Azusa Women Dream Big in Soccer

Kendra Payne understood the importance of Azusa Pacific’s game against Westmont for the NAIA Region II women’s soccer championship.

The winner would get a spot in the NAIA national tournament. And if the results of recent years held form, the winner would also be the favorite to win the national title.

“In my freshman year, we lost all our matches to Westmont,” Payne said. “My sophomore year, we won all of them. But last year, we lost all the meetings to them. Earlier this year, we tied them and we really wanted to beat them.

“Whoever has had the winning record between us has won the national championship.”

Azusa Pacific, the 1998 NAIA champion, took a step toward claiming another title Saturday by defeating Westmont, 2-1, in sudden-death overtime.

Rachel Evans’ goal--only her third of the season--against Warrior goalkeeper Kristen St. Clair in the game’s 112th minute helped earn revenge for the Cougars’ 2-1 loss in last year’s national semifinals. Westmont eventually won the title.

Both teams are at St. Thomas University in Miami this week, on opposite sides of the bracket. Today, Azusa Pacific (17-2-3) plays Tiffin of Ohio in the round of 16, while Westmont (14-3-2) faces Trinity International of Illinois.

Payne, a senior, said Saturday’s match seemed like a title game.

“We always have tough games against Westmont,” she said. “It was such a great feeling to finally beat them. When we scored, it was like we were at nationals. Everyone was going crazy.”

Payne assisted on Chrissy Sanford’s first-half goal that gave Azusa a 1-0 lead. But Payne has been an impact player for the Cougars for four years.

With 22 goals and 18 assists, her 62 points are a Golden State Athletic Conference single-season record. Her assist put her into fourth place on the all-time NAIA scoring list.

The numbers are nice but a title would be nicer for Payne.

“When we won in 1998, the seniors said the best thing to happen in their career was to go out on top,” she said. “That’s been the motivation for me this season.”

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Azusa Pacific earned an NAIA football playoff berth for the third consecutive season and will play at MidAmerica Nazarene of Olathe, Kan., in the first round. Ironically, the Cougars (6-3) face the Mike Redwine-coached Pioneers (10-1). Redwine was a finalist for the Azusa Pacific opening two years ago, but lost out to current Cougar Coach Peter Shinnick.

Redlands won its second consecutive Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship with a 52-10 victory Saturday over Occidental. Brandon Ford scored four touchdowns and Chad Hustead caught two scoring passes from Clay Groefsma. The Bulldogs, who finished 7-2 overall and one game ahead of Whittier in the SCIAC, did not receive a Division III playoff invitation.

The second-ranked Cal State Los Angeles women’s volleyball team will host the Division II Pacific Regional beginning today. The Golden Eagles, who finished the regular season 30-0, will play either Seattle Pacific or Cal State San Bernardino on Friday. The regional final is Saturday. . . . The top-ranked Cal State Dominguez Hills men’s soccer team will play this weekend against West Texas A&M; in the Division II quarterfinals. Alex Bengard scored two goals in the Toros’ 4-0 victory over Seattle Pacific in the first round.

Senior Eli Klovee-Smith became the first Claremont-Mudd-Scripps male runner to win the Division III West Regional meet. He qualified for the national meet for the third time, while the Stags also qualified by winning the team event. Claremont-Mudd sophomore Ellie Irons took fourth overall in the women’s race and will also run Saturday at Spokane, Wash.

UNIVERSITY DIVISION

As he listened to the NCAA men’s soccer selection show Monday, UCLA Coach Todd Saldana was much more nervous than usual.

Instead of being concerned with where the Bruins would be seeded this year, Saldana wondered if they would get into the tournament at all.

The Bruins need not worry anymore. They will play Saturday night at San Diego in the first round.

“It was a relief,” Saldana said. “This was one of the first years in a while for us where it was truly left up to the committee in terms of getting in or not.”

It has been a roller-coaster ride for UCLA (12-6) this season. The Bruins were ranked first, defeated defending champion Indiana and started the season 8-0. But injuries and inexperience took a toll during Pacific 10 Conference play and they lost six of their next eight games.

Saldana said the terrific start might not have been the best thing for the Bruins.

“I think it’s human nature for our young guys to let their guard down,” he said. “They had so much success at the beginning that maybe they were starting to think that it was going to be as tough as it gets.”

UCLA’s 1-0 victory last Friday over Stanford, which was ranked No. 1 by Soccer America, probably clinched the NCAA berth. McKinley Tennyson Jr. provided the goal in the 112th minute on a penalty kick after being taken down by a Stanford defender in the penalty area.

“In terms of the [Stanford] match, it was another strong win for us,” Saldana said. “It’s one match but it did factor that they were No. 1 in the country.

“Last year, [the committee] clearly rewarded teams for playing a tough schedule. Beating Stanford made it hard for them to ignore us.”

The UCLA women’s swimming and diving team stunned No. 1 Arizona, 159-140, in a dual meet Saturday at UCLA. Freshman Sara Platzer won the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events and senior Beth Goodwin had an NCAA-qualifying time of 54.41 in the 100 butterfly. UCLA also dominated the diving competition . . . . USC junior Andrew Park won the ITA Region VIII South tennis championship with a 6-2, 6-4 victory Sunday over Jean-Noel Grinda of UCLA. USC sophomore Jewel Peterson defeated Arizona’s Michelle Gough, 6-4, 6-3, for the women’s title after upsetting UCLA’s Sara Walker, the nation’s third-ranked player, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, in the semifinals.