full size copy of this year's Jamboree scehdule...

I am now an independent observer and I am curious what the defending 4a state champ is doing in a bracket with a 5a JV squad and a program just returning from a multi year hiatus, meanwhile, South Medford looms over in a different grouping. Anyway. It's meant to be a tuneup day and fun, so I will come watch regardless :)

I've been swamped in my job with NMHS Theater, and most of the software I used to set up this site is no longer available to me (I don't have a Windows box with Adobe GoLive anymore), so I am SLOWLY getting it to a point where it won't be a 'current' Phoenix site, but more a legacy site... Perhaps by the end of this season. Mean time, the Lady Bucs are having a strong campaign in 2006, thus far. One league loss (to NV) and a non-league draw vs KU are the blemishes on thier 4-1-1 season record. Their most recent effort was a non-league win in Ashland.

This week sees a trip over to New Hope, where our last visit was epic and memorable in every respect. This weekend is homecoming, so we may have a Talent Bulldog look when we host Henley on Saturday morning.

Good luck, all!

Jean Schneider has been hired on as the 4th head coach in Lady Pirate soccer history (following Gene McCormack, Dan Sporrer, and me).

More news as it comes. I am enabling Coach Schneider to post here ASAP.

Since this has hit the JOB POSTINGS on the walls in the high scool and district office, as well as the Mail Tribune, it seems I need to address it here, since my schedule prevents my getting to the building to see you all assembled any time soon.

The few of you I have seen recently (Carlee, Sarah, Megan), sorry I didn't bring it up, but I was really hoping I would have an opportunity to speak to the whole team before it became public info. That cat is out of the bag now, so...

I submitted a written resignation to Mr. Barry over the break - the key points are included here:
I still hope to maintain some association with the program - I am scheduling the teams for next season's Jamboree and am still in touch with Concordia about conducting a joint camp with the Valleys. Mr. Barry has asked if I could remain connected to the goalkeeper training and I am not opposed, though I do not want my presence to detract from the new head coach or to make any player feel like there is some split loyalty, deferring to me for any reason whatsoever. I will continue to maintain this website for as long as the new staff wishes.

I do want a chance to get together, but I don't have a schedule gap until The Tempest closes the final weekend in February.

Check in here or please call me if you have any questions.

My thanks for the good run!

Pillage!

posted here, the list includes several of our favorite foes (inlcuding our nemisis in the 2004 playoffs, Jessica Tsao, repeatig as PoY). But our biggest congratulations go to the locals - 1st teamers Melissa Henner, of Hidden Valley and FC Phoenix; Katie O' Brien from Cascade Christian and RVSC; 2nd teamers Bailey Southern (Hidden Valley) and Kayla Wilhelm (North Valley), and Honorable Mentions (actually got votes as opposed to all league HM, which CAN mean votes but can also mean that your name was on the ballot) for Mustang Denise Powell and our very own, All Purpose, played every single place on the field Alex Hanscom (YAY, ALEX!)

Big long discussions of the whys and wherefores of all-state on OL. I know if someone calls me, I have a lot to say to a college coach about kids beyond what lists they made, but it provides a good conversation starter.

More later - some news upcoming in the next weeks. And little Burr, I need an email contact for you - send to theater *at*johndoty.us. please

HV's Mustangs - our league rival and good friends - qualified for the OSAA Cup Final with a semi-final shootout win over #2 ranked Wilsonville!

HV has one blemish on the record and it was dealt by us, ladies. Small consolation perhaps.

Good luck on Saturday, 'Stangs! Some of us are going to be there to watch, I don't doubt.

Some excerpts from an email I got after Saturday's match...

We watched your playoff game with St. Mary's and were rooting for you. Thought you had it in the first half. It would have been fun to play one last game with you.Your team always inspires our girls to bring a good game....Your athletes also have gained much respect over the years. This year we have admired how Tamara, Alex and Marci fought so hard. Tamara's run down field yesterday without her cleat was something. We pray that all your injured players will continue to heal completely....They are not only exceptional athletes but great young women. Of special note to us is Alex's sportsmanship, Marci's commitment, and Tamara's courage.

We battled through an amazing series of unexpected twists and turns, and despite all of it, found a way to extend our season beyond the league schedule. We should also take a moment to commend the exceptional run Marci made earlier on Saturday to take the Skyline cross country crown. 19:00, from wire to wire - personal best.

Reminders: Uniforms must be in before the end of this week. Mrs. Wolfe asked they NOT go to her, so I need someone to coordinate getting them and then getting them to me (at home or to me at NMHS). Can a captain take that on? I also will need a parent to volunteer to coordinate the award night - Sunday, Nov 20 is the ideal time - we could do the 13th, but if Hidden Valley is still alive (and looking at the bracket, they have the best shot of still playing to the semis) , I may not be able to disclose details of all-league selections. If you have a HARD preference, let us know in comments.

Bring out the best in us... North Valley came from behind twice to earn that win. Trailing 1-0 and again 3-2, they fought to get back in and we made them work for everything in their 5-3 win (note the Trib's playoff situation text isn't right, see below).

Chirnside's services (on the first Wilhelm goal and the Egli goal) were accurate and effective. Robles' build up and crosses (for the game winner and the insurance goal) were defensed, just not tight enough for the caliber ball she served in those two cases.

Carlee's strike early in the second half would have given us a 4-2 lead, but Giessen made an amazing save on an unlooked for first touch shot.

Three-way tie for 4th still breaks in our favor (the 1 in 12-1 Hidden Valley is ours = tiebreaker)
Win on Tuesday and we are #4, regardless of Henley v NV outcome. The only way we don't have a post season is if we lose and Henley beats the Knights, but I am tired of relying on other teams to assure our position - let's claim it for ourselves!

Hidden Valley has clinched the #1 berth, though they have a formality of beating RR on Tuesday to claim the crown outright. North Valley has clinched the #2 berth, no matter what happens on Tuesday. Cascade Christian awaits the 5 @ 4 winner, regardless of their Tuesday (or Thursday makeup with RR) contest(s). But 5 @ 4 could be us hosting either St. Mary's or Henley or us visiting St. Mary's. Let's git 'er done!

in today's Trib, we get the results of yesterday's matches: HV over NV in a sudden death shootout to assert a solid claim on the League crown (though with two matches to play, we can't say "clinched", yet).

With the Crusader v Viking match, we again saw that Mazama is better than their 1-11 record indicates, overtaking St. Mary's to lead 2-1 late, then giving up a late goal and falling in a shootout.

Our match v Cascade Christian saw the starting 11 shift yet again, as Becca Singleton's stomach flu kept her out, and then saw this Saturday's starting 11 altered as Jordan and Ashley both went down during the first half and were unable to return. We are level on record with St. Mary's and hold the tiebreaker on them for now. We grab hard hold of a playoff spot by beating them in a week.

Henley v Rogue River wasn't reported and may not have been played (RR v CC wasn't played on Sat, either). RR may be forfeiting out the remainder of their season, giving wins at the end to Hen, CC, HV and Maz.

Henley would then also be tied with us coming thru today's calendar, but they close at CC and at NV, so we get breathing room there. St Mary's still have HV and us, so we buy some more breathing room with some help from the 'Stangs.

8-6 or 7-7 are not how we planned on getting to the league play-in or on to state, but it will work for now.

though it didn't go to the final whistle with the score line I'd prefer, I am content to come through a match with a healthy Mustang team having played the soccer we played today. The 4-1 final reflected two things clearly - HV has a lot of weapons and at least one will get through given opportunities, and even playing with heart can't carry the day against a quality foe with a deep bench.

Fry doesn't look like this was her second 80 minutes in the net - over on Oregon Live, Jill Elder offered some props. 12 shots came from inside 10 yards, T...you stopped 9 of those or forced them wide with your presence. Of 22 shots, 20 were taken inside the 18. A game to take heart from as a GK, despite the loss.

Now that said, as a group we cannot be content - Henley feels they hung with us - we don't want them to carry that belief beyond Saturday. Cascade Christian feels they dominated us at our house. And for now, they are running even with us. We have the power to re-establish a gap. North Valley sits on top only by the grace of not having faced HV or us a second time - I can't believe they won't stumble once more with the schedule that remains.

Get healthy, stay confident. When we play loose, we play GOOD; when we get tight, we let teams in the door and don't slam it on them. Urgency and panic are NOT the same thing. Patience has a place.

Take everything of worth that can be found on the field - leave nothing of value for the other team to hold on to. Pillage.

not many "key" matches in the league...until you think about longer term implications.

Favored Hidden Valley won 5-1 at Cascade Christian, bumping the Challengers back down in reach of Phoenix, who was winning 8-0 at Mazama. North Valley was untested (5-0) by Rogue River, so remains atop the league along with Hidden Valley. Both teams have a single loss. Finally, Henley found the net in the first half and held on to take a 1-0 win over St. Mary's.

HV and NV sit atop at 8-1. CC and Phx are next at 6-3. StM is at 4-5, Hen at 3-6, Maz at 1-8, and RR at 0-9. The Mustangs are in the best shape, holding a tie-breaker over NV so far (by virtue of head to head) if the league title comes down to one or the other.

OUR objective is to win out and claim 2nd. We also just like to know we are still playing when everyone else is done.

This week was supposed to be the "Light Week." We originally scheduled two days OFF during the later part - Wednesday totally off, Friday - watching the SOU-Concordia game.

Wednesday's practice will be ON again, though if you scheduled something (like Dr, Dentist, Sr Pictures), you will be excused. Friday's decision will wait until the outcome tomorrow.

The personnel issues are not going to go away. We have FIVE of SEVEN remaining matches with at least one regular starter known to be unavailable. Fry, Heryford, Giardina, Passante are all known to be out for injury recovery or family commitments during the remaining calendar. Presuming nothing else happens to anyone, we will have our full roster available for the return legs v North Valley and v St Mary's.

We have to decide we can play with whatever group we have available. Or we can decide we can't. Either way, we'll be right.

We had three shots today from inside the 18. All three came from the player who at the time of the shot was the HOLDING midfielder, not a forward, not an attacking mid.

Lots of things to work on for next week - two MUST win games, and a lot of decision-making around where we want to be.

As of today - we can finish 11-3. If we do, we will have at WORST 2nd. (The logic being, us going 11-3 adds one more loss to every team in the league. ONLY HV and NV would be ahead of us on that math and they also have to play each other, so one of them will lose to fall level with us on record. If it is HV, we'd have a head to head tie-breaker (2-0 v HV). If it was NV, we'd be level on head to head (1-1), and then we'd have the HV wins as the tie-breaker over NV (we'd be 2-0 v HV, NV would be 0-2 v HV).

So - WE DO OUR PART to get to 2nd. We then hope for CC or StM to put a chink in the armor of one of the Valleys and see where it all shakes out.

Luke said, "I don't believe it." Yoda replied, "That is why you fail..."

It was a tough week for Phoenix - a 3-1 loss on MD5 to Cascade Christian was followed on Tuesday with a 4-3 OT loss to North Valley. Down 3-1 with 6 minutes left, we found the net twice to force OT. But a breakawy by Kayla Wilhelm (who we will love later in February, if she's back with FC Phoenix) and a great Chelsea Giessen (sp?) save on a upper V-destined direct kick delivered, then preserved the W for the Knights.

Great game for a neutral observer - not always technically sound, and we showed we have work still to do, but heart and never give up attitude from both teams was commendable. The level of play was generally respectable. The physical play was also respectable and well-received (mostly) on both sides. Jill Chavez and I spoke as we crossed back to the cars - she was in a great battle all day with Theta - a mismatch in some respects (Theta is taller, a TINY bit faster, and physical), but they both seemed to thrive with that pairing. Emily Chirnside and Jordan Ceremony had a very good game against one another, too. And the times when Wilhelm was paired against Valkyrie teammates Terra Fry and Carlee Storey were fun to watch, as well.

We will step out on Saturday to regain some ground against St. Mary's. We can hope the Henley field finally takes a win from a top team (CC and we both needed shootouts, NV goes there next).

The Valleys are atop the league at 5-1, HV technically ahead on head to head. We sit in a lock for 3rd with CC, though again, they are technically ahead on head to head. Trib match reporting here. Maz v RR is postponed until Thursday.

Not much should change this weekend - all four teams with winning records should win again and nothing will change. Tuesday is a different story, but we won't get ahead of ourselves, yet.

...some days, anyway.

In the aftermath of Saturday's 3-1 stumble vs Cascade Christian, the staff and at least one Pirate player were in Merlin last night to see whether we'd finish the day still with a share of 1st or alone in 2nd. Three 1st half Mustang goals gave the answer - three teams share the D6 lead at 4-1.

