SportsScope : La Verne Looking for 2nd Win, Takes Aim at the Sagehens

After winning its first game of the season in dramatic fashion last week, the University of La Verne will try for its second victory against Pomona-Pitzer at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Claremont.

La Verne, which defeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (20-17) on a 43-yard field goal by Craig Herrera on the last play of the game, will take a 1-4 overall record and 1-2 record in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play into the game.

Pomona-Pitzer, which suffered a humiliating 70-16 loss to Occidental last week, is 0-2 in conference play and 0-4 overall.

La Verne’s strength this season has been its passing attack led by quarterback Mark Brown, who has thrown for 538 yards and 2 touchdowns but has been intercepted 10 times. Brown’s favorite target is wide receiver Anthony Grove, who has 15 receptions for 196 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Pomona will counter with the top receiver in the conference in senior Dan Daley, who has 33 catches for 298 yards. With 17 receptions in his team’s loss to Occidental last week, Daley is 12 away from the all-time NCAA Division III lead in receptions.

Unfortunately for Pomona, the Sagehens also have the worst defense in the conference. They have allowed an average of 397.5 yards a game including 529 against Occidental.

In non-conference games Saturday, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (0-5) will try for its first win of the season when it hosts Menlo at 1:30 p.m. and Occidental (4-1) visits the University of San Diego at 7:30 p.m.

Claremont tied Occidental for the SCIAC title last season but the Stags have struggled this year. The Stags have a good offensive player in quarterback Mike Pembroke, third in the conference in all-purpose yards with 502 (421 passing, 81 rushing).

The problem has been the Claremont defense that has allowed 150 points and an average of 374.2 yards a game.

The Cal Poly Pomona men’s soccer team, which captured its first win of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. season with a win over Chapman last week, faces a tough match-up against Cal State Dominguez Hills in a conference game at 1 p.m. Saturday in Pomona.

Dominguez Hills, 9-4 overall, entered the week tied for second in the CCAA with Cal State Northridge at 3-1. Pomona is 5-7-3 overall and 1-3-1 in the conference.

The Broncos earned their first conference win with a 1-0 decision over Chapman last week. Coach Otto Rieger said his team’s problem has been on offense.

“You can’t win if you don’t score goals,” Rieger said. “The team is playing well and we have excellent chances but we have not been able to finish the job. At this point, I think it’s a mental thing. We have too good a team not to be scoring.”

The Broncos have been led on offense by forward Tanoto Wahyu, a transfer from Glendale College who has 5 goals and 11 points. Rieger would also like to see more scoring from forward Johnny Lima, who was second in the CCAA in scoring last season but has only 3 goals this year.

“Johnny has yet to come out of his scoring slump,” Rieger said. “He knows what he needs to do but he hasn’t been able to get it done.”