 |
   |
College Sports BLOG |
|
October 2008
Monthly Archives
Categories
 RSSRecent Comments
More PE.com Blogs
|
Recently in Area Colleges CategoryAs local college soccer doubleheaders go, this one today at Cal Baptist in Riverside ranks right near the top. The Lancers will play host to national power Azusa Pacific in a men's-women's doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. The CBU men are facing the defending NAIA national champions at 1 p.m. with a NAIA top-10 showdown in the women's game scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. APU knocked the Lancers women out of the post-season tournament last season. For more on the game, check out this cool video preview. "Don't be fooled by the name, 'the Matadome,' '' Cal State Northridge Bobby Braswell said, "It's really the 'Mata-gym,'' he said of his 1,600-seat home court. Hard to top this line -- and the delivery. New Loyola-Marymount coach Bill Bayno, late of UNLV, deadpanned this pessimistic preview: "We'll be the only team in college basketball history to start five freshmen . . . (long pause) -- two years in a row.'' Cal State San Bernardino men's basketball on national TV? It's true. According to an Associated Press report, CBS plans to televise nine NCAA Division II basketball games this season, including the Jan. 31 game between Cal State LA and Cal State San Bernardino at Coussoulis Arena. Here's the full story: Cal State's men's soccer teak kicks off the season Saturday with a non-conference match against Hawaii-Hilo at Coyotes Premier Field at 3 p.m. Here's the rest of the release from the school: Since early August, Head Coach Noah Kooiman and his staff have been working hard to reverse the trend of the past couple years that saw the team's fortunes slide to 5-13-2 overall (2-10-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association) in 2007. The Coyotes have not scored in two pre-season exhibitions (Cal Baptist and UC Irvine) as they look for players to replace the team's top two scorers from last year - Lorenzo Loson and Danny Rodriguez. Loson graduated and Rodriguez did not return for his senior season. New to the Coyotes team are two stars from the Foothill Conference champion Rio Hondo College team that went 19-2-2 last season, 8-0 in the conference before losing to Palomar College in the state tournament. The team was ranked No. 3 in the Southern California region. One is Jeremiah Marquez of Whittier, captain of the Rio Hondo team who scored three goals and assisted on four others in 2007. The other is Michael Cirrincione of Diamond Bar, also one of the team captains and a top defender. Kooiman is expecting big things from sophomore Obi Agwu, who impressed as a freshman with three goals and three assists along with senior central defender Jeff Meyer, another Rio Hondo product. Other returnees who figure prominently in next season's plans are junior Jahmel McDermott, sophomores Albert Cabrera, Jorge Aguirre, Harry Cruz and junior Ryan Larson. After losing goalkeeper Lucas Pepi to graduation, Kooiman is also looking at three goalkeepers - Tyler Kahn, a 6-4 sophomore transfer from University of San Francisco, 6-1 sophomore Arath DeLaRocha and 6-0 sophomore Jorge DeHorta. All three saw significant minutes in the exhibitions. Hawaii-Hilo, a member of the Pacific West Conference, is coming off an 8-10-1 season, 5-4-1 in the PacWest. Top returners for the Vulcans are senior midfielder Dustin Daley (10 goals, three assists) and junior forward Drew Geis, three goals and eight assists). The Vulcans have a new coach in R. Cam Camarena. This is the first of five straight home matches for the Coyotes who entertain Notre Dame de Namur of the PacWest on Sept. 7, followed by CCAA conference matches against Cal Poly Pomona on Sept. 10 and Cal State L.A. on Sept. 12, and a non-conference match with Concordia University Irvine on Sept. 15. YOTES NOTES: Joining Coach Noah Kooiman's coaching staff for this season, his fifth at the helm of men's soccer, are former players Tony Vigil and Nick Boyce, who both played their final year of eligibility in 2007......CSUSB drew the short straw in the annual pre-season poll of CCAA coaches, picked to finish last once again in the South Division....The coaches voted Sonoma State to win the North Division and Cal State Dominguez Hills to take the South Division. Sonoma State was a near-unanimous pick to take the conference championship. Dominguez Hills has won the CCAA title the past two years....Sonoma State is ranked No. 6 in the coaches national pre-season top 25 poll while the Toros are rated at No. 11....Grand Canyon, whom the Coyotes will face in October, is rated No. 20 in the national poll.
The Cal State women's volleyball season opens Aug. 28. Here's a season preview release from the school: This is from the Cal State release.... Nicole Camarena drove in six runs with a home run, double and single Wednesday as Cal State San Bernardino shocked top-seeded Humboldt State, 10-1, in the first round of the NCAA Division II West Region Softball Tournament. The Riverside Sport Hall of Fame honored its sixth class of inductees Monday night at the Riverside Convention Center, and here are some highlights and comments from those honored: Junior Mark Roussin is the first basketball player from Cal Baptist to be named to the NAIA All-American first team. Roussin, the Golden State Athletic Conference player of the year, joins Terrance Johnson as the only Lancers to earn All-American honors in the 52-year history of the program. Johnson was named to the third team in 2005. "This is a great honor for Mark, and I am so proud of him,'' CBU coach Tim Collins said in a release from the school. "He is well deserving of this and has made great strides this year not just as a player but as a person. He is one of the most well-rounded and most fundamentally-sound players I have ever coached." Roussin averaged 17.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.21 steals and shot .542 from the field and .788 from the free throw line. He was the only player in the GSAC to be ranked among the top 15 in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, steals, three-point percentage and blocked shots. He scored in double figures in 32 of 33 games, including each of the final 28 games, and had 11 double-doubles in leading CBU to perhaps the best season in school history. The Lancers equalled their most wins in a season (24), reached the GSAC tournament championship game for the first time, and advanced to the NAIA tournament Sweet 16 for only the third time in school history.
