The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: Playoffs

  • Cal Poly Humboldt Women’s Soccer Makes Playoffs For The First Time Since 2006

    Cal Poly Humboldt Women’s Soccer Makes Playoffs For The First Time Since 2006

    by Jake Knoeller

    It is a sunny fall afternoon on Thursday, Oct. 27; Coach Grant Landy is getting water dumped on him by his players as the final whistle sounds. His 400th win as a head coach is official.

    The 1-0 home victory over Chico State, along with other results around the league favoring Cal Poly Humboldt’s women’s soccer team, means they found a way in. They had clinched a spot in the playoffs on the final day of the season, and they would have a bigger game to play after the regular season for the first time since 2006.

    This matchup was never going to be an easy one for the Lumberjacks, with most of the game being very physical. It involved both teams keeping a balance of looking to get the first goal and go ahead, but also stay back enough to protect their net.

    In minute 65, Humboldt found their breakthrough. Forward Kylea Becker stepped up to take a corner kick from the right side, and the low ball into the box found the feet of Humboldt defender Megan Janikowski. Janikowski’s goal, her first of the season, was the difference between the teams in the end. 

    The cheers from the players and the crowd were deafening as the team rushed the field to celebrate after the final whistle. Coaches and athletic staff had their phones out checking the scores around the league to make sure they had made the playoffs for sure.

    “I remember we all ran together for a huge group hug and started chanting,” said defender Abby Borg. “The energy was electric and it was so fun to be a part of that historical moment.”

    When the news broke that the results had gone in Humboldt’s favor, Landy announced it to his players and the celebrations rang out. This playoff berth was something they worked tirelessly for. 

    “I’m so proud of the players for their effort today and for the entire season,” said Landy in an interview with Humboldt Athletics. “Today was a culmination of a lot of hard work, perseverance, and belief.”

    The women’s soccer team also managed to go undefeated at home this season, with a 6-0-3 record.

    After this win to finish off the regular season, the Jacks would travel to Chico for their playoff game. This matchup being a rematch was a result of seeding, with Chico finishing fourth and Humboldt finishing fifth. 

    The game in Chico was another tough battle for Humboldt, but this time they didn’t come out on top. A difficult second half had Humboldt trailing 1-0, when Grace Johnson got into the penalty area and found her teammate Jysabella Tolentino to level the score at 1-1.

    After conceding again in overtime, a 2-1 loss brought Humboldt’s season to a close.

    “On one hand, it was hard losing to a team we knew we could beat, we did it just days before. It was a bummer losing out so fast in the tournament,” said goalkeeper Carson Thomson-Terrel. “But on the flip side, I was so proud of everyone.”

    Although this meant the end to the season, the team’s strides forward this year were undeniable, and they are left with many positive memories.

    “I was really proud of how we responded to get the equalizing goal in the second half,” said Landy in an interview with Humboldt Athletics. “This team has been resilient all year and their work rate and belief was tremendous today.”

    Players have spoken about how Coach Landy influenced them in positive ways throughout the season. 

    “As a team, it is pretty obvious that Grant has really helped the program grow and improve,” said Thomson-Terrel. “He’s a great coach as well as a good mentor.”

    Borg just completed her first full season of conference play after tearing her ACL freshman year and credits Landy for helping her get back on track despite her injury. . 

    “He never counted me out and pushed me to be the best player that I can be,” said Borg. 

    An offseason of hard work awaits both Lumberjack soccer teams. There are a lot of promising starts to build on in 2023, and many things to be proud of. 

  • Dream Season for Corsairs Continues

    Dream Season for Corsairs Continues

    College of the Redwoods men’s basketball team charges into the playoffs

    With a 75-56 win over Sacramento City College Feb. 27, the College of the Redwoods men’s basketball team advanced to the second round of the California Community College Athletic Association state playoffs. The win put the Corsairs at 22-5 on the season, a complete turnaround from last year’s 0-26 record.

