Loyola Soccer Team Left Feeling Jilted

The more Loyola Marymount women’s soccer Coach Gregg Murphy talked about it, the more evident his disappointment.

His Lions seemingly had done the things necessary for an NCAA playoff berth. They went 12-6-1 overall and recorded the most West Coast Conference victories in school history--five--in finishing in a three-way tie for second place.

There were wins over nationally ranked Santa Clara and San Diego. And the Lions finished tied with San Diego and above Santa Clara in the standings.

But Sunday night, as the selections were announced for the 48-team NCAA tournament, stark reality set in for Murphy and the Lions. Santa Clara and San Diego were in, LMU was out. Season over.

“I called our senior captain [Shaina Nishimoto] afterward,” the fifth-year coach said. “She just said, ‘I’m sorry.’ ”

The selection of Santa Clara, the WCC’s fifth-place team, wasn’t as curious as the reasoning provided. The Broncos have reached the final four seven times and have long been considered one of the nation’s top programs. Still, Debbie Warren, chair of the Division I selection committee, said tournament history had not been a consideration.

“You can’t look at history,” she said. “If you did that, [15-time NCAA champion] North Carolina would have come out as the No. 1 seed.”

Santa Clara had a difficult nonconference schedule and went 6-4 against tournament teams. Still, the Broncos had only one victory more than LMU.

Murphy was hardly shocked by the selection of Santa Clara. Before the bracket announcement, he had predicted the Broncos would get in.

But he also thought his team had a strong case. LMU went 3-4 against tournament teams, and two of the Lions’ losses were to Portland and UCLA, two of the top eight seeds.

Another loss was to USC. And although he’d been right about Santa Clara, Murphy didn’t believe it was fair.

” . . . I’m most disappointed for the girls, who played so hard, and for [the NCAA] to take two of the teams we beat . . . “ he said. “It’s hard for me to go into our team meeting and say how they got in and we didn’t get in as well.”

It was a noteworthy season for the Lions. Senior goalie Tracy Sharp tied the WCC record for career shutouts with 33. Junior midfielder Erica Florez made an impact. Freshman midfielder Laura Trask and sophomore forward Jill Dobens combined for six goals and helped solidify LMU’s future.

With all that, Murphy still wonders if it was all for naught.

“The program has come 10-fold in a very short amount of time, but it comes down to whether you can get into the tournament,” he said. “Not being in the tournament is very tough to swallow right now.”

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USC’s Jim Millinder and UCLA’s Jillian Ellis wanted to steer clear of the issue but neither women’s soccer coach could avoid the lure of a match between the archrivals in the second round of the NCAA playoffs.

It can be a reality if the Trojans defeat San Diego today in their first-round match at the Coliseum. UCLA hosts the winner Saturday.

Understandably, Millinder doesn’t want to look that far ahead, facing a tough San Diego team ranked in the top 25. Then again, it could be USC against UCLA with the season at stake.

“Whenever you mention the Bruins, everyone gets excited,” Millinder said Sunday night after returning from a two-game Arizona trip that cinched USC’s berth. “When I told the players that UCLA was in our bracket, they kind of erupted.”

Ellis would welcome a rematch of a 1-1 tie against the Trojans on Oct. 8 at the Coliseum.

“I fully anticipate playing them,” she said. “I’m excited to play them at home this time.”

But the second-year coach is also looking at a bigger picture. The Bruins (15-3-1) could play Clemson in the quarterfinals. Clemson defeated UCLA, 1-0, in the season opener.

“The only seed in our bracket is Clemson and we’d love to have another chance at them,” Ellis said. “But across the board, the level of soccer is going up. Second-round games are now tough games.”

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The Loyola Marymount women’s volleyball team ended Pepperdine’s 28-game West Coast Conference winning streak with a 20-18, 12-15, 15-5, 15-4 upset of the ninth-ranked Waves at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Senior Sarah McFarland, the national leader in total kills last season, had 43 in the match for LMU. It was the sixth time she’d surpassed 30 in a match this season and her third time over 40. Pepperdine, 20-4 overall and 9-1 in conference, had not lost a WCC match since 1998.

COLLEGE DIVISION

Based on its 24-1 record and No. 9 national ranking, the La Verne women’s volleyball team will host the NCAA Division III West Regional beginning Thursday night. But the Leopards’ hopes of an undefeated season were dashed Friday night when Occidental pulled off a 15-8, 15-12, 16-14 upset.

Freshman Alexis Henry played a big part in the Tigers’ win with 16 kills. Another freshman, Cathy Tennis, added nine digs and senior Megan Gravelle had 14 kills.

“The win made our season,” said Occidental Coach Jenna Panatier, whose team finished 16-9. “People probably won’t remember what our record was but they’ll remember who beat an undefeated team.”

La Verne bounced back with a three-game victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and earned a first-round bye. It will play the winner of the match between Austin College of Texas and Cal State Hayward on Friday, with the regional championship game set for Saturday.

Occidental didn’t make the playoffs but got a season’s worth of excitement in one match.

“We weren’t expected to win but our girls came in focused and played some of their best volleyball all season,” Panatier said. “There was a lot of screaming afterward.”

Cal State Dominguez Hills continued its dream soccer season by winning the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. men’s tournament championship with a 3-1 victory over Sonoma State on Sunday in Carson.

Eddie Gonzales-Pinto and Alex Bengard scored goals in the second half to break a 1-1 tie. It was the second consecutive CCAA title for the third-ranked Toros (19-1-1), who will open NCAA tournament play at home Saturday against Seattle Pacific. The winner advances to next week’s quarterfinal against either West Texas A&M; or Metro State of Colorado.

The Claremont-Mudd men’s soccer team, winner of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, earned a berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs and will host UC Santa Cruz tonight. . . . Latesha Jones of Azusa Pacific won the Golden State Athletic Conference women’s cross-country individual championship by edging Concordia’s Tricia Mattson. Cal Baptist easily won the men’s team title with Gabriel Hernandez, Ricardo Godoy and Irving Moreno finishing 2-3-4.