Columnist Jim Alexander's take, from Omaha: There's a difference, a huge difference, between NCAA Tournament teams that are accustomed to the process and those who don't take it for granted. You can tell in the interview room. The players (uh, "student-athletes," as is the NCAA's preferred designation) and coaches from the big schools in power conferences treat it as a chore. A mildly pleasant chore, maybe, but still a chore. And the players and coaches from the non-powers, the overlooked mid-majors, the teams that haven't been here for a while and might not get back for a while? It's all new and interesting and wonderful, and if they're smart they'll have some fun with it. Cal State Fullerton's Titans seem to be having fun with it. Players Scott Cutley, Frank Robinson and Josh Akognon showed up in the interview room Thursday and were funny, honest and personable. And head coach Bob Burton, when he showed up, was even better. They're confident in their ability and think they can spring a surprise, but they don't take themselves seriously. Some samples: Not many Hall of Famers can be located in the visitor's dugout at the Riverside Sports Center. Gwynn, entering his sixth season as San Diego State's head baseball coach, was there the other night, forming the basis for today's column. And he's just as gregarious as a college coach as he was as a big league player -- wonderfully, entertainingly so. Some highlights: With less than 30 seconds left in the game, a U of A fan threw a water bottle onto the court that exploded on the USC bench, mainly spraying coach Tim Floyd and Dwight Lewis. Arizona coach Kevin O'Neill got on the microphone and yelled "Hey! Get that guy!" referring to the offender. Several in the student section pointed to the culprit. "We're not doing that here under any circumstances!" O'Neill continued. "Tim, I apologize to you and your team." The water bottle may have been a result of Davon Jefferson slamming home a dunk with 55 seconds left and pointing to the crowd. Regardless, USC won 70-58 and are now 9-6 in conference, just about guaranteeing a spot in the NCAA Tournament. USC takes a nine-point lead into the half. ... They led very early, jumping out to a 13-4 lead and were up 32-16 before UA went on a quick run and cut the lead to 32-26. But, a dunk from Taj Gibson (10 first half points) and Angelo Johnson's layup made it 36-26. OJ Mayo had nine points and Davon Jefferson added seven points and four rebounds. But the star was Dwight Lewis who draped himself all over Chase Budinger, constantly knocking passes away and generally being a pest as Budinger's shadow, holding the Wildcat star to six points. Jerryd Bayless, UA's star point guard, picked up his third foul with 5:39 left in the first half and didn't play the remainder of the first stanza. Some pre-game notes before the USC-'Zona game tips off here in a few minutes: -- At 8-6 in Pac-10 play, USC is looking to lock up a NCAA tourney berth. No team has ever gotten in from the Pac-10 with a 9-9 record. So, this is an important almost must-win game for the Trojans. -- Arizona is 7-7 and equally in need of a win to keep their streak of 23 consecutive tournament berths alive. -- After snapping a 23-game losing streak in Tucson, USC will look to win back-to-back games at the McKale Center for the first time since the 1981-82 and 1982-83 seasons. -- The Trojans have won eight of their past 11 games. -- The Wildcats have lost four of their past six games. -- Arizona's best player looks an awful lot like P-E sports writer Matt Calkins. Separated at birth? The Cal State San Bernardino men's basketball team climbed seven spots to No. 13 in the nation in this week's NCAA Division II Top 25 poll. The Cal State San Bernardino women's basketball team, which was No. 24 a week ago, fell out of the Division II Top 25 this week after losing to UC San Diego last weekend. The RCC men's track team is now No. 1 in the state rankings.... Saw Cal State point guard Lance Ortiz at practice yesterday and the senior was sitting out the hour-long session. Ortiz injured his left ankle and shin in Thursday's victory and also played on Friday. I asked Ortiz how it felt and he limped by, saying it was sore. I asked him if it might keep him out this week at Humboldt State, and he said "no way. I'm playing." Also, wing Reggie Brown sat out practice with an ankle injury, as well. Here is the All-Foothill Conference men's team MVP -- Lewis Leonard, San Bernardino Valley Here is the All-Orange Empire Conference men's team MVP -- Justin Carter, Fullerton
Monthly Archives - Area Colleges:
October 2008 | August 2008 | May 2008 | March 2008 | February 2008 | January 2008 |
Blog Navigation:
Blog Home |
Master Archives
| UCLA »
|
|
|
|
|
|