October 12, 2007

Big West notebook: Best tournament in the nation
Southern California Tournament has 14 of the top 20 water polo teams.
By JANIS CARR
The Orange County Register

It’s called the Southern California Tournament, this small gathering of collegiate water polo teams at UC Irvine and Corona del Mar High. Yet, the annual event should be named “The Nation’s Best Tournament.”

Of the 16 teams entered this weekend, 14 of them rank among the top 20, starting with top-ranked USC.

The Trojans are followed by No. 2 Cal, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 Pepperdine, No. 6 Long Beach State, Nos. 7 UCI and UC Santa Barbara and No. 10 Loyola Marymount.

Also playing are No. 12 St. Francis (N.Y.), No. 13 UC San Diego, No. 14 Pacific, No. 15 Bucknell and No. 16 Princeton. Pomona-Pitzer and Redlands round out the field.

“This definitely always attracts the best teams in the country,” UC Irvine coach Marc Hunt said. “This has been the premier collegiate tournament for the past 20 years.”

Yet, when it first started out in the early 1980s, the tournament was known as the UCI Tournament. But after the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation got involved, the event grew and began attracting teams up and down California and the East Coast.

“As far as the competition that’s there, I don’t see why any East Coast team wouldn’t want to come to it,” Hunt said. “It gives them a chance to see what’s going on in the West Coast. All the strong clubs are usually here.”

There will be eight games each day beginning at 8 a.m. The championship game is 5:20 Sunday at UCI.

Hunt is hoping to be among the teams battling for the championship, but that goal might be in jeopardy considering the Anteaters will be without their top two scorers. Tim Hutten, who leads the team with 37 goals, has a broken index finger on his left hand, and Colin Mello (24) sprained his right thumb last week.

WHO DOES THE SCHEDULING?

Every coach and athlete will say that they want to compete against the best, but it doesn’t always seem to be the smartest idea.

Cal State Fullerton’s women’s soccer team is coming off a five-game trip and could have used a breather.

Instead, they got perennial power Santa Clara, ranked nationally No. 5 by Soccer Buzz and No. 6 by NSCAA and Soccer America, in a nonconference match Friday night at Titan Stadium.

The Titans (6-5-1) are winless in four previous tries against Santa Clara, going 0-3-1, and trend didn’t look like it was going to change this weekend. The Broncos (7-2-2) were coming off three consecutive losses and could be looking to take out their frustration. All three of their losses, though, were to top teams, including No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 UCLA.

Fullerton, meanwhile, went 3-2 on its recent trip, but was shut out in the final two games – the first time since 2004 they failed to score a goal in successive matches.

The Titans finally get a break Sunday when they play host to Pacific (6-4-2) in a Big West match. Fullerton has beaten the Tigers the past seven matches.

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

Conference favorite Long Beach State women’s soccer team plays only one match this weekend, a Big West contest at Cal State Northridge (2-8-1) on Sunday and the light schedule couldn’t have come at a better time.

The 49ers (9-4-0) are beat up after last week’s trip to Pacific, UC Davis, which left two starters sidelined.

Starting defender Grace Shevlin left the victory against Pacific in the first half for X-rays on her ankle, and forward Kristen Kiefer was knocked out of the game in the second half because of an ankle injury. The 49ers already were without starting defenders Julie Megorden (knee) and Tiffany Vaught (leg).

Listed among the good news is that junior forward Kim Silos is healthy and continues to pile up points. Her seven assists this season makes her just one of two Long Beach players to have seven or more assists in a season. She also has five goals.

GRADY DOUBLES HER VICTORIES

Long Beach State's Hannah Grady dominated the Fall Intercollegiate tennis tournament last weekend at Cal State Fullerton.

First, Grady defeated defending champion Brittany Blalock of Cal Poly, 6-2, 6-1, for the singles title, then teamed with Stephanie Bengson to beat Blalock and Steffi Wong in the doubles finals, 8-2.