A Heartfelt Apology

10/11/10 – Quincy, CA – How do you say I am sorry and reduce a bunch of tough, macho young men to Jello at the same time? Give a free soccer clinic to a group of 8 and 9 year olds. Kristy Brown of Greenville brought her Under 10, third and fourth grade Dominators soccer team out to watch the Feather River College men play against Lassen College on Monday afternoon. The problem was that the word did not get out to them that Lassen had canceled the match and was not showing up.

Coach Don Williams and Brown put their heads together and came up with an impromptu solution to the problem so that there would not be a team of disappointed kids on the afternoon. The men’s soccer team split themselves up and gave the young boys and girls from Greenville a thrill by teaching them a few of their patented skill moves and then playing a pickup game of soccer with them. Sophomore Alex Reyes, Reno, NV, came away with a sense of having done something nice for someone else saying “I really love these kids, they are great.”

“I am so proud of my men” said Coach Williams. “They did not have to stay as long as they did, but they were just having so much fun with these boys and girls that they did not want to stop.”

FRC Lady Eagles Soaring and Scoring

10/05/10 – Redding, CA – The Feather River College women’s soccer team traveled to Redding to take on the Shasta College Lady Knights and walked away with a hard fought 2-2 draw and a well-earned point on the road.
Shasta opened the scoring with a well-placed chip shot over FRC keeper Kirsten Coultas. Coultas the FRC co-captain, is still recovering from a hip injury but came up with 4 saves on the day and cut out another 5 through balls by playing high up in her box. “What I love about having Kirsten in goal is that she plays so confidently high in her box which I know from experience cuts out a lot of goal scoring opportunities that opponents might otherwise have” said Coach Don Williams.
The FRC women went into half time down 1-0 but came out on fire in the second half. The trademark of the FRC team is that they target passes to the feet of their teammates rather than resort to the typical kick and run style of many untrained opponents. “When we pass hard to our targets most teams cannot stop us, discipline is the key and when we do this the game is beautiful to watch” said Williams. The target passing paid off in the 60th minute when the Lady Eagles moved the ball down the field and the ex-Quincy High School combination of Blanca Ruiz to Gaby Naranjo paid off with a match tying goal and her third of the season. Ruiz played the ball across the box to Naranjo who chipped the Knights keeper.
Shasta responded 15 minutes later with a breakaway goal but Feather River was not dismayed. 10 minutes from the final whistle freshman Madeline Ramos struck yet again with her fourth goal of the season by hitting her patented left footed shot over the head of the helpless Knights keeper. Ramos, who led all players with 9 shots on the day, was not done and hit a right footed screamer toward goal the barely skimmed over the crossbar. “I cannot tell you how elated I am with our women, it has been a difficult injury riddled season but they pull together and will not quit” Williams proudly stated.

FRC Men Suffer loss at Shasta

10/05/10 – Redding, CA – For only the third time this season the Feather River College men’s soccer team felt what it was like to lose a match losing 2-1 to the Shasta College Knights. The match was very atypical of the FRC men’s style of play and Coach Don Williams felt that it was due to overconfidence and lack of focus in preparation for the match. Williams was quoted saying “I try to live by and teach the 5 P’s. Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance because the way you train is the way you play. Our men went into the match believing that they did not need to work hard prior to the match, did not warm-up with intensity and paid the price of overconfidence.”
Shasta struck first in the second minute with a well-placed chip over the head of FRC keeper Anthony Wakeford and while FRC would outshoot yet another opponent 6-5 in the first half they could not find the back of the net. The second half the Golden Eagles would start to pull things together and scored a goal off of a long throw in to the head of Cesar Vasquez who flicked it on to Alex Reyes. Reyes headed a rocket ball into the back of the net to tie the score 1-1 in the 60th minute.
The Knights were not finished however and struck the match winner in the 75th minute when FRC second half keeper Jose Felipe came out for a ball only to see a Knight player place it over his head and while Felipe got his hand to the ball the attempt was futile and the ball settled into the FRC goal.
“I hope our men have learned a valuable lesson today, if so it is great to get this out of the way before playoff time rolls around. It is great to be confident but overconfidence and poor preparation can lead to disaster” stated Williams.

Feather River Women Struggle to Get Groove Back

10/01/10 – Eureka, CA – The Feather River College women’s soccer team lost 3-0 to College of the Redwoods and is still struggling to find their early season form after the loss of key player Chelsea Kocherhans who went down with a season ending ACL tear. “I am still waiting for someone to step up and fill her shoes, we have plenty of capable players to do that, but no one has claimed the consistent leadership role yet on the pitch” said Coach Don Williams.
Goal number one came for Redwoods when the ball took a bad bounce off of the rough football field pitch and bounced up to strike the arm of a defender for the Eagles. The official judged that a penalty kick should be awarded and the Lady Eagles found themselves down 1-0 29 minutes into the match. The scoreline would remain 1-0 through the half and the Lady Eagles made a few halftime adjustments that resulted in more second half shots but they could not find the back of the net.
Redwoods would find the Eagles Freshman keeper and Portola native Kayla Healy up to the task of making 5 saves on the day including a penalty kick save in the 40th minute but were able to slot 2 more goals on the day. “We are proud of the way Kayla has stepped in for our injured starter Kirsten Coultas. We sorely miss Kirsten’s leadership on the field but Kayla has done a great job in the net for us” said Williams.
The Lady Eagles travel to Shasta on Tuesday 10/5 to take on the Knights.

