PNCLL Week #3 (2/16-2/22) - Predictions, Scores & Discus

[Dan Wishengrad]

Saturday, February 19
Oregon 23 PLU 3
Simon Fraser 8 Oregon State 7
Puegt Sound 12 Lewis & Clark 2
Central Washington 18 Willamette 7
Gonzaga at Santa Clara, cancelled
Linfield 10 Western Oregon 2
Washington 10 California 9

Sunday, February 20
Simon Fraser 15 Western Washington 3
Chico State 16 Washington 6
Linfield 11 Puget Sound 7
Montana 9 Whitman 6
Central Washington 11 Lewis & Clark 3
Gonzaga 12 Stanford 7
Oregon State 18 PLU 12

Monday, February 21
Notre Dame de Namur 17 Gonzaga 3

The first busy weekend of the year kicksoff with games all over the PNCLL map, and with two teams leaving the Northwest to invade the WCLL. Last season's B Champ UPS heads south for games at Lewis & Clark and Linfield in Oregon. Logger Coaches Kyle Berggren and Kris Johnson have Goalie Matt Rioppelle and Attackman Scott McAmis to provide steady Senior leadership, but must replace talent lost to graduation with younger, less experienced players. With the B Division significantly improved from a year ago, UPS will have to continue to improve to stay in the hunt.

Linfield showed a balanced offense in routing Southern Oregon last week, with Taylor Brennan, Kyle Gilmore and Jon Kearsley the leading scorers. First up for theWildcats is Western Oregon, another team playing its first PNCLL game against Linfield.

[Kyle Berggren]

Presidents Day meant an extra day of traveling for 2 A Division games. Gonzaga (1-0) will play Saturday the 19th @ Santa Clara (0-2). The Zags will hope to push around the Santa Clara team that lost to UC Davis 14-7, and NDNU 17-2 last weekend.

At the same time the Washington Huskies will play @ 3-2 Cal. Cal’s last loss was three games ago against defending champions UCSB, 10-3. This will be a big test for the Huskies. Cal seems to share the wealth, they only have one player averaging more than 2 points per game (Matt Connorton), but they put 17 in on the new Dominican team last weekend. I would look for UW to ride hard and clear well to get easy looks at the back of the net.

Back in the PNCLL, Oregon State opens up their season Saturday @ Simon Fraser (1-0). Simon Fraser’s defense will try to shutdown the Beaver’s Tyler Tipton, who put in 72 points, averaging 6.55 ppg last season. OSU also returns their number 2 scorer, attackmen Mychal Loomis, 3.91 ppg. This game could have more of an impact than many would think. OSU is no pushover, last year they finished third in the PNCLL at 9-3 overall. If they have it their way, they’ll stun the #15 ranked Clansmen.

The Lutes will continue to press themselves against the best the PNCLL has to offer and head down to play @ the #8 Oregon Ducks. The Ducks return as many All-Americans, MVP’s, and PNCLL All-Stars as any team could hope; Danny Ernst, Matt Connors, Julian Coffman, Chris Nelson, Nate Cordova, Taylor Schofield, Jeremy Tesar, Justin Cooley, and I’m sure I missed several, but I only have so long to write this report. The Ducks will look to push the ball for easy scoring opportunities against the always talented Lute defense, but if the opportunity isn’t easy enough, look for their ball possession offense to slow down the tempo of the game. Not many teams in the PNCLL have the firepower to beat the Lute’s Bartell from outside, but if anyone does, it could be the Ducks.

On Sunday the 20th, Gonzaga will be @ the 0-1 Stanford Cardinals. Last week Stanford lost to Sonoma State 14-5, but failed to fill out a game report, so very little is known about the Cardinals. Weather report shows rain through the weekend, and temperature likely in the low 50’s. It could be a cold, muddy day for the always quick Zags. Hopefully Rick Kladis, Evan Castiglia and the rest of the Zags can use the mud to their advantage, as they should be used to it with their home field….

