Small Colleges / Alan Drooz : After 71-0 Loss, Occidental Can’t Get Out of Iowa

What’s worse than losing 71-0?

How about losing 71-0, then being snowbound in Iowa. That’s the lost weekend the Occidental College football team could talk about after finally escaping late Monday.

The Division III quarterfinal, at Central College of Pella, Iowa, was played on a frozen field in a steady snowfall, an average temperature of 15 degrees and 25-m.p.h. winds, conditions that Occidental was ill-equipped to handle. The Tigers didn’t have the proper shoes for a frozen field and their running game, the basis of their attack, finished with a net of one yard.

The Tigers fell behind so quickly that they were forced to throw in the snow, which led to five interceptions and five fumbles. If Central hadn’t missed six extra points it would have been 77-0.

Then after the massacre, the Tigers couldn’t get out of Iowa.

“Basically everything that could go wrong did,” Coach Dale Widolff said from Des Moines Monday. “No sour grapes--the way we played we’d have lost indoors, too.”

Widolff added, however, that Central, which is ranked second behind Augustana, isn’t 11 touchdowns better than Occidental. “We still feel last year’s game (a 23-22 Central victory) is more indicative,” he said. “The teams are pretty much the same (players). We’re both better than a year ago. They’re definitely not 11 touchdowns better.”

Widolff, who finally made airline arrangements Monday despite a foot of new snow in Des Moines, said he wasn’t sure how big a factor the weather played in the game. “We had a lot of trouble with traction. We didn’t have proper shoes for a frozen field. We finally switched to tennis shoes, but it was too late,” he said. “Basically we fell behind and that forced us to throw. Under those conditions, they got some turnovers.”

The game was played at Central because of “revenue potential,” but Widolff said the game was virtually without spectators. Central has generally played its playoffs at home despite the wintry weather. “We don’t understand it either,” Widolff said. “You’d have to ask the NCAA why.”

Thanks to the missed extra kicks, the loss did not represent the largest margin of defeat in Occidental history. The Tigers lost a 1904 game, 78-6.

Cal State Northridge will be the host team for the NCAA Division II women’s Western Regional volleyball tournament this weekend and it’s basically a family affair.

Friday’s first-round games will involve three teams from the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.--top-rated Northridge, No. 4 Cal Poly Pomona and No. 8 UC Riverside. The lone outsider is St. Cloud State from Minnesota. Friday’s first-round matchups are Northridge (24-9) vs. St. Cloud (38-8) at 6 p.m., and Pomona (28-9) vs. Riverside (24-8) at 8.

The championship game will be played at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. There will be no third-place game. The winner will move on to the NCAA semifinals at Portland State, home of the defending champion.

Portland State and Cal State Sacramento, the nation’s No. 2 and 3 teams, are competing in the Northwest regional at Denver. The other regionals are being held in Omaha and Huntsville, Tex.

The University of LaVerne women will make their second straight appearance in the NCAA Division III volleyball quarterfinals when they travel to Colorado Springs to take on Colorado College Saturday.

LaVerne (19-14), finished the regular season rated 15th. The Leopards advanced through the first round of the playoffs by beating Claremont-Mudd and nemesis UC San Diego, which had won seven straight from LaVerne including last year’s Division III semifinal and two regular-season matches this year.

“You lose to a team seven times in a row, something emotional happens,” Coach Jim Paschal said. “We beat ‘em three in a row on their home court. And we were pretty confident going in.”

The Leopards sport two Division III All-Americans--outside hitter Shauna Hinrichs, a senior from La Puente, and setter Michele Galagar, a junior from Long Beach.

Colorado College is ranked in the top 10. The winner of that match will advance to the final four at a site to be determined, probably in the East. Other quarterfinal matchups are Cortland State of New York against Juniata of Pennsylvania, Elmhurst of Illinois against Illinois Benedictine, and Wisconsin LaCrosse against Western Maryland.

There won’t be many busier gyms than the one at Cal State Northridge Saturday. The school already had a women’s gymnastics meet and a men’s basketball game planned when it was awarded the women’s volleyball Western regional.

The school will try to squeeze in all three sports, starting with the six-team gymnastics invitational at 11 a.m. The men’s basketball game against Westmont is scheduled for 4 p.m., and the championship of the volleyball regional is set for 7:30.

“At 11 p.m. we collapse,” a school spokesman said. He added that starting times are approximate. “If you expect to see the tipoff at 4 p.m. or the first serve at 7:30, you may have to wait 15 minutes.”

Darlene May’s Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team will play its most prestigious home stand of the season this weekend, meeting Fresno State Friday and USC Saturday. The defending Division II national champions are moving the games to Kellogg Gym, the school’s largest arena, in anticipation of big crowds.

May has a 9-3 record against USC but lost big at the Sports Arena last year. The USC game will begin at 7:30. The Fresno State game is set for 6 p.m., preceding a men’s game against Fresno Pacific.

Small College Notes Freshman Tony Akins scored 35 points in his second basketball game for Cal State Dominguez Hills, breaking the school single-game record. The 6-6 center made 12 of 16 shots and 11 of 12 free throws. The Dominguez Hills program is in its ninth season. . . . Despite falling in the first round of the Division III regional playoffs, the Claremont-Mudd soccer team finished at 17-2-2, giving Coach Steve Davis his 12th straight winning season and his 10th SCIAC title. . . . Midfielder Leanne Petersen set a Cal Poly Pomona scoring record in the season-ending 10-0 soccer victory over Redlands. She scored times in 10 shots on goal, also a school mark. . . . Cal Poly Pomona volleyball star Clara Piersma has been named to the College Sports Information Directors of America District 8 academic All-American team. That puts her on the national ballot for academic All-American. . . . Northridge placekicker Mike Doan set school season records of 15 field goals and 71 points. Quarterback Chris Parker tied or broke 25 school records, among them total offense, 2,773 yards; most passes thrown, 424, and most completions, 232. . . . Claremont-Mudd sophomore Bob Moore was named most valuable player of the eight-team National Invitational water polo tournament. He scored 16 goals in the tournament and totaled 100 this season. UC San Diego won the tournament.