The morning started off dicey - Katie O'Brien broke away to our goal three times in the opening 4 1/2 minutes - her third foray produced the first goal of the match. A Thursday hamstring injury to Tamara Heryford and continuing concerns about Terra Fry's back meant we were improvising a bit more than comfortable in our back four. Not where one wants to be opposite a speedy attacker with a quality supporting cast and a good passing game.

Contrast our passing game, which was altered by the adjustments to defensive and offensive absences to force a midfield trio comprised of never more than one of our regular midfielders, and our ability to play our passing game suffered.

O'Brien netted the game-winner in the 36th. Phoenix fought a hard 2nd half, making up ground briefly on a 74th minute PK from Alex Hanscom, but an answering put away of a Challenger corner kick a minute later wasn't to be overcome.

With the loss, Phoenix settled in at 4-1 and awaited the North Valley/Hidden Valley showdown last night.

Meanwhile, the rest of the league generated two other results in early games. Mazama scored 3 against St. Mary's - more than they've scored TOTAL in several recent seasons - but they surrendered 6, remaining winless, though still making solid claim to "most improved" team in the league. Henley, meantime, checked their reality of last week's tight contest with Phoenix.

"Regardless of the final result, this game did wonders for the confidence of a young Henley team.
"After losing nine seniors from last year, it's going to help us," Blevins said. "I think they know they can go toe-to-toe with anybody now."" - Herald and News, 9/21/05

"Anybody" was Rogue River on Saturday, and going toe-to-toe was needing 81 minutes to score the lone goal of the contest and take an overtime win on the road against a winless Chieftain team that concedes goals more readily than any other squad in D6.

But the game of the day was still to come. For Phoenix, a Hidden Valley win would keep the top of the league even and give us more breathing room as we wait out Heryford's recovery. HV did not disappoint. Kayla Flick tallied the only needed goal in the 6th on a PK, but Denise Powell added insurance in the 20th, following a rebound, and Bailey Southern iced things in the 38th on a long direct virtually identical in range and angle as the one she scored on us a week earlier.

This morning, Phoenix, NV, and HV are all at 4-1, St. Mary's and Cascade Christian are at 3-2, Henley climbs to 2-3 and Mazama and Rogue River remain at 0-5.

More news later!

Mazama games are now at 2:30, October 8 - means Bus at 11:15... SAT Testers may need to drive over with parents (test usually wraps around 11:00am)

JV game added 10/6, 4pm v Henley

As usual, a link is provided for the article in the Trib!

as an added bonus, the coverage from the Herald and News...


and remember - training tonight at the HS, not at Colver (Varsity)

Not the way I prefer to win games, but when all is said and done, it's a W and we are done with a particularly poor field without injury to any players or damage to our record.

Scoreless after 100 minutes, clean sheets for both Chelseas (our Passante and their Hornbeck), and we go to PKs. Ace swapped into goal again and Marci moved into the pack of the first five.

Hen's Mortensen was good in round 1 and Ace missed high. Hen's #2 shooter was stopped and our #2 (Tamara) buried her effort. 1-1 after 2. Ace stopped their #3 shooter and Marci made, 2-1 after 3. Hornbeck was good from the spot, but so was Megan Burr... 3-2 after 4. Ace saved their 5th shooter so our #5 (Carlee Storey) didn't need to step up. 3-2 in kicks after a scoreless draw means a1-0 official scoreline in the win, Burr credited with the gamewinning goal. Henley drops to 1-3. Phoenix improves to 4-0, along with North Valley atop District 6 - NV moves ahead on Goal Difference, though that isn't officially a standings impactor...

NV stayed clean with a 6-0 (when last reported in the 70th) over St. Mary's (2-2). HV (3-1) was also clean at 7-0 over Mazama (0-4). Cascade Christian (2-2) dispatched winless Rogue River, 5-1.

the main schedule page will change to reflect this when I can work on it from home, BUT JV match v HV @ Colver originally scheduled for Saturday, 9/24 at 10am, will instead happen Monday, 10/24 at 4pm, per email from Mr. Barry.

Generally, you can check the "2005 Schedule" link on the left and find records and scores from all league games. From that page, you can also get to an individual stats page, updated as often as I can manage and as often as I have information from the rest of the league (Mail Trib does a decent job, but occasionally a game is missed - like 10-0 NV over Rogue River - and I need to track down a bunch of goal-scorers).

That said, here are the current standings in District 6:

Team	W	L	%	GD
Phoenix	3	0	1.000	17
North Valley	3	0	1.000	15
Hidden Valley	2	1	0.667	2
St. Mary's	2	1	0.667	-1
Cascade Christian	1	2	0.333	2
Henley	1	2	0.333	-2
Mazama	0	3	0.000	-10
Rogue River	0	3	0.000	-23

The Trib write-up on Tuesday's games is here - we are the #2 coverage, I think. I'll get the Sunday article linked in asap tomorrow AM
Updated - the coverage of Saturday's match is here

I get most of my soccer lingo from listening to the BBC in the early morning before NPR content is on Jefferson Public Radio's AM service... that and Fox Soccer Channel.

Anywho, "fixtures" (explained a few posts below) are games or matchdates. On a standard schedule, all the fixtures involving a league will happen on the same day, thus the interchangable use of the term.

I've used the term "derby" (pronounced Darbee) a few times - Parochial Derby, Klamath Derby, Colver Derby (when Valkyrie played KAOS in March) and the upcoming Three Rivers Derby (which is honestly a bit of a stretch). A derby generally features two clubs from the same city / community (thus the 3rivers one being a stretch). Klamath is a natural Derby town, given the rivalry potential there... it will be even more pronounced when KU joins the smaller school classification. The BIG derbies in club soccer are fixtures like City v Utd in Manchester, AC v Inter in Milan, Real v Atletico in Madrid, and now (ok, not really big) Galaxy v Chivas in LA. With the two Medford-centric private schools in our league, I started referring to the Parochial Derby a couple years ago *shrug* I like thinking of these matchups that way.

"Legs" refer to pairs of games played with each side hosting. We finished the opening leg of our pairing with HV today, the return leg is in October.

Anyway - random stuff for the afternoon.

Phoenix needed 100 minutes and 6 PK shooters to eke out a 3-2 victory over Hidden Valley Mustangs at Murphy - it was the first win for Phoenix at the New Hope fields and the first loss in regular season play for Hidden Valley at their new (4 years old now?) facility.

HV had an 18th minute finish from Ariana Fleischman, heading home a Kayla Flick corner. Bailey Southern followed two minutes later with a solo finish on a free kick restart.

Phoenix came back starting with Molly Hobson's 57th minute header of a Tamara Heryford corner. The equalizer came in the 78th from Theta Fraser-Corry.

In regulation play, HV enjoyed a 20-10 advantage in shots on goal.

During overtime, both teams saw five shots, but nothing in the net.

For the shootout, Phoenix swapped Alex Hanscom into goal, but kept Chelsea Passante available as a shooter (she'd have been 4th in the 2nd five, had it gone that far). Both initial shooters missed and the next four from each side made, forcing additional shots at sudden death. HV's Catherine Dole beat Hanscom to the crossbar, but the ball glanced down ahead of the line and opened the door for Carlee Storey to complete the Pirate comeback.

Amazing work from both sides - stellar efforts from Powell, Seal, Henner, Matson, Zeppetello, Flick and both Misners for the Stangs, equally huge moments from Heryford, Klimek, both Burrs, Ceremony, Fry, Giardina, Singleton, and Passante for the Pirates. All four goal scorers during regulation and overtime showed tremendous effort and skill battling, creating chances, relentlessly trying to make this game a win for their respective sides. There is honestly not a single player who set foot on the field in either orange or blue who didn't have a monumental game, from the standpoint of effort and accomplishment.

Best wishes this weekend to Terra Fry, who left in the 41st minute with back spasms. Get will T!

Other League Games:

• North Valley got a second half goal to go ahead of Cascade Christian 2-1 and remain undefeated in D6 play.
• St. Mary's playing without 100% of their preferred defensive personnel, came through 2-1 v Rogue River
• Henley had a 1st half PK and added insurance in the 2nd, downing Mazama 2-0
  

Of the teams likely to make a run at state playoff berths, Matchday 3 features two contests of note: preseason favorite Hidden Valley hosting Phoenix, and presumptive #3 North Valley squaring off against a Cascade Christian side ready to assert their place at the post-season table. It doesn't take much imagination to envision the league unbeaten ranks dropping to one, with the HV-Phoenix winner remaining atop the league and North Valley stumbling in the face of a strong outing by O'Brien and Brown. But we more likely will see the Knights remain unscathed until next Saturday brings them to HV and the following Tuesday to Phoenix. When that dust settles, we'll know MUCH more about the possible final picture in D6.

In the Pirates' game, Mazama was a worthy opponent, and though overmatched, gave a great game. Compliments to Melissa Davis, who made a half dozen SOLID saves along with a dozen more routine ones and only really made one mistake the entire match.

Scoring -

• (P) Megan Burr from Marci Klimek in the 6th, scoring on a far post shot from beyond the penalty area, near the endline.
• (P) Carlee Storey, unassisted in the 22nd, collecting a ball from a scrum, turning it, and firing from the top right of the penalty area.
• (P) Marci Klimek in the 24th, collecting a lose ball after Davis mishandled a long lofted ball from Jordan Ceremony. The Ceremony shot came from outside 35 yards and came off the GKs hands to her feet as Klimek arrived. The GK tried to get down to the ball, but Klimek's quickness is such, she squirted by and was able to jog the ball across the line.

HALFTIME - 3-0 Pirates, 20-2 shots advantage.

• (P) Alex Hanscom, 24 seconds into the second half, on a give and go with Ema Burr to 1v1 with Davis, finishing from 8 yards out
• (P) Hanscom again, 52 seconds later, driving a left footed shot of a diagonal drop from Megan Burr from about 16 yards out
• (P) Megan Burr, closing Phoenix scoring in the 49th, again on a out pass from Klimek, this time deeper, but otherwise the same finish as the opening goal.
• (M) Marcy Toro in the 67th on a combination with Anna Gonzales
• (M) Toro in the 76th on a counter attack combined with marking lapse, longer shot beat an oncoming GK.

FINAL 6-2 Phoenix, 38-6 Shots. Very clean game, with only 2 fouls whistled.

OTHER SCORES:

• HV 2-1 over Cascade Christian. CC score was a PK later in 2nd half - 'Stangs? details in comments, plz :)
• followup on HV - Coach Elledge gave me a quick call - goals from Misner and Elder, assisted by Powell and Flick, CC PK from O'Brien. HV enjoyed a 35-10 advantage in shots.
  
• StM over Henley, 2-0. Without knowing details, I am guessing the injury to one of Henley's attacking players (fall, broken arm vs HV) has hampered the Hornet's ability to generate much offense. Hornbeck isn't going to be able to carry them on her own.

(note - "fixture" is a term used to indicate a matchdate on a season schedule - it's a Brit thing)

Today: Maz (0-1) @ Phx (1-0) , CC (1-0) @ HV (1-0), RR (0-1) @ NV (1-0), Hen (0-1) @ StM (0-1)

StM v Hen: Should be a good game between two teams expected to battle for the final league playoff berth. With St. Mary's missing several hoped-for scoring threats out with injuries, and Henley having a good GK, expect a low score, but given Henley's utter lack of shots vs HV on Saturday, give a slight edge to the Crusaders.

NV v RR: The Chieftains haven't seen the nice part of their schedule yet, and it doesn't come today, either. Wilhelm, Moorehouse, Robles and the rest of the Knights will prove too much. North Valley is still undefeated when the sun is down today, and RR is likely still goal-less.

#8 HV v CC: This should be the Match of the Day - state-ranked HV was picked to win District 6 this season, but didn't find much scoring punch last week. Cascade Christian meantime found plenty and is ready to make the case that they are a top 3 team. Playing on the short field in Murphy, this could go either way - both teams have multiple goalscoring threats. Edge to HV on the strength of Henner in the Mustang goal.

Maz v #7 Phx: The Vikings bring 13 players to this match, a few of whom played their first full length game EVER this past Saturday. Phoenix, Oregon's #7 3a team, meanwhile has HS and club experience in every single varsity player. Phoenix is also gearing up for Saturday's showdown at Hidden Valley, so needs to get constructive minutes from the starting 11. This could be a repeat of Saturday's opener at Colver.

The coverage is here. Not quite the feel I wanted, but *shrug*.

"Conventional wisdom says the three of us (Phoenix, Hidden Valley and North Valley) are the favorites," Doty said. "I think Cascade Christian will have something to say about that, but I’m thinking it’ll be a tight three-way race."

