November 2009 Archives

The best season in school history for the San Bernardino Valley College women's soccer team is still going.

The Wolverines, coached by Kristin Hauge, advanced with a 1-0 win over Los Angeles Pierce in a second round game on Tuesday. Sarahi Bransford scored the only goal of the game, assisted by Sylvia Fuentes.

The Wolverines play Saturday for the right to advance to the state's Final Four.

SBVC is now 19-0-4. Even before the win the team had set a record for most wins in a season as well as goals scored. Tuesday's win also marked the first time it had advanced past the second round.

Former San Bernardino Valley College basketball standout Lance Hurdle is playing for the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA's Developmental League. He was a fifth-round draft selection by that team earlier this month.

Hurdle, a native of San Diego, is coming off a two-year run at the University of Miami. He spent his freshman and sophomore seasons leading the backcourt at SBVC.

The D League is equivalent to what professional baseball has in the minor leagues. Guys that show some potential can indeed get a shot at the next kevel.

 

University of Redlands senior wide receiver Brian Putman was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Second Team for the College Division.
 
After being named to the Academic All-District First Team, Putman gains his All-America honor on the heels of a record-setting season at Redlands.  He broke the school record for receptions in a season with 77 catches while leading the team in various other categories.  He racked up a team-leading 1033 receiving yards for an average of 114.8 yards per game.  In addition, he broke through the opponents' goal line on 12 occasions to account for nearly one-half of the team's receiving touchdowns.  He also ranked first among the Bulldogs in all-purpose yards.
 
Putman currently sits 10th in Division III in catches per game and 11th in receiving yards per game. 
 
His best game was the fourth-best total in school history for receiving yards in a single game with 212 yards on 11 catches on Oct. 3. 
 
This accounting major owns a cumulative GPA of 3.91 and has landed on the Dean's List three times. 
 
For a complete list of the CoSIDA Academic All-America honorees, please log onto www.cosida.com.
 

Cal State San Bernardino volleyball coach Kim Cherniss chose her words carefully.

Athletic Director Kevin Hatcher didn't bother doing the same.

The school was one of just two that submitted bids to host the Division II Elite Eight and the Coyotes didn't get it. Instead they will have to go to Concordia-St. Paul . . . again.

The NCAA supposedly likes to move the tournament around to give different schools a chance to host. Apparently that isn't really the case, The West region rep hasn't hosted since 2003 and Concordia did so just last year.

Coussoulis Arena is a far better venue. And teams coming in won't have to worry about weather delays that come with trying to get in and out of cold weather cities. There doesn't seem to be a good reason for San Bernardino to be snubbed.

So Concordia gets to go for a third straight national title on its home floor. It also has a 71-match win streak.

But the Coyotes are playing well enough to win anywhere and Cherniss is a veteran coach that knows how to keep a team focused. So don't bet against them.

 

 

The Cal State San Bernardino volleyball took care of business on the court, turning in an impressive 3-0 win over Cal State Los Angeles in the West Region final. The Coyotes certainly appear to be peaking at the right time. They were in control from start to finish.

Now they wait to see who will get to host the national Elite Eight. If life is good, they'll get to play for the school's first national title in any sport on their home court.

The NCAA likes to rotate hosting duties among the different regions and it has not been held in the West since 2003 when they hosted it at Coussoulis Arena. That would be a factor in the Coyotes favor,

It was at Concordia-St. Paul a year ago, so even though that team is currently ranked No. 1 and is unbeaten, it isn't likely going to be back there.

The Coyotes are ranked No. 2 so they might merit the right just based on that.

Other factors favor the Coyotes too. They have a quality venue in which to host the event. There are several aiports teams can get into and they aren't going to encounter travel delays that often happen in cold weather cities.

Athletic director Kevin Hatcher hopes to know by Monday.

The Coyotes half of the draw is going to be very tough. They get Tampa, Fla. (31-2) in the quarterfinal, and likely Concordia (34-0) in the semifinal.

Other teams already in are Indianapolis (Midwest Region), Dowling (East), West Texas A&M (South Central) and California, Penn., (Atlantic), a team the Coyotes beat in last year's quarters.

The Southeast Region final is today.

 

 

 

San Bernardino Valley College has something special in its men's cross country team. There probably is no other sport where the athletes work harder but get less attention.

The Wolverines just won their fourth straight state title, crushing the competition in the annual meet held at Woodward Park in Fresno. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year because the Wolverines graduated five of their top seven from the team that won the third in a row.

