Soccer in Oregon
David Meves - Photo by GoZips.com
Caleb Porter's University of Akron Zips continued their stellar 2012 run with two big wins last week, both of which marked special milestones.
Last Tuesday night, goalkeeper David Meves became the school's all-time shutouts leader in a 1-0 decision at Ohio State. Junior Reinaldo Brenes scored his ninth goal in seventh matches and Meves made a season high six saves in the match. Meves' 49th career clean sheet surpassed current Montreal Impact 'keeper Evan Bush who set the record during the 2005-08 seasons.
"I thought it was very fitting for [Meves] to do it today because he bailed us out on several occasions,” said Coach Porter after the game. “We probably don’t win that game, if it’s not for him.”
On Saturday, the Zips wrapped up their eighth-straight MAC regular season title with a 4-0 win over Hartwick. Defender Chad Barson—who could sign a Homegrown contract with Columbus in the offseason—scored for UA and helped lead the team to their second shutout in a row.
As a result, the Zips (13-1-2, 6-0-0 MAC) earned the right to host the MAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed from Nov. 9-11 at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field. Coach Porter has won the conference title in each of his seven seasons at Akron. The team is now ranked No. 2 in the country behind unbeaten Maryland and over the last 10 games, the Zips have scored 28 goals and conceded only one.
Closer to home, in a battle of Timbers U-23s teammates, Steven Evans and Ricardo Carrillo’s University of Portland prevailed over Erik Hurtado’s Santa Clara University 2-1 on a nationally televised game on FOX Soccer. Evans put the Pilots up in the 37th minute with his WCC-leading 12th goal but it was Carrillo who sealed the win with a spectacular 110th minute goal in overtime.
Evans added to his goal scoring exploits with his 13th goal on Sunday though the Pilots lost to St. Mary’s 3-2. They next play at Merlo Field on Friday at 7pm against Loyola Marymount and then on Sunday versus San Diego at 1pm.
Their female Pilots counterparts had a productive weekend. On Friday night, down 1-0 at the half to No. 18 Pepperdine, UP roared back with three goals in twelve minutes to win 3-1 behind two goals from Michelle Cruz and a a gamewinner from Amanda Frisbie. Watch Frisbie’s nutmeg game winner here. Then on Sunday, with former Pilots and current USWNT star Megan Rapinoe in attendance, UP downed LMU 2-0. Watch highlights here.
Incidentally, Rapinoe has been making the rounds in Portland, here she is enjoying Bright Dike's game-tying goal against San Jose in the Timbers 2012 season finale Saturday night. (Photo via beIN Sport's Temryss Lane):
Megan Rapinoe @mpinoe getting in on the @timbersfc celebration w/ Timber Joey & Timbers fans instagr.am/p/RTk57QMOtw/
— Temryss Lane (@TemryssLane) October 28, 2012
Down I-5, Oregon State University’s and Timbers U-23s forward Emery Welshman became the first Beavers player to hit double digits in goals since current Timbers forward Danny Mwanga did it in 2009. Welshman scored in a 2-1 loss to PAC-12 rival UCLA.
In other Timbers U-23s news, midfielder Eric Miller of Creighton played with the US U-20’s recently in Spain at the Marabella Cup. Read this TopDrawerSoccer.com story about how Miller and the other collegiate players on the team are balancing the international dates with their university commitments.
Jared Embick - GoZips.com
One streak ended, another streak continued and a passing of the torch.
It was a busy week for Caleb Porter and the Akron Zips. After a successful #FillTheHill movement to pack the house last week in their match against Michigan, UA went out and beat the Wolverines 1-0 behind an Aodhan Quinn goal and shutout from goalkeeper David Meves in front of a crowd of 3,289. It was the team’s eighth consecutive shutout and the 48th shutout of senior Meves' career, which ties him with current Montreal Impact 'keeper Evan Bush (2005-08) for first place on the school's career list.
On Friday night, the Zips won their eighth consecutive game though their streak of holding their opponents scoreless ended at 713 minutes in a 2-1 victory over West Virginia. Reinaldo Brenes, who earlier in the week was named MAC Player of the Week, scored early in the 5th minute while senior Scott Caldwell provided another in the 50th minute. For Brenes, it was his eighth goal of the season—all scored over the past five matches.