By including the Cascade Christian quote, we've given the Challengers another little nudge to bring 110% against us when that time comes. Lesson in context - I framed that statement with a larger observation about CC not being at the Jamboree and us not knowing much about them, but that the St. Mary's score served a notice that they were not content to let this year be a three team race.

At Colver:

• Phoenix opened scoring in the 3rd, when Marci Klimek finished a Megan Burr cross.
  
• Klimek struck again in the 6th on a solo effort.
• Freshman Carlee Storey tallied her first Phoenix goal in the 12th, unassisted, cutting back to her left and finishing from 18 yards out.
• Sarah Giardina came on as a sub in the 14th and scored in the 15th on a driven ball from 25 yards out on the right side.
• Klimek's hat trick was complete in the 22nd with another solo effort.
• Storey struck again in the 42nd, following her own shot after a thru ball put her one v one with the GK. The initial save wasn't controlled and came back at Storey for the put away.
• In the 44th, a direct kick from Tamara Heryford found space at the back post.
• In the 46th, a chip from Storey was flicked up and volleyed in by Klimek.
• In the 51st, Storey notched a hat trick on a thru pass from Alex Hanscom.
• Theta Fraser-Corry tallied her first varsity goal on a breakaway in the 55th.
• Heryford launched a ball from nearly 40 yards out in the 57th that carried over the GK and under the bar.
• Jordan Ceremony closed the sheet with her first varsity goal, following a nearly identical long shot from Heryford that was mishandled by the GK.

Phoenix took 30 shots, 28 were on goal. Rogue River did not take a single shot. Phoenix GK Chelsea Passante, in her debut effort, did make a smother on a breakaway, but no shot was involved. She was also a reliable pressure valve, allowing defenders to backpass, rather than turning the ball into opponents.

Some additional notes: The shots total is more telling broken down by half... Of 30 shots, 19 were taken 1st half. The 11 in the second half were really only 9 "chances" -- 7 goals were scored, and 2 of those goals were on 2 shot sequences (shot, save, follow). So we were at about 1 goal per 4 shots in first half. 1 goal per 3 shots on frame (all our OFF frame shots were 1st half). Second half we were better than 1 goal per 2 shots (7 of 11) and 100% on frame.

Other Results:
CC 5, StM 1 - CC 3 goals from O'Brien, 1 each from Brown and Cotta. StM goal from Kayla E.
NV 4, Maz 0 - 2 2nd half goals from Wilhelm, 1 each from Moorhouse and Robels. Robels also assisted twice.
HV 2, Hen 0 - UPDATE - spoke with Gary E - both goals came from Flick.

Next Tuesday: Maz@Phx, CC@HV, RR@NV, Hen@StM

District 6 Girls' play starts today with matches in Klamath Falls, Talent, and Medford!

Defending League Champ North Valley are in Klamath Falls against Mazama. Pre-season favorite and state #8 ranked Hidden Valley are also in the Basin facing Henley.

Here in the Rogue Valley, the first leg of the Parochial Derby opens with Cascade Christian hosting St. Mary's at Fichtner-Mainwaring and state #7 Phoenix welcoming Rogue River to Colver Field.

Scores will post here and on OregonLive as soon as I know them. Match recaps are welcome in the Comments section.

Sophomores Callie Fleeger and Hannah Wilson will get a call up to the Varsity roster for Saturday's home opener vs Rogue River. Fleeger, who also played in the Jamboree last weekend, will wear #11. Wilson, who wasn't available for the Jamboree, has yet to select a jersey. Katie Dreizsus, Katie Johnson, and Taja Watkins also came up for the Jamboree.

The JV team, originally scheduled to play St. Mary's on Saturday, gained an open date when the Crusaders' JV program folded. With 11 dates on the JV schedule, players swinging up to Varsity can appear 3 times without having to sit out any of the JV games. The Phoenix Varsity roster carries a solid 15, but can grow to 20 for post season play. Expect as many as 7 JV players to garner invites to dress in Varsity matches throughout the season, as that playoff roster is determined.

Phoenix needs to finish in the top 2 in District 6 to be assured a state playoff spot. Finishing in the top 5 means post season play via a league playoff for the #3 state berth, as long as no ties in the top spots exist.

But not just for Phoenix...

As some of the frequent readers here know, we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of an all-women's match featuring Phoenix High. We aren't the only women's team in our 20th season....

Three things to note - on the SCHEDULES page, the JV has new games as the result of the St. Mary's and Rogue River JV sides no longer being with us.

End result 4 games vs North Valley, 3 vs Hidden Valley and Henley, 2 vs Mazama.

Varsity selected captains this week, unanimously naming senior Alex Hanscom and junior Tamara Heryford to captaincy as the season starts. Seniors Marci Klimek and Ema Burr also received support from their teammates and will earn bands as the season progresses.

JV and Varsity uniform bits (home and away socks, shorts) are at Rogue Soccer in the Winco shopping center. GET THEM PRONTO - Varsity plays Sep 2, team photos are Sep 8. EVERYONE has to have their stuff by then!!!

2005 Roster - based on the initial JV/Varsity split tonight, these 15 ladies are the core of the 2005 Pirate squad. 14 others are the initial JV side. As more players come out after school starts, expect 3 to 5 JV players to get regular invites to train, dress, and play with the varisty, with the end goal being a post season roster of 18 girls, healthy, and with plenty of minutes clocked through the regular season!

Congratulations!

The girl's bracket for 2005 is here.

District 6 #1 (we have a shot - favored by the neutral observers though is Hidden Valley) waits until the second round and hosts the winner of D1 #3 v D7 #3. Historically, these would be teams like Seaside or Astoria from D1, Riverside or Madras from D7

District 6 #2 (our favored finish, though North Valley will be battling to grab this safe slot, too... and never count out Henley and either St. Mary's or Cascade, depending on the year) waits for the 2nd round to travel to District 3's #2. Since North Bend dropped into 3a, the D3 #2 slot has been owned by Glide.

District 6 #3 opens away at District 8 #2. D8 can move around a lot. Looking at the list, that #2 could be anyone up there except Sisters (who should be #1), or Gervais and Amity (who I don't expect will have winning seasons). That leaves Blanchet, Cascade, Molalla, North Marion, Stayton, Sweet Home, or Western Mennonite as possible hosts to our league #3 (who could be any of NV, Hen, StM, CC...or us or HV)

At the All Coaches Meeting tonight, Mr Barry announced Team photos will be Sept 8 (that's a Thursday) at Colver Field. Time is not set, yet. Bring all uniform pieces, Varisty warmups, and a pair of jeans.

Doubles start in a few short hours - 7am, Colver Field TOMORROW (Monday) for 2 hours.
you MUST have a physical completed to be allowed to participate. If you did not get one at La Clinica on Sat, I MUST have your form in hand or have been told by Mr Barry that you are good to go!!

Training Schedule THIS WEEK:

• Monday AM session, 7 - 9, Colver, all players (no contact drills except for GKs)
• Monday PM session, 6 - 8, Colver, all players (bring shinguards - expect contact!)
• Tuesday AM session, 7 - 9, Colver, all players
• NO PM SESSION on TUESDAY
• Wednesday AM session, 7 - 9, Colver, all players
• After Wednesday AM, the "tryout" section of preseason will be over. JV/ Varsity split will be announced at the beginning of Weds PM and trainings will no longer be full program
• Wednesday PM session, 6 - 8, Colver, all players; skills & fitness split
• Thursday AM session, 7 - 9, Colver, all players; skills split
• Thursday PM session, 5 - 7, classroom location in PHS TBA,VARSITY ONLY
• Friday AM session, 7 - 9, Colver, all players; skills & fitness split
• Friday PM session, 6 - 8, Colver, all players; skills & fitness split

As of now, plan on the first weekend in October being heavy on college soccer.
Friday, Oct. 7, Concordia is at SOU at 3:30. Saturday the 8th, they play Jac and OIT in KFalls a couple hours before we play Mazama over there (or if the schedule DOESN'T change for the SAT, an hour AFTER we finish at Mazama). Plan on BOTH those CU games being Pirate Soccer activities.

from Brent Barry:

Here are the approximate times for your team’s physicals. All athletes must have physical and insurance papers into the office prior to the first practice on August 22nd. Dianne and I will work to put together a list of eligible athletes and I will bring them to your first practice on Monday.

BB

2005 Physicals
August 20th 8:30-11:30
La Clinica de Valle 3617 S. Pacific Hwy.

Approximate times:

• 8:30 Boys Soccer/Wrestling
• 9:00 Football
• 9:30 Dance/Baseball/Cross Country
• 10:00 Cheerleaders/ Boys Basketball/ Swimming
• 10:30 Girls Basketball/ B&G Golf/ Volleyball
• 11:00 Girls Soccer/ Track/ Softball

It seems rather wishful thinking that we will get thru in a half hour, but *shrug* go and be prepared to stay until you're finished!!

SAT Test Date Oct 8 I am a senior and am taking the Oct 8 test I am a junior and am taking the Oct 8 test I am a senior and took an earlier test I am a senior and am taking a later test I am an underclassman and don't care    Free polls from Pollhost.com

We aren't going to have much luck seeing Jac this season -- their trip to Ashland is the same day and nearly same time we are at Cascade Christian. However, their 05 - schedule does offer:"October 8 Saturday Concordia University * Klamath Falls, OR 1pm" For those of you paying attention, we are AT Mazama that day, scheduled for a 3pm or 4pm kickoff (to allow for SAT test takers). IF enough people are interested, I will arrange for earlier transportation over there and we will watch the OIT match before our own contest...

D o t y B l o g: "Could it be?" posted by John at 11:25 AM was the first hint...

Yesterday at camp, Stephanie Watkins asked "How's Jen?" (most of you have met Jen...usually referred to as "my girlfriend" and sometimes as "my fianceé"). I didn't QUITE give Steph a complete answer... Well, we can officially use the second term, now. :) She said 'yes' on Tuesday evening (Steve and Suzanne Fry were right there at the next table and didn't even know - aren't we sneaky?). Anywho, that's the news for today!!

Not a requirement by any stretch, but anyone who wants to do a "daily double" early can spend $65 and sign up for Southern Oregon University Women's Soccer Camp August 1-5, from 9 to 11:30 am, then do the UK International Camp those same evenings.

The camp would give you access to another collegiate coach and get you many more valuable touches for a very reasonable price.

ONLY recommended for players who have been building fitness base, if you plan to double up with UK Int'l. If you make this your first off-season training, two camp sessions a day will be VERY tough.

Where do we go for the Varisty trip? UP v Stanford, 7pm, Aug27 UO and OSU doubleheader, midday, Aug 28 Somewhere yet to be determined, later in the season    Free polls from Pollhost.com

Now's the time to use the "comments" section, ladies! Vote in the poll and make an argument in favor of your position or in argument against the others! The Portland v Stanford match is at 7pm...meaning we would get back to Phoenix around 3am. Alternatively, the Beavers and Ducks are BOTH playing on Sunday the 28th, at noon and 2 in Eugene - so more soccer, closer... but maybe not of the same quality? Portland State is out of town, Lewis & Clark and Pacific aren't playing yet, Willamette is playing their Alumni Game, Warner Pacific is at home against a club team from Spain, but the kickoff is 6pm Friday.

In 1985, led by the organizational efforts of two senior girls playing on the boys' team, a girls' game was organized between Phoenix and Grants Pass. The Cavers won 4-1. 2005 is the 20th anniversary of that match. To celebrate that effort, and the contributions of all the girls who played for Phoenix before Phoenix had a team for them, we will be honoring the players from that first game, and the girls who played on the boys team prior to the first girls' season in the fall of 1989. On October 15, 2005, the Phoenix girls host Henley HS at Colver Field at 10:00am. At halftime of that game, there will be a ceremony honoring the players from before the emergence of girls' soccer. Following the game, there will be a BBQ and social time, possibly featuring a brief, friendly, and highly informal alumnae game.

Since June 19, we have nothing new to report. We know the whereabouts of Chris White, Kasey Katrenick and Wendy Beveridge ('86), Kris Center ('88), and Mandy Wright and Julie Gruchalla ('89).

Still Missing: Class of '84: Tonia Batten (-); Class of '86: Cheri Richardson (emailed via Classmates), Becky Semm (-); Class of '87: Tracie Granger (-); Class of '88: Kelli Leake (-), Lisa McGarrity (-), Gina Murray (-), Robin Huxtable (-) , Theresa Johnson (-), Kelly Katrenick (-); Class of '89: Tara Miller (-); Class of '92: Jennifer Fletcher (-)

If you know ANY of these people help us find them!!!

http://webpages.charter.net/jd4/soccer/jamboree.htm

Looking forward to welcoming 22 teams from 12 schools to Hagler-James on September 2.

For Phoenix Varsity Girls and Boys, this replaces the the final day of daily doubles. We are awaiting confirmation of a JV jamboree at Hidden Valley on the same day for our girls JV team.

