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Pios earn nod in NCAA Tourney, host Trinity Friday

THE PIONEER LOG SPORTS

MARCH 1, 2013

PHOTO BY HANNAH PRINCE

PHOTO BY HANNAH PRINCE

Sara Villanueva (13) takes flight, cashing in on the easy layup after stealing the ball from from a Whitworth player.

BY ROCKY MCNEFF SPORTS EDITOR After a spectacular conference season, the Pioneers womens basketball team hosted George Fox on Thursday, Feb. 21, for the Northwest Conference Tournament Semi-Finals. Competing against their biggest rivals, Lewis & Clark brought home the win by a score of 75-59. It was a rough start to the riveting contest as the Bruins took the early lead, while the Pios struggled to put a point on the board. After being down 9-0, the women managed to score 18 unanswered points within six minutes. Fueled by a court filled with orange and black suited students, parents and faculty, the Pioneers ceased to give up their lead as Katie Anderson (14) helped push the team to victory with 20 points. Being able to cut the net from their home court and hold up the shining plaque that they earned gave the women confidence to pursue their opponents in the NWC Tournament Championship against Whitworth.

The finals took place on Feb. 23, in Pamplin Sports Center as fans dressed themselves in grey to match the Pioneers alternative home uniforms. The Whitworth Pirates came out ready to perform against the number one-seeded Pioneers, as they quickly grabbed the lead from the Pios in the first half. The two teams showed tremendous amounts of effort while running up and down the court, but the Pioneers could not compete with Whitworth putting down almost every shot they took. Despite Katie Anderson (14) and Kristina Williams (15) contributing 16 points, LC could not hold their own as the Pirates took the game into their own hands. The fans continued to rally behind their team regardless of the looming defeat that was ahead of them. Pushing hard until the last second, the LC womens basketball team lost the contest against the Whitworth Pirates; however, the team was chosen to play in and host, the first two rounds of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III National

Championship Tournament. The NCAA selected LC to be the host school because of the cost of flying the other teams to another location. This way, only two of the teams will fly down, while Whitman drives to compete. Although LC is hosting, the NCAA receives all profits from ticket sales, tickets will be covered by ASLC for LC students and $10 for adults. Starting with Trinity (TX) Friday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m., the Pioneers will have to step up and show their true competitive colors. The women will need to focus on playing hard the whole game and make sure that we are dialed in to the game plan, because with playing harder teams in packed arenas they will need to communicate well on the court with each other and the coaches, said Casey Zinn (15). V.
FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 7:30 P.M. PAMPLIN SPORTS COMPLEX

Soft Impact
NFL TRIES TO SALVAGE SPORT
BY PETER MELLING STAFF WRITER Safety has always been an issue for the National Football League. From the development of the first facemasks to the 1978 rules that allowed the development of the passing game, the NFL has tried to pay attention to the well-being of their players. But these issues are nothing compared to the predicament of concussions and mental health in former players, which could cause the collapse of American football. The dangerous nature of the NFL is well known. At the moment, the NFL and helmet maker Riddell Sports, Inc. are staring down a series of lawsuits from over 3,000 former players who claim that the two entities are responsible for brain damage caused while playing football. This lawsuit has gotten a great deal of media attention, especially after the suicide of former linebacker Junior Seau and the discovery of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disorder that results from a significant number of concussions, in recently-deceased NFL players from the 60s and 70s. Commissioner Roger Goodell has tried to combat this issue with tighter safety regulations and high player fines for violations, but these have had little effect to improve player safety. The NFLs desperation to improve safety has become so pertinent that they have been willing to look towards other leagues for ideas. The latest plan that the NFL is proposing to increase player safety is to implement the field standard from the Canadian Football League. This plan would increase the field size from 300 x 160 feet to 300 x 195 feet, which analysts claim would open up the playing field and reduce collisions. However, these analysts are ignoring a basic truth; concussions are still a problem in the CFL. Several CFL players have joined in the NFL lawsuit and CTE has been discov-

ILLUSTRATION BY KELSEY GRAY

ered in several autopsied brains of deceased CFL players as well. Opening up the field would do little to alleviate the concussion problem, and there would still be players suing the NFL for the problems associated with CTE. Unfortunately, the problems in

football go deeper than the size of the playing field or passing rules. Football, no matter under what set of rules it is played, is intrinsically dangerous. The basic defensive maneuver is the tackle, which often results in a blow to

the head no matter how stringent the safety rules are. Better equipment and a wider field might be able to help the situation, but there is no permanent fix. Players will still get concussions and the game will still suffer as a result.