With Porter’s pending arrival in Portland later this winter, Akron was faced at finding a successor at head coach. On Wednesday, the Zips found their man, elevating current associate head coach and recruiting coordinator Jared Embick into the new head coach position following this season. Embick has been with the team since 2007 has been a key figure in the Zips securing some of the best prospects in the country – and around the world – with top-five recruiting classes in each of the past five seasons, highlighted by the No. 1 class in 2009 and No. 2 classes in 2010 and 2011.
In total, Embick recruited or helped develop 14 players who have gone on to play professionally either in MLS or overseas since 2007 and at least one Timbers player was happy with the development.
Congrats Jared Embick, the new Head Coach at the University of Akron!!!
— Darlington Nagbe (@darlingtonnagbe) October 17, 2012
The Zips moved up to No. 2 in the TopDrawerSoccer.com rankings while MLSsoccer.com has them move up to No. 3 with the understated comment, “This just in: Akron is really, really good.”
Elsewhere in Portland area soccer action, the UP Pilots women got back on track Sunday night with a 3-0 win over St. Mary’s on the road. Powered by Amanda Frisbie’s brace, the Pilots picked up its second straight road win—they won in overtime Friday 2-1 against San Diego State—to improve to 8-4-3 on the year and to 2-1-1 in the WCC.
Led by Megan Miller and Jenna Richardson’s pair of goals, the Oregon State Beavers women’s team cruised to a 5-1 romp over Arizona Sunday night. For the Beavers, it was the most points they scored in a single match this season and gave them an 11-4-1 overall record on the year and a 3-3-2 mark in conference play.
Timbers U-23’s forward Emery Welshman continues to lead the OSU mens' side in scoring after picking up his ninth goal in a 2-2 with Stanford on Thursday night. The Beavers fell to Cal 1-0 on Sunday evening in Berkeley.
Last weekend, on a soccer pitch in SE Portland, two over-forty teams came together first to play a match. At halftime, they were then called upon to save a life.
Old Growth FC—one of the Timbers Army’s network of amateur clubs in the Greater Portland Soccer District (GPSD)—was playing Celtic FC when one of Celtic’s players, Gheorghe Lupu, slumped at halftime of their match with what appeared to be a heart attack.
The Oregonian and KATU both have stories profiling the quick thinking of teammates Dr. David Silvestre who performed CPR, Emile Lemoine who ran into a nearby school to find a portable defibrillator, and Old Growth FC’s Dale Montgomery—a trained paramedic—who administered the automated external defibrillator (AED) all working together to save his life.
PortlandTimbers.com contributor and Old Growth FC member Kip Kesgard was playing in this game. This is his story:
I was walking off the pitch at halftime where they were up 3 goals to none. As I walked past their bench, I saw them surrounding one player that seemed to be struggling a bit while sitting down, but I didn't think much initially. I grabbed my water bottle as Rustam, our coach was calling us over to the halftime huddle when I saw the activity at the Celtic FC bench start to get more feverish. The player [Lupu] having issues was now laying on the ground and his face was purple. I said to the coach, "I think there's something serious going on over at the bench," when at the same time, they started calling for anyone that knew CPR as the player had lost consciousness and wasn't breathing. Dale, one of our defenders, is a paramedic, so he immediately headed over to assist along with Rustam who was CPR trained. Others started calling 911.
We were all worried when the initial compressions didn't seem to be working and Dale suddenly took off for his car for something. I followed him while I heard footsteps and somebody from Celtic FC was behind me running asking if Dale had one of those things to shock people's chest. I yelled a defibrillator, and Dale said no, but check inside the school. As the Celtic player [Lemoine] ran to the gym, Dale grabbed a small portable plastic mask which I assumed was to help with the airway and ran back to help. Rustam and the Celtic FC player [Silvestre] that was medically trained had stayed behind to administer compressions.
