Soccer Civil War is Thursday at PGE Park
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 9:18 AM PDT
By Rick S. Alvord
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E-mail this articleThe two most common words uttered at local baseball and softball diamonds this week will be "play ball!" - followed closely by "weather permitting."
But in soccer, it doesn't matter.
Just roll out the ball, wind 'em up and watch 'em go.
The real men of the spring sports season have a busy week, especially in the tight Greater St. Helens 2A where Mark Morris and R.A. Long enter today's action with identical 4-2 league records (tied for second behind Ridgefield).
The Monarchs, who handed Ridgefield its first GSHL loss Thursday with an impressive 4-1 road win, travel to Woodland this afternoon. RAL, meanwhile, has a home match against Hockinson at 7 p.m. at Longview Memorial Stadium.
The Lumberjacks exploded offensively in their last outing, a 7-1 victory over Woodland.
But today is just the warm-up for Thursday's main event. That's when the Monarchs and Jacks take their Civil War rivalry 50 miles down Interstate 5 to Portland's PGE Park.
The admission-free 3 p.m. match will be followed by a United Soccer League match between the Portland Timbers and the Minnesota Thunder. Fans wishing to attend that match must buy $14 tickets, and can help the RAL and MM soccer programs by purchasing them from one of the teams.
Forty-three percent of the profit from tickets purchased from either school will go directly to that school's soccer program. The PGE Park match substitutes for Mark Morris' regularly scheduled home league match against the RAL.
To purchase Timbers tickets, contact MM coach Harold West (425-8215) or RAL coach John Bates (636-7306).
But there also is plenty of diamond action this week - weather permitting, of course.
The two biggest games are Friday. The R.A. Long and Mark Morris baseball teams face off at 6:30 p.m. at Lower Columbia College in the rubber match of the three-game regular-season series. And GSHL 3A champion Kelso, if it wins at Columbia River on Wednesday with ace Trevor May on the mound, will be gunning for a perfect regular season when it hosts River at 4 p.m. Friday.
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