    First-year Head Coach Ryan Bisio set a plan into motion to turn the program around far before he got the job with the Corsairs. The plan was simple: build a team with high-quality local talent to showcase to the community. The plan worked immediately.

    The Corsairs are all graduates from local high schools like Fortuna, Arcata and McKinleyville, with the team composed of all freshman except for two sophomores.

    “I’ve known these kids for years,” Bisio said. “Last year I didn’t coach, so I got to watch all of them in high school and was able to build personal relationships with them. The unity was powerful and it made entrusting this young team easy.”

    This local talent dominated the Golden Valley Conference as the Corsairs, led by Arcata alumnus and conference MVP Thomas Nelson, were crowned champions.

    “Whenever we needed a bucket throughout the year we would go to Thomas,” Bisio said. “He scores in spurts from all three levels. The way he scores devastates our opponents and our team feeds off of him.”

    Nelson, who is in his sophomore year, has been one of the best players in the CCCAA this year, as he was named first-team All-State as well. He averaged 20 points and eight rebounds per game this year, and he scored over 25 in eight games.

    “I wanted to win conference just like in high school, and I knew I could have success. But I didn’t know I would be All-State in the process. I didn’t even know they had All-State teams in junior college until I made the first team.”

    Thomas Nelson

    “The coaching staff has your back in every situation and I have great teammates,” Nelson said. “It’s day and night from last year. We communicate and connect at a very high level and we work very well together.”

    The Arcata High School graduate had high season goals this year, and winning a conference championship was one of them.

    “I wanted to win conference just like in high school, and I knew I could have success,” Nelson said. “But I didn’t know I would be All-State in the process. I didn’t even know they had All-State teams in junior college until I made the first team.”

    With Nelson leading the way, the Corsairs had a multitude of successes this year. Four other players were honored, with Drew Gillette, Zac Claus and Donald Willis making first-team honors and Bradley Willis earning an honorable mention.

    Gillette chipped in 17 points while shooting 41% from the arc. Freshman marksman Isaac Puzz added 9 points while shooting a team high 44% from the three.

    While Puzz and Gillette were lighting it up from behind the arc, Claus took the role of primary ball handler with an average of 10 points, six assists and five rebounds per game.

    The Willis twins were the all-around guys. They combined for 22 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists per game while leading the Corsairs defensively in steals and charges taken.

    Coach Bisio’s plan has come into fruition as CR is currently ranked 16 in the state and has advanced in the CCCAA Northern California state playoffs. With playoffs intensifying the competition, Bisio knows his team must play their best game now.

    “We need to tighten up on defense,” Bisio said. “We’re going to see some good teams in the playoffs so we need to have a high sense of urgency. We’ve been playing good so we have to do what we’ve been doing—just can’t get complacent.”

    The Corsairs defeated Sacramento City in the first round of the playoffs, but the road only gets rougher. College of the Redwoods will be traveling to play against the nation’s number one ranked team, San Francisco City College. Dubbed huge underdogs, the Corsairs have a huge challenge at hand, but with the success they’ve had this year, nothing looks impossible.

    You can livestream the game through the CR men’s basketball Facebook page or the CCCAA Network on YouTube. The game will start at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 7.

  • Untitled post 1638

    By Keaundrey Clark

     

    Softball

    rp_primary_Vigil Swing TOC
    Junior Winona Vigil at the plate | HSU Lumberjacks 

    No. 9 Humboldt State softball split Saturday’s Senior Day doubleheader versus No. 3 Cal State Monterey Bay and punched its ticket to the California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament. The Lumberjacks matched their best run-scoring total of the season in game one’s 17-8 victory, and the Otters squeaked past the Green and Gold, 3-2, in the regular season finale.

    HSU earned the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament and will face second seed Cal State San Bernardino Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Arnaiz Stadium in Stockton. Monterey Bay is the conference’s No. 1 seed and Chico State rounded out the tournament field as the fourth seed.

