SportsScope : Bruins Take On Dangerous Fullerton in Defense of Soccer Crown

UCLA, defending NCAA men’s soccer champion, will play host to Cal State Fullerton, Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. titlist, in the first round of the NCAA West Regional playoffs at 1 p.m. Sunday at UCLA’s North Athletic Soccer Field.

The Bruins, 15-0-5 with a 38-game unbeaten streak, longest in the nation, are the first UCLA soccer team to finish the regular season without a loss since the 1973 squad. Fullerton, though 8-10-2, has defeated nationally ranked Fresno State and Nevada Las Vegas.

UCLA defeated the Titans, 1-0, at Fullerton on Nov. 5. Last Saturday the Bruins downed Cal State Los Angeles, 1-0, and Fullerton beat Loyola Marymount, 1-0.

The second-ranked Bruins have 11 players in double figures, led by junior midfielder Shaun del Grande with eight goals and six assists for 22 points and freshman forward Lucas Martin with six goals and five assists for 17 points.

Anton Nistl, UCLA redshirt freshman goalkeeper, has 10 shutouts and has allowed just 11 goals in 1,840 minutes, an average of 0.53 a game.

The Titans, who won the PCAA championship with a 2-1 overtime victory over UNLV, are paced by senior midfielder Reid Thibodeau, who has scored five goals and two assists for 12 points.

The No. 4 Pepperdine water polo team will try to clinch the PCAA championship and an NCAA tournament berth when it visits No. 6 UC Irvine at noon Saturday.

The Waves, 21-7 overall and 10-0 in league, have split two meetings with second-place Irvine (7-1 in the PCAA). They lost to the Anteaters, 11-9, at Irvine’s tournament and won 12-11 in Malibu.

Pepperdine Coach Terry Schroeder said that both teams “are capable of scoring, so the difference . . . will be execution on defense. It is also important that we get off to a good start because that tends to hurt an opponent from a psychological standpoint.”

Pepperdine, which defeated UC Santa Barbara, 13-8, and USC, 12-9, last week, will be at No. 3 UCLA at 10 a.m. Sunday. The Bruins have won both meetings with the Waves this season.

The UCLA women’s swim team, fifth-ranked in the pre-season and a winner of three meets, will compete against defending national champion Texas and USC in a two-day meet this weekend, at noon Friday at USC and at noon Saturday at UCLA’s Sunset Canyon Recreation Center.

Last week freshman Missy Herndon led the Bruins to their first Pac-10 Conference win, a 146-122 decision over Arizona State. Herndon posted wins in the 200, 400 and 800 freestyles. Other UCLA winners were Rhonda von Soosten in the 50 and 100 freestyles and Jean Badding in the 100 breaststroke.

Pepperdine’s women swimmers, who lost their opener last week to Pomona Pitzer, 144-120, will be at Cal State Long Beach at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Though the Waves lost the first meet of their second season of competition, it was a far different story than last year when they were drubbed by Pomona Pitzer, 105-37.

Four Pepperdine swimmers set school records and marks also were set in the 200 individual medley and 400 freestyle relays.

Sophomore Jennifer Gutierrez established marks in the 100 freestyle (56.37), 200 free (1:59.01) and the 200 butterfly (2:17.99). Other marks were by sophomore Khoon-Ying Tay in the 50 backstroke (30.29), sophomore Chris Carruthers in the 50 free (25.40) and junior Dianne Cole in the 100 breaststroke (1:16.21).

The UCLA men’s and women’s cross-country teams will compete in the NCAA District 8 Championships on Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno.

The Bruin women are led by freshman Laurie Chapman, who finished second in the Pac-10 championships, and the men by senior Mark Junkermann, who was seventh at the Pac-10 meet. In team scoring, the UCLA women were second behind Oregon and the men were sixth. Arizona won.

UCLA women in the top-20 at the Pac-10 meet were junior Kathy Kiernan, 15th; freshman Laura Chapel, 17th, and senior Annie Seawright, 18th.

The Loyola Marymount women’s volleyball team, in first place in the West Coast Athletic Conference after upsetting Pepperdine last week, will be at Nevada Reno for a conference match Friday night.

The Lions, who had lost at home earlier to the Waves in five games, came from two games down to beat Pepperdine in five at Malibu. Loyola senior setter Andrea Fort had 56 assists and was named conference player of the week, and junior middle hitter Cathy Petrissans led the Lions in kills with 19.

Loyola, 20-6 overall and 8-1 in the WCAC, will play host to non-conference foe Northern Arizona at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Gersten Pavilion.

The No. 9 UCLA women’s volleyball team, tied for first with Stanford in the Pac-10 race, will play in the Wendy’s Classic on Saturday and Sunday at University of the Pacific.

Other teams are No. 2 Pacific, No. 7 Nebraska and USC.

Last week the Bruins (26-8 and 14-1) lost to No. 4 San Diego State in five games and defeated conference foes Oregon State in three games and No. 15 Oregon in four. In the three matches, senior middle blocker Lisa Ettesvold recorded 31 kills, 12 digs, four service aces, three solo blocks and 16 block assists.

The No. 16 Pepperdine women’s volleyball team, 16-13 overall and 7-2 in the West Coast Athletic Conference, will play a conference match on Saturday at Nevada Reno and a non-conference match on Tuesday at No. 9 UC Santa Barbara.

After Loyola dropped the Waves to second in the WCAC, Pepperdine won a road match against No. 18 Texas A&M; but lost at No. 6 Texas.

Jim Harrick will get an idea of how his Pepperdine men’s basketball team will fare this season when the Waves play host to the University of Alberta, Canada, in an exhibition at 7:30 tonight at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

The Waves, who were 25-5 last season and have won two straight West Coast Athletic Conference championships, have only two returning starters, both forwards: 6-8 senior Eric White and 6-7 junior Levy Middlebrooks. The other starters tonight are expected to be junior guard Marty Wilson, a reserve last year; guard Ed Allen, a junior college transfer, and 6-11 sophomore center Casey Crawford, who has no varsity experience.

Alberta, which improved to 5-2 after winning last week’s University of Regina tournament, will start an experienced lineup of four seniors and a junior but lacks height up front.

Junior center Scott McIntyre is tallest at 6-7. Forwards Dean Peters and Mike Suderman are 6-5. The guards are Mike Kornak and Chris Toutant. At the Regina tourney, Kornak was named the most valuable player and Peters was all-tournament.

The Pepperdine women’s basketball team will play host to an alumni squad at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Firestone Fieldhouse. Waves Coach Ron Fortner said he expects his team to improve on last year’s 7-21 record.

The Pepperdine men’s volleyball team, which has won the last two NCAA championships, will play an exhibition with an all-star team from South Korea at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Coach Rod Wilde has four starters from last year’s Waves, who finished with a 22-7 record: seniors Matt Rigg, Rob Scott and Troy Tanner and junior Doug Rigg.

Top freshman recruits are Robert Keller of Pennsylvania, Jerritt Elliott of Palisades High School and Tom Parr of Loyola High.

Performers and coaches from the UCLA men’s and women’s gymnastics teams will demonstrate routines and explain judging procedures at 7:30 p.m. Friday at John Wooden Center on campus. Admission is free.

The Hamilton and University high school cross-country teams, both 3-0 in the Western League, will fight for the league title in their final dual meet of the season at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pierce College.

The UCLA women’s crew will row in the Lido Island Regatta on Sunday at Newport Beach.