S - December 4, 2002. - g During Past Three Months Jordan Cripps Sports Editor As the holidays are fast approaching, and final exams are looming larger’every day, Douglas athletics are at a stand- still as athletes work to complete assignments and study for finals. As the sports editor, this was not what I want to hear. What sporting event should I cover? Should the Canucks make yet another appearance in the hallowed pages of The Other Press (See the article on page 26 to read about the Canucks revitalized play) Actually, with this lull in current sporting activity, it seems like it might be a good time to look back at the semester and see how Douglas athletes have fared over the past three months. Soccer For the men’s soccer team, the semester was a historic one. The Royals, overcoming tremendous adversity, were within one goal of winning the National Championship. In making it to the National Championship, they became the first DC soccer team to win the Provincial championship in the College’s 32-year history. Along the way, a number of players were singled out for their fine play, including Stedman Espinoza, who lists among his awards a berth on the All-Tournament Team at the National Championships in Quebec and the Most Valuable Player Award at the BCCAA Provincial Championships in Kelowna. Chris Greenside and Ryan Fries were also named to the All-Tournament team in Quebec. Matthew Ormerod was also recognized with BCCAA Player of the Week honours earlier in the season and led his team in scoring with nine goals before an injury limited his playing time. The women’s team also experienced some success dur- ing their season although they did not qualify for the Provincial Championships thanks to some unlucky breaks during the last weekend of the season, which saw them miss out by just one point. Despite this disap- pointing end to their season, the Royals displayed a strong amount of skill, and this was reflected in a num- ber of players receiving recognition after the season. During the season, the Royals had two players named Player of the Week by the BCCAA, Avril Gerow and Allie Hamilton. Following this award, Gerow would go on to fill her trophy case nicely, capping the season off by earn- ing CCAA All Canadian honours to go with being named BCCAA Player of the year, and CCAA Soccer Athlete of the Month, for October. Hamilton also received recognition after the season, joining teammate Hilda Simon as BCCAA 2nd Team All-Stars. As CCAA teams take a break for the holidays, the soc- cer season is the only one that has been completed, but a number of other Douglas teams have begun their seasons in pursuit of Provincial and National supremacy. Volleyball The Douglas Volleyball teams began their season in late October, hoping to earn a berth in the Provincial Championships. Both teams have had mixed perform- ances during the first five weeks of BCCAA competition, the women's record being 5-4 while the men have a record of 3-6. Going into the holiday break, both teams were outside of the playoff picture. Each team is current- ly tied for 5th place in their respective standings. While both teams haven't always gotten the results that they wanted, there has been some exciting volleyball action at the New Westminster gym. Especially enter- taining were the marathon matches that the Royals played against Langara a few weeks ago. Both the men’s and women’s teams demonstrated that they have enough skill to compete against most of the competition in the BCCAA. As the Royals fell behind in these tough match- es, they also showed something that should serve them in good stead over the remaining weeks of the season: deter- mination and resilience. Both teams fell behind to Langara but were able to battle back and eventually come away with the victory. Basketball The beginning of the basketball season has been an inter- esting one for the men’s basketball team. They began the BCCAA season with two disappointing losses in New Westminster before taking their show on the road, visit- ing the Island and Vancouver colleges over the following two weeks. On the trip, the Royals went a perfect 4-0, moving up the standings, certainly in the playoff picture. Upon returning to Douglas, however, the Royals expe- rienced a let down, losing their next game, falling out of the playoff race for the time being. The Royals certainly hope that they can figure out what the difference is between playing at home and on the road so that they can experience more success when their BCCAA season resumes in January. The team has also experienced some injuries in recent weeks and will look for All-Star Ian Hogan to return to the lineup in January. Unlike the rest of the Royals teams, the basketball team will be busy, playing in a tournament in Alaska the week- end of November 30th. At the tournament, the Royals will face stiff competition, including a team that recently pulled off a major upset as a NCAA Division II school that won an NCAA Division I tournament. Following this tournament, they will head to Idaho for another tournament as the new year begins. After all that, they will hopefully be ready to resume their BCCAA league play on January 17th against the Okanagan Lakers. . For the women’s team this has been a rebuilding year — but the team continues to show improvement in its play and will hopefully turn the season around as BCCAA games resume in January. Rugby The women’s Premier League Rugby team currently sits atop the West Coast Women’s Rugby Association Standings, with an outstanding record of 8-2. They have dominated a number of teams over the past three months and have maintained their status as one of the better Rugby squads in British Columbia. They will look to continue their winning ways once the second half of their season begins in January. The Division II team has also excelled, sitting in 2nd place in the Division II West Coast Women’s Rugby Association Standings, despite having one more point than thecurrent leader, Abbotsford. The U-18 team has already clinched first place in its developmental league play. This would suggest that Douglas can look forward to continued success over the next few years as these players season and join the Premier or Division II teams at Douglas. The men’s sides have not been as fortunate as the women, with the Division I team currently sitting in last _ place in the Fraser Valley Rugby Union, with just one win. The Division II team has fared a little better, post- ing a .500 record in eight games, good enough for 4th place in the league. What I’ve written above is certainly not a complete list of Douglas's athletic activities and I apologize to anyone that I’ve left out. Finishing my first semester as Sports editor of The Other Press, would certainly welcome any comments that readers might have about the coverage that has appeared in these pages over the past three months so that we can continue improving during the upcoming semester. What are we doing well? What would you like to see changed? Is there something you'd like to see in The Other Press next semester? In closing, I'd like to wish everyone a happy holiday and I look forward to returning in January with an even better sports section in The Other Press. page 23 ©