Recap of historic Trojan athletics Fall season

EvCC's volleyball team celebrates after defeating Olympic College Oct. 27, 2022, guaranteeing a spot in the playoffs. Photo by Dan Acosta.

By Garet Studer, Director of Athletics

Fall 2022 was an exciting and historic season for Everett Community College athletics teams, as three teams advanced to the playoffs - the first time in decades for men's soccer - and a fourth team just missed a playoff appearance.

Men's Soccer 

For the first time in 33 years the EvCC men's soccer team advanced to the semi-finals of the NWAC (Northwest Athletic Conference) playoffs in November. Back in 1989, most of the members of this year's team were still 15 years away from being born, George Bush senior had succeeded Ronald Reagan as the President of the United States, a gallon of gas cost 97 cents, and the Berlin Wall was brought down, ending the Cold War. 

The match was played late on Friday afternoon, Nov. 11, against Columbia Basin, a team that statistically had the #1 ranked offense and #1 ranked defense. It was a close match down to the wire, but ultimately CBC prevailed 3-1 and the Trojans finished the season with a share of 3rd place in the NWAC. Despite the loss, the season was filled with accomplishments:

  • The 3rd place finish is the highest since the 1989 squad led by coach Bruce Hansen defeated Pierce College 2-1 in the quarterfinals before falling to Skagit Valley in the semifinals.
  • This was the 5th straight post-season appearance and the third straight season with at least one playoff win.
  • 13 wins ties the EvCC single season overall win total.
  • 23 wins through head coach Kieren Raney's first two seasons is the most by any EvCC men's soccer coach in their first two seasons.
  • 67 team goals scored breaks EvCC's single season goal scoring record.
  • Victor Aguilar, Liam Raney, and Emmanuel Escalante were named Honorable Mention All North Region.
  • Goalkeeper Avary Olson was named First Team All North Region and his 4.5 shutouts ranks 2nd most all time at EvCC while his .806 save percentage ranks 3rd all time at EvCC.
  • Freshman Emmanuel Escalante set an EvCC single season assists record with 12.
  • River Stewart was named the North Region MVP and the NWAC men's soccer player of the year. He set the new EvCC single season goal scoring record with 30 as well as the most career goals at EvCC with 46. River also became the first player in EvCC history to accumulate over 100 points (103) in his career with 46 goals and 11 assists. 

Women's Soccer

The Trojans ended the 2022 campaign with a 6-6-1 overall record and just missed out on a trip to the NWAC playoffs, finishing one point behind Shoreline for 4th place in the North region standings. Everett had an opportunity to clinch a playoff birth for the first time since 2016 with a win over Bellevue in the final match of the season, but it was a tough road contest and Bellevue ultimately came away with the 3-1 win.  

Despite the ending, it was a solid bounce back season for a program that struggled keeping a healthy roster last season, and for second year head coach Nicole Nsa, momentum and a foundation has been built leading into next season. EvCC was led by freshman Elizabeth Martinez who scored 8 goals on the season and also tallied 4 assists to lead the team with 20 points. For her efforts, Elizabeth was named First Team All North Region and transfer sophomore Amy Gonzalez-Rios was also named First Team All North Region, scoring four goals from the midfield position.  

Volleyball

The volleyball team made the playoffs for the first time in 9 years, and as a #4 seed had a tough draw in the first round of the playoffs going up against the #1 overall ranked Linn-Benton CC in Albany, OR. The Trojans lost in the first match, but rebounded to defeat Pierce College 3-1 to keep the season alive and set up a loser-out match against #4 overall ranked Columbia Basin. Everett won the first set but CBC responded to win the next three and move on to the Elite 8. Everett finished in the top 12.

On the season:

  • Malia Shepherd finished with the 3rd highest EvCC single season kills per set number with 3.3, the 2nd highest EvCC single season points per set mark with 4.1, and set the new highest EvCC all time single season record for the most service aces per set at 0.69. 
  • Jayda Grosboll finished with the 2nd highest EvCC single season assists per set number with 7.57, and the 2nd highest career average with 6.97 assists per set.
  • Sarah Campfield finished the season averaging 0.84 blocks per set, not quite surpassing last year's all time single season EvCC record of 0.87 blocks per set. She holds the career record with 0.86.
  • As a team, the Trojans had the second highest team average for points per set with 13.6, and the most service aces per set of any EvCC volleyball team with 2.59.

Cross Country

The cross country teams raced in the NWAC Championships at Chambers Bay on Nov. 12. The men placed 9th overall as a team while the women placed 6th overall as a team.

Every EvCC runner had their best race of the season setting new personal bests:

  • Diadie Diarra shaved 3:46 off his time.
  • Emma Arceo led the women's team finishing 17th overall.
  • Three EvCC women's soccer players also participated in the race to help fill out the team scoring. All three ran in their first ever cross country race, and Elizabeth Martinez even finished 28th of 66 runners.  
  • Liam O'Brian led the men's team finishing 39th overall.
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