Meantime, see you at the hill (M,W,F am) and at Open Field starting July 6!

Though I am still waiting on ONE returning varsity player to return her jerseys, I can tell you what is moving forward on uniforms...

MOST things will not change this season. BigToe, our uniform provider for the most recent set, will handle repair and replacement for the number-peeling jerseys w/o any costs but outbound shipping, so we aren't ordering NEW Varsity - we ARE getting logo embroidery done - it will look just like Skully, the logo on the left side of the website. The surrounding text and lines will be all red on the navy jerseys.

The JV team will be getting a new set of jerseys. We are still figuring out exactly which ones.

Shorts and Socks - players will need to get their own shorts and socks and can keep them forever.

We are using last year's short again - the adidas Mundial in WHITE. If you already have a pair, you needn't get another one new, but Rogue Soccer will be stocking enough for all of our incoming freshmen, plus about 2/3 of our returners to buy a new pair, if they wish. Team pricing for this short runs close to $19. I will get a solid cost by Mid July.

Our Red sock (most road games and some home games) remains the same, and again, players needn't get a new pair if they still have their old ones. It is the adidas Pro Vertical and team prices at close to $12 a pair. JV may elect to NOT USE this sock - check with your coaches.

Our White sock (most home and some road games) will be the adidas Copa. This is a new sock for us, but common enough some of you may have it anyway. Our version is white with navy stripes and runs a tad over $6 a pair at team prices.

The total costs should run under $40 and may get down as low as $35. All players are urged to take part in fundraisers to defray all or part of this cost.

We will hand out and collect back an Orange sock for the Talent HS game. We will also hand out and collect back a Black short for that game.

OK. The REAL fun of being part of a sport is raising money!!.. wait.. uh..

Well, despite the potential drag that raising money can be, we usually have some cool options. Here is the lowdown on fundraising opportunities for the 2005 season.

Bulbs - Stephanie Watkins puts together catalog and order form stuff, you sell bulbs to people in your neighborhood, 70% of the funds stay with the program, split between the individual seller and the team. Steph will have that ready to go very soon. You could earn your camp fees that way, you could pay for your shorts and socks... you could do both!

D&S Harley Davidson - D&S does events from time to time and asks us to help staff concessions booths - soda, popcorn, raffle, etc... and in return, they donate chunks of money to us. Event One is on July 16 (a Saturday), Event Two is on September 11 (a Sunday). I will need a serious head count of who would be willing to do those, so we can adequately staff them and TELL D&S that we can, early enough for them to know if they need to invite any other groups to help.

So, contact Steph about the bulbs and post in the comments or tell me at the hill runs if you can help on either or both of the D&S events!!

...for about a day, as I am migrating fcphoenix.us and johndoty.us to a new server and this site relies on them for some of its appearance. Expect 24-48 hours of uglies.

UPDATED (5:30pm, 6-20) - Things SEEM to be all as they should - images loading, text being the right color on the right background. But if you click on something and don't get what you expect to see, PLEASE use the comments section of this post to call my attention to it.

One of my first seasons at Phoenix, Dan and I drove up to Wilsonville to watch a final - South Eugene vs Jesuit was the 4a boys' game, closing out the evening. And the Axemen were led by a very talented, tall, slender kid named Nate Jaqua. Apparently he can still play :)

In 1985, led by the organizational efforts of two senior girls playing on the boys' team, a girls' game was organized between Phoenix and Grants Pass. The Cavers won 4-1. 2005 is the 20th anniversary of that match. To celebrate that effort, and the contributions of all the girls who played for Phoenix before Phoenix had a team for them, we will be honoring the players from that first game, and the girls who played on the boys team prior to the first girls' season in the fall of 1989.

We are trying to find the following former Phoenix HS Students. I am not certain whether those listed after '86 actually graduated on time or at Phoenix, but as of their time of participation in Phoenix Soccer on or before fall of 1985, these were their scheduled graduation dates. Those with (-) after their names are those we have no information on as of this first post. Four have been emailed via Classmates.com, one is known and has been contacted directly, and one has a brother who I've worked with off and on in the past decade.

UPDATE - Thanks to Jennifer Dater (Watson), who scanned and forwarded yearbook pages from the 87 and 88 seasons after Mandy Heiss (Wright) contacted her. That gave me three new names - Kelly K, Jennifer F and Tara M - now added to the main list)

UPDATE 2 - Thanks to Tori Charlton (Sadler), we now know how to contact Chris White.

If you know any of these players, let us know in the comments, but do not post contact information publically, just let us get back to you!

Class of '84: Tonia Batten (-); Class of '86: Wendy Beveridge (found), Chris White (found), KC Katrenick (found), Cheri Richardson (emailed via Classmates), Becky Semm (-); Class of '87: Tracie Granger (-); Class of '88: Kris Center (found), Kelli Leake (-), Lisa McGarrity (-), Gina Murray (-), Robin Huxtable (-) , Theresa Johnson (-), Kelly Katrenick (-); Class of '89: Mandy Wright (found), Julie Gruchalla (found), Tara Miller (-); Class of '92: Jennifer Fletcher (-)

Team Rate for Concordia Camp - If we get more than 15 players from a single team signed up for Concordia, we will be able to qualify for a team rate, which will result in partial refunds to several of you have registered as individuals. SO... register, get over 15 players and get a price break. (details will post later today on www.fcphoenix.us)

We pride ourselves on the tradition of excellence with Phoenix soccer. The girls' team has been a state ranked program for that past five seasons; the boys, too. The boys' program first made the league playoffs in 1988, the girls in 1993 - the girls haven't missed qualifying for at least one additional match since. But in going throuogh old yearbooks in search of players for the girls' commemorative, two items leapt out at me - in 1988, the first playoff year, the 3 regular season losses were 6-0 and 7-0 to Henley, and 4-2 to South Umpqua. In 1987, Phoenix lost to Illinois Valley 10-0 and 9-2, and South Umpqua 6-3 and 8-1. Times have changed...

The extended family that is Pirate soccer has struggled over the past year with two outcomes that were unavoidable, yet we wished would be postponed for as long as possible.

Tonya Novak, mother to varsity midfielder Kim Novak and varsity forward/GK Ashley Novak, was very open about her fight against cancer and gave realistic voice to her eventual chances. But expectation does very little to ease the anguish of loss. Tonya's fight ended this past week.

People who followed Pirate soccer on OregonLive remember Tonya's posts as "Fundabs" - she was a huge backer of her own daughters' efforts, our team, our league, and our sport, despite coming to it very recently. When Ashley and Kim joined Valkyrie with FC Phoenix in 2001-02, Tonya knew nothing of soccer, but she borrowed every match tape I have (nearly 50 world cup games, men's and women's internationals, NCAA final fours...) and learned the sport as best a spectator can hope to.

Al Watkins, father to JV coach Dan Watkins and grandfather to Varsity midfielder Ashley Watkins, was known to be in failing health, but again, that did nothing to make easier his passing on May 22. In his memory, the family requested gifts to the Hospice program that cared for him: The Beverly H. Shaffer House, 2508 Argonne Way, Medford, OR 97504.

Losses like these are never easy. In our extended lives of teams and coworkers, they come far more often than we ever expect and strike closer to home than we are prepared for. Pirate Soccer extends our comfort and love to these families.

In the 6 years of the THS Commemorative, the Bulldogs have only fallen to one team, St Mary's - twice. Again this year, the home game of Homecoming Week is against the Crusaders. The 4-2 Bulldogs are winless against St. Mary's, so this is the "Get the Monkey Off Our Back" match :) It will also be the regular season finale.

Also this year, we mark the 20th anniversary of the first Phoenix HS Girls' match - played in 1985 against Medford, it was the only girls' game of that season, and preceded a true girls' team by four years. If you are, or know someone who played in that game, contact me!

Concordia Camp - July 18-21... Registration Form downloadable at FC Phoenix's Website.

UK International - Aug 1-5. Clickable info on the facilitators at the same link as above. This camp has sponsors for the JV and Varsity to participate.

ALSO - SOU's women are bringing up a Brazilian international June 20-26. Info and Registration links on the SOU Women's soccer website here. Go there if you want to do something before the rest of us get going!

At RV Cup, two Pirate Parents asked about the text over on the side which says:

Help with the hosting fees, subscriptions, and other expenses that allow me to make this site possible

Their concern: they see no button to click to act on the statement. I am perplexed, and have looked at the site with several browsers to see if I am missing something... SO

If you, in looking at the BucsBlog or any other part of the Cove (Pirate Soccer site), cannot see a Make a Donation button on the left side near the bottom, please mention that in the comments, along with what operating system and browser you are using, so I can figure out what all is going on. If you CAN see it, you needn't do anything.... but you are welcome to USE it, too :)

FC Phoenix coach Steve Lloyd will be having pick-up games for ALL ages starting in June. Details in the ANNOUNCEMENTS section of www.fcphoenix.us. This is NOT the Phoenix HS Open Field, but if you are DYING to play some soccer, you don't have to wait around for us :)

all of the Varisty is invited to join the staff and seniors on Aug 27, for a Portland trip to see UP vs Stanford. We'll hit the Glenwood on the way up in Eugene, then return same day. Fun relaxing day of soccer. More info when we get together in July!

Once and Future Pirates on FC Phx Flames and FC Phx Valkyrie, schedules can be found here

u19g FC Phx Valkyrie will be at North Medford HS, Saturday @ 9:15 v FC SoOR, @ 7:15 v GPSC United & Sunday @ 9:15 v RSA Black, @ 3:30 v Elite

Valkyrie includes former Pirate Kelly Riley, Graduating Pirates Jac Unruh and Robyn Singleton, and current Pirates Ashley Novak, Terra Fry, and Ashley Watkins. Tamara Heryford and incoming frosh Carlie Storey were originally on the Valkyrie roster, as well, but are playing for the FC Southern Oregon teams - Tam on u17 and Car on u15.

Some other District 6 players will be seen on Valkyrie, as well, inlcuding Wilhelm, Chirnside, and Chavez from North Valley. Hidden Valley's Henner will be in the same tournament group playing for GPSC United.

The Lady Pirate Softball team came from six runs down to claim the Skyline Conference softball title. This group features a lot of girls from the playoff soccer and hoops teams. Good year for Lady Pirate Athletics.

Earlier in the week, when the softball team was laying the groundwork for Tuesday's nailbiter by splitting with Mazama, another Lady Bucs soccer player was having a solid outing at the Skyline District track meet.

So congrats to the state-bound Pirates who represent THIS team each fall: Marci, Jaclyn, Terra, Alex, etc...

The site is gearing up for summer and fall HS Soccer - the 2005 Season schedules have been uploaded for the girls varsity and JV squads, plus the full league schedule for girls' varsity. The site navigation pallette on the left reflects these changes.

We also have updated the 2004 and 2003 season summary pages, and have the template in place for the 2005 roster. While that roster says "Projected Varsity," nothing is written in stone. Returning Varsity players still need to make the top cut on skills and fitness and newcomers may be able to beat someone out.

Just for those who dwell on the math, 14 of 2004's 16 regular Varsity players return in 2005. Two (Heryford and Klimek) were All State honorees in '04. Two more (Hanscom and Giardina) will be seniors who've been regular starters every season they've been in high school. Beyond that, things are up in the air. 2004 saw a large group of freshmen starting. It also saw the departure of 4 year starter, league player of the year, and 1st team All State selection Jaclyn Unruh along with 4 year Varisty defensive mid, Robyn Singleton.

Three girls on the 2004 JV roster made appearances with the Varsity and several incoming freshman have club credentials that make them immediate contenders for roster spots. The 2005 edition of Lady Pirate soccer will likely carry 18 on the Varsity.

If you are a Bucs soccer player (boys or girls) and are involved in something (club ball, another sport, another activity) that we can help with, come watch, etc... Let us know here - use the Comments and tell us time and place of the event!

Former soccer player (JV as a freshman) Claire Rogers (as Aunt Eller) is joined by several current boys and girls (JV all, I think) players on-stage, and several more backstage (including Megan Burr, calling the whole show as stage manager)as all are part of the upcoming production of "Oklahoma!" produced by the Phoenix High School Performing Arts department, with Thespian troupe #1777, the Drama Club, voices from the choir and a wonderful pit made up mostly of Pirate band (plus some community members)!

The show opens next week and runs two weekends. General Admission is $10, students are $5!

Go see it! Get tickets from anyone in the cast, crew, or at the front office!

Registration forms for the Pirate Jamboree (Sept 2, 2005) are online. Click on Skully (the logo to your left) to get to the main Bucs Soccer page, then click the Jamboree link. On that page you will find confirmed participants, a .pdf format downloadable registration form, and (eventually) schedule info!

