The surface of a soccer ball is 20 hexagonal and 12 pentagonal shapes stitched together.
The bonding of those shapes is as strong as the friendship between Eryn Brown, Brittney Oljar and Olivia Lovell from all the years of playing soccer together in Camas.
In 2009, these three Papermaker alums helped the Camas High School girls soccer team finish in third place at the state tournament. Brown and Oljar graduated from CHS in 2010, and Lovell followed in 2012.
On Friday, they reunited at the Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation Complex. Oljar and Lovell helped the Oregon State Beavers defeat Brown and the Portland State Vikings 2-1 in an intense soccer match that went end-to-end for 90 minutes. The Vikings grabbed a 1-0 advantage on a goal in the ninth minute, before the Beavers rallied on back-to-back headers in the 72nd and the 73rd minutes. Oljar tied the game after winning a scramble for the ball in front of the box and nailing it into the net before the goalkeeper could react.
“The ball bounced off one of the opposing players and was just up there spinning kind of funny,” Oljar said. “I was just at the right place and the right time to be able to get my head on it, and put it in.”
Oljar was overjoyed. She turned around and Lovell was the first one to congratulate her — just like their days and nights at Doc Harris Stadium, back in Camas.