The Colleges : Soccer Interest Overwhelms CSUN

If records were kept for fan interest, Cal State Northridge’s appearance as host of the Division II Final Four in soccer would be one for the books.

Northridge sold more than $2,000 in tickets Monday and Tuesday and business is expected to improve as Saturday’s semifinal matches draw closer.

Bob Hiegert, Northridge’s athletic director, can remember only one other athletic event that drew a similar number of phone calls to the school’s athletic department. That was in December, 1982, before CSUN played Chaminade of Hawaii, in a nonconference basketball game.

Chaminade had just knocked off top-ranked Virginia, which was led by center Ralph Sampson, in a tournament in Hawaii.

“We had a big crowd that night,” Hiegert said. “People wanted to see what those guys looked like. But even then there wasn’t the interest that has been shown this week.”

A crowd of about 4,000 is expected at North Campus Stadium for Northridge’s game Saturday night against Oakland University of Rochester, Mich. Florida Tech plays Southern Connecticut State in the other semifinal Saturday afternoon.

Double trouble: Last season Portland State became the first team from the Western Football Conference to reach the Division II championship game. The Vikings lost to Troy State, 31-17, but at least one WFC coach doesn’t expect Portland to stop a game short this time around.

“I’ve thought all along that Portland would probably win the whole thing,” Northridge Coach Bob Burt said.

Portland’s opponent in Saturday’s semifinal is Texas A&I;, which defeated the Vikings, 29-22, in a nonconference game Sept. 24. Portland was playing without several starters in that game, however.

“I think Portland will beat them like a drum this time,” Burt said.

Should Portland win, its opponent in the championship game might be another WFC team, Cal State Sacramento. The Hornets play at top-ranked North Dakota State on Saturday.

“It would be nice if they play for the national championship,” Burt said of the WFC entries. “It would speak very well for a fact I already know--ours is one of the two toughest Division II conferences in the country.”

Football follies: Rumors are flying that Cal State Fullerton is trying to pull out of next season’s football game with Northridge.

The Titans, who are supposed to play host to CSUN at Santa Ana Stadium on Sept. 9, reportedly have received an offer to play a game at Pittsburgh for a large guarantee.

Bob Hiegert, CSUN’s athletic director, said Tuesday that he had not been contacted by Fullerton officials. “I’ve had no call on that,” he said. “What I do have is a signed contract.”

As part of its agreement with Fullerton, Northridge is scheduled to receive a small guarantee--reportedly less than $10,000--to play at the Titans’ home field.

Bowl-bound beat: In the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game at Taft, Glendale linebacker Andres Washington picked off a pass and returned it 19 yards before being tackled.

Washington then jumped up and began celebrating.

A Taft player, obviously irked, grabbed Washington’s shoulder and pointed to the scoreboard which read: Home 32, Visitor 12.

But Washington wasn’t going to let the lopsided score spoil his fun. He began to gyrate his hips and chant, “We got a game next week, baby. We got a game next week.”

The Vaqueros (9-2, 8-1) will play Santa Monica in the Western State Conference Bowl on Saturday.

Taft (6-1) did not receive a bowl invitation.

BBC rating: Northridge is supposed to be strengthening its basketball schedule, but you would never know it. The Matadors’ opponent tonight is Bethany Bible College, a private Christian school with an enrollment of 500.

The school, located in Scotts Valley, Calif., near Santa Cruz, is in its first season as a member of the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics. Bethany Bible used to belong to the tiny Bay Area Intercollegiate Conference.

Considering that Northridge defeated UC Davis, a usually solid Division II team, 103-55, in its opener last Friday, tonight’s game would appear to be a mismatch. A big one.

“They’re not even as good as a lot of the JCs around here,” said one Santa Cruz-area sportswriter who has seen the Bruins play.

Medical report: Riche Swinton, backup running back for Washington State, will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery today to repair cartilage damage suffered in the Cougars’ regular-season finale.

Swinton, a 5-foot-8, 175-pound sophomore from Montclair Prep High, is expected back for the Aloha Bowl in Honolulu on Christmas Day that pits Washington State against Houston.

Swinton rushed for 155 yards in Washington State’s 32-31 Pacific-10 Conference win over Washington in Pullman on Nov. 19.

Tough tigress: Joelle Orton, a forward on the Occidental women’s basketball team, was told Tuesday morning that she had a stress fracture in her left foot to go with her already gimpy left knee.

That night, Orton scored a team-high 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Tigers (1-3) over Master’s College 73-56.

So much for modern medicine.

Staff writers Mike Hiserman and Sam Farmer contributed to this notebook.