Sports
Courtney York
Issue date: 12/5/07 Section: Sports
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Emily Huntington
Sophomores Clay Greenland, Dominic Lozano and Christian Harris led the Peninsula College Pirates to a 64-61 season opening win against the 2007 West Division co-champion Highline Thunderbirds Nov. 16.
It was a close game until the final minute when PC's Jason Millon got a steal and outran the Thunderbirds for a lay-up to win.
At the Red Devil Classic tournament in Longview Nov. 25, Spokane bounced the Pirates in the championship game, 63-42, the PC team's first loss this season. Earlier in the tourney the Pirates defeated Portland 76-60 in opening round play, then beat Clackamas 82-78 to set the Sunday match-up with Spokane.
The Pirates redeemed themselves Dec. 1 when they went head to head with Lower Columbia at home, winning 82-78. Stars of the game were Lozano, who contributed some off-the-wall shooting, passing from Harris, and defense from Chidi Antoinne, Jesse Bean, Ernie Grimes, and Cody Smithson. When Lower Columbia started to show their strength, the Pirates knocked them down using a three-point play by Bean in the final minute and closed it out by adding free throws.
Next for the Pirates men is a rematch against Spokane at home Friday. Tip off is 7 p.m.
Freshmen Brittany Bridges, Britney Yaname and Sam Flett all scored in double figures leading the young PC women to a season-opening victory over Tacoma Nov. 16,. Bridges scored 17 points to lead the Pirates, while Yamane scored 12 and Flett finished with 11.
The PC women traveled to the Mt. Hood Invitational in Gresham Oregon Nov. 25-25, played at Nanaimo, B.C. Nov. 30, and travel to Portland Dec. 5. Next home game for the women is Dec. 22 as they host South Puget Sound at 5 p.m.
PC Pirettes are booming
Emily Huntington
When hired in the Bookstore in 2003, Jennifer King asked around campus and administration about starting a dance team. Ultimately, administration turned the idea down because in the past it had bad experiences with the drill team. Students really didn't seem interested either, so she let it go.
Not long after, an international student named Anastasia, a professional dancer, asked former bookstore manager Jonathan Koehler why we didn't have some sort of dance team, and that's when she and Jennifer got together and went to administration. They were open to the idea, and Jennifer was hired as coach - just as long as they didn't try to recreate the drill team idea. Four girls later, the Pirettes Dance Team was in order, and danced at half-time of home basketball games.
Currently, nine girls make up the team. Their names are Sarah Bales, Heidi Brown, Kaitlin Buckmaster, Deziree Boyer, Christine Signes, Molly Gort, Hannah Hockett, Bekah Williams, and Katie Mulholland. Although there are no competitions at this time due to the fact that this is a two-year institution, they never fail to entertain at half time. They dance to hip-hop routines, and sometimes even incorporate jazz into it.
When people hear dance team, sometimes it is misled to be a cheer squad…but the Pirettes don't even use pom-poms! They do sell them at the games for the fans, though.
Although a lot of people are in the dark about them due to lack of publicity or the fact that they don't travel with the teams, the crowd sure notices when they aren't there.
Despite the name of the team, men are welcome to join. Applications available on the PC website.
Soccer Pirates finish fourth in NWAACC
Emily Huntington
Let's go back to Super Bowl 40, where the Seattle Seahawks were in the lead against Pittsburgh, and in the last few seconds of the game they lost. Seahawk fans everywhere complained that they could have won had it not been for the officials' calls.
The semi-final match of the 2007 Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges Championship Men's Soccer Tournament game against Spokane Community College seems frighteningly familiar.
The team battled through a windstorm and other factors, and lost the game 1-0 on what the Pirate faithful believe was a referee's faulty call. Spokane was awarded a penalty kick with 30 seconds left in the game.
The teams had battled to a 0-0 tie to that point, with Peninsula the aggressor for the second half, but as Pirate freshman and soccer midfielder Buck Kunz recalls, "the ref gave (Spokane) a penalty kick for an unintentional handball just one foot inside the box…most refs wouldn't make that call in that important of a game…."
Despite the disappointment, Kunz and his teammates believe that the season overall was fun and successful with multiple personal and school records being set, including the team earning the best record in Pirate history.
The team's regular season ended 12-3-1 overall, with a fourth-place finish in the season-ending tourney, losing to Whatcom Community College 2-0 in a consolation game Nov. 18.
Clark Community College defeated Spokane 1-0 in overtime to capture the NAACC soccer championship.
In the league all-star game Dec. 1, five PC players contributed, despite the snow and rain that spilled out during the game. PC sophomore Jesse Retan stole the game, coming away with an assist and game winning goal as the South-West All Star team beat the North-West all stars 3-1.
PC sophomore goal keeper Jared Hoffman had more than a few nice saves and only gave up one goal, a penalty kick that came when a Highline player crushed a North-East player in the box.
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