Hurry and sign up your team!!

With the massive senior class of 2005, these updates won't take much work / space :), but we have news on one of our two varisty girls' seniors: Jaclyn Unruh (GK, 1st team Dist 6, 1st team Oregon, school record holder in, well, everything) has signed a letter of intent to OIT, with scholarship dollars attached. Jac intends to play both soccer and hoops for the Owls.

For those of you paying attention :), PHS Girls Soccer staff for 2005 is expected to look like this. If anything changes, we'll let you know. Should be a GREAT group!

JV will still be Jerry North and Dan Watkins They had the most successful JV season EVER. They will have occasional help (most notably GK sessions) from other staff.

Varsity will be me (John) and Tara Curtis full-time, and we will get part-time help from Lisa Perry and Tori Sadler.

All of the assistant staff will have sessions with the JV and the JV staff will have sessions with the Varsity.

Tara played at Phoenix in 1998 and 1999, leading the Bucs to their first League title as a record setting GK. She played two seasons at NCAA DivI Gonzaga, then transferred to NAIA Pt Loma Nazarene, where her senior season saw the Sea Lions ranked #13 in the nation and saw Tara set a record with a 0.86 goals against average. Tara is a USSF Licensed coach.

Lisa played played at Phoenix from 1996 to 1999, and one season at Southwest Oregon CC. She has transfered to SOU and will work with the team as her schedule allows. She also assisted with FC Phoenix teams in recent years.

Tori returns in her role from last season. She played at Phoenix from 1994-1997, at College of the Siskiyous for two seasons, and assisted at Phoenix last year.

crossposted to FC Phoenix

FC Phoenix teams ended their runs at State Cup this past weekend. In the girls' u18, KAOS ran into FC Portland Aqua, and was overmatched to the tune of 0-6. Aqua faces Lake Oswego Defeeters in the finals. In boys' u16, OutKast was edged 0-1 by FC Portland Silver.

KAOS is now going to Comstock (with several Valkyrie added to the roster as guest players). All three FC Phoenix sides will be part of the Rogue Valley Cup.

State Cup - Girls u18: KAOS advances from group B to Semifinals on kicks over WSM Force. They will face FC Pdx Aqua, who rode goal difference to top group A.

State Cup - Boys u16: OutKast advances from group A after a 2-0 win vs ESU Galatasary. They will face group B winner FC Pdx Silver.

President's Cup - Girls u18: Valkyrie dropped a 0-1 decision to Cascade FC. Playing with a depleted roster of 12, and hoping to survive through until Sunday, when softball and track conflicts would free up several more girls, the loss was Valkyrie's first in 2005.

More Club Info can now be found at

Valkyrie, with several Pirates and several other District VI players on the roster, is through to the Semifinals of Presidents Cup as the #1 finisher in Group A, notching a 3-0 win over WSM Rebels tonight to go with the 2-0 win vs FCW Premier. They will face the #2 team from group B (Cascade FC has the inside track to that berth).

Good luck ladies!

Kaos play tomorrow and can advance with a win over WSM. The Metros' side dropped to Defeeters today 0-3, which is the same score Defeeters downed Kaos by last week. GO KAOS!! Win and Yer In!

UPDATE - KAOS advances on PKs.
Kaos drew 1-1 with WSM, then advanced with the #2 berth to the Semis with a 4-3 PK tie-breaker.

(I think that the goal difference situation (both are at -3) means that a TIE will be played into OT and Shootout if needed. If the Defeeters had managed to have different margins of victory, I think a tie would be an possible result, as goal difference could be used as a tiebreaker... but I may be wrong. Will update if I find out more...)

Also note:

MLS play is on - games most every Saturday on TV, and if you have High Speed INternet, you can STREAM GAMES from the MLS Website (I watched Crew v Revs and Galaxy v Real today!!!) Watching soccer can help you PLAY soccer. (the technical term is "observational learning"). Take advantage of this resource!

In State Cup play on Saturday, FC Phoenix Kaos dropped a 0-3 decision to LOSC Defeeters. Kaos plays next Sunday vs WSM Force, who will face Defeeters next Saturday. The best outcome to get Kaos through to the Semifinals would be a Kaos win following a Force loss or tie vs Defeeters. If Force wins Saturday, then Kaos wins, all three will be at 1-1-0 and goal difference will be considered. If Force ties Saturday, then Kaos ties, Kaos is done. A loss also eliminates Kaos.

On Sunday, Valkyrie downed FC Willamette Premier, 2-0 on goals by Wilhelm and Storey. Valkyrie now assues advance with a win or tie vs WSM Rebels next Saturday regardless of Rebels outcome with FCW next Sunday. Valkyrie could even remain alive with a loss, if Rebels beats or ties FCW, though that would be the least desirable manner for advancing.

Training for Kaos and Valkyrie this week will be Weds Thurs, 5:30 pm at Colver - I will be available for GKs for both sessions.

After a disappointing 1-2 loss in Mexico, the US Men are home to face Guatamala in Birmingham. Tune in tomorrow at 5pm on ESPN2, or catch the tape delay on Telemundo later in the evening!

World Cup Qualifier vs Mexico - live at 10am Pacific on ESPN 2 and Telemundo. Watch if you are near a TV!

I will be taping, since the game is on while I fly from Minneapolis to Denver - no one better spoil the result for me here :).

...

Also, I have been speaking to a few former players about fall of '05 and will have an announcement concerning the coaching staff within the first week back. We will have at least one veteran of the 1999 league championship team joining us for the 2005 season as in assistant coaching role(s).

from OYSA site - find it there as a .pdf
U18 Girls Format: 6 teams involving U17 and U18 ages

Group A	Group B
FC Willamette Premier	PCU Wasabi
WSM Rebels	SSC Aces
FC Phoenix Valkyrie	THUSC Platinum

Updated to include Valkyrie Match Times:
April 3, 1pm @ Spiegelberg vs FCW Premier
April 9, 4pm @ Tualatin Hills vs WSM Rebels

April 16: Semifinals
Top 2 teams from each bracket will advance to the Semifinals.
6:00 pm, Rec 1 : Semi final 1 = Group A #1 vs Group B #2
6:00 pm, Rec 2 : Semi final 2 = Group B #1 vs Group A #2

April 17: Finals, Tualatin Hills Rec Center
Winner of semi final games advance to finals.
12:00 pm, Rec 1 : winner of SF 1 vs. winner of SF 2

...Spring Break week! I know most of you are NOT reading this, but if you are...

You can reach me by cell phone. There is a March Newsletter up HERE in .pdf form. You can read it online or print it out.

I'll be back in circulation on March 28.

Are now available online as .pdf files. Follow the link on the left.

U18 Girls Format: 6 teams registered for the 2005 State Cup
April 2, 3, 9, 10, 16 & 17: Preliminary Round; 2 - 3 team brackets w/each team playing 2 games.

Group A	Group B
THUSC Mercury	LOSC Defeeters
O-USA Breakers	WSM Force
FC Ptld Aqua	FC Phoenix Kaos

April 23: Semifinals
Top 2 teams from each bracket will advance to the Semifinals.
Semi final 1 = Group A #1 vs Group B #2
Semi final 2 = Group B #1 vs Group A #2

April 30: Finals, Tualatin Hills Rec Center
Winner of semi final games advance to finals.

... with the links on the left?

Right now, they point to school sites, and if the school has one, sport or soccer pages. We can do better. I thought it would be good to do something like SOCToday, but for District VI, and eventually all Skyline sports, but I would need help from the league member schools - at least a player or parent who could fact-check and help with news coverage.

HV has regular traffic here (Henner, Cornwell) and NV, CC, and Henley have been known to show up from time to time, too. If you are a league player, parent, or coach, and could help out, comment or send email.

By request, the league standings (as well as some other assorted stats - goal difference, goals per game, etc...) are posted here.

Team	W	L	%	GD	GF	GA	GAA	GPG
North Valley	13	1	0.929	28	37	9	0.643	2.643
Hidden Valley	11	3	0.786	26	36	10	0.714	2.571
Phoenix	9	5	0.643	24	33	9	0.643	2.357
Henley	7	7	0.500	6	19	13	0.929	1.357
St. Mary's	6	8	0.429	2	24	22	1.571	1.714
Casc Christian*	5	9	0.357	1	20	19	1.357	1.429
Rogue River*	2	12	0.143	-37	8	45	3.214	0.571
Mazama*	2	12	0.143	-50	3	53	3.786	0.214

*two early CC wins were reversed during the last week of the season, forfeit for use of ineligible player. One each vs Rogue River and Mazama. More below in the scoring leaders section...

Also - scoring leaders:

Klimek (PHX) 13; Brown* (CC), Powell (HV) 11; Wilhelm* (NV) 10; Flick (HV), Misner (HV) 8; Miller (NV), Morehouse (NV) 6; Clark (NV), Fry (PHX) 5
As a result of the CC forfeits, 4 goals tallied by Sarah Brown are NOT counted in these totals. Furthermore, despite the fact the CC ineligible player took part, the season-opening CC v NV game was not recategorized as a 1-0 NV win by forfeit, but allowed to stand as a 2-1 NV win on the field. Brown, Wilhelm and Egli scored in that match.

Finally, projected changes to rosters:

numbers are graduates (graduating all leaguers/total all leaguers)
North Valley 4 (3/10), Hidden Valley 0 (0/9), Phoenix 2 (2/8), Henley 9 (6/8), St. Mary's 5(5/5), Cascade Christian 5(4/6), Rogue River 2 (1/4) , Mazama 4 (1/5)

Mostly crossposted from OregonLive. New content in italics

The term "derby" is used in soccer when two clubs from the same city battle in league play - Manchester United vs Manchester City, AC vs Inter, Real vs Atletico. For FC Phoenix, today was the first time two teams were entered into the same age classification in a statewide league and faced one another. It was a hard fought game - Kaos scored a beautiful set piece goal in the 1st half. Corner kick from the right driven to the far post, then headed back to the right, upper V. Valkyrie GK Melissa Henner (Hidden Valley) flew, but had no chance. Henner did keep it a close game, as Kaos had far greater time of possession in 1st half, creating maybe 4 threats to every 1 from Valkyrie.

2nd Half, Valkyrie shifted from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2, asserted midfield possession to a far greater degree than in 1st half. Posession overall levelled out and chances become more even.

Valkyrie equalized on a PK from Sylvia van Ausdal (Ashland), created when a counterattack give and go up the left flank put the Valkyrie left mid, Andi Bogden (Crater) - in a temporary role from her usually central defensive assignment - into space and heading toward goal... she was tripped about 16 yards from the goal line, getting the call.

The go-ahead goal came shortly after, as a diagonal ball to the right found Kendra Gressert (North Medford) with a moment of space. Her shot came off Kaos GK Katy Kunkle's (North Medford) chest and the ball trickled left as Alex Batzer (North Medford) ran on to finish. The AR1 briefly raised his flag for offsides (Batzer was goalside the last field player), but brought it down again (Batzer was still behind the ball), and deferred to the center who allowed the goal.

Valkyrie then hung on as Kaos ramped up to press for an equalizer. Henner was tested several times in the waning minutes, but came up with some key stops and some key defesive help, particularly from Tamara Heryford (Phoenix) and van Ausdal.

Valkyrie moves to 8-0-0 and Kaos drops to 7-1-1 in the u19 classic group.

Strong outing for both teams and exceptional play from individuals on both sides. While Kaos did create a good deal more chances, the very last tier of the Valkyrie defense withstood and kept it close enough down the strech to play for a win.

In FC Phoenix club play, Outkast won a very tight match on Saturday, 2-1 over ESU Galatasaray in the u17 boys' Premier bracket. The FC Phoenix boys' side, who also notched a much more convincing win on Sunday (4-0 over PCU Crew), fought back from 0-1 to equalize in the second half and then tally the match winner in the waning minutes against Galatasaray. Outkast is 3-4-0 with three games remaining.

Also on Saturday, KAOS had its first setback, drawing at 2 with PCU Wasabi in Portland, allowing FC Phoenix Valkyrie an opening into first place in the u19 girls classic group. Valkyrie did its part, with a 2-1 win, also against Wasabi. Actual standings will await the result of the Kaos v SSC Aces played today (a win will keep Kaos atop the group on points). Kaos and Valkyrie square off on Saturday, March 5, at Colver Field. In addition to the Derby on 3/5, Kaos has one additional match remaining and Valkyrie has two. Valkyrie is 7-0-0 with 21 points, Kaos as of this writing is 6-0-1 with 19 pts, but could climb to 20 or 22 pts once the SSC result is known.

