COLLEGE NOTEBOOK MARTIN BECK : Chapman Making a Bit of Noise in Water Polo

As the head of Orange County’s stealth water polo program, Chapman Coach Jon Pendleton has a tough recruiting sell.

Although situated centrally in one of the richest talent pools in the nation, Chapman must depend on walk-on players to fill out its roster.

“It’s hard to sell because of the price of the university and the fact that most people don’t know we have a water polo team,” Pendleton said.

Another drawback is the lack of an on-campus pool; the Panthers practice and play home matches at nearby Orange High School.

But Pendleton, in his second year as coach, can already point to some progress. This season, his recruiting efforts landed two players--Jason Gaw of Sunny Hills High and Anthony Hustler of Homestead High in Cupertino.

Gaw and Hustler are two of four freshmen getting significant playing time.

The nucleus of freshmen--the others are Scott Penttila, from Seattle, and Miles Takahashi, from Cerritos--have helped make the team twice as fast as the one that went 12-18-1 last year, Pendleton said.

The Panthers are 6-11 entering their tournament this weekend at Orange.

Balancing the speed of the freshmen is some senior experience. Scott Boen, a redshirt senior who played on the Panthers’ first intercollegiate team, is the two-meter man. Scott Law plays two-meter defense, using his 205 pounds (he’s 6 feet 5) to wear down opponents.

Derek Piester, a transfer from Ventura College, takes over for Boen or Law when either needs a break.

Chapman broke a six-match losing streak Sunday, defeating the Claremont-Mudd junior varsity, 14-11, in the Caltech water polo tournament. The Panthers then beat Caltech, 17-13, for fifth place.

Chapman opens its tournament--the round-robin Chapman Classic--with a 7:10 a.m. match Saturday against Whittier. The Panthers also are scheduled to play Dayton and a club team from San Diego State Saturday. They will play junior varsity teams from Claremont-Mudd and UC Riverside Sunday.

The Chapman women’s soccer team, which had won five consecutive matches before tying 19th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona, 0-0, in overtime Wednesday, has another tough contest Saturday when the Panthers play host to Cal State Dominguez Hills, the top-ranked team and defending champion in NCAA Division II.

Dominguez Hills defeated Chapman, 6-0, this season in Carson. Senior forward Stasi Dimassis, who already holds the Chapman career scoring record, continues to lead the Panthers (6-3-1, 0-1-1) in scoring this season. She has 12 in 10 matches and with nine remaining could threaten the single-season mark of 22 she set as a freshman.

Southern California College will hold to its annual cross-country invitational Saturday morning, playing host to runners from USC, Pepperdine, Christ College Irvine, Chapman, Mount St. Mary’s, LIFE Bible, Whittier and Biola.

The SCC men are paced by Jason Schaefer, a freshman from Mt. Clemens, Mich., who finished third at the Westmont Invitational, running 27 minutes 45 seconds for eight kilometers. The leading woman is Nikee Pool, a freshman from Great Bend, Kan., whose best time was 19:05 for five kilometers at the UC Riverside Invitational.

Notes

The SCC races--women’s at 9 a.m.; men’s at 9:45 a.m.--will start near the Newport Beach-Costa Mesa YMCA and be run in the Newport Back Bay. . . .SCC’s Jason Schaefer finished third at the Christ College Irvine Eagle 5000 Saturday. Schaefer covered the five kilometers in 15:48, 11 seconds ahead of his coach, Bryan Wilkins. John Koningh, an Irvine chiropractor, won the race in 14:05, a course record.