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Claire Warthen ('27, left-front) hypes up her teammate during walkouts on Sept. 18, 2024. Photo by Keenan Yoshizawa. Coming into 2025, Willamette women’s soccer found itself in a bit of a scoring vacuum.  Last season, center forward Nina Krassner-Cybulski (’25) bagged a whopping 11 of the team’s 20 total goals on the season, ranking in the top 3 in the Northwest Conference in multiple individual offensive categories. This year, the team has struggled to find an attacking auth

Dream Takemoto celebrates a point at Willamette volleyball's spring tournament on April 5, 2025. Photo by Patricia Krepel. At just 5-foot-3, sophomore defensive specialist Dream Takemoto (’28) may not grab the eye by height, but she is already becoming a driving force for Willamette’s volleyball team. On Nov. 8, the Bearcats clinched a playoff berth at No. 4 in conference. Takemoto led the Northwest Conference in total digs on the regular season, and on Nov. 10, she earned NW

Coward, called up. Art by Adrian Axtell. When Cedric Coward stepped onto the court for Willamette University in fall of 2021, few would have predicted that he might one day hear his name called in the first round of the NBA Draft.  Yet that projection has become reality: in June, Coward was selected 11th overall in the 2025 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers before being traded to the Memphis Grizzlies.  Starting from the DIII level and going to the highest level of prof