Update: Kaos garnered a 4-0 in over Aces, to boost its record to 7-0-1, for 22 points and hold onto the lead in u19 classic standings. Valkyrie's record is still unblemished, but with only 7 matches played, trail Kaos on points.

Phoenix's hoops team, which features the Skyline Volleyball PoY Ashley McCarty and Soccer PoY Jaclyn Unruh, captured a share of the league title tonight with a 50 - 32 win at Hidden Valley. Illinois Valley was beating Mazama in Klamath Falls, so both will finish 10-2 and be co-champs. IV should get the tiebreaker nod for the #1 berth, Phoenix will go #2. Unruh led all scorers with 18, Alex Hanscom was also in double figures with 11. Buc footballers Terra Fry and Kim Novak also contributed scoring, rebounding, and solid defense. Unruh, who's soccer season was dedicated to keeping scores LOW, leads all Skyline players with 295 points in 22 games.

The #3 - #5 finishers have a league playoff to get a 3rd state berth figured out. Based on what I have seen, my money is on Henley.

Meanwhile in SOCCER (the reason for this board), the FC Phoenix teams are doing well, sharing the lead alone atop the u19 Classic league at 6-0-0. For Valkyrie, Hidden Valley standout GK has been doing very well minding the net, and North Valley's Kayla Wilhelm has provided consistent offensive output. Our own Tamara Heryford is doing well anchoring the backline and serving key restarts.

Finally, my schedule will have me at Valkyrie/Kaos training on Thursday around 4:30 to work with GKs. The next FC Phoenix contests I can make will be the boys contest this Saturday and the girls' Derby on March 5 (KAOS v Valkyrie). Refereeing assignments include an RVSC v LOSC boys game this coming Sunday AM (9) at Spiegelberg, and RVSC u17 and u19 classic games on March 6 at Colver (11 and 1).

Coming into the weekend, 3 teams sat at 4-0-0 on top of the OYSA u19 Girls' Classic league. Oregon City Eclipse traveled to southern Oregon to face both their co-leaders - FC Phoenix's KAOS and Valkyrie. KAOS stepped up on Saturday to deliver a narrow 3-2 win at Colver field in Talent, while Valkyrie delivered 2-0 on the turf at Spiegelberg on Sunday.

Valkyrie also found a Saturday win vs Bend Surge (2-0) and KAOS downed Surge on Sunday, to bring both FC Phoenix squads to 6-0-0. They will face off on March 5 at Colver in what could be the de facto league title match. That hopeful scenario must be tempered with the reality of next weekend's road trip which will include both sides facing Wasabi, who are still in striking distance of the top spot.

I am off to Bandon for the weekend to hang with my folks and do some work on their house. I'll post match results (but prolly not detailed summaries) on Monday when I get home.


Good luck Kaos, Valkyrie, and Outkast!

April Heinrichs' resignation this week is, in my humble opinion, a good move for US women's soccer. Heinrich's took over following the 1999 Women's World Cup victory - then-coach Tony Dicicco departed under unusual terms - it seemed US Soccer had never really been keen on him, despite his clear success. As part of the release detailing Heinrichs' time at the helm, US Soccer apparently considers her silver medal and bronze medal efforts in the 2000 Olympics and 2003 World Cup to be accomplishments, rather than seriously underperforming expectations.


Under Dicicco, the US women built on the foundation established under Anson Dorrance and parlayed the attacking prowess, team speed, skill, depth, and vastly superior goalkeeping, into a fearsome 3-4-3. The US had, and still does have devestatingly effective forwards, skillful and dominating midfielders, and very effective defenders... by using a three attacker system, and dominating the middle of the field, the US could create an onslaught of shots, and be expected to win games having scored 5 or 6 times.

Under Heinrichs, this philosophy nearly died. Setting up in a more conservative, traditional 4-4-2, Heinrichs pulled one of the fearsome forwards off the pitch, (or occasionally held them back as an "attacking mid." Going to a four-back, Heinrichs seemed to want to win by denying the opponent scoring, rather than doing any of it ourselves. The problem is a 1-0 game is vulnerable to a single breakdown... a 5-2 game is not. And having a syste that was seemingly not designed to create overwhelming pressure on goal,heaven help a US team that fell behind - they were then 'adjusting' to overcome the defecit, rather than continuing to relentlessly pound. The semifinal loss to Germany in 2003 was just such an occasion. When the entire attack seems based upon carrying foraward and feeding Wambach, how could Germany fail to shut it down?

I don't know who the US will replace Heinrichs with. I hope it is someone who values a dynamic approach to attacking play - utilizing the talent we are loaded with and dispensing with the cautious defensive mindset we've seen over the recent seasons. The most astonishing aspect of Heinrichs' shortcomings - she herself was a dynamic, goal-scoring forward. Why did she not coach with the same attacking ferver she played with?

Phoenix girls basketball has clinched a 2nd place finish in league play - they ran their Skyline record to 9-2 last night with a 44-31 win over North Valley. BUT IN BIGGER NEWS - Henley jumped out early and hung on to beat IV by 1 over in the Basin, knocking the Cougars into a tie for the league title with Phoenix - so if the Bucs can go to Murphy and win to close out the season, they will share the league title and MAY claim the #1 berth when the tie-breakers sort out.

Props to the team, and especially to the current soccer players (Unruh, Hanscom, Novak, and Fry) and the former FC Phoenix kids (McCarty, George (GET WELL, SHONDA!!!), and Hurd).

crossposted to DotyBlog

Phoenix soccer is looking for the women who played in the first interscholastic girls' soccer game in the fall of 1985.

This upcoming season represents the 20th anniversary of that inaugural game, and we want to commemorate the event with a pregame or halftime ceremony for the involved players.

If you are one of them or know one of them, get in touch with us!

The girls went north, the guys stayed in town. For the most part, it was a successful weekend.

Karen Seeley, the Kaos and Valkyie coach, emailed some details.

Only 24 girls made the trip up, and not all of them played both days, so guest players were critical (each team loaned 3 players to the other for each game).

Kaos opened with a 7-0 romp against the North Clackamas Lady Kingsmen. With the three loaned from Valkyrie, that match used 16 Phx players. Valkyrie then went to Southside with their 11 plus 3 Kaos, and came from 0-2 down at half to win 3-2.

Sunday saw Kaos take Westside Metros 4-0 while Valkyrie matched that tally against Lady Kingsmen.

Next week, both girls' sides are home, while Oregon City and Bend come to town. Valkyrie kicks off at 1pm vs Bend at Colver and Kaos follows at 3 v OC on Saturday. Sunday's contests are at Spiegelberg, with Valkyrie at 11 v OC and Kaos at 1 v Bend.

On the boys' side, Outkast dispatched ESU Gold on Saturday, 4-0 and then dropped a 1-3 decision to Santos FC on Sunday. The boys host Westside Metros Storm, 3pm Saturday at Spiegelberg and are idle on Sunday.

OK, GK's - here is where you prove to me that you read the blog!

Obviously, we aren't going to do sessions on days when you are all out of town, playing club ball. But we still could do things on days when the Valkyrie / KAOS / OutKast matches are local. We could also work if you aren't currently PLAYING on a team. I need to know a bit in advance to clear things with my refereeing schedules, too.

So. If you are a GK and want to train on Sundays DURING winter season, use the "Others' Thoughts..." link and let me know, other wise, I will limit us to ONE session on March 6 (when both the girls' teams are idle) and then leave it until after Spring Break.

OK?

Post will be edited to include information on goal scorers (like correct spelling of names - hint hint). Please let me know in the comments!

FC Phoenix KAOS gave up an early goal before unleashing 4 unanswered scores in blowing past ESU Nova, 4-1 at Spiegelberg Stadium to open Winter League play. KAOS fell behind earlier enough that I wasn't even there yet. (Feel free to elaborate on the comments, someone). I arrived about 12 minutes in, and was treated to a KAOS goal almost immediately and two more before the half. With the home side leading 3-1, I took off to get my father and get back for the Valkyrie game. While I was gone, KAOS tallied one last goal. During the roughly 70 minutes I was at the match, I didn't see a single ESU shot on goal.

Valkyrie, the younger FC Phoenix side, followed vs THUSC Platinum. Valkyrie struck early in the first half, with Carlie Storey driving a medium range shot to the near post from the left side. Valkyrie missed several additional chances, with shots skirting just wide of the far post, and went into the break with a 1-0 lead and a domination in scoring chances. GK Melissa Henner saw very little of the ball during the first half.

The second half was nearly 25 minutes gone when Hannah Sohl cranked up a bending ball from about 18 yards off the endline, way over on the right flank and had it dip down, glance off the underside of the bar and knife into the THUSC net to bring Valkyrie up 2-0. A few minutes later, Kayla Wilhelm had a chance to go 3-0 when she was taken down in the area and a penalty was given. She played a strong shot to the left, but found the post and the ball came back into play. Wilhelm had another good look soon after, breaking away left of center. Her drive into the THUSC GK was saved, but left in play in front of an open net, where Kendra Gressett was trailing and had a tap-in to give Valkyrie the final 3-0 margin.

Henner shared the shutout with Ashley Novak, who came on at the half.

From Dan...

This is the text of the letter given out today by Dan as we shared Pizza in the library and he announced his plans for the coming years.


We also briefly discussed what happen next, and I will lay that out in several posts over the next couple of days. Meantime, GOOD LUCK, DAN!! Thank YOU for everything you've done for Phoenix Soccer!!

FC Phoenix KAOS gets us started with a 02/05, 2pm match v ESU Nova at SMHS's Spiegelberg Stadium. Valkyrie follows at 4p v THUSC Platinum, also at SMHS. On 02/06, 9am v THUSC Platinum comes to Colver to face KAOS, ESU Nova faces Valkyrie at 11am.

Outkast, the FC Phoenix Boys' side is in the Willamette Valley for opening weekend, with a 2pm match in Eugene (Sheldon HS) vs OUSA Brown on Saturday and a 1pm tilt with Cascade FC Black at West Salem HS on Sunday.

OK...no snow on the ground this week (so far, knock wood)!

Despite it being COLD, there will be GK training at Colver Field - word of mouth it to the folks who don't spend much time online, plz!

We always talk about building and maintaining our fitness base. This will be the first of a long line of posts with tips, hints, and recommendations from the Pirate soccer staff to the teams for both fitness and touch maintenance during the off-season.

Stamina - with many of the Phoenix players expected to go the full match without a sub, keeping a decent stamina base is crucial. Towards this end, during the DEEP off season (ie: now), players who can get some running in (either at the school track or on a road) are advised to try a 2 mile run twice a week with under 13 minutes as a boys' target and under 16 minutes for the girls. Once you have yourself at that threshold, feel free to set individual goals to cut time.

Another running challenge for yourself involves some interval work: At a field or at the track, do laps with 1/2 the lap being a mid-pace jog, 1/4 being a sprint, and 1/4 being a brisk walk. Try to do 8 laps in this fashion - it should take you about 20 minutes.

While the FC Phoenix team training sessions may still be ON (wait to hear
that from Karen), the GK session that starts 1/2 hour earlier is OFF for today (Jan 9).

Repeat, GK session is OFF. FC Phoenix Valkyrie and Kaos happening will be
communicated by Karen.

Concerns with footing, injury, groundwork, and consistency of productive
served balls make the GK session pointless in the conditions at Colver
today. I do not yet have access to an indoor facility where handling work
could still be done.

For now, plan on next week (Jan 16), starting 1/2 hour BEFORE Valkyrie and Kaos.

OK, Buc GKs (all ONE of you). I am going to coordinate a training session with the FC Phoenix u17 and u18 sides, and prolly the boys FCP Outkast, so I can get a deeper GK pool. From what I understand, Valkyrie and Kaos will train SUNDAYS at 1:30 pm for 2 hours. GKs will start at 1 (ONE) pm to do a half hour of handling work, go 45 minutes, then join the their respective club teams from that point forward. 1st such practice will be Jan 9th at Colver.

If the training times for Valk and Kaos change, we will shift to start 30 mins ahead of them.

Players who are NOT with an FC Phoenix team will be part of this, too. They will continue with me for 30 additional minutes.

3 Pirates lead the 4 player contingent from District 6 on the Oregonian All-State teams.

Senior Jaclyn Unruh, unanimous District 6 Player of the Year, was named the 1st team GK. Also on the 1st side with Unruh is Hidden Valley standout Bailey Southern. Southern was also a unanimous 1st team all-league selection in D6.

With 2 defenders making the All State 1st team, Pirate sophomore Tamara Heryford is #3, topping the list of 2nd team selections.

League scoring leader Marci Klimek was named to the 3rd team.

The state Player of the Year selction, OES sophomore Jessica Tsao, is familiar to Pirate fans, as she tallied a pair of goals while the Aardvarks eliminated Phoenix from the 2004 playoffs.

