September 27, 2007

College Notebook: Mustangs hope to keep ‘surprising’ wins coming
Picked to finish fifth in the Big West, Cal Poly takes a 5-1 record into conference play Saturday at Fullerton

By Brian Milne

The Cal Poly men’s soccer team’s fast start might come as a surprise to Big West Conference soccer fans, considering the Mustangs were picked to finish fifth in the preseason coaches’ poll.

But the Mustangs’ 5-1 mark— the league’s best heading into the start of Big West play—hasn’t surprised Cal Poly’s second-year head coach.

“Our goal has been to win every single game,” Paul Holocher said after Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Cal State Bakersfield. “We’ve put ourselves in a position to win each game, and we’re not counting ourselves out of competing for a Big West title.”

Cal Poly, off to one of its best starts as a Division I program, opens conference play on the road Saturday at Cal State Fullerton (4-3).

The Mustangs’ 5-1 start is their best since going 5-1-1 to open the 1998 season when they finished 11-7-2. Cal Poly went 6- 0-1 in 1995 when it finished 11-6-1 and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time.

Cal Poly’s nonconference record is percentage points better than emerging contenders UC Davis and UC Irvine, both of which are 5-1-1 through seven matches.

No. 20 UC Santa Barbara is 3-3-2 heading into the conference opener at UC Davis.

Cal Poly, however, is not as road tested as many of the Big West’s best having gone 3-0 at home and 2-1 away from Alex G. Spanos Stadium where its averaging 1,658 fans a match.

“We know it’s going to be tough because we’re a young team, but we have shown we play well at home,” Holocher said. “Now we have to go on the road and see if we can pull off some of these upsets.”

Cal Poly has been led offensively by sophomore Daniel Cumming, who assisted on the game-winning goal against Cal State Bakersfield. Cumming currently ranks 28th among Division I players in points (1.67) and goals per game (0.67).

Junior goalkeeper Eric Branagan-Franco leads the defense with a Big West-best four shutouts.

Running in the Hall

Former Mustangs distance star Teena Colebrook is the only non-football player who will be inducted into the Cal Poly Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday.

Colebrook, along with former Mustangs football players Mark Davis, Burton Chad-wick, Chris Thomas and Dale Creighton, will be enshrined during a Hall of Fame ceremony at the Embassy Suites in San Luis Obispo. The five inductees, first announced in May, will be honored at halftime of Saturday’s 6:05 p.m. Hall of Fame Game between Cal Poly and Northern Colorado at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

Colebrook was a 13-time NCAA Division II All-American in track and field. She also won seven NCAA titles and still holds Cal Poly records in the 800 (2:02.48), 1,500 (4:09.69) and 3,000 (9:05.80) meters. She is No. 2 in the 5,000 (15:59.72).

She also earned All-America honors with the cross country team in 1987 and ’89 and was inducted into the National Collegiate Division II Hall of Fame in ’96.

Allen goes D-II route

Former Cuesta College men’s basketball standout Jimmy Allen has signed with Division II Southern Indiana and will be eligible to play for the Screaming Eagles at the semester break.

The 6-foot-10 center was among the state leaders in blocked shots the past two years with the Cougars. The Vallejo product averaged 17.3 points and 8.9 rebounds for the Cougars in 2006-07.

“Jimmy will make an immediate impact once he joins the team in December,” Southern Indiana head coach Rick Herdes said in a statement. “He has the ability to dominate a game on defense while making a major contribution as a scorer and rebounder.”

Poll position

• Following last weekend’s narrow 24-17 victory over Division II Western Oregon, the Cal Poly football team dropped out of The Sports Network Top 25. The Mustangs (2-2) are ranked 24th in the Football Championship Subdivision coaches’ poll heading into Saturday’s game against Northern Colorado (0-4).

• After Big West sweeps of Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge, the Cal Poly volleyball team remained at No. 20 in the CSTV/AVCA Division I coaches’ poll. The Mustangs (8-6, 2-0 Big West) travel to UC Davis (3-10, 0-2) and Pacific (7-3, 1-1) this weekend.

• Allan Hancock, coming off a 37-7 win over Santa Barbara, remained at No. 14 in the Southern California Region of the California Community College Football Poll. The Bulldogs (3-1, 2-0 Western State Conference Mountain Division) host East Los Angeles (0-4, 0-2) at 3 p.m. Saturday at Righetti High.

Record watch

• Cuesta sophomore volleyball player Julie Coelho leads the Cougars with 111 kills, 17 aces and a .319 hitting percentage this season. Her 388 career kills rank fifth all-time at Cuesta, trailing Amy Wood-man’s 392 kills from 1999-2000 and Ginger Bailey’s 409 kills from 1998-99. Kimberly May holds the school record, recording 500 kills from 1998-99.

• Cuesta women’s water polo player Katie Rehnberg (33 steals in nine games) is making a run at Mary Ben-son’s school record of 107 steals during the 1999 season. Rehnberg, whose team has at least 22 games remaining, also ranks seventh on the school’s career list with 110 takeaways. Jenele Poor holds the school record with 149 steals from 1999-2000. Rehnberg will be in for a test this weekend as Cuesta hosts some of the best teams in the state during the MidState Bank & Trust Invitational.