UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK / JOHN WEYLER : Polowski Wondering Where Soccer Will Take Him Next
If he played basketball, P.J. Polowski would be looking forward to a salary cap he could wear like a platinum crown. The signing bonus alone would be equivalent to winning the lottery.
Even if he just kicked footballs, he probably would be looking forward to making almost $1 million a year.
But Polowski is making his mark in collegiate soccer. He is the No. 2 goal scorer in the nation, putting the ball into the net 18 times in 16 games. In two seasons since transferring from Orange Coast College, he has equaled UC Irvine’s all-time scoring record with 70 points. This week, he probably will break it during one of the Anteaters’ final three games of the season.
Then comes the burning question: Where to now?
“Right now, I really have no idea,” he said. “I hope it doesn’t end. It is kind of weird. What do you do with a hot streak when the last game ends?”
Coach Derek Lawther has some suggestions, if not all the answers. And he is sure of one thing: Polowski should do anything he can to extend the ride.
“He’s got to do something right away,” Lawther said. “He’s got to keep this momentum and try to maintain the flair he’s got going right now.”
There aren’t a lot of options at the moment. Lawther believes Polowski has a good chance to play professional indoor soccer--”He’s tall, but he turns very quickly with the ball and that’s what you need in that league,” he says--but the Continental Indoor Soccer League doesn’t start until next summer.
“I’ve played indoor for fun and I love it,” Polowski said. “I never really thought about playing it professionally, but a lot of the guys I know who are playing say it’s not really such a big jump as you might think.
“It’s different. It’s a lot quicker. It’s not who’s fast, it’s who can get five yards the quickest. There are some recreational indoor leagues around the county and I’m going to jump into those fun leagues just to keep in touch with it.”
Lawther plans to talk to Salsa General Manager/Coach Rick Davis, who once played for Lawther on a club team, but Polowski would probably do more sitting than playing for the first year or two at the American Professional Soccer League level.
And then there is Major League Soccer--a new pro league in the forming stages--but nobody is paying or playing yet.
Polowski definitely will play for a Costa Mesa club team, but that pace is a level below collegiate and he needs to make a step up, not down. He’s keen on the idea of going to Europe to play soccer, a year-round addiction in that part of the world, of course.
“I can get him fixed up in Europe for a few months if that’s what’s needed,” Lawther said, “but I’d like to see him play here if possible, everyone’s beginning to know him and to talk about him around here and it’d be nice to springboard off of that.”
Here, over there, anywhere would be the cat’s pajamas for P.J. So Polowski will work to stay fit and confident.
“Most of the guys say that when the season’s over, that’s it for them,” Polowski said, “but I really hope it’s not for me. Getting paid to play soccer would be incredible.
“I’d love to go overseas and play, even in the lower divisions. You’re still playing the game you love and getting paid for it. Can you imagine waking up in the morning, going to a couple of practices or playing a game and then going home and saying you did your job?
“People always say, ‘Get into an occupation you’ll enjoy.’ Well, for me, that’s the ultimate description of having a job you love.”
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How does he do that? After scoring 11 goals last season, Polowski figured to be a well-marked man this year. The double-teams have done little to stop the scoring spree, however.
“I think I got more (scoring) chances last year, but this season, I’m making the most of the opportunities,” Polowski said. “And there are different players around me this year. I’m getting more one-on-one situations because Rich Breza is in the middle and he’s marked by two or three guys because he’s winning everything.
“Plus, I’m the type of player who manages to be in the right place at the right time a lot. I’m able to anticipate plays before they happen. I see how things can go wrong and I’m prepared to capitalize.”
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No fun run: The Big West Conference cross-country championships are scheduled this weekend at Utah State, a pretty little campus set in the Wasatch Mountains.
Almost 5,000 feet in the Wasatch Mountains.
“If you’re not going to go up there and spend weeks adjusting, you just go in and race,” Coach Vince O’Boyle said. “If you’re not in shape, you’ll feel the oxygen debt. But with the shape we’re in right now, studies show that you’re not going to be affected that much if you’re there for a short period of time.
“You have to change your race strategy a little, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”
That’s easy to say when you’re not the one gasping for air. But O’Boyle has reason to feel good about the conference races. The Irvine women’s team is one of the favorites to win and the men’s team, almost a nonentity two years ago because of budget cuts, is back and pushing the conference leaders.
“On the women’s side, it should be between UC Santa Barbara and us,” O’Boyle said. “Santa Barbara runs really well as a pack. I’ve been holding (sophomore Laura) Monson back, but I think we’ll let her go out and do her thing and then the rest will try to match up and break them up.”
The Anteater women are talented but not very experienced. Three of their seven competitors are freshmen. Only one is a senior.
“It can break down to a bunch of one-on-one races,” O’Boyle said. “The girls all know each other and who they have to beat, but we’re going to try and focus on ourselves. We’ll do what we do and if we’re with Santa Barbara, fine. If we’re ahead, great. If we’re behind, don’t panic, just start to go after some people.”
Santa Barbara and host Utah State are co-favorites in the men’s race, but a second- or even third-place finish would be special for O’Boyle.
“If these guys race the way they work out, it would surprise me but it wouldn’t shock me if they won it,” O’Boyle said. “They have worked incredibly hard to prove this program is coming back.
“Being a program that has no scholarships and beating any program that does will be fun in itself. But with these guys, who are out here because they want to be and for no other reason, it will be very satisfying.
“We’re taking guys to this conference meet who have never been recruited in their lives. We gave them a uniform and a pair of shoes and they’ve run with them.”
Anteater Notes
Myron McNamara, who was head tennis coach at Irvine from 1966-79 and guided the Anteaters to six Division II titles, has rejoined the staff as an assistant to Steve Clark. “It wasn’t a hard decision,” McNamara said. “I love tennis. I love working with young people. And this is what I do.” . . . The men’s and women’s basketball teams will make their public debut Sunday between 3 and 6 p.m. during blue-and-gold scrimmages in the Bren Center. Admission is free.