I will be doing weekly training sessions for goalkeepers on Sundays starting in January. The sessions are intended for FC Phoenix club keepers, but other GKs from around the valley are planning on attending, and I can work with up to two Pirates any given day.

Actual TIMES will post here just after Christmas. Field Players: If you are bored on a Sunday and give a call, I may be able to use some ball servers, too.

And remember...the Hill is there for anyone who has no off-season sport. Give it 30 minutes, 3 days a week and keep a fitness base for going into summer sessions and doubles!

The blog WILL HAVE updates regularly - news about fitness, camps, etc... Visit, Comment, Stay informed!!

Comments are temp down since I let the subscription lapse... they should be back up very soon!

(originally posted as a 2 parter on http://www.oregonlive.com/forums/gsoccer)

...12 of 13 is a function of the first 3 of 4 more than it is of potential recruiting...

When the 3a(2a,1a) title first became available, the PDX metro area had a significant advantage over the rest of the state in terms of general player pool / club experience / etc... During that stretch, Catlin superiority was a function of the talent base and Gant's coaching.

The remaining 9 of 9 has INCLUDED talent base and Gant's coaching, but has also included one other VERY key component - an opponent's doubt in themselves.

When they were 3 of 4, WE played them in the semis. We scored first (something that hadn't happened to CG in a while), and yet the goal scorer came to the sideline proclaiming "we can't beat these guys." She had skipped joining the rest of the team in scouting them the Saturday before (we'd beaten La Salle early in the day and decided to stay in town to watch Catlin v Philo). Her assertions started at the training on Monday and continued through the match, until despite a lead and their own eyes three days earlier, our team was convinced of the inevitability of a Catlin juggernaut. We fell 1-3, due largely to our failure to mark Goodling at two key moments. Our league champ, Henley fell in the final 0-5, conceding as many goals in that match as they had over the entire remainder of the season.

La Salle in '96 talked prior to the quarters about the "the real final" being the semi between them and Catlin, as the other bracket wouldn't produce a viable foe. After losing their quarterfinal to Phoenix, the Falcons returned in '97 to get the "real" final v Catlin. They fell in the championship match 0-8.

Now CG was 5 of 6 and the last two foes had not just fallen, they'd be pummeled. The mystique built.

Wilsonville in '98 maybe really could have beaten them. With Seeley, a DI prospect in the goal... with some very good talent spread across the pitch... But that match (played in Lake Tualitin) again went the Eagles way on a lone goal and the words, "see, they can even find a way when the opponent is better" started to be murmured... Gant was a wizard, they always peak at the right time, etc...

2-0 over Marist in '99, 4-0 over La Salle in '00 and the relentless march of preparation over psychological trembling continued. Teams were trending BETTER in semifinals then in finals.

Blanchet and Marist were again outmatched in '01 and '02 by matching 2-0 margins. Having played against and watched these teams, I was telling myself "the gap is NOT large... the top 8 or 10 are all in play," yet despite seeming equity (and sometimes even deficit) in talent, the Eagles were absolutely dominant in Finals. Watching those games, I was not seeing near equals, I was seeing composure vs fluster.

Stepping foot on the pitch in a final vs. Catlin is preceded ALWAYS by repetition of the phrase, "They've only lost in this game once in X years." and regardless of that particular season being molehill or mountain, guess which it becomes in the mind of the Eagles' foe?

In 2003, they again trailed in a final - something that had not happened in a long time. I suspect if you tracked how often Catlin has trailed in post season play AT ALL, you'd find a very small number. But with a lead, what did Sherwood do? I suspect they outthought themselves - Irish pulled back to protect the middle of the park, not left up top to continue to threaten. What does the move do in the players’ minds? "Man, they could still find a way to beat us..." which quickly becomes "They WILL find a way to beat you." Self-fulfilling prophecies are like that.

So come into 2004. Yeah, Oregon Episcopal worked hard. Do they deserve something? poppycock. No more than Glide or Riverside does - do you think they didn't work hard? Do they come into the match understanding deep within themselves that this is a possibility? After all, they've bested Catlin twice already this season...

The first minutes looked like an OES success was not only possible, but likely. Tsao and Eyler were moving into the attack, with a ball at their feet and threatening... but nothing was coming of it... no goals, not even any serious "make the GK doubt her defenders" moments.

And then it turned. And Catlin asserted themselves. And scored.

And I am sorry, but two of the three goals in the match were soft. They were goals of doubt. Balls floating high and long inside the 6 as GKs stood anchored on their lines awaiting the chance that someone other than a team mate would get first touch. That space is OWNED by the one in the weird shirt, but it wasn't in this match on either end...

So a ball is in the net early... and the match continues. And yes, OES worked hard. But with effort and urgency do not always come success. There was far too much reliance on getting the ball forward to Tsao (not that I blame them, she's really good). Lack of variety made the Eagles job that much easier.

The equalizer came with under 6 to play (again on a ball that an attacker had no business touching, but that aside) and OES found itself in the most precarious position a team can be in on a soccer pitch: playing immediately after a goal has scored. Something like 70% of goals come within 2 minutes of other goals. Sure enough, 48 seconds later, the ball is back into the net at the other end.

Was there an emotional lapse? a "we scored, just let us get to overtime" thing going in minds that caught a series of Aardvarks flatfooted as Gabbert made her run? Warrington, good or bad, seasoned or green, cannot be faulted for conceding a goal from about 8 feet away, as defenders part before the oncoming attack and the shot goes low, kissing the post as it passes by.

15 shots were taken in the match. 1 save was recorded (Ferguson's v Tsao in the opening minutes, struck on a hard cut, from 20ish out) The team that took care of their opportunities WAS going to win this game. By my count, 4 balls were on frame in the match, 3 went in.

It wasn't working hard. It was believing it could be done. Catlin was vulnerable this season, and OES was capable of beating them. But they didn't. And neither did Sherwood, or Marist, or North Valley.

So now across the state coaches and players are muttering to themselves "maybe next year?" Their first mistake with that? The word "maybe." Believe or believe not. Do or do not.

If you look for excuses (they recruit, they didn't deserve it, etc…) you are giving yourself permission to, and predisposing yourself to failure.

Good Season, Aardvarks!

Congratulations, Eagles!

We WILL see you both again.

We played a match on Saturday.

High-scoring Pleasant Hill (12-2-1), the No. 3 seed from the Sky Em League, came into the playoff game against third-seeded Phoenix with 80 goals in 15 games.

Few quick corrections - Unruh returns as the Dist SIX All League GK, Molly HoBson stepped back to help preserve the shutout on "D".

We also aren't 100% on the timing of the next match - 4:30 or 5:00pm..., but the school (Oregon Episcopal) is here (courtesy of MapQuest)

Wow.

Well into injury time, a hard tackle whistled and a direct kick given approx 40 yards from goal... Tamara Heryford, a sophomore central defender with 0 HS goals to her name, jogs up toward the stationary ball, accellerates as she closes in, and drives a beautiful arching shot to the far upper V, glancing off the uplifting palms of the excellent HV Keeper, who had notched several brilliant stops earlier in the match.

Ker chunk.

final whistle sounded 30 - 40 seconds later.

Final 1-0 Phoenix.

Great article here, though despite its assertion, Dan is NOT the assistant coach and I am not the head coach... bah

crossposted at OregonLive
Phoenix opened Dist 6 play at Rogue River with a convincing 5-0 win, though there were still some kinks to work out for the Bucs. Junior captain Marci Klimek tallied 3 goals and assisted a 4th. Freshmen Megan Burr notched a pair two minutes apart to put the game out of reach 15 minutes into the second half.

Scoring:

Klimek (PHX) UA, 2nd
Klimek (PHX) A E Burr, 39th
M Burr (PHX) UA, 54th
M Burr (PHX) A Klimek, 56th
Klimex (PHX) UA 80+

Shots on Goal: Phx 18, RR 0

The Chieftain Keeper registered 8 saves, 3 of which were phenomenal - a point blank snuff of a Klimek breakaway, a diving parry on a driven shot at the post from distance, and a wrapup at the end of a pingpong moment in front of goal really stood out.

Rogue River has decent depth for the first time in recent history, with 21 players dressed. Several of their first 11 showed skill and polish that hint they may suprise a team or two during the 14 game schedule.

We are one week away from seeing the 2004 edition of the Lady Pirates on the field against an opposing side. In the Pirate Jamboree on Sep 3, Mountain View, Eagle Point, and Hidden Valley will test the Bucs. League play opens on Sep 7 @ Rogue River and the HV Mustangs are back on Sep 11 at Colver.

2003 league play ended with an undewhelming effort in Murphy against the Mustangs in a game of undefeateds to determine the league title. In '04, each squad will see each other twice, a schedule format we haven't seen since 1999 or 2000.

The Varsity will be travelling to watch UofO this weekend, then it's OUR matches through November!

Schedule is done and will be uploaded here in about a day (need to get to the machine that allows me to convert to .pdf format)

Phoenix will be facing Mountain View, Eagle Point, and Hidden Valley. We are in the group that has the midmorning start and midafternoon finish.

There are 24 teams total participating, 12 boys, 12 girls.

Pretty much everyone has to play one match on the baseball field this year. :(

I am hoping I do NOT come away from this event with another dog.

HEY - I am available for training on Monday Eves, but people need to come. Two weeks with no shows is cause for concern. The next two weeks are off (Monday the 21st and 28th of July June) so I can get my Refs license.

POST YOUR RSVPs here in the COMMENTS Section!!!

This is the story of a guy who was coaching for the St. John's U Soccer Program when the school "went NIKE". He refused to wear the gear (moral reasons - worker exploitation, etc...) and was fired. Lawsuits and much other stuff. Looks good. Prolly won't show here. The website is still being built, but it is worth being 'aware' of.

WUSA is doing summer festivals this year, so the teams haven't completely folded.

Read the Frequently Asked Questions about this program

Pledge an amount, even if you only buy one pair of seats for one game and then ask the team to give the ticket to a local charity!

The District VI AD's have tentatively adopted a schedule for the 2004 Season.

you will notice something different, immediately.

09/07 Rogue River @ RRHS
09/11 Hidden Valley @ Colver
09/14 St Mary's @StMS
09/18 Mazama @ Colver
09/21 North Valley @ NVHS
09/25 Cascade Christian @ Colver
09/28 Henley @ Klamath Youth Sports Complex
10/02 Rogue River @ Colver
10/05 Hidden Valley @ New Hope Field
10/09 St Mary's @ Colver
10/12 Mazama @ Mazama HS
10/16 North Valley @ Colver
10/19 Cascade Christian @ TBA
10/23 Henley @ Colver

The Press Release :

John Doty will stand for the Democratic nomination in Oregon House District 6

John Doty, a 35 year old high school teacher from Medford, will announce his candidacy for the Oregon House of Representatives in conjunction with the Jackson County Democrats Platform Convention, Saturday 10am, Feb 14 at the OEA Building, 2495 South Pacific Hwy in Medford, Oregon. Doty's brief remarks are scheduled for the opening minutes of the gathering.

Doty is seeking the District 6 seat currently held by Republican Rob Patridge.

Doty, who currently works at CrossRoads School in Medford and coaches soccer at Phoenix High School, was raised locally, calling the Rogue Valley home since early childhood. He is a graduate of Phoenix High School and of Wesleyan University (CT). He also attended the 5th year education program at then Southern Oregon State University.

Doty filed for the office in early December, after considering a run during the late summer and autumn. He has maintained a website (www.johndoty.us) during that entire period, introducing several issues he sees as important in the coming years, and providing supporters and curious visitors the opportunity to offer comments and observations on politics at all levels by way of a Weblog.

Monday - Talent Elementary New Gym!

6:30pm to 8:00pm

All are welcome!!!

Hey Bucs, I dunno if anyone looks here any more, but I thought I should mention this now.

On December 5, I filed papers to run for the Oregon Legislature in District 6 (which includes only those of you in Medford). Some of you were aware I was considering this route. My initial opponent seemed to by Rob Patridge, but the resignation this week of Senator Hannon (who represents ALL of us involved in the program) has clouded things somewhat. His vacancy will be filled by appoinment, and the current occupant of the seat I am trying for MAY be that replacement.

Bottom Line:
Next fall will be real busy for me. I will not be as involved with the program as I have been (GKs are all I will guarantee at this point).

I will keep my politics OUT of the soccer setting. I know some of you agree with me, some of you don't, and some of you may not know or care about whether we have differences.

If you want to know more, you can look at my campaign site. I'd tell you where to go to see my opponent, but I don't know who it will be now :P

If you have concerns about my political life and soccer life cross-polinating, please contact me and see if we can find a comfort level.

Hey all - we had a good awards night last night (my fave were the lime bars!!!)