    Madison Williams picked up her 16th win of the season. She and fellow senior pitcher Kalyn Paque finished top 10 in wins and in strikeouts. Williams leading the conference with 182.

    This season senior catcher Breonna Bejaran led the Jacks with 11 home runs. She finished fourth in the conference. Senior second baseman Tiffany Hollingsworth lead the HSU with 40 RBIs, finishing top 10 in the conference in that category.

    Women’s Crew

    rp_primary_2017_WIRAs_Team.jpg
    HSU Crew | HSU Lumberjacks 

    HSU Crew’s 2017 season is coming to an end, this season has been one of the best in school’s history. Humboldt State crew teams took another step forward dominance as they captured the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship title Sunday at Lake Natoma.

    All but one of the Green and Gold boats advanced from Saturday’s preliminaries to Sunday’s finals.

    The women’s V8 boat finished third in the first race of the day. HSU placed behind leader Western Washington (6:23.836) and second place boat UC Santa Barbara (6:29.994) with a 6:31.874 finish.

    The Jacks’ novice eight boat placed sixth against  Division I competition with a time of 7:07.174.

    The best race of the day HSU’s women’s Varsity 4 finished just one second behind Western Washington. The Jacks finished with a time of 7:18.310, while the Vikings crossed the finish line in 7:17.630.

    The Green and Gold will have two weeks off from competition before making a cross-country trip to the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia on May 12-13.

     

  • NBA MVP

    NBA MVP

    By Danny Dunn

    The 2016-2017 NBA regular season has been full of interesting storylines. Everything from players getting more and more rest time to the “Shaqtin A Fool” beef between Shaquille O’Neal and JaVale McGee. Currently, one story stands above all the rest and that is who will be named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player?

    Last season the MVP race was not nearly as exciting due to the fact that Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry was the first ever unanimous MVP, collecting all 130 votes. Consider also that it was also his second consecutive MVP award.

    When Kevin Durant, who is one of the best players in the league, signed with the Golden State Warriors last summer, it essentially eliminated all Warriors from the MVP discussion, including Curry. So that leaves the award up for grabs this season and it seems that four players all have a legit claim to the MVP award. These players are Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook. Check out how I rank their chances.

    Ranking and Description of each MVP candidate:

    1. Kawhi Leonard. Small forward, San Antonio Spurs.

    Leonard is averaging over 25 points per game while adding just under six rebounds and three assists per game. On top of this, Leonard is a lock for first team all defense once again and has taken his offensive game to another level. If there is one thing working against him it is that the Spurs are only about a one-point difference when he is not on the court, and they have a winning record even when he does not play. But that speaks more to coaching than it does to Leonard, and Leonard has been the best player on 60-win teams back-to-back years.

    1. LeBron James. Small forward, Cleveland Cavaliers.

    LBJ is the man, the myth, the legend. What else is there to say about how great he is? After bringing home a championship to Cleveland for the first time ever, he is having one of the best offensive seasons of his career. James is averaging 26 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists per game. The only issue is his team has completely underachieved this season. The Cavaliers have not played a lick of defense since the start of the calendar year. They should have wrapped up the number one seed in the Eastern Conference a month ago. Yes, a month ago, but in their last 40 games they are hovering around .500 which is awful for this squad. Without LeBron, this team would be competing with the Brooklyn Nets for the worst record in the league.

    1. James Harden. Point guard, Houston Rockets.

    “Fear the Beard,” is a slogan I never associated with Harden because I always linked it to former San Francisco Giants closing pitcher, Brian Wilson. But this season Harden has earned the right to it by averaging 29 points, 11 assists, and eight rebounds. If not for Russell Westbrook’s dominating play, Harden would be the closest to averaging a triple double in some time. Under new coach Mike D’Antoni, Harden has moved from shooting guard to point guard and man, has it paid dividends? Harden leads the league in assists and has the Rockets third in the Western Conference behind the Spurs and Warriors. He is still a bit of a liability on the court, but he has noticeably improved this season. A downside is that he is one of the leaders in turnovers, but that is bound to happen since he has the ball in his hands most of the time.

