On Sunday morning, April 12 the Central Oregon Community College Bobcats and the Oregon State University-Cascades Beavers participated in a friendly but competitive, ‘fútbol’ / ‘futebol’ (soccer) match on Mazama field at the Bend Campus.
The match consisted of 11 players on each team, The soccer match was part of the La Copa del High Desert, which translates to,The Cup of. The event was organized by COCC and its Latinx Student Program Coordinator, Claudia Bisso-Fetzer. The event also included a lunch-in for students, faculty, and staff, which featured several native authentic dishes from Latin America: Soup: Barley and Lima Bean Soup (Colombia), Lomo Saltado (Perú), Calabacitas (México), Sizzle: Choripan (Argentina), Gallo pinto (Costa Rica).
The La Copa del High Desert event’s main purpose was to bring COCC and OSU-Cascade, staff, faculty and students together, “We have several (COCC) students that are first generation, and they’re going to transfer to OSU Cascade, and I think this is a great way to bond with OSU Cascade students,” said Bisso-Fetzer. Bisso-Fetzer also emphasized that the event went beyond the scores.
This isn’t the first time that Beavers and Bobcats have participated in cross-community events. Last year there were volleyball and basketball games, but it only involved the students. For this year’s soccer match, faculty and staff from both colleges were invited to participate. When asked whether Bisso-Fetzer would cheer for the Bobcats or the Beavers, she said “That’s a hard question because I really love… I’m rooting for the support for the well-being of all my students. So as OSU-Cascades and COCC, I’m rooting for the well-being of both. So, okay, go Bobcats, go Beavers.”
Nathan Moses, associate director of student life at OSU-Cascades, and the Beavers coach for this match, expressed excitement for this match between the Beavers vs Bobcats, “Absolutely, absolutely. It’s fun. We did the basketball and volleyball last year. So, it’s a really good start, and this is now sort of our spring rendition of it. So, we hope that the battle in the high desert keeps building some momentum.”
During the first half and second half, the Beavers and Bobcats each displayed their soccer skills on a wet, and semi-muddy field, even though there wasn’t a significant drop-of-rain that fell during the game. “It was really fun. I really liked it. Everyone, a lot of people were slipping the slides and everyone was laughing. So it was a great joy being out here. No rain, so that was nice. And everyone was cheering everyone on. So it was really fun,” said Beaver’s captain, Sarah Venegas.
Bobcats captain, and first-time playing college soccer, Geraldina Villanueva shared her experience and the teams, “Oh my goodness. Yes, it was for sure on the left side of the field, it was like mud puddles everywhere. And I think both of our teams slipped. So overall, we did get soaked. But I mean, at the end of the day, we came here, we had fun. We know the weather was going to be like this, but we still made the best out of it.”
When all was settled, the OSU-Beavers had won the La Copa del High Desert, with a score of 8-4 (Beavers-Bobcats)
The beavers coach, Moses shared his thoughts on the high desert win, “we had a lot of talent out there for the first time that I didn’t realize. It was pretty fun to watch them play, but ultimately, again, it’s just they had so much fun collectively, and that’s what was the most important part.”
Even though the COCC Bobcats didn’t overcome the Beavers, Villanueva, the team captain, expressed the overall community-bonding in the event, “I think it was great. I think overall we just like had so much fun with each other and even though we lost today, I still think of it as a win because we were able to join as a community, come out here, play together, have fun, and now we’re going to go enjoy some food.”
