Goals Lofty for Loyola Women’s Soccer

The UCLA and USC women’s soccer teams have advanced to the NCAA tournament this season, but they are not the only area success stories.

At Loyola Marymount Coach Gregg Murphy has been building a program that has been improving the last few years and, after achieving its greatest success this season, has high expectations for 2000.

“We should’ve made [the NCAA tournament] but we messed it up for ourselves. But we’ll be there next year,” goalkeeper Tracy Sharp said.

The Lions finished the season 13-6, the third consecutive improvement under Murphy. The 1997 team won 11 games, the 1998 team won 12.

And this year’s team was ranked nationally, a school first. The Lions reached No. 19 on Sept. 20.

“We set two major goals for this season,” Murphy said. “One was a top-20 ranking. We did that. The other was a postseason bid.

“So we came up just short of our second goal.”

Perhaps the biggest reason for the improvement was Sharp.

For the second consecutive year, the junior was named first-team All West Coast Conference. She had 8 1/2 shutouts, giving her 26 for her career, one short of the WCC record.

“Potentially, she has the ability to be one of the best [goalies] in the country,” Murphy said. “I think a lot of attention to her stats and the record distracted her.”

But she still had a 0.83 goals-against average.

“Shutouts are a defensive thing, not a goalkeeper thing,” said Sharp, who credited her defense for her success. “The defense keeps the ball away from me and I get the shutout.”

And the entire team should be better next year, with only one starter not returning.

Murphy figures his team was only a game away from the tournament, a 1-0 loss to St. Mary’s costing the Lions a bid. The Lions also lost to Portland, 2-1, to end the season.

“For some reason, we let a few conference games slip away,” Murphy said.

Being in the same conference as top-ranked and undefeated Santa Clara, an at-large bid seems the best-case scenario for LMU.

But wanting to instill a winning attitude, Murphy is already making bold statements for next year. “Santa Clara’s graduating class was one of the best recruiting classes ever,” he said. “There’s no reason why we couldn’t take first next year.”

The second-ranked UCLA men’s soccer team (16-2) will host No. 14 San Diego (14-3) on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the North Athletic Field in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. The Bruin women defeated the Toreros in their tournament game Saturday.

When the UCLA women’s soccer team travels to Santa Clara on Saturday for the third round of the NCAA tournament, it could be the last time the Little sisters face each other on the field. Skylar Little is a defender for the No. 14 Bruins, Jacqui Little a forward for the top-ranked Broncos. UCLA’s Jessica Winton was named Pac-10 co-freshman of the year, and USC’s Kim Clark and Isabelle Harvey and UCLA’s Tracey Milburn were named to the All-Pac-10 first team.

USC’s Jewel Peterson defeated Pepperdine’s Cintia Tortorella, 6-1, 7-5, to win the ITA Southern California tennis tournament last weekend at UC Irvine. . . . The USC men’s golf team signed Hunter Mahan, a high school senior in Texas and American Junior Golf Assn. boys’ player of the year. That gives the Trojans the top-ranked amateur boy and girl, with freshman Candie Kung already at the school.

The No. 8 Pepperdine women’s volleyball team clinched the WCC title last weekend and improved to 12-0 in the conference. . . . Fifth-ranked Pacific defeated sixth-ranked Long Beach State, 15-4, 13-15, 15-11, 15-10, Saturday at the Pyramid to clinch the Big West Western Division title and end the 49ers’ winning streak at 14 matches.

The top-ranked UCLA men’s water polo team defeated No. 3 USC, 7-5, in the Bruins’ final regular-season home game Friday. . . . LMU soccer freshman Arturo Torres scored his school-record 16th goal as the Lions tied No. 11 Santa Clara, 1-1, Saturday.

COLLEGE DIVISION

Despite winning the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and having one of Division III’s most potent offenses, Redlands (7-2) was not selected to the 28-team national tournament.

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men’s soccer team lost to Puget Sound, 3-0, in the second round of the NCAA tournament Saturday at La Jolla. . . . The No. 8 Cal Poly Pomona women defeated No. 14 Cal State Dominguez Hills, 4-2, on penalty kicks Saturday in the first round of the NCAA playoffs.

At Saturday’s Division III west region men’s cross-country meet, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ Eli Klovee-Smith, Pomona-Pitzer’s Adam Boardman and Whittier’s Matthew Stuart all qualified for the NCAA meet. In the women’s regional race, CMS finished second to UC San Diego, qualifying for the NCAA meet. Pomona-Pitzer’s Anastasia Finnegan also qualified.

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Best of the Week

FOOTBALL

Doane (Neb.) at Azusa Pacific, Saturday, 6 p.m.

The seventh-seeded Cougars (7-2) begin defense of their national championship on a roll, having put up 30 or more points in five of their last six games.

CROSS-COUNTRY

NAIA championships at Kenosha, Wis., Saturday

The No. 14 Biola men and the No. 13 Azusa Pacific and No. 8 Westmont women have all qualified for the final meet of the season.

NCAA Division I championships at Bloomington, Ind., Monday

The UCLA women make their return to the championships, hoping to improve on last year’s 28th-place finish.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Texas A&M; Commerce at Cal Poly Pomona, Sunday, 1 p.m.

The Broncos play host to a quarterfinal game, the winner going to the final four in early December.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Division II Pacific Regional at Laie, Hawaii, Friday and Saturday

California Collegiate Athletic Assn. winner Cal State Bakersfield will play host to Hawaii Pacific at 2 p.m., with Cal State Los Angeles playing BYU Hawaii after that. The winners play Saturday night.

UCLA at USC, Friday, 6 p.m.

The Trojans and Bruins end the Pacific 10 conference schedule with their second match of the season and the NCAA tournament starting in early December.

MEN’S WATER POLO

Western Water Polo Assn. Championships at Claremont, Friday through Sunday

Loyola Marymount ends its season in the tournament it finished fifth in a year ago.

UCLA at USC, Saturday, 10 a.m.

The cross-town rivals meet one last time in a tune-up for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament, which begins Nov. 26.