UCI to Add Two Women’s Sports

UC Irvine officials are expected to add women’s golf and indoor track, part of the gender equity they need to balance out baseball, a university source said.

A committee will forward a recommendation for the two sports to the Chancellor Ralph Cicerone this week. They will begin competition in 2000-2001.

The committee had also considered softball, but chose a more financially conservative course. The cost of adding a softball team would include building a playing field, estimated at about $500,000, and hiring at least two coaches.

Adding indoor track allows athletic department officials to create a sport at little expense. They will need no scholarship money, as athletes already on track scholarships will compete. The school needs only to hire one more assistant coach.

The women’s golf team will require six scholarships, plus a coach.

The school needed to add women’s scholarships to offset the return of baseball in 2002. The 18 women’s track scholarships can be counted twice, once for indoor track and once for outdoor track. With the golf scholarships, that adds 24 women’s scholarships.

A student referendum, passed last spring, will fully fund both sports, plus baseball.

UCI BASKETBALL NOTES

* The Irvine men’s basketball team’s victory over Pacific Saturday came down to many things, not the least of which was the Anteaters’ ability to hold onto the basketball.

Irvine committed 21 turnovers in each of the previous two games, but had only six against Pacific.

“You would be right if you thought that was stressed a little bit in practice Friday,” forward Marek Ondera said.

* Center Greg Ethington said he has been assigned to go to Vancouver for his two-year Mormon mission, where he will learn to speak Cantonese.

“It’s a relief to finally know,” said Ethington, who had six points and eight rebounds against Pacific.

* Coach Pat Douglass on beating his golfing buddy, Pacific Coach Bob Thomason, for the first time: “On this level, I haven’t won against a lot of people.”

SPIKED

Irvine’s volleyball team suffered a big loss last week, and not just in a big match. Steve Cavella, the team’s top outside hitter, broke his hand and is out three to four weeks.

His absence was apparent against third-ranked Pepperdine on Jan. 29. The Anteaters were up two games and led, 12-5, in the third game, but ended up losing in five.

JOHNSON’S NEW PITCH

Cal State Fullerton pitcher Adam Johnson had hoped for a better result in his first outing of the season.

Johnson pitched well Friday night, giving up four hits and three runs in seven innings against No. 1-ranked Stanford in the opener of the three-game series at Stanford. But the Cardinal won, 5-4.

His biggest disappointment was a three-run homer he gave up to Joe Borchard in the sixth inning after he had held Stanford scoreless for five innings.

“The big problem was the walk I gave up right before the homer that put the second runner on base,” Johnson said. “You’re going to give up some home runs, but the key is keeping guys off the bases before it happens.”

Johnson was 10-4 with a 3.55 earned-run average and led the Big West in strikeouts as a sophomore last season.

“I hope I can do better than that this season,” he said. “I don’t think my record was as good as it could have been, and I know I’m not as effective now as I will be later on. “

Johnson has added a knuckleball this season.

“It works sort of like a split-finger,” Johnson said. “It usually drops straight down. I threw it around five times Friday night, but the umpire wasn’t ready to call it. I thought three of them were definite strikes, but I didn’t get them.”

*

Staff writer Lon Eubanks contributed to this story.