COLLEGE DIVISION : Things Only Get Better for Westmont Soccer

Bob Fortosis, men’s soccer coach at Westmont College, says that at the start of the season, he was preparing for the worst.

Never mind that he had an impressive record of 84-15-14 in his first six years as coach of the Santa Barbara school. Fortosis had a bad feeling about this season.

“I thought we were going to be down this year,” he said. “There were times during training camp when this group scared me. I was thinking this team might not win a game.”

The coach felt even worse after the team’s leading scorer from a year ago, forward Rob Ring, broke his leg in training camp and was lost for the season.

It was an ominous sign for Fortosis, who remembered the nightmare of the 1988 season, when the Warriors lost five starters to knee injuries.

“When he broke his leg, I was thinking, ‘Oh no, here we go again,’ ” he said.

But where the Warriors have gone is up.

Fortosis’ team has a 13-1-3 record and is ranked No. 1 in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics heading into the final week of the regular season.

With a victory over Cal Baptist in its regular-season finale Saturday, the Warriors can also wrap up their fourth consecutive title in the 4-year-old Golden State Athletic Conference and would be seeded No. 1 in the NAIA District 3 playoffs next week.

That would also give Westmont an all-time conference record of 26-1. In fact, it has been nearly three seasons since the last time the Warriors even allowed a goal in a GSAC game.

The team’s only loss this season occurred in September against San Jose State, a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division I team. Fortosis pointed out that his team scored all of the goals in that 2-1 game.

“We scored both of their goals in that game,” he said. “That’s a game we should have won.”

But that was one of the few games about which Fortosis could say that this season.

The Warriors have won even though they have only two seniors and two juniors on an 18-player squad.

The coach credits his team’s success largely to the right mix.

“We’ve had some close-knit teams in the past, but the blend on this team has been very good,” Fortosis said. “We’ve never had a team where their abilities and personalities have blended together so well.”

Just as important, he says, Westmont has managed to stay relatively unscathed by severe injuries.

The team did lose its leading scorer, forward Peter Bourland, with a broken jaw early in the season. But Bourland was out of the lineup for only one game.

“We’ve been able to duck serious injuries,” Fortosis says. “I feel like we’ve been one step ahead of the posse when it comes to injuries. So we’ve been able to put lineups together and keep the team going well.”

Although the result has been successful, as usual, Fortosis said his approach has been a little different this season.

Previously, Westmont was content to play in a defensive mode with a 1-0 lead, he said. This year, the Warriors are taking the offensive.

“Now we’re playing a lot faster and taking a few more chances,” Fortosis said.

That accounts for Westmont averaging about four goals a game, although the team’s 0.80 goals-against average is a little higher than usual.

“It gives us better balance than before this way,” Fortosis said. “Last year it was the defense that got us through. I think the hallmark of our team in the past has always been defense. But I think this year it’s been our ability to explode offensively.”

There is also more scoring balance, with 10 players who have scored at least one goal.

The leader has been Bourland with 14 goals and five assists for 33 points; midfielder Darin Fishman with 10 goals and seven assists for 27 points and defender Patrik Persson with eight goals and two assists for 18 points.

Another leader has been midfielder Mike Avery. He and Bourland are the only seniors on the team.

The team’s youth makes Fortosis wonder if the Warriors deserve to be ranked No. 1 in the nation in the NAIA.

Fortosis said that the team has been taking the middle ground when considering the lofty status.

“We’re not playing it down and we’re not being real boastful about it,” he said. “It’s a nice honor. It’s nice to be considered No. 1 by your peers and we’re just trying to make the most of it.”

By the same token, Fortosis said that the ranking puts a heavy burden on his players, especially in district games.

“In our district, the Westmont game is everyone’s biggest game, anyway,” he said. “Couple that with the fact that it’s a chance to knock off the No. 1 team and it makes it very difficult for us.”

Even so, Fortosis says he doesn’t want to trade positions with anyone.

“We talked about it after our last game and we’d still rather be the one they’re chasing,” he said. “We like the position we’re in.”

The Occidental football team continued to make a big impression on the field last week with a 44-14 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

The victory was the fifth in a row for the Tigers, including a forfeit victory over Azusa Pacific, and improved their record to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Occidental has also defeated Pomona-Pitzer, La Verne and the University of San Diego in its last four games.

The question is whether the Tigers, who were ranked No. 5 in the NCAA Division III West Region last week, can make a big enough impression in their last three games to earn a berth in the Division III playoffs.

The Tigers will visit Whittier Saturday night and finish the regular season with home games against Redlands on Nov. 4 and another game with Whittier on Nov. 11.

At any rate, the first-place Tigers are in a solid position to win their third consecutive SCIAC title.

Azusa Pacific competes as an NAIA independent, but the Cougars could probably make a good case for claiming the SCIAC title, considering that they have played four SCIAC teams this season and beaten each of them.

On the field, Azusa has defeated Redlands, La Verne, Whittier and Occidental--although the Cougars forfeited that 14-0 victory over Occidental because they used an ineligible player.

With a loss to the University of San Diego, the Cougars have a 3-2 record this season.

Unfortunately for the Cougars, they do not have any more games this season against SCIAC teams. Azusa’s final three games are on the road against Menlo, Cal Lutheran and UC Santa Barbara.

College Division Notes

The Cal State Dominguez Hills women’s soccer team had a record-setting day in its 8-0 victory over Chapman last week. The Toros, ranked No. 2 in the NCAA Division II and No. 1 in the West, established team records for goals overall and for goals in a single half with seven in the second half. Senior forward Kristi White scored two goals and an assist, becoming the school leader in points and assists. She has scored 80 points in her career and 29 assists. Dominguez Hills, which outshot Chapman, 46-0, has a 15-2 record.