LaxTV Forums | A Forum About The MCLA

Saturday, Feb. 1st
Washington 14 Western Washington 9
Southern Oregon 15 Lewis & Clark 4
UC Davis 10 Oregon State 4

Sunday, Feb. 2nd
Puget Sound 5 Southern Oregon 3

The PNCLL season kicks off with six teams beginning '08 play.

2007 DII runner-up Western Washington hosts DI Washington in a game many folks from around the MCLA will be eyeing with more than just a passing interest. With Montana having moved up to Division I following the Grizzlies' '07 lower-division national title, the Vikings have assumed the mantle of "team to beat" in the PNCLL's new-look DII. WWU battled Montana very tough in the PNCLL Finals in a see-saw game that was tied late into the 4th quarter. But the Vikings didn't play as well in Dallas, from most reports, as they had against the Grizz in the conference title game at Curtis H.S., and will be looking to return to form on Saturday.

Russ Chiupka takes over as Head Coach at Western Washington, and has some big holes to fill at key positions. The top three leading scorers (Young, Thilo and Healy) have departed, as has premier Goalkeeper Symington. The Viking offense looks to be led in '08 by last season's Head Coach, Senior Jesse Savage, along with Jake Schuit (15g, 8 a) and Reid Anderson (15, 9). Sophomore Adam Extine will anchor the defense in front of new Goalie Ian LaBelle. WWU has a young squad which will require underclassmen to play crucial roles, and will have to mature quickly for the Vikes. There is certainly still alot of talent in Bellingham, and how the team gels together will determine whether WWU will deserve their national-ranking and selection as the PNCLL's pre-season top DII team. If there proves to be any competitive fall-off from last season's tough Western Washington squad it would mean that the DII race will be a wide-open affair in 2008.

Washington also has some big question-marks itself for 2008. Head Coach Fred Wilmot's Huskies finished .500 in '07 in both conference and overall play. New Assistant Coach Kelten Johnson (CSU '05) will help Offensive Coordinator Mark Masterson with an offense which averaged over ten goals per game last season. Jacob Sonkin (18, 21) and Sean Forsyth (16,13) return to spearhead the Husky attack, while Chris Hutchinson (17, 7) and Ross Maloney (12, 2) will will be counted on to provide scoring punch from the Midfield. A two-year starter on attack, Junior Cammy Moore will step between the pipes in Goal for UW. The defense, which was too porous in '07, looks to be improved in front of Moore with an infusion of young long-poles. Like their first week opponent, the youthful Huskies will have to come together during a February schedule that has all seven games on the road to begin the '07 campaign.

Ranked 18th nationally to begin the new year, Southern Oregon starts it's season with a road trip north for two games. Head Coach Mark Brown's Raiders have a very thin squad which needs to find offense to replace three top scorers -- Whitehead, Bauman and Reiten, who scored over 100 of SOU's goals combined a season ago. Juniors Alex White (37, 24) and Lawrence Van Egdom (11,3 ) will lead the SOU attack. Senior Dan Snell returns to anchor a tough Raiders offense in front of Soph Golaie Carter Boggess, who saved 61% of the shots he faced in '07.

First up for SOU on Saturday will be Lewis & Clark , which has been looking to return to winning ways ever since the Pios captured the PNCLL B Division in 2003. Head Coach Jon Hunsberger has an experienced netminder in Senior Raffy Cuevas, and top scorers Erik Brown (10, 9) and Dan Cochran (1, 8') back to lead the attack. The Pioneers struggled to score goals in 2007, and will obviously need to be more prolific to re-join the ranks of playoff contenders in '08.

On Sunday, SOU heads up to Tacoma for a crucial early-season game at Puget Sound, one of teams that looks to be in the playoff race in '08. Head Coach Kyle Berrgren has Seniors Reid Petit (28, 15) to lead the Loggers' offense and Brian Wilbur back in cage, where he saved 66% of the shots he faced a season ago. The UPS roster is fairly deep for a DII squad, but many of the players will be asked to play much more significant roles than they did last season. This early test against SOU will answer many questions about whether the Loggers are ready to seriously contend in '08.

I'm pleased to announce that PNCLL President Dr. Jason Stockton will be joining me here as our new forum co-Moderator for 2008. Jason will step into the role filled very capably by Kyle B. these past two seasons, and will be along to preview the Oregon State at UC Davis game later this week. An alum of UCD himself, Jason will no doubt have some mixed loyalties as he previews his first game between the Beavers and Aggies.

Welcome, Jason, and thanks for helping out!

Small note, on Saturday February 2nd at 1PM, Willamette will be playing host to Portland State in a non-PNCLL sanctioned game. The game will be on Sparks Field, our field turf soccer field on the corner of campus.

We look forward to welcoming Portland State into the league and being the first of several games for the Vikings against current PNCLL teams!

Noah leaving WWU may just be the biggest loss that any D2 team will have this year. It will be interesting to see how much this affects them.

