UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK / JOHN WEYLER : Late Slump Finishes Women’s Soccer Team
The NCAA women’s soccer berths were released Monday morning and guess who didn’t make the draw?
Irvine, which lost four of its last five games to finish 12-4-3, will play no more in 1995. The Anteaters’ late-season free fall sealed their fate and their absence from the postseason scene is hardly a surprise.
“In soccer, it’s a little different,” Irvine Coach Marine Cano said. “It’s not just your record. How you finish is very important. So I refuse to complain because we didn’t deserve to go.”
Only five teams advanced from the West Region, arguably the most talent-laden in the country. Six and sometimes seven teams from the West have made the NCAA draw in the past.
This time, there were some shocking admissions and omissions.
The five West teams that will compete in the playoffs are Portland (17-0-2), Stanford (16-3), Santa Clara (14-3-2), UCLA (14-3-2) and Washington (11-7).
What happened to the University of San Diego? San Diego (10-6-1) was ranked No. 4 in the West last week. Irvine and UCLA (which the Anteaters defeated), were tied for sixth. Washington was eighth.
“San Diego had an absolutely great schedule and a number of key wins,” Cano said. “How are they left out? That is very, very, very unusual. That concerns me very much. Now, I’m not so sure we would have gone even if we had won our last two.
“When I was in Division II [at Cal State Dominguez Hills], you never really knew [about the postseason] until you were on the plane. But this is Division I, it should be more solid, the criteria should be more objective.”
Fullerton Coach Al Mistri can’t have been surprised when he saw who had been granted NCAA berths Monday morning. He saw it coming.
Saturday night, after the Titans beat Irvine, he said: “It’s bull that Irvine won’t be going and a team with seven losses will. It’s all very political. They’ll say that those were seven good losses, but you tell me what a good loss is.”
Washington Coach Lesle Gallimore obviously has explained it in length to fellow members of the regional advisory committee.
*
Just wait: Cano is convinced NCAA selection cliques wouldn’t be a factor for Irvine next season. The Anteaters defeated three top 20 teams and put together the best record in school history in 1995 with six freshmen on the field most of the time. The whole team returns except senior forward Kim Kaitanjian.
“My disappointment is not of failure, it’s a disappointment that this young team deserves more,” Cano said. “They put in an incredible effort from the first day of practice until the last minute of our last game. They were just so focused.
“We told them it was a developmental year and they said the heck with the developmental process, we’re going to win right now.”
With forward Nicole Bucciarelli leading the way with a school-record-tying 12 goals, freshmen accounted for 26 of Irvine’s 36 goals. Sophomore Tracie Manz had seven of the other 10. And freshman midfielder Simone Ferrara led the team with eight assists.
Even as the Anteaters went 0-4-1 down the stretch, the offensive barrage never ceased. They outshot their last five opponents, 101-65.
“These little babies created so many offensive opportunities, it was scary,” Cano said. “And even when the ball wasn’t bouncing our way at the end, when a young team might have become frustrated, they never gave up.
“Every coach that played against us knows that we’re the team of the future.”
*
Health and welfare: The entire men’s basketball team practiced together for the first time Monday.
“I wouldn’t say everyone is healthy, but everyone practiced,” Coach Rod Baker said. “We’ve got plenty of pains and bruises, but we’re healthier than we’ve been since practice started [Oct. 15].”
The Anteater coaching and medical-support staff is doing its best these days to minimize the effects of those nagging injuries.
Baker has issued a new edict this season: no player shall return before his time. He is not allowing injured players to begin practicing again until they are fit to stay up with the rest of the team for an entire practice.
And first-year trainer Jeff Landskov is doing his part.
“Jeff has been absolutely great,” Baker said. “Everyone is doing whatever they can aerobically, on the stationary bikes or the stair-climbing machines. He really stays after them.
“Hanging around the training room these days is no fun at all.”
Anteater Notes
The women’s soccer team eclipsed three school records this season, including most consecutive victories (11), best winning percentage (.711) and fewest goals given up (20). Freshman forward Nicole Bucciarelli tied records with at least one goal in four consecutive games and 12 goals in a season. Junior goalkeeper Stephanie Boes set the school record for career shutouts (21) . . . The water polo team suffered its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation defeat Saturday, a 9-8 overtime loss to Pepperdine. The Anteaters, ranked No. 3 in the nation, play Long Beach State at Belmont Plaza at 7 tonight and play host to No. 2 UCLA at noon Saturday at Heritage Park . . . The men’s and women’s cross-country teams will be competing in the NCAA District 8 championships Saturday on the Lewis River Golf Course in Woodland, Wash. The top two men’s and women’s teams and the top three individuals who are not members of qualifying teams will automatically qualify for the NCAA meet Nov. 20 at Ames, Iowa. The Irvine women’s team won the Big West Conference title Oct. 28 and the men finished third.
UCLA’s Keri Phebus, the 1995 NCAA champion and the No. 1 singles player in the country, will be the top-seeded player as action begins Wednesday in the Rolex-International Tennis Assn. Southern California Women’s Regional tournament. The tournament, which runs through Sunday, will be played at Anteater Tennis Stadium with some matches scheduled for the Racquet Club of Irvine. Five of the top-20 doubles teams in the nation, including No. 2 Kelly Spencer and Amelia White of UC Santa Barbara, will be participating . . . The men’s basketball team, which has played one regular-season afternoon game in four seasons, has five consecutive afternoon tipoffs to open the season. The Anteaters begin play with two afternoon games Nov. 24 and 25 in the Joe Lapchick Memorial Tournament in Jamaica, N.Y., then travel to Oregon State for a 2 p.m. game Dec. 2. Their home opener against Eastern Washington is scheduled for noon and they have a 3 p.m. start at USC Dec. 16.