    1. Russell Westbrook. Point guard, Oklahoma City Thunder.

    Double doubles are a dime-a-dozen, but triple doubles are somewhat rare in the NBA. For instance, Westbrook has more triple doubles this season than the rest of the NBA combined. He now has the single season record for triple doubles in a season (42), and joins Oscar Robertson as the only two players to ever average a triple double. Westbrook is averaging over 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists per game, and is leading the Thunder to the sixth seed in the Western Conference with a subpar supporting cast after losing Durant last summer. His triple doubles are not empty, as his squad’s record is far better when Westbrook has a triple double than when he does not. He plays as hard as he can night-in and night-out with historic results and so I think Westbrook will win the 2016-17 NBA MVP award.

     

  • NBA Playoffs

    NBA Playoffs

    By Danny Dunn

    The 2017 NBA playoffs tip off with history on the line, as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors look to be the first teams ever to meet in the finals three years in a row.

    The Warriors won the first finals matchup 4 games to 2 over the Cavs behind finals MVP Andre Iguodala. The Cavs then took the second finals matchup 4 games to 3 with a historical comeback from down 3 games to 1 in the series, lead by finals MVP LeBron James.

    The Cavaliers stumbled into the playoffs this season, they finished second in the Eastern Conference with 51 wins and 31 losses. Since the start of March the Cavs have played under .500 basketball with 10 wins and 14 losses in that span. They are still the favorites to get out of the East, because well they have LeBron James.

    The Warriors finished the regular season strong, winning 15 of their final 16 games and finished first in the Western Conference with 67 wins and 15 losses. They are a heavy favorite to come out of the West, with or without all star Kevin Durant who is dealing with a lingering calf strain.

    The first round of the postseason was relatively painless for the Cavs and Warriors, as they both swept their first round opponents.

    The rest of the postseason will not be quite as easy for these teams, the competition will get tougher.

    Obstacles:

    For the Warriors, they will play the winner of the Los Angeles Clippers and Utah Jazz series. The Warriors have not lost a game to the Clippers since Steve Kerr took over as head coach in 2015. As for the Jazz, they do not appear to have the firepower to match Golden State, the only chance they would have is to muck up the series and slow the pace of the game. But neither of these teams should last longer than six games with the Warriors.

    The real competition for Warriors will come in the conference finals where they will likely play either the Houston Rockets, or the San Antonio Spurs. Each team has beat the Warriors this year, the Spurs having done so twice. For the past few postseasons Spurs v Warriors is the matchup everyone has anticipated in the conference finals, but the Spurs have not been able to make it that far.

    For the Cavs, they will play the winner of the Toronto Raptors and Milwaukee Bucks series. The Cavs defeated Toronto last year in the conference finals in six games. Do not expect this year’s results to be any different. As for the Bucks, it would be interesting to see Giannis Antetokounmpo [The Greek Freak] go head to head with Lebron in a series, but the Cavs should still be able to get by them.

    The Cavs true competition will also come in the conference finals, where they will likely play either the Washington Wizards, or the Boston Celtics. Boston might have even been a favorite in the East if they did not get blown out by the Cavs at the end of the regular season. Washington matched up well with the Cavs in their meetings this season, the Wizards backcourt John Wall and Bradley Beal in particular played well in their meetings with the Cavs.

    With the finals still about a month and a half away any number of things can happen to prevent a third meeting between the Cavaliers and Warriors, but at the moment it appears that these teams are on a collision course to square off again.

  • Men’s Basketball control their own destiny heading into final game of the regular season.

    Men’s Basketball control their own destiny heading into final game of the regular season.

    by Curran Daly

    Calvin Young II dunks late in the game against Sonoma State. | Curran Daly

    Humboldt State’s 65-56 loss to Sonoma State on February 23, creates a win and in situation for the Lumberjacks heading into the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA).

