March 17, 2006 - Sports
New staff looks to sign multitude of football recruits next year

Lacrosse hopeful for turnaround

by Craig Gilden

The Pios dropped a pair of games this weekend against Whitman and Central Washington to fall to 0-4 on the season.

Despite the losses captain Mik Fuller (’08) was proud of how the team battled back on Sunday. “The team that took the field this past Sunday was completely different from that of the Saturday game. We were shooting, as well as going hard for every ground ball, which is very important because the root of the game is that the team that wins the most ground-balls usually wins the game,” Fuller said.

The highlights of the season thus far have been the defense and goalie play. Rafael Cuevas (’08) has been phenomenal and is ranked among the top goalies in the Pacific Northwest Lacrosse League. Defensively, the “long poles” have kept the Pios in games by denying opponents shots near the goal.

Basketball center Garrett Waagmeester (’08) has joined the squad and uses his size to intimidate and dominate opponents attempting to score on the Pios. Nick Karlsons (’06) and Chris Shauger (’08) make up the rest of the defensive line that has been the Pios strong point thus far. When the Pios do go on the attack they are usually led by Erik Brown (’08) who uses his athleticism and speed to lead the Pios offensively.

Despite the slow start the Pios have cause for optimism. Overall, the team is very young and new to the game, so their performance should only get better with time. Injuries have also slowed the Pios as a number of players have not been able to suit up due to injuries. While the team has not given up on this season, they are looking forward toward next year as one that could be special.

“I hold high hopes for next year; the team has... improved each game, which shows that we are getting better with more experience,” said Fuller.

by Craig Gilden

Anybody who has been walking around Pamplin lately has noticed the amount of football recruits strolling the halls as every weekend potential players visit campus to check out the school. After the canceling of five games this past season, the influx of players is a welcome sight to anyone associated with Pioneer football. In December assistant coach Chris Sulages was upgraded to the head coaching position and has been working on turning the program around.

Last fall the lack of players caused the season to be halted halfway through, making recruiting a priority for the new coach. Although the cancelled games were a setback, Sulages has seen some bonuses of the small roster in his recruiting, “Canceling the conference games has not really affected us in recruiting. Recruits want to play right away and this just reinforces it.”

The staff has also changed their technique in talking to players, taking a more hands on approach towards potential athletes. “We have devoted ourselves to a more personal style of recruiting. By the end of recruiting season we will have home-visited around 50 potential student-athletes.” In the fall a lack of lineman hindered the Pios ability to complete the season. The lack of depth on the lines made a normal amount of injuries impossible to overcome. While Sulages is looking for lineman, he said that he has been recruiting players all over the field who will help the team.

After President Hochstettler’s decision to maintain the football program, some students and faculty members worried about the effect on academics at LC. While recruiting appears to be going well, Hochstettler insists that the level of academics on campus have never been stronger.

“Among the players who applied early decision, there were more merit scholars and Dean Scholars than ever before. We will definitely not compromise academics for any athletic program,” said Hochstettler.

“There has been a more collaborative spirit between the athletic department, financial aid, and admissions. Everyone is being more proactive in recruiting students who will be an asset to the campus. This includes all departments, from music to athletics.”

The Pios began spring practice on Tuesday with a turnout of 24 players. This includes returners along with some new faces who have decided to come out for the team. Next season those 24 should be joined by a multitude of new teammates.

Hochstettler is optimistic about the future of the program and will be looking for some signs this fall that a turnaround is underway.

“Next season will be a success judged by the number of players we have, depth at all positions so injuries won’t hurt us as badly, and I think we can win a couple games,” he said.

Sulages echoed the President’s optimism: “At the end of Spring Practice the Pioneer football team will be different - our emphasis since I started has been “TEAM” and to approach all aspects football and our lives with emotion, pride and hustle.”

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Shutout ears vicotry, but UPS picks up two close wins

by Hunter Franks

Last season, conference wins eluded the Pioneers as though they were tourists who had been given wrong directions. They kept hoping they would get to their destination, the conference championship, but they continually hit dead ends and detours that led them further away from winning the conference.

After starting last season 8-5, the Pioneers lost 21 straight conference games and ended up with only win in conference play. This season the Pioneers are off to a 6-12 start and have already won one more game in conference (they are 2-4) than they did all of last season. The Pioneers hope that this is a sign of improvement, yet they are also not satisfied with just improving their conference record by one game. “This team has a chance to win more games than last year and obviously we want to win as many as we can,” said Head Coach Justin Baughman.

This season, the Pioneers also played a tougher non-conference schedule in order to prepare for conference play. This has led to the team being better prepared and more confident for conference play. This confidence could be seen in the way the Pioneers played last weekend when they faced the Puget Sound Loggers in a three game series. The Pioneers came out with one win and two losses, but the games were very close and it was little things that made the difference in both losses.

In the first game of the series, the Pioneers won 3-0 behind a strong outing from Eric Maroncelli (’07). On Sunday the Pioneers played a doubleheader against the Loggers, losing both games. In game one the Pioneers had a 2-1 lead going into the ninth inning, but were unable to hold on and lost 3-2. In the second game of the doubleheader the Loggers scored five runs in the fourth inning and went on to win 11-7.

The Pioneers played more consistently against Puget Sound and the pitching staff performed well for the majority of the games. “Our pitchers threw more strikes. It was when our pitchers didn’t throw strikes that it hurt us,” said Baughman, “We just have to stay consistent and get better every day.”

Men find the course as golf season opens

by Janet Freerks

With a new head coach in town and two senior leaders returning, the Pioneer Men’s golf team is looking toward a competitive spring season. The men practice at Oregon Golf Club and compete against schools in the Northwest Conference.

By all accounts the team looks prepared. “We have a lot of potential with a good mix of young and experienced players. This season we have two proven seniors (myselfand Austin Wiley), three sophomores with tons of potential in Erik Brown, ScottHymen and (newcomer) Ryan Cosgrove, and the extremely talented freshman DanielSloan.” said captain BJ Abe (‘06).

The team has a new coach, Darryl Mathews. Mathews was the assistant coach last season and the players are confident in his coaching abilities. “Not only do we have a coach but we have the best coach in the conference in Coach Mathews. He is about three times our age and can still beat us. Also his inspirational life stories motivate us to succeed on the course and in life.” said co-captain Wiley.

With only one tournament under their belt, the team is focusing on the positives. At the Fircrest CC in Tacoma, WA on March 9 and 10, “the weather made scoring quite difficult and we all struggled on the first day. But we made a huge turn-around when the weather cleared up on the second day, as we shaved 23 strokes off of our first-round total,” said Abe, who shaved 11 strokes off of his score alone the second day.

The season looks promising for the Pioneers, but golf season won’t be just about low scores. For the newcomers feeling out the ropes like newcomer Daniel Sloane (‘09), it is also about the great experiences playing in a new place.

“The greatest thing about being on the golf team is playing the courses you have heard about from all the other golfers in the Northwest. Some are historical, some are very new and gorgeous, and every course offers something different to the game. Some of them we would not have the privilege of playing at all [as many are private or expensive]. Along with all this, all the guys are great fun to play with and hang out with.” he said.