COLLEGE DIVISION / ARA NAJARIAN : Master’s Schedules to Play Soccer Later

The Master’s College is somewhat of an enigma in men’s soccer.

For three consecutive years, the Mustangs have begun the NAIA District 3 playoffs with losing records.

And for three consecutive years, they have walked out of the playoffs as the District 3 champions.

This year, The Master’s began the playoffs with a 5-10-1 record and as the fifth-seeded team. On Sunday the Mustangs defeated top-seeded Fresno Pacific, 2-0, for their third consecutive title.

Fresno Pacific was ranked No. 10 in the nation. To get to the District 3 final, the Master’s defeated No. 15 Westmont in the semifinals and unranked Southern California College in the first round.

What is the deal here?

For the most part, it is tough scheduling.

Mustang Coach Jim Rickard has a 22-20-2 record at The Master’s because he consistently schedules teams from higher divisions for stronger competition.

The Master’s nonconference schedule included Division I schools UC Irvine, Cal State Northridge, Loyola Marymount; Division II schools at the Humboldt State tournament and Division III opponents UC San Diego, Menlo College and Seattle Pacific.

Tougher competition makes the team better, Rickard figures.

But there’s another reason behind Rickard’s scheduling. The NAIA uses a power-rating system to judge which teams will make the playoffs. Called the Longo system, it gives teams points for each game played, varying on the difficulty of opponent, site and the goal ratio.

“So I get more points for losing to a Division I team than I do for beating NAIA or Division II teams that aren’t that good,” Rickard said. “Therefore, our record may not be impressive, but it helps to make the playoffs and the thing is, we’re fighting to play in the nationals. We know how fun that is. So we have the attitude that we will win District 3.”

The Master’s also benefits from a team of international backgrounds that brings a diverse and experienced style of play. The Mustangs have players from Argentina, Austria and Jamaica.

“It helps, but we also have really good American players,” Rickard said. “I didn’t recruit (the international players). Two came because their fathers came here to go to The Master’s. A couple came because our previous coach (Mark Schubert) spoke fluent Spanish and that helped with their adjustment. It just happened. But we’re not an internationally dominated team.”

Maybe not, but The Master’s is a District 3-dominating team.

It was close, but Claremont-Mudd won its 11th consecutive Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference water polo title by defeating Redlands in overtime Sunday at Whittier College, 13-12.

The victory makes Claremont-Mudd, which has won 110 consecutive conference games, the fifth-seeded team in the Western Water Polo Assn. tournament at Pomona-Pitzer this weekend. Redlands will be eighth-seeded.

The Western Water Polo Assn. is what the NCAA calls an “allied conference,” meaning that, although schools may be part of another conference, they are part of an associative tournament whose winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.

UC San Diego is the top-seeded team and is expected to win the tournament for the third consecutive year.

The tournament started in 1982 as a vehicle for getting the winner an automatic bid to the playoffs, the feeling being that many of the Western Water Polo Assn. schools were competitive with, or better than, the Eastern schools that were being invited.

Claremont-Mudd has won the tournament three times, but the last time was 1987--the year before the winner received an automatic NCAA bid.

“Realistically, I think we might have a shot at third (in the tournament) this year,” Claremont-Mudd Coach Mike Sutton said. “We have a real good shot at having our first 20-win season since 1988, which was the last time we were ranked. If we can finish third, that means that we will have beaten some real good teams and that should get us ranked (in the top 20).”

Claremont-Mudd is ranked No. 20 with a 19-9 record. The Stags will face UC Riverside in the first round of the tournament at 7 p.m. Saturday. Riverside is 2-1 against Claremont-Mudd this season. Redlands will play UC San Diego at 3 p.m.

Chris Powell, who scored eight goals against Redlands on Sunday, leads Claremont-Mudd into the tournament.

College Division Notes

La Verne quarterback Willie Reyna appears to have broken his own NCAA Division III record for completion percentage. Last season, Reyna completed 63.7% of his passes. This season he completed 64%, which appears to be a record. However, not all schools have finished their seasons and submitted their totals to the NCAA. Reyna, a senior, led the SCIAC in nearly every passing category for the second consecutive season and finished his career with 4,712 yards. This season, he had 23 touchdowns and 2,169 yards passing. . . . Redlands will advance to the NCAA Division III football playoffs after defeating Occidental, 35-3, for the SCIAC championship. Sean Cheatham rushed for 153 yards against Occidental and finished the regular season with a conference-leading 1,263 yards. The Bulldogs will travel to play Wisconsin La Crosse on Saturday. . . . Cal Baptist defeated Westmont in four games for the NAIA District 3 volleyball championship. . . . Azusa Pacific’s women’s soccer team lost to Seattle, 6-3, in the first round of the Western Regionals, but won its consolation game, 1-0, over Pacific of Oregon to finish third in the tournament.