We are starting the year very slim with only 14 current players. I'm still trying to convince freshmen that played in the fall with us that their dues $$ will be well spent. There are also multiple guys here w/ HS experience that are reluctant to come out for whatever reasons. We will be getting at least two players back to start the Spring term. That said, it's just the normal SOU lacrosse. Last year we played both playoff games w/ 12-13 guys. I just hope the weather will allow us to get up north for our games this weekend as we just received 8+ inches of snow and the forecast doesn't look favorable for travel. Let the season begin!!!

on the Portland State note... I noticed that at least one of their games is listed on the PNCLL schedule... have they been talking to the board yet about next year?

should be a fun year in the PNCLL-2... good luck to everybody out the gate.

Mark Brown wrote:we just received 8+ inches of snow and the forecast doesn't look favorable for travel. Let the season begin!!!

Screw it... Head to Mt. Ashland instead!

Well I guess I'll start the season off with my picks for the first week:

UW @ WWU: 13-10 Washington I didn't get a chance to see either of these teams play this pre-season, so i don't have too much first hand knowledge on their talent for this year. I feel like UW probably has the upper hand in this match-up, simply because of the fact that they have DI experience against tougher competition on their side and also due to the fact that WWU will not be anchored by their two year starting goalie. I do think it will be close though.

SOU @ L&C: 15-3 SOU I know that Mark Brown's coaching is going to keep this team from falling off of the winning wagon, despite the loss of a good number of their offensive weapons. With the presence of big Snell on the D still I just don't see L&C putting much more than this up on the score board unless they picked up some serious offensive threats this off-season.

OS @ UCD: 11-6 OS I am going to say that OS is going to win this season opener against U.C. Davis from the WCLL. UCD lost their season opener against Cal this weekend 3-4, and it sounds like they have not been able to get much practice in so far this season. I don't think that UCD will be able to stand up to the beavers and the nasty Oregon weather we have headed in our direction.

SOU @ UPS: 12-9 SOU This is going to be a good game to keep an eye on if you are in the DII. I feel like SOU will be able to get past the UPS squad, but i think that it might be closer than some people are thinking it will be. The outcome of this game should start to show what kind of parity there is in the PNCLL DII this season.

This cold weather is rediculous. Spokane has almost a foot and a half of snow and pullman has about a foot. Have fun west side teams that have to come over here soon.

nlyon02 wrote:This cold weather is rediculous. Spokane has almost a foot and a half of snow and pullman has about a foot. Have fun west side teams that have to come over here soon.

Nick, we might not even be able to get out of our driveways here on the westside. Woke up to about 3-4 inches on the ground here in Seattle today. Very pretty picture, but not a welcome sight with only four practices left -- outside at night -- before we play the Vikings this week. Driving across the Cascades next week to play you guys in Pullman might be quite the adventure, provided the passes are even open.

Dan Wishengrad wrote:

nlyon02 wrote:This cold weather is rediculous. Spokane has almost a foot and a half of snow and pullman has about a foot. Have fun west side teams that have to come over here soon.

Nick, we might not even be able to get out of our driveways here on the westside. Woke up to about 3-4 inches on the ground here in Seattle today. Very pretty picture, but not a welcome sight with only four practices left -- outside at night -- before we play the Vikings this week. Driving across the Cascades next week to play you guys in Pullman might be quite the adventure, provided the passes are even open.

Lot's more snow in the immediate forecast. I'm hoping it warms up enough to get our field plowed later today. It rained a bunch here in Moscow on Saturday before turning to snow on Sunday so I really want to get the field cleared before it freezes to the field turf.

Maybe Dan could send us those shades and we use them to melt the snow?

Ryan, any chance you guys could get Kibbie Dome for SFU, UW, WSU and UI to play in next weekend? If EVER we needed that venue, this is the year!

PS 4 inches on the ground in Seattle and it is blizzarding outside as I write this. Maybe I woke up in Fargo?

EDIT: Game time for SOU at UPS on Sunday has been moved to 10am. Apparently there's some kind of football game or something that people want to watch later in the afternoon.

Dan Wishengrad wrote:EDIT: Game time for SOU at UPS on Sunday has been moved to 10am. Apparently there's some kind of football game or something that people want to watch later in the afternoon.

That game has been changed a few times, but it is my understanding that it is being played at noon, not 10AM. . .In fact I checked Arbiter and it is confirmed at noon Sunday.

Noon... Noon... Noon... my mistake made the game change, it's fixed now. Assuming SOU can make it up & our field isn't closed, the game will be at Curtis HS, the site of the 2007 Final Four.

Dan Wishengrad wrote:Ryan, any chance you guys could get Kibbie Dome for SFU, UW, WSU and UI to play in next weekend? If EVER we needed that venue, this is the year!

PS 4 inches on the ground in Seattle and it is blizzarding outside as I write this. Maybe I woke up in Fargo?

Dan,

I just got back from meeting with the field assigner and have a morning meeting with the maintenance staff. I will do my best but won't promise anything. The Dome is a mess right now with track&field, tennis, basketball. I'll have more tomorrow.

Our weather looks to be improving over the long-term but we all know how fast that can change.

the part that sucks the most is on mon/tues our practices don't even start untill 9pm. that is the only time turf is available on those days. Last week it was right at 0 degrees during practice. Hard to get things going when you can hardly even breath.