Steve Gress: Honoring Danny Finnen Comments
The tears that Corvallis High senior Annie Spiegelberg tried to hold back were just one example of what Tuesday and Wednesday night meant to soccer in Corvallis.
Spiegelberg was in net as her CHS teammates earned an emotional 3-2 victory over Crescent Valley on Wednesday at Taylor Field.
Prior to the start of the game, her final regular season home game at Taylor Field, Spiegelberg and fellow senior Lani Penner jogged across to the field to present Amy and Danelle Finnen flowers.
Amy lost her husband and Danelle her father in late June when Danny passed away suddenly.
So winning on his night was even more special than it normally would have been.
When asked about the night, the tears tried to escape.
“It was huge,” Spiegelberg said. “I wanted to win this game for him. I think he’d be proud.”
Both nights tugged on the heartstrings of those close to Danny.
CHS boys soccer coach John Callahan had to wipe the tears away after a moment of silence at Crescent Valley on Tuesday before his boys team earned a 4-1 win to clinch the Spartans’ first Mid-Willamette Conference title.
Callahan coached with Danny for several years when Danny was the boys varsity coach.
But the folks at CHS weren’t the only ones Danny touched.
CV girls coach Andrew Donaldson and boys coach Casey Fries both had good relationships with Danny over the years.
They know the impact he had on the soccer community and showed their feelings by shaving their heads in honor of Danny.
After the boys game, the coaches who shaved their heads met on the Field of Dreams for a photo.
It would have been easy for Fries and assistant coach Chris Paradis, who played at CHS, to not want to take part after a tough loss.
Instead, they gathered together for the photo with smiles on their faces.
It’s moments like that where the true essence of high school sports are shown.
It’s what Danny would have done.
“He was a great competitor but always very generous in defeat and when he won,” Fries said back in June after learning of Danny’s death.
Both games were played the way Danny would have wanted. They were played just as the back of the program that was handed out at both games said.
“We honor his memory by the way that we play soccer … with desire, intensity and great effort.”
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