Several team honors I'll note here:
Rookie of the Year and Outstanding Defender both to Tamara Heryford; Outstanding Attackers (co) - Larrisa Wiltrout and Kat Cox; Most Inspirational - Alex Hanscom; Most Improved - Kristin Davis; MVP - Sarah Kieffer

The multimedia presentation is available on CD - it requires Powerpoint 2000 and it will help to have a processor equal to or better than a 900 MHz Celeron. If you would like one, just ask me.

Upcoming info: Winter Open Fields and Open Indoor, Club team formation, etc... hopefully will be up shortly after Thanksgiving.

From the Mail Tribune, Late Marist goal sinks Pirate girls, 2-1 - November 5, 2003; from the Register Guard, 3A-2A-1A Girls Soccer: Late score ends upset scare for Spartans

It was a great match - it wasn't the end we wanted - it was a fine performance from both sides and a memory that should for each of us remain as a positive one.

Awards Night is Sunday the 23rd CHANGE. We shall have more info for you soon. And does someone have a FAST Laptop I can use for the Awards Night? (must be better than a 900 MHz Celeron with MS PowerPoint installed :))

Soccer Girls run fast, too :) As is noted today by our good friends at the Mail Tribune, there are some fast girls running cross country at Phoenix. Particularly those finishing 4th, 10th, and 18th...that trio will run at the State meet on Nov 1, then return to Eugene 3 days later to face Marist in round 2 of the soccer playoffs. Pretty durned cool, if you ask me.

I gotta say I am excited to see posts from NON-PIRATES...

A couple posts back, we got a dialog going with a league parent (Cascade Christian) and now North Valley has used this forum to get word to us about the injury in our Tueday PM match.

On that matter, for folks who haven't been into the comments or weren't at the game, an NV player went down about 30 minutes into the game. The incident was on the spectator sideline, so was a long distance from my vantage point, but it seemed that while pursuing a ball that was headed for the touchline, two NV players collided, and the one who was coming from the more defensive direction got the worse of it... I couldn't tell exactly why she was upended so severely - from where I stood, it seemed she had made a twisting effort to kick a ball up line and that got her feet off the ground and her body in a weird position and then the collision hit. Long story short, she hit the ground hard and awkwardly and that rarely goes well.

Play was stopped for 20+ minutes, emergency services responded, and after some EMT eval, the player left in an ambulance, much to the concern of both sets of players and the assembled crowd.

When the game concluded, we asked after the health of the injured player and so now we come to this news, provided both in comments below and on OregonLive: The NV player was released later on Tues eve and went home sore but unconcussed and 'clear' from a medical standpoint.

We are thrilled to know she is OK and we wish NV the best in the remainder of the season. They are still in a position to battle for the #3 playoff spot and they have played tight enough against league foes to give me every reason to believe they have a shot.

four soccer games of note tonight:

1st, the Germans beat the snot out of Russia to move into the semifinals against USA in the 4:30pm match on Sunday (which some of us will BE AT!!!!)

Then St. Mary's played a nonleague tilt v Eagle Point and won 2-0...

as the evening drew on, Cascade Christian drew 1-1 with Ashland and up in PDX, the CANADIANS were knocking off China to earn a ticket against Sweden in the late game.

We will be behind the south goal (which tonight saw 6 of 7 German finishes, plus Hooper's 7th minute game winner for the Canucks). Let's hope the magic holds and that we get a treat on Sunday!


Meantime, things are settling out some in D6.. Hidden Valley is alone with us at 3-0. Let's keep it going, Bucs!

OK! 3-0 over Cascade Christian to open things at home and then a firm 2-1 at Henley to set us into a tie atop the D6 standings with HV (both 2-0) and on points with North Valley (2-1, if we include the 9/18 RR game (still looking for that info))

As things stand, we have a good race shaping up - the Henley/HV game on Tues should be huge - we like folks on both teams and whoever wins is drivers seat for the #2 league slot (HV would still have a shot at #1). Actually the math for a 3 way tie for #1 exists with a Hen win (We'd all then need to wait to see if HV beats us, creating circular 7-1 records).

IMHO, we've now faced the best GKs the league has and we've beaten them both (though Chelsea sure made us work for it).

Good luck to all! More Later!

It was a decent day for folks with Pirate pedigree. Pt.Loma, with senior GK Tara Curtis (PHS class of '00) is now #20 in the nation NAIA (exciting as that is, #1 and #2 in the nation are in the same conference, so may keep the Sea Lions out of the playoffs). Tara hasn't allowed a goal in league play, though she shared today's 6-0 shutout with soph. Shelley Wilhelm.

Meantime, the Bucs themselves, holding the #5 ranking in Oregon for the third straight week, gained a shutout against Salem's Blanchet Catholic. The Cavaliers have been several rounds into the playoffs each of the past three seasons. For the Bucs, it took 12 minutes to get on the board when Marci Klimek polished off a loose ball generated by Larrisa Wiltrout's hard shot and the Cav GK bobbled save. But play wasn't overly elegant, and as the Bucs were accumulating a lead in shots, corner kicks, and fouls, they didn't add to the lead on the scoreboard until the 58th minute, when Kelly Riley dropped a perfect table setter to the top of the arc where Kat Cox launched it into the underside of the crossbar. Klimek finished it off in the 61st with a put-away of another bobbled save, this time following a rocket from Sarah Kieffer.

Pirate defense of the Dist VI title begins Tuesday at 4 vs Cascade Christian.

2002 D6 1st teamer and 4 year Buc defender Mara Supan saw minutes in Pacific's 10-0 win over Cascade and tallied her first collegiate point with an assist in the 51st minute. Match summary here, box score here.

...this is too cool to pass it up. A Pirate Athlete, now frosh at Pacific University "has been selected as the NWC's Male Cross-Country Athlete of the Week for the second straight week. The award was announced in the conference's weekly release Monday."

Our onetime arch rival, Mal Enoch tallied the 2nd goal in Concordia's 3-1 win over Evergreen. Details here

Tara Curtis, playing the full 90 for Point Loma Nazarene registered a shutout in the SeaLions first league contest. Details here and if you look close, the out of focus blonde in the pale green is our girl!

I'm just sayin :)

Bucs 3-0 on the day! (2-1 v Cascade Christian, 2-0 v Henley, 5-0 v Elmira (woops))

Huge thanks to al the parents and JV players who came out to help throughout the day, particularly Shirley Kammel, who coordinated the parent effort at the concession/hospitality tents, and Elmer Kammel, who manned the grill from beginning to end!

Crater on Monday! Field directions are up - go to the scheduling page.

This article has two match results for Dist VI teams:

HIDDEN VALLEY 5, KLAMATH UNION 3 — At Murphy, Hidden Valley erupted for five first-half goals to knock off the defending co-Southern Oregon Conference champions.
The Class 3A Mustangs received two goals from Shea Ford and one apiece from Amber Jones, Jill Elder and Alyssa Tobin.

Tobin and Nina Jaramillo had assists as Hidden Valley scored in the seventh, 13th, 15th, 16th and 40th minutes.

KU trailed 4-0 before Jenna Fay’s goals in the 35th and 37th minutes. Fay completed her hat trick in the 76th.

GRANTS PASS 8, NORTH VALLEY 0 — At Merlin, Megan Franko scored two goals and had an assist during a nonconference win for Grants Pass.
Katie Lamont and Megan Cardiss each scored a goal and had an assist for the Cavers, who led 4-0 at the break.

This is an FYI - the JV schedule may change radically.

Mazama, who we are scheduled to play four times, may not have a team (only 23 girls out, total, so with 15 Varsity, they are left with only 8 JV). If they don't, we will try to get new opponents for each of those cancelled games.

Total number of matches will be preserved, if at all possible; and match dates will be preserved if at all possible - but field locations, times on Saturdays are completely up for grabs.

Please keep an eye out here and listen up at training. We will distribute changes as early as we know them by handout, spoken announcement, and here on the 'Blog.

Okdoke - this is the next 'Big Thing' The match schedule can be found elsewhere on this site.

Shirley Kammel is organizing our parents to help staff the concession and hospitality tents.

We will need JV players to run messages, scores, sidelines throughout the day (about 7 at a time will be enough).

Anyone associated with the program who can come a little early to help with setup (we are the first game at 8:30, so we will be warming up at 7:45, so will be setting up at 7:00) will be greatly appreciated, ditto those who will stay/come back to help after it is over (nearly 2 hours after our last contest ends).

We will need folks to help staff the 'Direct Kick challenge' during the day - a contest to win two pairs of tickets the the Women's World Cup quarterfinal in Portland.

Mara Supan - Scroll down to 'Defenders' to see a blub about one of ours making it at Pacific University Women's Soccer

Tara Curtis - UPDATE The roster page IS up :), and they have no '2003 preview' yet, so here is another.

These are the only two I know of currently playing. Three others (Jessica Montgomery, Jennifer Bones, and Annie Kulig) started college careers and still have eligibility remaining, but are not using it this season.

Pirates, Parents, and Fans are encouraged to put in their thoughts. I reserve the right to keep the board clean and will delete posts with inappropriate language or comments that are overly personal.

OK - North Medford was a solid performance, despite it being a loss on the scoreboard. We created chances, we possessed well, we held up to some physically solid (though not dirty) play and conceded two goals to a 4a school picked to win their league and to advance into the playoffs. Their first goal was a defensinve breakdown, though not a bad one, nor one which we cannot adjust easily in the weeks leading up to league play. Their second goal was well earned, hitting both posts and cleaning up a lose ball on the third touch (though did it go in off Jac's head? maybe - doesn't change the complexion of the goal)
0-2 L

Klamath test us with speed against our backs, but we possessed the bulk of the contest, and our combination play was effective and composed. Very nice goal from Hallie with an insurance touch from Marci (wisely taken, given the non-goal on the other field in the same time slot).
1-0 W

Ashland was undermanned and will have different personnel available when we see them in a few weeks. The surface will be very different, too, but they are a fun opponent and we may have helped them to discover a sound GK for their season (kudos to Ally Yant, very solid work back there, girl). Our goals were a combination of what makes soccer soccer - Riley's was a combination of skill and fortune - it was a well-struck ball, on frame, took a good bounce (thanks to that HARD end of the field) and when all was said and done, was in the net. Was it a thing of beauty? not really, but we'll take one of those every single match and NEVER complain, won't we? Marci's was simply composure in the final third. Nice ball to space, good speed to create the 1v1 w/ the GK and resisting the urge to blast it to Little Butte Creek and instead just tap tap tapparoo.
2-0 W

The adjustments during the day to personnel needs (ankles and ribs and asthma, oh my!), the scheme adjustment for the defense was very nice, the work of the midfield , the workrate in the NMed game, and the goalkeeping (Jac's pursuit v N Med, breakaway stops, and distribution - Ashley's outside of the box effort v KU, distribution, and composure)

Bravo Pirates!

Hey! Great (and unusually short - for Dan :) ) parent meeting tonight!

Keep up the interaction WITH US. We want to hear from you on anything you have questions about. email contact for John is on the roster page and Dan and Kim will be added soon. And our phone numbers are on every BIG handout we give you.

EP Jamb tomorrow - Tornado, Grizz, and Pelicans are our foes... just going on Mascot Power, Pirates are in decent shape against a big bear and a bird. Bad weather events have some history of being tough on Pirates, but we won't let that get in the way, will we? Arrrrrr, mates! Bring on the Tornado! We'll ride 'er out!

By the middle of next week, we will have the swing players identified and individual schedules for them as to when they will train Varsity and when they will train JV. Parents - if your daughter is going to be a swing player, we will talk to you about the expectations and challenges unique to that role.

Have a great weekend and get ready for School!!

jd

Well done, ladies!

This is where we stand:

Varsity Roster is set for the Jamborees and one swing player is identified. Welcome to frosh Tamara Heryford, who will contribute to our defense!

Jerseys are handed out (Ash still needs hers) and we'll forego embrodiery for now. Makes Dan and my lives easier :) thanks!

Next week sees us facing foes earlier than ever and bigger guns than ever - North Medford, Roseburg, and KU (Add in Crater and Ashland in our regular season, and we will face more than half of the SOC, leaving only Eagle Point, Grants Pass, and South... you want us to try to schedule them for next year?)

Word from the league: St. Mary's has 17 kids out as of this week (per a post on Oregon Live), so they are solid for the season - we will see them at their field on Oct 11 - they are Match #5 in our 8 game league schedule.

We hope to have the JV coaching situation firmed up before the weekend is over. Keep your fingers crossed!

Up Next Week: Captain selection, news on the UPortland Trip, and some other fun items before Friday

Comments will be up in a couple of days...meantime, Dan or I may post schedule info, etc...here...keep an eye on it

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