LC men’s club soccer fights hard in 2018 season against elite teams

Photograph by Ary Hashim

By Amelia Eichel

After two years in the second division, Lewis & Clark Men’s Club Soccer has moved into the first division in the Cascade Collegiate Soccer League, pitting them against the best teams in the league.

“We’ve all worked hard to get to the top division and now it’s on us to prove that we belong there,” team captain Will Hahne ’20 said. “The competition is a good bit tougher, as expected, but nothing we can’t handle.”

They began the season with a 3-1 loss against University of Portland on Oct. 6 and came back with a 2-2 tie against University of Oregon the next day.

“The game against U of O on Sunday left us feeling pretty good about our chances this season,” team captain Fox Pfund Pulliam ’20 said. “U of O is the best team in the league and wins almost every year so we were expecting to be on the defensive but we managed to create two goals and force them to equalize.”

Title IX requires colleges to spend an equal amount of money on men’s and women’s NCAA sports. Since LC only has a men’s football team, they balance spending by only having a women’s NCAA soccer team and making men’s soccer a club sport.

“We have a budget of $2,450 that we need to stretch for the Cascade Collegiate Soccer League fee, equipment like balls, cones, pinnies, and first aid, transportation, and the entrance fee of a spring tournament hosted by OSU,” Pfund Pulliam said.

The budget does not cover a coach’s salary, so the captains Pfund Pulliam, Hahne, and John Cabrera ’21 handle scheduling, practices, and game preparation.

“Our practice time is perhaps the biggest issue with being a club,” Pfund Pulliam said.

“Our season is in the fall, which means we have to compete with Football and Women’s Soccer for field space on top of the other club sports, Riverdale High School, and the adult flag football league that plays at Griswold. Jim Tursi, the Women’s Soccer coach, is our faculty representative and is our biggest source of support from the school. He generously gives us half of the field during Women’s Soccer practices on Thursdays so that we can practice as well.”

Most of the men’s soccer players also play futsal on Wednesdays and Sundays. One of the centerbacks, John Rauen ’21 is also the intramural coordinator for futsal.

“We are unfortunately only given two hours of practice time a week, and that is not enough time to compete against the bigger schools like U of O and OSU at a high level,” Rauen said. “Because of the situation we are in, Intramurals gives all the guys on the team a chance to get more touches on the ball in a fun and low stakes environment.”

The team’s first game against Portland State University is a home game on Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. Their second game against University of Portland is also a home game at 8 p.m. on Oct. 27. They have a home game against Oregon State University at 8 p.m on Nov 3. The team will be traveling to Eugene on Oct 10 to play University of Oregon at 4 p.m. They will play an away game against PSU on Nov. 4 at 10 a.m.

About Amelia Eichel 26 Articles
Mia started contributing to The Pioneer Log during her freshman year and became a news editor in the fall semester of her junior year. Upon returning from her study abroad program in Morocco, she became Head of Broadcasting and started The PioPod. Now, as Managing Editor, she is dedicated to implementing bottom-up journalism and multimedia coverage at The Piolog. Mia is a religious studies major and is writing her thesis on quantum ontology. She is pursuing storytelling and entrepreneurship after she graduates in May.

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