Simpson Gains Semifinals in U.S. Senior Amateur Golf

San Diegan Joe Simpson, trying to follow in the footsteps of his son and win a national golf championship, took a giant step Friday by winning two matches to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Senior Amateur tournament.

Simpson, whose son Scott won the 1987 U.S. Open, advanced to today’s semifinals by defeating 1986 Senior Amateur champion Bo Williams of Ocala, Fla., 2 up, and Bob Miller of Bay Village, Ohio, 4 and 2.

Simpson will meet Clarence Moore of Winnsboro, S.C., in one of the semifinal matches at the Milwaukee Country Club. The other will feature James McMurtrey against Melvin Stevens.

Simpson got off to a slow start against Miller. He bogeyed four of the first six holes, including three in a row, and was 2-down after Miller rolled in a 30-foot eagle putt at the par-5 eighth hole. Simpson then won four consecutive holes and six of the next seven, ending the match with a par at the 16th hole.

SOCCER

Marcelo Balboa’s goal with 21 minutes remaining gave 10th-ranked San Diego State a 1-1 tie with No. 5-ranked SMU in a round-robin game of the SMU Letterman’s tournament in Dallas.

Larry McPhail scored 17 minutes into the second half to give SMU (5-1-1) a 1-0 lead. SDSU (6-1-1) will meet Old Dominion today in another round-robin game.

Damian Galancy scored six minutes into the second half to give U.S. International a surprising, 1-0 nonleague men’s victory over Stanford at USIU.

Galancy, a freshman forward, scored after receiving a pass from Rodrigo da Matta. Oscar Rodriguez faced 14 shots to record the shutout for USIU (2-5). Stanford is 6-4.

Mike Bradley scored once and Craig Gross added two assists to lead host UC San Diego to a 3-0 victory over Southern California College. UCSD (6-0-1) is ranked No. 6 in the country in Division III. SCC is 1-9.

SURFING

Danny Connors and Mark Thurston of San Diego led a group of six area surfers who qualified for the third day of competition in the U.S. Pro Surfing stop at Ocean Beach Pier.

Joining Connors and Thurston in the final 48 were Justin Postin of Mission Beach, Doug Silva of Solana Beach, Trevor Christ of Encinitas and Brian Syzmanski of Cardiff.

Two rounds of surfing today will pare the field to the final 16 surfers for Sunday’s final.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

UC San Diego won all four of its matches in pool play to advance to the semifinals of the Pomona Pitzer tournament in Pomona.

UCSD (18-2) had consecutive-game victories over Redlands, Trinity (Tex.), Cal State Stanislaus and LaVerne.

U.S. International University defeated visiting Southern Utah State, 15-2, 15-4, 15-6. The Gulls (2-5) were led by Claudia Johnson with 13 kills and 11 digs.

Fresno Pacific defeated Point Loma Nazarene College (9-7), 15-13, 15-7, 5-15, 13-15, 15-13, in a Golden State Athletic Conference match. Connie Navarro had 26 kills for Point Loma.