They won by 70 points. That's like winning a soccer game 5-0, a basketball game by 40. You get the picture.

There is no such thing as rebuilding with this team. Four straight state titles is especially admirable at the junior college where you're turning over an entire team every two years.

The school's entire program appears on the upswing. Not only was there the state title by the men, but the SBVC women's soccer team improved to 18-0-4 with a first round playoff win on Saturday. They are in the midst of the best season in school history.

The men's soccer team showed marked improvement and the football team went from 0-10 in 2008 to 5-5 in 2009.

Both basketball teams won Foothill Conference titles last year and the men are currently ranked No. 1 in the state.

There is a lot to be excited about at 701 S. Mount Vernon.

 

The Cal State San Bernardino women's volleyball team took care of business and will be making its 10th straight appearance in a West Regional championship. The Coyotes beat Alaska-Anchorage 3-0 in a regional semifinal on Friday.

It wasn't an easy 3-0 though. The Seawolves didn't play like a team of mostly freshmen squaring off against one of the nation's juggernauts. It was probably good that the Coyotes were pushed a little because their quarterfinal against Seattle Pacific was not competitive.

But the Coyotes won't be playing UC San Diego, which came in seeded second and ranked third nationally - one spot behind the Coyotes.

The Coyotes opponent will be Cal State Los Angeles, which is coached by former Cal Poly Pomona assistant Randi Smart. The Eagles played with poise and composure in taking out the Tritons 3-0. I have seen San Diego play on many occasions but have never seen therm play as poorly as they did on Friday.

The Eagles will be soaaring, with confidence that has to be sky high after such a big win.

The Coyotes are going to have to be ready. And they probably will be.

First serve is set for 7 p.m. at The Den.

 

The second match is under way at the NCAA Division II West Regional Volleyball Tournament. Cal State San Bernardino did a good job getting The Den ready to play since Coussoulis Arena was not available because of a previously scheduled BB King concert.

The Den really had not been used for anything other than routine practices for the last 10 or so years so you can image that it needed a little TLC. Not only did it need a good cleanup, there were other factors to tend to as well. A sound system had to be put in, along with wireless acess for media and tournament staff.

Athletic Director Kevin Hatcher said he was pleased with how the school's staff came together to get everything done. Between layoffs and furloughs it took everyone pulling together to make it work.

Hatcher could have another schdeuling dilemna to deal with in the next two weeks. He said the school did submit a bit to host nationals should the Coyotes advance. The problem is that that same weekend the CCAA basketball teams open play and Cal State is slated to host East Bay and San Diego.

It's a problem he hopes to have to deal with soon.

Games are already running behind schedule. The first match of the day went five with Cal State Los Angeles beating Sonoma State 3-2 (20-25, 25-16, 20-25, 25-20, 15-12.

UC San Diego is now on the court againt San Francisco State.

Then it's Hawaii-Hilo against Alaska-Anchorage

The Coyotes are slated to play Seattle Pacific at 7:30 p.m. It will be 8 p.m. at the earliest though.

 

 

 

 

Senior center Ryan Floersch of the University of Redlands men's water polo team earned  First-Team All-Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) accolades for his play during the 2009 season.
 
Floersch has had a knack for frustrating opposing defenders with his knowledge of the advantage rules, accumulating 109 ejections drawn. That total eclipsed the former single-season program record of 63, which Sean McWhorter '96 set in 1995. As a result of his mind-boggling number of ejections drawn this year, Floersch also cleared McWhorter's career-record total (188) with 204. In addition, he supplied 48 goals, 35 assists, 30 steals and 10 field blocks on the season.
 
This marks Floersch's inaugural All-WWPA recognition.
 
Redlands (17-16, 9-1 SCIAC) captured its eighth Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) title in program history with a 9-1 record in conference play, which included a first-place finish at the SCIAC Championship Tournament last weekend.
 
The Bulldogs earned one of the SCIAC's two automatic bids into the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Championships and own the tournament's No. 6 seed. They take on third-seeded UC San Diego in the event's first round on Friday at 11:45 a.m. This year's WWPA Championships will take place at the Zee Allred Aquatics Center on Chapman University's campus in Orange.

The Cal State San Bernardino volleyball team got the No. 1 seed and the right to host the NCAA Division II West Region Tournament which starts on Thursday.

But they won't be hosting the event at Coussoulis Arena. They will be playing the event in the auxilary gymnasium dubbed "The Den" which is adjacent to Coussoulis.

School administrators booked a B.B. King concert for Thursday at Coussoulis. And they did so knowing that the volleyball tournament was going to start that same date. The logic was that the arena doesn't get to host many entertainment events other than WWE so it was a chance to showcase the facility to a different crowd and make some money at the same time.

Athletic director Kevin Hatcher assured the NCAA that The Den meets all the criteria for hosting an event of that magnitude. It is obviously taking his word for it.

There was a possibility of moving the event to Friday, Saturday and Sunday to play it in Coussoulis but the teams still wouldn't be able to have a practice in the tournament venue which is mandatory. So they will be playing the whole thing in the Den, even though Coussoulis would be available Friday and Saturday.

It's not the ideal situation but its better than the othe option which would be to give the event to the No. 2 seed UC San Diego, which is Cal State's biggest rival. No doubt there will be some complaining teams and coaches. But Cal State earned the right to host on the court and no other team did so.

The Coyotes will open against the No. 8 seed Seattle Pacific, the runner-up out of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

The San Bernardino Valley College football team turned in what may be the biggest upset in Southern California this season when it stunned previously unbeaten L.A. Harbor 29-21 Saturday night.

That makes the Wolverines 5-5. While that typically isn't a record most coaches get excited about, you have to consider where this team came from.

It took a 15-game losing streak into this season, and lost the first four this season, making it 19. Then came signs of things to come. The Wolverines reeled off four in a row. They were the games that looked like the most winnable even before the season started.Those four teams SBVC beat finished a combined 7-33.

This win was special because it came over a quality foe, one that came in unbeaten and averaging 500 yards a game and 50 points a game on offense. It looked a little suspect on defense but the gaudy statistics it put up offensively more than compensated.

Kevin Emerson did a heck of a job with this team and he wasn't hired until late July. Imagine what he can do when he has a full year!

The University of La Verne will not be going back to the Elite Eight - at least not this season.

The Leopards were beaten in the Division III West Region championship match by Colorado College 25-19, 20-25, 19-25, 25-19, 15-9. The loss was a disappointing one because it had more to do with what the Leopards didn't do than something the Tigers did do. They had trouble with serving, serve receiving and passing - all areas in which they are typically sound.

The Leopards have built such a solid tradition that anything short of a trip to the Elite Eight seems like a disappointment. It's easy to take that success for granted. But the Leopards dealt with a coaching change as well as injuries, one of which sidelined a key player the last month. So they are to be commended for their showing.

It was also a nice run for the SCIAC schools, Redlands and Cal Lutheran also made the regional and all three won their quarterfinal which validated the fact that they deserved to be there. In fact both Cal Lutheran and La Verne beat other teams that were nationally ranked.

Redlands lost to La Verne and Cal Lutheran lost to Colorado College in the semifinals, both in five sets. So it easily could have been an All-SCIAC final.

All three of those teams return a lot of key players next season so it could be just as much of a dogfight next season.

The University of Redlands volleyball team turned in a convincing performance, destroying, pummeling, crushing (whatever you want to call it) Chapman 25-16, 25-8 25-12 in a regional quarterfinal on Thursday.

Volleyball is usually a sport of momentum swings. One team doesn't dominate for three entire games. The other team has a run in it somewhere. Not this time.

It's also hard to believe the Bulldogs (23-5) haven't even sniffed the top 25 this season. Both Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran are ranked and both were dismissed by SCIAC teams earlier in the day.

So three of the four finalists are SCIAC teams. Any question that all three were deserving of playoff spots was answered in a big way.

So next up is La Verne, which also played well in beating Pacific Lutheran. And the Leopards are the perennial national title contender. They have the poise and experience of having been there before.

It will be the fourth time the teams have played with Redlands winning two of three. It should be a good one!

The University of La Verne volleyball team has been there before and it showed.

The Leopards surged past Pacific Lutheran 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 27-25, 25-19) in the NCAA Division III West Region tournament at the University of Redlands on Thursday. That puts the Leopards into the semifinals on Friday against the winner of Redlands-Chapman which is next up.

La Verne might have finished third in the SCIAC but the Leopards have a bunch of players who finished one win short of a national title a year ago. So they know what it takes when it's all on the line.

Crista Jones delivered 23 kills and 20 digs while Anna Calmer added 14. Yesenia Lopez and Kendall Kraiss combined for 50 assists. Lopez also collected a team-high 21 digs.