UW moves to Chico State (0-1) on Sunday. Chico’s only loss this year came to NDNU (DII) with the score of 12-3. Chico State expects another big game from junior goalie Blake Wahrlich, and attackmen Matt Bissell. Last season, Chico State beat Washington 15-9 in coach Hush’s first year with the Huskies. A much improved Washington team could surprise a reeling Chico squad.

After playing SFU, Oregon State rushes home to play Pacific Lutheran. Last season the 2 of the Beavs starting attackmen scored 15 points in a 16-13 victory at PLU. Those attackmen, Loomis and Tipton, and the rest of the Beaver’s motion offense will hope to repeat at home against a much improved PLU defense. In the same game last season, returning attackmen Chris Jensen and Josu Zubizarreta combined for 13 points against the OSU defense. This could be the game of the week.

Lastly, on Presidents Day (Monday the 21st), Gonzaga will play Notre Dame de Nemur (DII). NDNU beat Santa Clara 17-2 last weekend, and the Zags game Saturday at SC should be a decent indication of what this game will look like.

[Timbalaned]

Kyle great report, but at the very end, you talked about Tipton and Loomis as ducks, they are beavers

[Kyle Berggren]

I suck, I fixed it. I get all you Oregon schools confused anyway..

[reedharmon]

Hey Berggren--do you have a job yet?

[ZagGrad]

Kyle, it's Stanford Cardinal...not Cardinals. I know, we're all harsh critics.

[Kyle Berggren]

Hopefully, I've got one lined up for May, until then, I'm going to have fun with school and coaching.... Harmon, I have some info on Scotland Lacrosse if you're interested when you go.

Chris, they're lucky I didn't make any comments about having a tree for a mascot, but I appreciate your observation. Although, I will have to double check that the plural of Cardinal, isn't Cardinals.

By the way, does the peanut gallery have any comments for the games in week 3? I can take all these cheap shots by email, I don't mind.

[Dan Wishengrad]

Sorry B Guys, I ran out of time so you got short shrift here this week. I promise more complete team previews of the B Conference in next week's thread if not sooner. Good job on the A previews, Kyle!

[Dr. Jason Stockton]

Kyle, great report! But I must mention that one of the more interesting matchups this weekend will be our old friend Neil Butterfield, formerly of Gonzaga, and now of NDNU vs. his former teammates. I'm sure Evan Castiglia will have some nice greetings for his dear old friend. . .

Go get 'em GU. . .

[Kyle Berggren]

I thought so too, don't think I missed that at all, but his name wasn't on the roster.... I assume he was a responsible student, and graduated.... Neil's a good guy, and I would have taken any cheap shots I could, believe me, I tried.

[ZagGrad]

Neil's graduated and won't be playing this weekend. He decided to venture into the real world and start working. Although, if he decides to go back and get his masters, he still has a year of eligibility left. I am told he'll be at the game and boozing it up afterwards.

[teslax14]

I think the game of the weekend in the PNCLL will have to be OSU v Simon Frasier game. The determining factor in this game will be the play of two new freshman goalies for each team. I don't know much about either one but this game will indicate how good each goalie is as both teams have a lot of firepower. Should be a close one but i am gonna have to go with my fellow in-staters on this one. 15-14 OSU

[Kyle Berggren]

I haven't heard much from OSU, not that they'd want to let anything out, but rumor has it SFU is much improved, and much deeper. This could be a very interesting game, I'm curious how SFU will defend the OSU attackmen. A tape of this game would be something I could want to get my hands on...

[PNWLaxer]

Both teams have offence, no question.

The difference I see between these two teams is defence. Especially at long pole: For OSU their defence consists of 1 Junior, 4 Sophmores and 2 Freshman. For SFU their defence consists of 3 Seniors, 2 Juniors and 2 Freshman. Both teams have freshman goalies so that is a saw off.

As for how SFU is going to guard OSU, how is OSU going to guard SFU?

I do not see much that would point to a score any closer than the PNCLL semifinal game last year.

[Kyle Berggren]

I'm just curious how they'll do it. PLU's Chris Jensen is a scorer, and he scored zero, that's why I ask. I know what they did to stop Jensen, this game could be a good one, or it could be a repeat.