8 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, NOV. 6, 2014 EDITOR ASHLEY LEGASSIC SS poris Men's team has first win on the court Langara’s basketball team won their first regular season game against Douglas College last week By NICH JOHANSEN ball team was in top form Hallow- een night, clutching a resounding 92-64 win over the Douglas College Royals in their first regular season game. The Falcons hope to continue their success after a dominating 29-1 overall season record last year that netted them a national championship. They were 5-1 in pre-season play this year. “T thought we played really well,” said head coach Paul Eberhardt on Fri- day’s win. “I think they had trouble with our size.” Eberhardt said that they are looking for a repeat of last year’s success. “TLast season] is tough to improve on, but our goal is to do it again, back- to-back,” Eberhardt said. “We have a very good team again. I think we have the opportunity to do it.” One of the team’s biggest losses this season was point guard Brody Greig. He was named as the Canadian Colle- giate Athletic Association Athlete of the Year across all sports last year. The Falcons have picked up five new recruits this year to fill in the gaps left by the four senior players who left last year. “They’re a bunch of great guys,” fifth-year player Garrett Ling-Lee said. “They’re really fitting into our system so that works really well for us.” Despite the changes to the team, Ling-Lee says strong leadership from the coaches and senior players will be the key to continued success. “We have really big trust in our coaches, they help us a lot,” Ling-Lee said. “Our veteran players were look- ing to step up and provide a lot more leadership to our younger guys.” The Falcons will look for their sec- ond regular season win Nov. 7 at home against the Camosun College Char- gers. Te: Langara Falcons men’s basket- Tay ; a JONATHAN PARKIN photo Langara’s women’s soccer team will be headed to the national championships in Medicine Hat, Alberta, running from Nov. 5-8. The women’s soccer team will be heading to Alberta for nationals By JONATHAN PARKIN fter finishing second place in pro- vincial championships, the Lang- ara Falcons women’s soccer team is in a promising spot for nation- als. Having taken a beating at the begin- ning of the season, they have more than compensated for earlier setbacks by competing hard, finishing next to the Vancouver Island University Mari- ners in the challenging 1-0 final game for provincial championships. They have secured a spot in the na- tionals as a seeded team for the first time, and according to star player Lau- ren Tasaka, they’re hungry for more. “T think our team is closer this year,” four-year veteran player Tasaka said. “We play better together, rather than more individually.” The Falcons hope that their new player-centred strategy will see them to a first-place victory in the national competition. Jake McCallum, director of athletics and intramurals at Langara, said that the team has come a long way. “To get to where they did, they fought,” McCallum said. “For our women’s team, [coach] Ryan [Birt]’s traditionally had a strong program ... this year, the team may have faced more adversity.” Their second place provincial rank- ing has ruffled some feathers, though. “We deserved to win that final game,” Tasaka said. “We kind of got robbed,” she said. However, both Tasaka and her team- mates remained enthused about their chances for nationals. “We have a really good shot,” Khadi- jah Atkinstall said of nationals. Atkin- stall has played at Langara for one year, and was unhappy about the last- minute loss to the VIU Mariners, alleg- edly due to a referee call. “It shouldn’t have happened,” Atkinstall said. The Falcons are prepared for the possible re-match against the Mariners they may face in nationals. “We’re go- ing to destroy them,” Atkinstall said. Having trained and played hard, the Falcons have a challenging journey ahead of them at nationals. There, they will be playing against top teams from all over Canada, but the Falcons aren’t worried about the out- come. “We're going to play hard,” said Ta- saka. “It’s going to be good.” 66 We play better together, rather than more individu- ally LAUREN TASAKA FALCONS’ PLAYER anadian colleges behind in concussion training JAMES GOLDIE photo Although basketball isn’t a full-contact sport, the chance of players getting concussions is still possible. Universities should be doing a better job of educating coaches and athletes on the risks of CONCUSSIONS By JAMES GOLDIE coaches in the United States have received specific training and edu- cation for dealing with concussions. At Langara College, this is not the case. Last week, Harvard University re- leased a study claiming the National Collegiate Athletic Association has not been ensuring that all schools comply with concussion-related policies. However, the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association has no such poli- cies to enforce. “At the PacWest [Pacific Western Athletic Association] of the CCAA we tend to be maybe behind the curve a little bit, or maybe a step behind the NCAA,” said Jake McCallum, director of athletics and intramurals at Langa- ra. F:: the past four years, college McCallum attributed this lag to the considerable difference in staffing lev- els between the Canadian and Ameri- can associations. “IT would not be surprised to see things changing in the not-too-distant future in terms of maybe having poli- cies in place to receive that kind of training,” said McCallum on the topic of concussion education for coaches. In the meantime, the association ad- dresses the issue of concussions in other ways. “The CCAA [does] . . . something along the lines of mandating or making sure that we do have someone like an athletic therapist available,” McCallum said. Jessica Dudas, the athletic therapist for Langara’s sports teams, said Pac- West and the CCAA have done a great job ensuring that someone is present at all games who is qualified to assess po- tential concussions. “They work with us to make sure that player safety is first and fore- most,” Dudas said. The sports played by the Langara Falcons include soccer, basketball, and badminton. They are not full-contact sports, but players can still suffer concussions from “indirect blows” that shake the brain, Dudas said. Mike Evans, head coach of the wom- en’s basketball team and a former box- er, is no stranger to concussions. Last year, he kept one of his best players off the court for two weeks because of a concussion. “fm not taking any chances with anyone who has signs of a concussion,” he said. Although Evans is not formally re- quired to educate his players about concussions, he expressed confidence in their knowledge level on the subject. “I think most athletes have had friends or teammates that have had a concussion if they haven’t had them themselves,” Evans said. & Falcons’ Tally ff MEN'S SOCCER WOMEN'S SOCCER W-D-L W-D-L 5-2-8 7-3-5 Ranked: 5th Ranked: 3rd MEN'S BASKETBALL WOMEN'S BASKETBALL W-L W-L 1-0 0-1 Ranked: 1st Ranked: 7th