College Division / Mitch Polin : Soccer Player Isn’t Too Old to Keep Trying

There are times when Wahyu Tanoto of Cal Poly Pomona says he feels like an old man on the soccer field.

Of course, it’s easy to feel that way when the next-oldest player is about nine years younger.

Tanoto, who will be 32 in early November, is also one of the oldest players competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s Division II.

That could potentially be a considerable disadvantage for Tanoto on the field, although that would be difficult to conclude from the way he has played for the Broncos over the last two seasons.

A forward and midfielder, the senior led Pomona last year with five goals and 11 points.

Tanoto, who has scored one goal in his first five games this season, admits that his age is finally starting to catch up with him.

“The age probably holds me back a little,” he says. “It’s not easy staying with the good, younger players. I have to work that much harder just to keep up.”

For that matter, at 5 feet 5 inches and 150 pounds, Tanoto does not have any size advantage, either.

But Tanoto says his experience in the sport before he arrived in Pomona helped him prepare for the challenge of playing against much younger players.

A native of Indonesia, Tanoto has an extensive background in soccer. He started playing in 1970 in his hometown of Jakarta and competed for the Indonesian national team from 1981 through 1985. He still competes for a Jakarta club during the summer.

He said it was a loss to North Korea in a World Cup qualification game in 1985 that moved him to come to the United States to pursue a college education.

“I was thinking of coming here anyway, but after we lost in the qualifications for the World Cup, I decided it was a good time to come here and continue my studies,” he said.

Tanoto arrived in the United States in September of 1984, settling in Alhambra and enrolling in English language classes and an American culture program at Cal State Los Angeles.

“The first two years were pretty hard for me,” Tanoto said. “It’s hard adjusting to a new place and not knowing the language. It’s been especially hard with picking up the slang words in the language. Sometimes it’s hard for me to get the whole meaning of the words people say.”

Fortunately, he says most of the initial language barriers are behind him.

And in soccer, there have not been nearly as many problems.

Tanoto first enrolled at Glendale College, where he was named Western State Conference player of the year and was a junior college All-American for two consecutive years.

As a sophomore at Glendale, he said, he was recruited by other Division II schools, such as Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Dominguez Hills, but says he selected Pomona because it is an easy commute from his Alhambra home.

He says he might have been able to play in Division I, but NCAA rules restrict players older than 24 from competing at anything higher than Division II.

But Tanoto, who is majoring in finance and expects to earn his degree by December, has no qualms about playing in Division II.

Or competing against players a lot younger. In fact, he said his age provides him with inspiration.

“It’s better for me because there’s more competition playing with younger kids,” he said. “It challenges you more. It’s nice to know I can still compete with the younger players.”

Goaltender Nikki Busch of the Cal Poly Pomona women’s soccer team knows how to make a good first impression.

Busch, a senior who played softball with the Broncos for four years and was an all-conference player last season, made her first two appearances in goal for the soccer team two weeks ago and came away with shutouts.

Pomona tied UC Irvine, 0-0, in her first game before shutting out San Francisco State, 2-0. The streak ended when Busch allowed two goals against NCAA Division II power Cal State Dominguez Hills in a 2-0 loss last week.

Still, it was not a bad start for a player who hadn’t played soccer since she was a senior at Don Lugo High in Chino in 1985.

It has not been the best of seasons thus far for College Division football teams in Southern California.

Four weeks into the season, only one team--the University of San Diego--is undefeated. The Toreros improved to 3-0 with a 30-13 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps last Saturday.

The only other teams with winning records are Occidental and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 2-1. Next best are Cal State Northridge at 2-2 and Pomona-Pitzer at 1-1.

Going into the season, Occidental and Azusa Pacific were expected to contend for playoff berths in their respective divisions--Occidental in the NCAA Division III and Azusa Pacific in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics’ Division II.

Azusa Pacific (1-2) got its first official victory Saturday, after an opening loss to San Diego and having to forfeit a victory to Occidental (2-1) because of an ineligible player. Azusa Pacific defeated Occidental, 14-0, on the field. Occidental’s first victory on the field was Saturday, 24-14 over Pomona-Pitzer.

College Division Notes

After 10 consecutive losses over the last two seasons, the Cal Lutheran football team finally ended its skid with a 44-9 win over La Verne last Saturday. The Kingsmen are 1-2. La Verne dropped to 0-2. . . . Coach Sue Gozansky of the UC Riverside women’s volleyball team, who is in her 20th season with the Highlanders, reached a milestone recently with her 400th coaching victory. Including the team’s victory over USIU last week, Gozansky has a 403-214 record. The Highlanders (12-3) are ranked No. 1 in the latest NCAA Division II coaches’ poll. . . . UC Riverside is one of five California Collegiate Athletic Assn. teams ranked in the Division II top 20. Cal State Northridge is No. 4, Cal State Bakersfield No. 10, Cal Poly Pomona No. 16 and Chapman No. 20.

Cal State Bakersfield is off to its fastest start ever in men’s soccer with a 9-0 record, including victories over NCAA Division I opponents California, UC Irvine and USIU. The top scorer for the Roadrunners is freshman Jeremy Gunn, a forward from Humberside, England, who has 12 points. . . . Cal State Dominguez Hills has also started the season with a 9-0 record in women’s soccer, including shutouts in its last four games. The Toros, who are ranked No. 4 in the nation in the NCAA Division II and No. 1 in the West, are led by forward Kristi White and goaltender Chris Pezzulo.

The Cal State San Bernardino women’s soccer team has won only two of its first six games but its record is a little deceiving. The Coyotes have lost to NCAA Division II powers Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State Hayward, Division III power UC San Diego and the University of San Francisco--a Division I team. San Bernardino competes in Division III. . . . Lisa Boyer, who guided the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo women’s softball team to second place in the CCAA and a berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs as interim coach last season, has been named the team’s permanent coach. Selected as the CCAA coach of the year, Boyer directed the Mustangs to their highest conference finish in five years and a 32-18-1 overall record.