    The Lumberjacks started strong jumping out to a 13-3 lead in the first five minutes of the game. The Jacks were able to keep their 10 point lead throughout the half leading 39-29 at the half.

    “We almost scored 40 points in the first half,” Coach Steve Kinder said, “so it was about us scoring and being able to play free against their regionally touted defence.”

    Despite the great first half, the Lumberjacks were not able to close out the game with a win. In the second half Sonoma State’s defence was able to hold the Lumberjacks to just 17 points.

    “We played tentative, non aggressive, nonchalant basketball,” Coach Kinder said, “and for some reason we took a step back on our heels and lost confidence.”

    The Lumberjacks committed 24 personal fouls and sent Sonoma State to the line 31 times. The high number of fouls meant that the Lumberjacks were forced to rotate their squad. Leaving the team missing key members, like Redshirt Sophomore Tyras Rattler Jr, as the game began to wind down.

    “We had a lot of fouls and they just capitalized on offense,” Rattler said, “and we wasn’t making shots in the second half.”

    The loss left the Lumberjacks with a 7-12 conference record and 13-14 overall record. The Lumberjacks currently sit in 8th place in the conference just on the edge of making the CCAA tournament.

    One game behind Cal State Los Angeles, 8-11, and one game ahead of Cal State San Bernardino,7-12, the Lumberjacks can control their future with a win. If the Lumberjacks win their next game against San Francisco State, 15-4, they will guarantee their spot in the tournament. If the Lumberjacks lose their next game they could miss out on the tournament if San Bernardino were to defeat Cal State Dominguez Hills, 10-9.

    The Lumberjacks play San Francisco State at 7:30 p.m. Saturday 25 in the Lumberjack Arena.

  • NFL Playoffs

    NFL Playoffs

    By: Keaundrey Clark

    The National Football League divisional round has passed and gone. We learned a few things this past weekend. You need an elite quarterback to get this far in the season. The four remaining quarterbacks, Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger have thrown for 135 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. You have Super Bowl winners (Rodgers, Roethlisberger, Brady), past MVPs (Brady and Rodgers) and the potential 2016 NFL MVP (Ryan).

    With four of the game’s best playing on the highest stages, we will see some classic games come this conference championship weekend. The Dallas Cowboys look set for the next 10 years with Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott as their stars. The two rookies shine in their first NFL playoff game and in defeat they showed they’ll be a force for years to come. The Seattle Seahawks are doing Russell Wilson a disservice by putting him behind an awful offensive line. That needs to be addressed if they want to even sniff the Super Bowl next season. This might be the Chiefs last run with Alex Smith as quarterback. He’s limited; average at best. If they don’t cut bait now, they’ll never get better. The Houston Texans, just like the Chiefs, have a roster to win now but are hamstrung by a shitty quarterback.

    Atlanta Falcons vs Green Bay Packers: Aaron Rodgers vs Matt Ryan in a dome. Man, that’s a lot of points. Rodgers threw one of the greatest passes you’ll ever see, a 36-yard dart to Jared Cook to get his team into field goal range for the win, rolling to his left and threw it against his body, only where his player can catch it with his feet in bounds and left time on the clock. Each team’s defense is in the bottom half of the league in passing yards given up. These quarterbacks will pass for 350 yards each, probably push for 400 yards. Both teams will likely score 30 plus points. This game could literally come down to which team makes a play defensively or which quarterback has the ball last.

    My Pick: Packers 38 – Falcons 31

    New England Patriots vs Pittsburg Steelers: At this point, the Patriots are just a nameless, faceless machine. It feels  that every team they’ve had in the last 15 years has been identical with a few exceptions in the past. Two things remain the same: Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. With those two, they always have a fighting chance.  The Steelers have arguably the best running back and receiver to grace an NFL field, a top five quarterback, yet they are 11th in scoring in the league. Not bad but not good especially for the talent they have. If they can put touchdowns on the board they have a chance to knock off Tom Brady and company.

    My Pick: Patriots 30 – Steelers 27