It felt like forever as we waited for the ambulance to arrive, but moments before that, our friend was running from the gym holding a small white box with wiring, and I put it together that it was an AED, the portable defib machine. As we all huddled about in support, the shock was administered and we saw the collapsed player regain consciousness although he was very groggy. Clackamas Fire and Rescue arrived moments later and drove onto the track to get close to the bench. They immediately checked him out, put him on oxygen, talked with the folks that had administered care, and then asked all the players to grab their things so they would know which bag was the fallen player’s. They left moments later to take him to the hospital, and at least from what I've been told, he spent some time in ICU but he was doing pretty well. Under the circumstances, the CPR administered by the players and the AED helped keep him alive and most likely brought him back.
This whole thing just reinforced the importance of knowing CPR and getting accredited in that life saving skill, and I know that Old Growth FC and the rest of the Timbers Army Football Clubs are working with the 107ist to set up training for our team members that want to learn.
In an update on OGFC’s Facebook page, the Celtic coach said the Lupu was doing well and expected to undergo bypass surgery today. His doctor also said, “he should be able to get back out onto the pitch in about three months with no worries.” Here's to the quick thinking of both teams and to a full recovery for Lupu.
With the #SoccerInOregon photo project continuing and voting on Pinterest, the core of that whole project was showing the many people and places where soccer takes place across the state. Away from the big stadiums and big matches, soccer can be played on a bumpy pitch in any corner.
For Britain, football is as much about daily life and playing for the love of the game as anything. Much like the #SoccerInOregon project shows the grassroots elements of the love of the game, so too does this documentary short about Madron FC--widely considered the worst football club in England.
Situated near the southwestern tip of England, hope springs eternal for these dedicated lads:
David Meves (GoZips.com)
The Akron Zips continue their great run of play this week with two victories. The first was a 2-0 non-conference win over Penn State last Wednesday in University Park, PA. Akron took control early with a pair of first-half goals from standouts Reinaldo Brenes and Scott Caldwell to hold on for the win.
Akron followed that up with a 2-0 victory over Northern Illinois on a damp Saturday afternoon in Dekalb, IL. Working behind goals from Phil Fives and Brenes--his seventh goal in the last four matches--the Zips (9-1-2, 4-0-0 MAC) extended their win streak to six matches and pushed their run of consecutive shutouts to seven while out-shooting the defending MAC Tournament Champion Huskies, 18-8.
Caleb Porter's UA is now unbeaten in its last 42 conference matches (39-0-3), which is tied with Clemson (1972-80) for the second-longest run in NCAA history. Furman, which owns the all-time standard, went unbeaten in 46 straight league contests from 1999-2003.
Moreover, Akron goalkeeper David Meves (right)--now just one shutout away from the school's all-time record--was named to TopDrawerSoccer's Team of the Week. The Zips remain at No. 3 in their poll as well as MLSsoccer.com's MLS on Campus poll.
Tuesday night, UA goes back into non-conference action against Michigan (4:30pm PT, videostream at GoZips.com). Akron and head coach Porter has a special message for Zips fans looking to come to the match as they look to #FillTheHill at FirstEnergy Stadium - Cub Cadet Field:
Locally, the University of Portland women's team were in action Saturday night against No. 5 Bringham Young with at least one Timbers player among the sellout 4,979:
My Saturday night #gopilots #RCTID twitter.com/franckck/statu…
— franck songo (@franckck) October 14, 2012
Songo'o witnessed what maybe called the Pilots Goal of the Year from Portland-native Kendall Johnson who scored a cracker of a goal in the 81st minute. Sadly for UP, it was not enough as they fell 2-1 to the Cougars. Nonetheless, just as Pilots men's team member & Timbers U-23s midfielder Steven Evans is being touted as potentially one of the best ever at UP, so too is the junior left back Johnson. As a recent Oregonian profile put it, "[UP head coach Garrett] Smith believes the Lincoln High School graduate has a chance to become the school's next national team player, joining elites such as Sophie Schmidt, Megan Rapinoe and Christine Sinclair."
Click photo to enlarge
#SoccerInOregon voting now commences! After compiling a slew of excellent images of what #SoccerInOregon means to you, they have now all been pinned to the Timbers Pinterest page here.