That also makes the SCIAC 2-for-2 on the day with the Bulldogs still to play. Cal Lutheran defeated Puget Sound earlier in the day. It goes to show that the SCIAC deserved all three entrants.

UC Riverside has announced three men's basketball additions for the 2009-2010 season and once again the Highlanders have tapped into neighboring San Bernardino County.

Among the three newcomers will be 6-foot-8 forward Kevin Bradshaw II, who prepped at Upland High School but is currently playing at Riverside City College. He averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds during his freshman season, and was named to the All-Tournament Team in the California JUCO State Tournament.

Reigning California state champion RCC Head Coach John Smith said Bradshaw "is the best defensive big man I've ever coached. I'm happy to see him go to UCR."

Rated as the No. 9 power forward (CA) in the 2008 class by ESPNU, Bradshaw has also been tabbed a 2010 Third-Team Preseason All-American by Sporting News Magazine.

The other addidtions are guard Derrell Swanson of Lake Elsinore and wing Derek Kaster of Moreno Valley. The Highlanders recruiting class marks the first early signings for UC Riverside during the Jim Wooldridge era.

If Humboldt State's showing on Tuesday against UCLA is an indication of things to come, the Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona men's teams are going to have a tough time defending the CCAA crown they shared last season with Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The Lumberjacks lost to the Bruins 74-57 but they only trailed at the half 41-34. So they acquitted themselves quite well.

Their big man Brian Morris had 19 points and 16 rebounds. Enough said.

Humboldt is good but it also has a clear advantage over visiting teams because of the difficulty of the road trip from Arcata to Sonoma State, the Jacks travel partner. Cal Poly and Cal State have no decided advantage when teams come here because those two schools are so close in proximity. It is isn't exactly taxing on the visiting team.

Both Cal Poly and Cal State have question marks. The Broncos have lots of players back from a team that went to the final two. But they don't have Larry Gordon. And Greg Kamansky carries such a small squad that one injury could be costly.

For the Coyotes, it is what could have been . .. had point guard Dante Smith not been lured back to USC after signing with Coyotes . . . had Brandon Brown not decided to skip his senior season to play overseas.

They do have a Division I transfer in 6-9 Bryan LeDuc. And coach Jeff Oliver seems to have team willing to work hard and buy into the team concept. That can go a long way.

Senior center Ryan Floersch of the University of Redlands men's water polo team was tabbed as the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Player of the Week.
 
Floersch served a vital role in the Bulldogs' two wins on the week. In a 19-11 rout of Occidental College on Wednesday evening, he had five goals, an assist, a steal and four ejections drawn. Against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Saturday evening, he scored three goals and added one assist, two steals and five ejections drawn in a 9-6 victory.
 
On the season, he has accumulated a single-season program record in ejections drawn with 97, surpassing the previous mark by more than 30. Sean McWhorter '96 set the previous standard of 63 in 1995.
 
Redlands (14-16, 6-1 SCIAC) travels to Claremont this weekend for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championship Tournament. The Maroon and Gray matches up with the University of La Verne in the opening round on Friday at 12:45 p.m. in Claremont McKenna College's Axelrod Pool.

Three local college soccer teams are in the hunt for national titles.

Pairings for the NCAA Division II and II men's and women's field were announced today. Cal State San Bernardino made the men's field for just the second time in school history and the first since 1991.

The Coyotes (15-5-1) will play tournament host and top seed Cal State Los Angeles (17-3-1) at 7 p.m. on Friday. They lost to the Eagles twice - 3-1 and 3-2. But the second of those was in overtime after LA tied it at 2-all with a penalty kick in the closing seconds of regulation.

The Coyotes have nothing to lose and sometimes those are the most dangerous teams to play.

In Division III Claremont-Mudd-Scripps will host UC Santa Cruz in an 11 a.m. match on Saturday. The Athenas were by far the best team in the SCIAC. They were the regular season champion and they won the SCIAC Tournament.

The CMS will hit the road to play UC Santa Cruz on Saturday. The Stags are the reason many like the idea of a conference tournament. They were fourth but finished with a flurry, upsetting regular season champion Pomona-Pitzer and perennial title contender Redlands to earn the berth.

The University of Redlands has been selected as the host for the NCAA Division III West Region Volleyball Tournament which starts on Thursday.

