West Coast Soccer Gets a Unified Boost

The dawn of a new era in men’s soccer began last week when the new Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, which combined teams from the Big West, the Pacific 10 Conference and the Western Athletic Conference, began exhibition play.

The federation was created to contain costs, enhance competition and ensure survival of nonrevenue sports. It also will unite teams in five other sports: men’s gymnastics, men’s volleyball, water polo and men’s and women’s indoor track and field. Men’s soccer is the first sport to officially begin play in a federation schedule.

The soccer program consists of 16 teams in two divisions, Mountain and Pacific. UCLA, fourth-ranked in the preseason by Soccer America, is the highest-ranked team in the federation and is in the Pacific Division.

The federation is a significant change for men’s soccer on the West Coast because many of the teams that previously played as independents will get their first taste of league play.

“I look forward to the (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) league schedule,” said San Diego State Coach Chuck Clegg, whose Aztecs also are in the Pacific Division. “Winning a league has always been important to kids, when they are 5 years old all the way up until when they are 40 years old.”

The federation championship tournament will be a four-team playoff beginning on Nov. 8 at the site of the highest-seeded Mountain team. The winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

UCLA has been in the NCAA tournament 19 times since 1968, receiving at-large invitations each time.

“(The federation) helps out players because, before in soccer, you had no idea what you had to do to make the playoffs, but now it’s pretty self-explanatory,” said Jorge Salcedo, a Bruin midfielder. “You win the league, you’re going to playoffs. That helps quite a bit.”

How well the federation’s soccer program stacks up against the nation’s traditional top soccer conferences such as the ACC remains in debate.

“In the past, the (Atlantic Coast Conference) has said that they are the premier conference in the country,” said Sigi Schmid, UCLA soccer coach. “I think when you look at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, from top to bottom, I don’t think the ACC can make that claim anymore.”

Three teams from the ACC--Virginia, Duke and Clemson--have won or shared five of the past eight national titles. Also, four ACC teams are in the top 10 in Soccer America’s preseason rankings, but UCLA is the only federation team in the top 10.

“Well, you don’t want to get nit-picky about it, but from top to bottom there is a big difference,” said Virgina Coach Bruce Arena.

UCLA opened its season this weekend in the Metlife/Adidas tournament at Indiana, against some of the toughest opponents it will face all season. The Bruins defeated 20th-ranked Notre Dame, 1-0, on Saturday.

The only other ranked teams UCLA plays this season are in non-federation games against seventh-ranked San Francisco on Sept. 20 and third-ranked Southern Methodist on Oct. 16.

“Personally, I’d rather play a tougher schedule,” said Zak Ibsen, a Bruin forward.

UCLA defeated Cal State Fullerton, 4-2, in a federation exhibition on Sept. 1. It plays host to San Diego State on Oct. 4 in its federation season-opener.

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Pepperdine’s Wasko water polo tournament will feature a rematch of the 1991 NCAA tournament semifinal between Pepperdine and UCLA.

Last season, the Bruins defeated the Waves in the NCAA tournament semifinal before losing to California in the final. Pepperdine defeated UC Irvine for third.

Pepperdine Coach Terry Schroeder returns from his fourth Olympic appearance as a player with the United States Water Polo team for his seventh season as Waves coach. As a two-meter man, Schroeder led the United States to the third place match in the Olympics, where it lost to the Unified Team, 8-4.

UCLA Coach Guy Baker, in his second year as Bruin coach, was an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic team this summer, in charge of goalkeepers.

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Two setters, Sue Peters and Missy McCaw, begin their third year of battling for the starting spot on the USC women’s volleyball team.

Peters, a 6-0 senior, started for most of the 1990 season, while McCaw, a 5-10 junior, started for most of 1991.

Just a week before this season began, USC Coach Lisa Love said she would decide the starting setter on a match-by-match basis.

Peters started on Thursday and had 62 assists in a 15-9, 14-16, 12-15, 15-13, 15-7 victory at San Diego State in USC’s season-opener. Peters gained some job security with the performance.

“(Peters) is going to get a nice long look in that setting position,” Love said.

Peters is USC’s only female two-sport athlete. She played as a reserve forward for the USC women’s basketball team last season.

McCaw, of Tulsa, was the first player from Oklahoma to be chosen a second-team All-American by Volleyball Monthly.

Notes

The Cal State Long Beach water polo team, which finished in fifth place at the 1991 NCAA water polo tournament, plays host to USC and UC Irvine in the Long Beach Invitational on Saturday.

The UCLA women’s volleyball team, top-ranked by the American Volleyball Assn., plays in the Brigham Young tournament against seventh-ranked BYU and 12th-ranked Florida on Thursday and Friday. . . . No. 10 USC plays at No. 17 Pepperdine on Tuesday. . . . USC and second-ranked Cal State Long Beach play in the New Mexico tournament on Friday and Saturday, along with eighth-ranked Louisiana State and No. 11 New Mexico.