It’s Early, but Whittier Exceeding Expectations

It’s still early in the season, but Whittier College’s football team has already made great strides.

The Poets, 1-8 in each of the previous three seasons, upset La Verne, 34-13, in each team’s opener Sept. 13.

They followed that with a 26-20 victory over Menlo last Saturday and are 2-0 for the first time since 1984. The Poets can match their 3-0 start of that season by beating Claremont-Mudd (0-2) at Whittier on Saturday.

Most Division III football observers expected La Verne and Redlands to vie for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title, but Whittier may have changed that thinking in its first game.

Whittier was expected to improve this season with the running of Donjay Hardaway, a 6-foot-1, 245-pound power back. But the improvement wasn’t expected to be so dramatic.

Meanwhile, La Verne lost several important players to graduation, but the Leopards expected to be strong anyway with 11 returning starters.

So is Whittier that good? Or was the La Verne game an aberration?

Probably some of each. La Verne beat Occidental on Saturday, 41-14, to even its record and restore some of its pride.

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The women’s soccer race in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. figures to be a tight one when it starts Saturday.

Cal State Dominguez Hills, a traditional NCAA Division II power, is 6-0 in nonconference play and ranked fourth in the nation. Senior goalie Brandy Kaake has given up only five goals in those games for an 0.68 goals-against average. She also has 40 saves.

Offensively, senior Heather Rolland has seven goals and one assist. She scored five goals in a 5-1 victory over Cal State Hayward on Sept. 13, breaking the school record of four in a game set two years ago by Gwen Nakashima.

Cal Poly Pomona is off to a good start as well, thanks in part to freshman Ruth Van’t Land.

Van’t Land scored all four goals in a 4-3 overtime victory over Azusa Pacific, a strong NAIA team, a week ago. She scored the winner on a header with 30 seconds remaining in the sudden-death period. Van’t Land has eight goals and five assists for 21 points in six matches and Pomona (5-1) is ranked 17th in the country.

Teammate Sarah Strange also has scored eight goals and Mia Alarcon has six.

Cal State Bakersfield features a young but talented team and could also be a factor in the race. The Roadrunners are 4-3 and ranked 25th.

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In men’s soccer, Cal State Bakersfield and Grand Canyon will probably battle for the CCAA title--and the battle starts this weekend when the teams meet Saturday.

Grand Canyon is the defending Division II national champion and started the season ranked second before slipping to No. 10 with a loss and a tie in its first four games. However, the Antelopes have moved to No. 7 after winning three in a row with a roster featuring five international players.

Foremost among them is Yugoslav Milos Tomic. Already being mentioned as one of the best offensive players in the CCAA, Tomic has six goals and five assists and forms a formidable forward tandem with Brazilian Manuel Coelho.

Third-ranked Bakersfield is 7-1, and Pomona is off to a good start as well. The team improved its nonconference record to 5-2 by winning the Sonoma State tournament over the weekend.

College Division Notes

Cal Poly Pomona will play host to a five-team volleyball tournament Friday and Saturday at Darlene May Gymnasium. Also participating will be Cal State Los Angeles, San Francisco State, Sonoma State and West Texas A&M.; . . . Two CCAA women’s volleyball teams are ranked in the top 25 in the Division II poll: No. 3 Bakersfield and No. 11 UC Riverside. . . . Cal Poly Pomona’s men’s cross-country team won the Midwest Collegiate Championships at Wisconsin Parkside in Kenosha, Wis., last weekend. Jose Rangel finished eighth and Rondie Gibbs ninth in a field of 38 teams and 438 runners. . . . UC Riverside will play host to one of the Southland’s more prestigious cross-country meets Saturday at 9 a.m.