Monday, August 10, 1998
Sports Briefs
Women’s Soccer
UCLA women’s soccer team has a new assistant coach, Lisa
Shattuck. She transfers from an assistant coaching position at Cal
Lutheran University and replaces Paul Ratchiffe who is now the head
coach at Saint Mary’s. Shattuck will start the fall season with the
newly hired UCLA head coach Todd Saldana.
A member of UC Santa Barbara’s class of ’95, Shattuck was a
four-year letter winner. She was a member of the National Amateur
team in 1992 and a part of the Southern California State team for
over eight years. Shattuck is completing her master’s in counseling
and guidance at Cal Lutheran.
The Bruins are ranked No. 15 in the preseason polls. The
defending Pac-10 champions are coached by Todd Saldana and led by
Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Sommer Hammoud and all-conference
selection Beth Thompson.
Women’s Water Polo
Five members of the UCLA women’s water polo team – Nicolle
Payne, Coralie Simmons, Catharine von Schwarz, Erin Golaboski and
Robin Beauregard – took a summer trip to Europe with the U.S.
national team. UCLA head coach Guy Baker also took part as the new
national team head coach.
In late June, team USA beat Great Britain, Yugoslavia, the Czech
Republic, Germany and Hungary to win the Yugoslavian International
Invitational tournament.
"The Hungarians are one of the top teams in the world, so the
win was very good for our confidence," Baker said. "We’re making
some significant progress in a short period of time. I couldn’t be
more pleased."
From July 8 to 12, Team USA entered the Dutch Trophy tournament
in Amsterdam, Holland, and ended up in fourth place behind
Australia, Russia and the Netherlands. The fourth place finish was
an improvement from their No. 8 ranking. The U.S. team is shooting
for one of the top six spots in the 2000 Olympic Games.
"We’ve done so much better than we did last year," former UCLA
team captain Payne said. "It went very well."
"We have a long way to go," Baker said, "but we have a young
team and are only going to get better."
Men’s Soccer
The UCLA men’s soccer team has been ranked No. 1 by the National
Soccer Coaches Association of America.
The Bruins return seven starters from last year’s national
championship squad including Final Four Offensive MVP Seth
George.
Baseball
Troy Glaus, who played on the UCLA baseball team from 1995 to
1997, is making his transition into the major leagues as a
California Angel. He’s played in six consecutive games and hit a
double in his major league debut on July 31.
UCLA head coach Gary Adams, who has attended several of Glaus’s
games, found a way to get his protege’s attention amidst a
background of cheers and chants.
"His nickname at UCLA used to be T-Rex," Adams said. "I was
sitting next to some of Troy’s family, and we were finally able to
get his attention when we yelled it out."
Two of the four college players who were drafted in 1997 and are
now in the major leagues are Bruins, one being Glaus and the other
being Jim Parque, a starting pitcher for the White Sox.
Adams remains supportive of his former athletes, particularly
Glaus, whose recent string of major league exposure has been
positive. As of August 7, he was batting .333 with three doubles
and four RBIs in 22 at-bats.
"There aren’t too many guys who get a hit every game he plays in
the major league, so it says a lot about Troy," Adams commented. "I
think it’s been great for him so far, and I hope it continues to be
great."
The 1998 Pac-10 Player of the Year, Eric Valent, earned the
first promotion of his young career.
Valent, UCLA’s all-time home run leader, was playing for
Piedmont in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. He was hitting
.427 at the time of his call up and will soon be lacing up his
cleats for Clearwater, a team in high Class-A ball.
UCLA sophomore phenom Garett Atkins narrowly missed winning the
prestigious Cape Cod Summer League batting title. Atkins finished
the season at .38345, less than one point behind Robert Kielty of
Mississippi State.
Atkins was the third youngest player at the Cape Cod league this
year. The Cape Cod Summer League is an invitation-only league for
the top returning players in college baseball.
Joining Atkins in the Cape Cod League are fellow Bruins Matt
Pearl, Jack Santora, Chad Cislak and Chase Utley.
Women’s Swimming
Members of the UCLA women’s swimming team will compete at the
U.S. senior nationals starting August 11 at Clovis, California.
Placement at the nationals will determine eligibility for
several international competitions in 1999, including the Pan
Pacifics in Australia, Pan Americas in Edmonton, World University
Games in Spain and the short course world championships in Hong
Kong.
Returning Bruins competing at the senior nationals are Keiko
Price, Sangeeta Puri, Amber Wines and Beth Goodwin. Price had
qualified and competed at the 1997 World University Games and is
looking once again to qualify for one of the four meets.
Incoming Bruins Katie Younglove, Katie Ryan, Julie Massey,
Lyndee Hovsepian and Samantha Schacher will also go to the national
meet.
A number of Bruins have competed in other national competitions
such as the U.S. junior nationals, Canadian nationals and Spanish
nationals. With many of these swimmers being incoming freshmen,
these meets provide valuable competitive experience for the fall
NCAA season.
"I was impressed with some of our incoming freshmen competing at
the junior nationals," said UCLA Head Coach Cyndi Gallagher.
"And we have some of them going to the senior nationals. With so
many freshmen at the nationals, we just don’t know who’s going to
rise up this coming school year. It’ll be very interesting to
see."
Football
Expectations are high for the Bruins this year as several
publications have come out with prognostication of where UCLA will
finish.
Street and Smith’s ranks UCLA No. 4 in the nation, first in the
conference.
Both Athlon Sport and The Sporting News have the Bruins ranked
as the No. 10 team in the nation, second in the conference.
Football Digest ranked the Bruins No. 9 in their preseason
polls.
The ESPN/USA Today Preseason Poll, has the Bruins ranked No. 7
overall and first in the Pac-10. UCLA received three first-place
votes.
Skip Hicks made his NFL preseason debut on Saturday for the
Washington Redskins, scampering for 51 yards on nine carries,
including his first touchdown. Hicks’ impressive showing came in
only two quarters of game action.
Shaun Williams of the New York Giants also made his debut on
Saturday, forcing and recovering a fumble that led to the winning
touchdown.
Compiled by Steve Kim, Daily Bruin Staff