SPORTSCOPE : Azusa Pacific Gridders Aim at an Official Four Wins in a Row

The Azusa Pacific University football team, which has won three games in a row, will try to continue its winning ways when it visits Menlo for a nonconference game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Azusa finishes the season with three road games, including Menlo. The Cougars play Cal Lutheran and UC Santa Barbara in the following two games.

The Cougars will face a Menlo squad that has a 2-4 record. The Oaks have lost four games in a row, including a 35-0 setback to St. Mary’s last week.

Azusa, 3-2, has actually won five games in a row although only three count as official wins by the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics. The Cougars had to forfeit a game against Occidental because of an ineligible player. Azusa also defeated the Cal Poly Pomona club team, although victories over club teams are not recognized by the NAIA.

Still, the Cougars have appeared strong in wins over Redlands, La Verne and Whittier. The team defeated Whittier, 31-6, last week behind a strong second-half passing effort from quarterback Brian Hunt. He completed eight of 14 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns, both to wide receiver Keven Griffin.

Azusa Pacific has been led on defense by a strong linebacker corps that includes Jeff Gustin and Phil Heppner, the team’s leading tacklers.

In other games matching four-year colleges Saturday, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps plays host to Redlands and La Verne visits Pomona-Pitzer in 1:30 p.m. games and Occidental visits Whittier at 7:30 p.m.

The Azusa Pacific men’s basketball team has accepted an invitation to represent the United States in the annual Cup of the Americas tournament on Nov. 6-11 in Puerto Rico.

The Cougars, a member of the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics, will be joined by five teams from Puerto Rico and squads from Brazil and Belgium.

“We think this is a tremendous opportunity to represent the NAIA and our nation,” Azusa Pacific Coach Terry Layton said. “It’s a rare opportunity for our kids.”

Elon of North Carolina, another NAIA team, won the tournament last year.

Layton said the Cougars were selected because of his experience as an international coach, including a season in the Puerto Rican professional league, and because most NAIA teams in the East start their season early, making the tournament difficult to attend.

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s soccer team will have a pair of difficult assignments when it faces Cal State Dominguez Hills and UC Irvine today and Saturday.

The Broncos, who have struggled to a 5-9-2 record as an NCAA Division II independent, will play host to Dominguez Hills at 7 tonight and visit Irvine at noon Saturday.

Pomona will face a Dominguez Hills squad that entered the week with a 15-2 record and is ranked No. 2 in Division II. The Toros have an explosive offense led by senior forward Kristi White.

Irvine has also struggled with a 5-9-3 record but the Anteaters are a Division I team and have played a difficult schedule.

Pomona has been led offensively by midfielder Melissa Rogers and forward Amy Johnson.