All you have to do is go to the page, "LIKE" the one you think is best, and the one with the most "Like's" by 5pm PT on Oct. 19 wins two tickets and a media pass to photograph the final Timbers home match against San Jose Earthquakes on Oct. 27. You're welcome to Repin images too but the winner will be determined by the amount of Like's.
For full contest rules, click here.
2012-13 marks the first season for the Timbers Academy teams as they begin competition fielding a U-16 and U-18 squad. Under the overall umbrella of the U.S. Development Academy, USsoccer.com did a profile of the growing Timbers side and talked with Academy co-director and head coach for the U-16s, Mike Smith, about how the hunt for players began and the progress the team has made in their first season.
“Portland is a hotbed for soccer in so many ways,” Smith said. “When youngsters can watch their local heroes train at a high level, the excitement filters down. I’ve seen that with the numbers we’ve had at tryouts and the players at our regional training centers. We’ve had a number of our U-17/18 players get pulled into the MLS Reserves or even see a few minutes of action, and they have aspirations to play up the chain."
PortlandTimbers.com will have weekly Academy updates every Monday, but this is also a good place to start to see some of the future of Timbers player development. Read the whole piece here.
Cross Town Clash
While #SoccerInOregon continues with some great shots coming in, tonight may present a setting for some more great photos.
Lincoln High School and Grant High School will attempt to beat the state record of 5,000 people to attend a High School Soccer match this evening in a double-header with their girls and boys varsity teams both competing.
The game will be held just a Jack Jewsbury free kick away from JELD-WEN Field at Lincoln High School's field on the corner of SW 18th and Salmon with the Girls' Varsity kicking off at 4:30pm followed by the Boys Varsity at 6:30pm. The cost is an incredibly affordable FREE.
Timbers stadium announcer Kevin Flink will be on the PA at Lincoln to give an extra Timbers flavor as well.
Go Cards! Go Generals! Go see the match and help showcase why Portland is SoccerCity U.S.A.--at every level.
Akron's Eric Stevenson - Photo: GoZips.com
After putting up a hat trick last week, University of Akron’s Reinaldo Brenes was at it again Friday night for the Zips with two goals and an assist in their 5-0 win over Florida Atlantic University. Junior Eric Stevenson (right) also had two goals and an assist while freshman Dillon Serna picked up a goal as well.
For Caleb Porter’s Zips, it was the fourth straight win and fifth straight shutout they have out-scored their last four opponents 16-0. Moreover, they have yet to allow a goal at home in five matches.
For their performances, Brenes and Stevenson were both named to Top Drawer Soccer’s National Team of the Week and Akron moved up to No. 3 in their national poll.
In Timbers U-23s news, goalkeeper Justin Baarts made a clutch penalty shot save for the University of Portland to hold on to the Pilots’ 2-1 win over Loyola Marymount also on Friday evening. U-23s member Ricardo Carrillo picked up an assist on the game-winner, his team-best fourth assist of the season.
The UP Pilots women’s team also played this weekend and despite a spirited comeback, they fell 3-2 to the San Diego State Aztecs. As part of the afternoon, UP honored their 2002 NCAA national championship team in a special ceremony at Merlo Field. Former NASL The late Clive Charles--a former Timbers NASL player and Ring of Honor member--was the coach of that squad which also included former player Colleen Little.
The Oregonian did a unique store about how Charles had such an affect on Little as a player and a person that when she ran in the Portland Marathon yesterday--finishing in 2 hours, 51 minutes and 35 seconds--she chose to have "4 Clive" on her racing bib.
“Every time I compete, I compete in remembrance of him,” Little said. “He taught all of us to be good athletes, but also to be amazing people. His suffering pushes me toward everything I do.”
It's an inspiring story about a man who is still inspiring athletes today. Read the whole thing here.
By now, you've seen Off Pitch with Hermes. If you haven't, catch up. You may also be somewhat aware that Jimmy Conrad was here for the last time we played Seattle interviewing Merritt Paulson, chainsawing, joining the Timbers Army, going to Kicking + Screening Portland, and podcasting with the Backcut.
What you may not know is that somehow KICKTV got Hermes and Conrad together for a unique Portland mashup all about soccer in Oregon and the importance of Cascadia.
Here's the weird, wonderful and magical result:
