UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK / ROBYN NORWOOD : Baker’s Juggling Will Bring the Hoyas Here

It started out simply enough.

UC Irvine Coach Rod Baker thought he could make a few adjustments to a basketball schedule he wasn’t too pleased with--and at the same time pull off a coup by getting Georgetown to play at the Bren Center.

So he started tinkering. Before long, he admitted, “it got out of control.” He was agreeing to switch dates on some games, offering to find substitutes for Irvine in others, even committing to substitute for the team that had agreed to substitute for Irvine.

By the time he works out one more kink--”It’s not done yet,” he cautions--Irvine’s schedule won’t look much like it did in March, when the whole business started.

He did get Georgetown--though in the process he feared he might have scheduled himself right out of the Disneyland Freedom Bowl Classic, which Irvine hosts with the Orange County Sports Assn.

When the scheduling headache was pounding hardest, Baker had two working schedules: One had 30 games, one had 21. The NCAA allows no more than 26. Neither one would do.

“In all these situations, somebody would have to do somebody a favor. That’s where it got out of control,” Baker said. “It’s kind of like a family tree. All of a sudden you found cousins you didn’t know you had.”

It has been tedious, but Baker is one favor away from having a final schedule. And at this point, he’s not above begging.

The Freedom Bowl Classic lives, with Irvine, Georgetown, Hawaii Pacific and Southern California College in the field. In one of the moves that upset the entangling schedules, San Diego State backed out after Baker switched the date to accommodate Georgetown. Baker searched high and low for a team that still had an open date before coming up with Hawaii Pacific.

Now, instead of going to the Hoosier Classic at Indianapolis--which conflicted with the dates Georgetown could come west--Irvine is going to the Kansas City Basketball Classic, where the Anteaters could meet Kansas. So Baker has traded a potential game against Indiana for a potential game against Kansas.

And instead of having a fairly relaxed travel schedule, Irvine will make two East Coast trips--one to Boston University in December and one to Long Island to play Hofstra in February.

The main drawbacks of the schedule are that Baker didn’t manage to get rid of two of his tougher nonconference games--at Tulane and at Houston--and that the Anteaters will play perhaps as few as two home games before Jan. 23.

That’s all if Baker gets the favor he’s hoping for.

The whole business has been an interesting exercise for Baker, who as an assistant used to watch his bosses juggle schedules with seeming ease to accommodate television.

“Unless you have to do it as an assistant, you don’t really give it a lot of thought,” he said. “Someone walks in and hands you a schedule.”

Hardly, in this case.

“It just became overwhelming,” Baker said. “There were too many factors involved. Too many different people making concessions--or not making concessions.

“Something happens every day.”

The women’s soccer team is wearing the initials “T.C.” on their jerseys in memory of Terrie Cate, a freshman who died Aug. 22 after collapsing during a six-mile training run.

A psychologist has met with the players to offer counseling after the death of their new teammate.

Cate’s parents, Webb and Shirley Cate of Escondido, have continued to support the team, and attended Irvine’s home opener against Santa Clara Saturday at Crawford Field, which ended in a 2-2 tie.

The Anteaters finished with the best record (12-7-1) in the history of Irvine women’s soccer last season. They have started this season 0-1-1 and they will be trying to repeat their success without leading scorer Molly Lynch, who is sitting out the season because of a back injury.

Kevin Smith, already Irvine’s all-time leading scorer in men’s soccer, is back for his senior season. He had three goals and six assists last season, despite missing six of the team’s 19 games because of an ankle injury. He has 50 points--and counting--in his career. He scored in Irvine’s season-opening 1-0 victory over The Master’s College Saturday.

With Smith out part of last year’s 9-10 season, the team’s leading scorer was David Weidner, who had five goals and three assists as a junior.

Chris Taylor is back at goalkeeper after recording four shutouts and a 1.58 goals-against average last season as a freshman.

There is one particularly notable addition to this year’s team: Jason Smith, Kevin Smith’s brother, has transferred from Orange Coast College after helping the Pirates win the State championship as a fullback last season.

The women’s volleyball team, which won its Anteater Invitational last week for the first time since 1988, was picked sixth in the Big West Conference preseason poll. It might not sound like much, but it is the highest Irvine has ever been selected.

The Anteaters were 10-17 last season, 4-14 in the Big West.

Four reasons for the optimism are seniors Scotleen Risley, Wendy Kohler, Anastasia Arnold and Kris Puttler.

Risley, who had 218 kills last season, has led the team in kills the last two years.

Anteater Notes

The cross-country season opens Saturday with the Cal State Fullerton Invitational at Carbon Canyon Regional Park in Brea. The men’s team--which was revived after a fund-raising effort this summer--is still recovering from its uncertain status. “We may compete this Saturday at Fullerton, but we will use it more as a fun run,” Coach Vince O’Boyle said. “If I can get five guys squared away, we will be there.” . . . The water polo team will compete in a scrimmage tournament Saturday at Cal State Long Beach.