Titans, UCLA Renew Soccer Rivalry Tonight

Cal State Fullerton, unbeaten in its last six games, faces a traditional rival when it plays UCLA in a nonconference soccer game at 7 tonight at Fullerton.

The Bruins (9-4-0), a former Titan opponent in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation before leaving this year for the Pacific 10, are ranked 15th in the nation by Soccer America, but they have lost three in a row. The Titans and Bruins are not ranked in this week’s National Soccer Coaches Assn. poll.

UCLA defeated Fullerton, 2-1, last year ending a two-game losing streak to the Titans, who in 1997 dealt UCLA one of only two losses it suffered during its national championship season.

Fullerton’s break from Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play this week gives UC Irvine a chance to pull even with the Titans in the Pacific Division standings.

Fullerton (11-4-1, 5-0-1) leads the division with 16 points. Irvine (10-5-1, 3-0-1) has 10 points but could pick up six points with victories over Nevada Las Vegas, which plays at Irvine at 7 p.m. Friday, and New Mexico, which the Anteaters host at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Earlier in the season, Fullerton and Irvine played to a scoreless tie.

Fullerton’s Duncan Oughton leads the MPSF in overall scoring with 11 goals and five assists, while Irvine’s Jon Spencer ranks second with 10 goals and five assists.

* The Big West Conference women’s soccer race is about as tight as it can get. Seven of the nine teams are still in title contention with two weeks to play.

UC Irvine (9-5-2, 4-1 in conference), looking to win its second conference title and the automatic NCAA playoff berth that goes with it, plays at UC Santa Barbara (7-8-1, 2-3) at 7 p.m. Friday and hosts Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (8-6-1, 3-2) at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Cal State Fullerton (8-9, 3-2) hosts San Luis Obispo at 7 p.m. Friday and Santa Barbara at 4 p.m. Sunday.

The Titans and Anteaters meet Nov. 3 at UC Irvine.

Irvine and Fullerton stumble into this week’s action after poor performances in nonconference matches. The Anteaters were shut out last week by Pepperdine, 2-0, and San Diego, 1-0. The Titans had their three-match winning streak ended in a 2-0 loss to Chapman, a Division III school.

Irvine goalkeeper Allison Merrick leads the Big West with a 0.67 goals-against average.

* The Chapman women’s soccer team will be without Lehua Simmons, a three-time All-West Region defender, when it hosts UC Santa Cruz at 7:30 p.m. Friday in a game that has playoff implications. The winner will be in good position to secure one of two NCAA Division III at-large West region playoff berths. Chapman (14-4-1) is ranked No. 5 in the West. Santa Cruz (12-3-1) is No. 4.

Simmons, who missed all of last season with an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee, suffered a similar season-ending injury to her left knee in last week’s 2-0 victory over Cal State Fullerton. The Panthers, however, expect to see the return of defender Heather Reynolds, formerly of Canyon High. She has missed the last three game with a sore knee.

GOLF

Four Orange County players were among the 12 named to the SCPGA Foundation’s 2000 All-Southern California Junior team.

Jay Choi, 17, of Buena Park and Jay Choe, 16, of Yorba Linda were named to the boys’ team. Angela Won, 16, of Irvine and Angela Rho, 18, of Fullerton were named to the girls’ team.

The Curtis Cup players of the year are Kevin Na, 17, of Diamond Bar and Erica Blasberg, 17, of Corona. The team will be honored Nov. 12 at Yorba Linda Country Club.

FOOTBALL

Quarterback Dan Coviello, sidelined for San Clemente’s first seven games with a knee injury, is expected to make his first start of the season Friday against Dana Hills, Triton Coach Eric Patton said.

Beau Budde, the backup quarterback who sat out the last two games with a stress fracture in his ankle, is also expected to play for the San Clemente (6-1, 2-0 in the South Coast League).

The players’ return will likely spell the end of significant playing time for third-string quarterback Matt Mitchell, who led San Clemente to a 3-0 record as a starter.

Coviello, a two-year starter, tore cartilage in his right knee in the preseason while riding his dirt bike.

Patton also announced that running back Colin Mahoney, who three weeks ago scored the winning touchdown in a victory over San Bernardino Pacific, will be sidelined indefinitely with a broken collarbone suffered in last week’s win over El Toro.

WATER POLO

What a difference a single, one-goal loss makes.

Despite going 4-1 last week, UC Irvine dropped three spots to No. 5 in the nation in the weekly men’s water polo coaches poll.

The Anteaters’ only loss was to No. 3 Stanford, 6-5, at the Northern California Tournament. At noon Saturday, Irvine (13-4) hosts the Cardinal (9-6), which moved up two spots in this week’s poll.

UCLA is No. 1 and USC, which hosts Irvine at noon Sunday, is No. 2. California is fourth.

RUNNING

The Orange County American Heart Assn. hosts a 10-kilometer run, 5-kilometer walk and 1-kilometer kids’ run Sunday at the Irvine Spectrum.

The 20th Heart & Sole Walk/Run is expected to draw 11,000 participants, representing more than 200 local corporations. The 10K begins at 8 a.m., followed 15 minutes later by the 1K kids’ run. and then The 5K is at 9 a.m. An estimated $615,000 will be raised for vital biomedical research and education programs.

Free entertainment, health screenings and products and demonstrations from dozens of local businesses will also be available. For information, call (949) 856-3555.

CROSS-COUNTRY

Mt. San Antonio College will host the Southern Section cross-country preliminaries and finals Nov. 11 and 18, with the top four teams in each of the five divisions earning automatic qualifying bids for the state meet Nov. 25 in Fresno. For the first time, teams can also advance by meeting predetermined qualifying team times, which vary by division.

Many teams used last week’s Mt. SAC Invitational as a barometer for the section finals, which are held on the same 2.93-mile course. Based on team times from the Mt. SAC Invitational, the following county teams would have made or exceeded the standard for at-large consideration to the state meet:

Boys’ Division I--Dana Hills; Division II--Newport Harbor, Santa Margarita; Division IV--Estancia, Corona del Mar. Girls’ Division I--Dana Hills, Fountain Valley; Division II--Newport Harbor, Santa Margarita, Woodbridge, Brea Olinda, Trabuco Hills; Division IV--Corona del Mar, Orange Lutheran.