The announcement came down Monday morning but surprised no one. There are seven teams in the field and four are from Southern Calfiornia so it wouldn't have made sense for the NCAA to ship those four to one of the other three.

Colorado College (33-4) is the top seed and has a bye. It will got to the semifinal against the winner of Cal Lutheran-Puget Sound. University of La Verne gets Pacific Lutheran and Redlands will draw Chapman.

The quality of competition in the SCIAC was evident in last week's four-team tournament that ended with a thrilling 3-2 win by Redlands over La Verne. The semifinal between Cal Lutheran and La Verne was equally exciting. By including all three teams the NCAA got it right!

Chaffey College has picked a new athletic director but it won't be anyone new to the local college scene.

Football coach Carl Beach has gotten the nod, replacing Bob Olivera, whose resignation takes effect on Dec. 1. He had been in education the last 41 years, 27 of that as athletic director at Chaffey.

With all that is involved in running an athletic department nowadays, few colleges have a person runnning the athletic department that also heads a sport, especially a major sport such as football.

But with the state budget crunch, Chaffey has little choice. If anyone can do it, it's Beach. Chaffey has a solid support staff and most of its head coaches have been there a decade or longer. So they don't need a lot of guidance.

The plan is to separate the jobs at some point but who knows when that will be.

Injuries are a growing concern for University of Redlands football coach Mike Maynard, whose Bulldogs will play at Chapman at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

It may be a nonconference game but it is still crucial because if the Bulldogs can beat Cal Lutheran the last game of the season and forge a three-way tie with Occidental it will need that win to further its case for an at-large playoff bid which the SCIAC rarely gets.

The Bulldogs (6-1) are thinning out at wide receiver Tyler Aubrey and tight end Pete Tobiason are already out. Brian Putman, Brendan Barkate and Evan Reuter, who form possibly the top receiving trio in the conference, are all game-time decisions.

The defensive line is also a concern.

The Panthers (3-4), who have two wins by a combined seven points, always find a way to come up big against the Bulldogs no matter how much they seem to be struggling. Sot it should be a battle.

The San Bernardino Valley College football team has moved into the California Community College Football Coaches Association rankings at No. 20.

Coaches and players will tell you they don't play for rankings, but it is nice recognition for a program that seems to have turned the corner under first-year coach Kevin Emerson. The Wolverines (4-4) have two games left in the season and are in contention for a playoff berth in the American Division Mountain Conference.

The Wolverines will be looking for their fifth straight win this week when they face their most formidable foe of the conference thus far - Golden West. That game is set for 6 p.m. at Orange Coast College (Golden West does not play home games on its own campus).

The Wolverines end the season against L.A. Harbor (8-0, 5-0) which has a one-game lead in the conference over SBVC and Golden West.

Cerritos is No. 1 with Fullerton, Mt. SAC, El Camino and Bakersfield rounding out the top five.

The Cal State San Bernardino men's soccer team has advanced to the CCAA Tournament for the third time in school history. The Coyotes will be facing Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday, at 4:30 p.m. with the other semifinal pitting Cal State Los Angeles against Sonoma State.

It will be an interesting matchup. The Coyotes (15-4-1) are the most improved team in the conference and Noah Kooiman should be the Coach of the Year.

The matchup should be an interesting one as Dominguez Hills is the reigning Division II national champion. The Coyotes beat the Toros in both meetings this season 1-0. And they say it is hard to beat a good team three times. It is also hard to dethrone a defending champion.

No matter what happens the rest of the way, the Coyotes have done themselves proud!

The University of Redlands got a win on the field and another off it Saturday night.

The Bulldogs (6-1, 4-1) cruised past Pomona-Pitzer 41-14 at Ted Runner Stadium. Dan Selway threw for 405 yards, his best showing this season. Daylan Swedlow ran for 100 with three touchdown runs, the highlight being a 25-yard in which he broke at least a half a dozen tackles.

The Bulldogs also got good news as Cal Lutheran beat Occidental 24-14. That means if the Bulldogs win their last two they could forge a three-way tie for first with Oxy and Cal Lutheran. Of couse that will be no easy task as Cal Lutheran is a formidable foe and Redlands will have to travel there the last game of the season.

As for the Sagehens . . . well they put up a fight. They only trailed 13-0 at the half despite being outplayed in every way. Jacob Caron is a quality quarterback and did everything he could. He just doesn't have the talent around him that Selway does.

Next up for Redlands is Chapman. Occidental is next for the Sagehens!