Fast Break Sports Report: Leslie Shevlin out, Bearcats struggle early across the board

Art by Carolyn Vasquez.

Hello, Bearcat Fan. Welcome back to the Fast Break Sports Report, Willamette’s premier sports recap and existential musings column. Summer has once more faded into technicolor memory and the winds of maturity obscure your Dionysian abandon, which can only mean one thing: fall sports are back and raring to achieve! Let’s go to the news ….

Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Associate Leslie Shevlin has gone back east to become the (inhale) senior associate athletic director for compliance and sports supervision at Williams College in Massachusetts (phew). After three years as AAD for the Bearcats and 12 years on staff, Shevlin now oversees 12 programs for our purple bovine friends. 

Football is hopefully preparing diligently for their rematch against La Verne, the only school they were able to defeat last season. They play at home on Saturday. 

Austin got the better of women’s soccer (0-1), who then scraped out a draw against Redlands (2-2). 

After fleecing Corban (4-1), men’s soccer found only disappointment down in California. A missed penalty secured their loss to Cal Lu (1-2), and Occidental went on a tear, starching the ‘Cats (1-4).  

Volleyball has won one of four preseason matchups thus far. They have five more test matches before the conference season begins on Sept. 17.First-year Sofie Szigeti (‘28) led the Bearcats at the Mt. Shasta Tinman Triathlon, taking 15th. The team won’t compete again until Sept. 22 in Santa Cruz, where they will round out the second of only four scheduled meets this fall. 

Lastly, both cross-country teams took sixth of 15 at the Linfield Harrier Classic. 

In the world of sport: Soccer and football are back, and the Oregon State Fair wrapped up on Labor Day after a small car demolition derby, two rodeos and several other statewide contests of the equine variety.

Consider in the coming weeks: How are you going to get outside this fall, and alternatively, can you imagine Sisyphus happy?