Feather River College Men’s Soccer Earns Conference Draw

10/01/10 – Eureka, CA – Playing at what may be the toughest Golden Valley Conference venue, College of the Redwoods, the Feather River College Golden Eagles men earned at 0-0 draw and a crucial point on the road. “That football field we had to play on may be the worst soccer field in the conference, so walking away with a point is not a bad thing” said Coach Don Williams. Coach Williams was referring to the fact that the football field which also serves as the soccer field is very rounded and quite torn up making it difficult to connect passes on the ground which is how Feather River men and women prefer to play the game.
The match turned out to be fairly lopsided in turns of possession time with the Golden Eagles holding on to the ball a whopping 80% of the match and out shooting Redwoods 21-8. “I have no doubt that our men will be more comfortable on our home pitch when Redwoods visits us on Tuesday October 26.
Sophomore Juan Garcia led all players with 4 shots on goal and had the Eagles best 2 chances of the day. Perhaps the best opportunity came when Freshman Alex Reyes, Incline Nevada, crossed a rocket of a ball through the 6 yard box and Garcia flew in sliding in an attempt to knock the ball into the net but this being a game of inches, Garcia had the ball skim off the bottom of his boot and slide just wide of the net. “I think that play typified how we were barely missing the back of the net all game long. The good news is we are creating chances and playing attractive soccer, the goals will come” Said Williams.

FRC men and women open conference play vs Lassen College

FRC Women Lose Conference Opener

09/28/10 – Quincy, CA – What a difference just a few weeks makes. Feather River College women played Lassen College Cougars a few weeks ago and beat them 5-0, this time around with conference points on the line it was Lassen that beat the Lady Eagles 5-1.

“I know we came in overconfident. I warned the ladies to take Lassen seriously but sometimes these lessons have to be learned on the field” said Coach Don Williams “we are injury riddled right now, and that does really hurt our style of play, but that is no excuse for us coming out flat” Williams continued.

It only took 3 minutes for the Cougars to strike with a breakaway down the middle, freshman keeper and Portola native Kayla Healy tried valiantly but could not keep the ball out of the net. “This will sound strange having given up 5 goals but Kayla had a great match. She came up with some key saves and will continue to improve with more training, we are very proud of the way she responded today, this is only first outing of the year” said Coach Williams.

The score line would remain 1-0 until the 25th minute when Quincy local Gaby Naranjo lofted a shot over the Lassen keeper to knot the match at 1-1. The joy would not last long for FRC when just 2 minutes later Lassen hit what would be the match winner off of a free kick from 20 yards out. Lassen would strike for 2 more before the half and one more goal would come in the second half.

The Lady Eagles take on College of the Redwoods on Friday in their continuation of conference play.



FRC Men Open Conference Play

09/28/10 – Quincy, CA – Feather River College men’s soccer opened conference play with a 2-0 win over rivals Lassen College on Tuesday. Winning and losing this match was always going to come down to who defended better and on this day it was the Golden Eagles who only allowed 3 shots from the Lassen College Cougars. First year head coach Don Williams said “I know we are getting a lot of shots and eventually they will start falling in for us, but the question is how good we can get at defending, today was a good start.”

Sophomore Juan Garcia, who led all players with 3 shots on goal, opened the scoring for FRC when he latched on to a pass from Oscar Gonzalez down the left side of the pitch and slotted the ball home from 16 yards out. “We have moved Juan from defending at left back to attacking as a withdrawn striker where we think be most effective” Said Coach Williams. Coach Williams also said Garcia is being looked at by a number of schools including NCAA DI Cal State Bakersfield.

The second half broke into more of a midfield battle between the two fairly evenly matched teams until Freshman Peter Salazar from Incline, NV hit a shot so stunning that it left the spectators and players breathless. Lassen attempted to clear a ball but it came bouncing out to the FRC left back and from 35 yards out Salazar let loose with a laser of a shot that swerved, bent and dipped away from the befuddled Cougars keeper. When the shot finally settled in the back of the net the response from the fans was one of shock. “When I hit it I knew it was struck perfectly, I caught it just off of the outside of my foot” said Salazar.

Feather River College goalkeeper Tony Wakeford was only forced into one save on the day in getting his first solo clean sheet for the season.