Colleges: UCI improvises with field use
The UC Irvine men’s and women’s soccer teams are a combined 3-0 at Anteater Stadium this season, but Anteaters administrators decided this week to cut their losses on the grass field that had been ravaged by a mysterious fungus.
The diseased turf, which had been in pristine condition until being afflicted about three weeks before the season opened, had received some patchwork relief with resodding near both goal boxes. The pocked surface had given opponents pause, however, and continued to resist rehabilitation efforts, prompting the decision to completely resod. The in-season remedy forced four women’s matches and one men’s contest to be moved from the stadium to the Anteater Recreation Center fields across campus.
The women’s team, which was 2-0 on the damaged stadium field, won its first match at the ARC, 2-1, on Friday against San Diego to make it three home wins in as many chances this fall.
Additional women’s matches are scheduled at the ARC against USC (Sunday at 6 p.m.), Oklahoma (Friday at 7 p.m.) and Boise State (Sept. 21 at 2 p.m.)
The UCI men will play host to San Diego on Sept. 21 at 5 p.m. on the “temporary” pitch.
Spectators will utilize “festival seating” for the relocated matches, for which tickets are being offered at a reduced price ($5). Spectators are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets on which to sit.
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•The No. 9-ranked UCI men’s soccer team, guided by first-year coach Chris Volk, is 4-0 entering Sunday’s road clash against Georgetown.
The Anteaters knocked off then-No. 19-ranked Denver, 2-1, on Sept. 5 and topped then-No. 25-ranked Clemson by the same score two days later, both in San Diego.
The two wins helped the ‘Eaters improve to 8-0 against ranked teams in their last eight regular-season contests against such heralded opponents.
Junior forward Lalo Calzada, a transfer from Cal State Bakersfield, leads the team with four goals and nine points, followed by senior forward Dennis Martinez, who has two goals and four points.
Junior goalkeeper Michael Breslin has just one shutout among his four victories, but he has had to make only seven saves.
That defense has been anchored by back-liners Matt Tilley and Thomas Janjigian, as well as midfielders Michael Sperber and Mats Bjurman.
Bjurman, a junior co-captain, was the Big West Conference Defensive Player of the Week after the two wins in San Diego.
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•George Kuntz, who left UCI after 19 seasons following the 2013 campaign to become men’s soccer coach at Cal State Fullerton, is off to a slow start.
The Titans are 0-3-2 after Friday’s loss to Detroit and have only four goals in five matches.
Kuntz and Cal State Fullerton play at UCI on Oct. 18 in the only regular-season meeting between the two schools.
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•Mamadou Ndiaye, a 7-foot-6 sophomore on the UCI men’s basketball team who underwent the surgical removal of a pituitary tumor in high school, took part, along with some teammates, in the annual Orange County Brain Tumor 5K Walk on Saturday at Angel Stadium.
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•The Vanguard University men’s basketball team received rings to commemorate the NAIA program’s first national championship, won last season. The ceremony took place during chapel service Wednesday morning at Newport-Mesa Church.
Coach Rhett Soliday’s team begins defense of that title with its first practice session on Monday.
The biggest shoes to fill are those left by the departure of first-team All-American Preston Wynne, who will soon begin his season with Oldenburg in the professional B League in Germany.
The Lions, led by senior guard Chris Gorman, a second-team All-American last season, play a home exhibition game against Chapman University on Oct. 30. They open the regular season on Nov. 8 at home against La Verne.
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•Former UCI men’s basketball standout Darren Fells, who made the Phoenix Cardinals as a 28-year-old rookie tight end, was not among 11 different Cardinals to catch a pass in the team’s 18-17 season-opening win over the visiting San Diego Chargers on Monday Night Football.
Fells will get another chance to grab his first NFL reception on Sunday, when the Cardinals visit the Giants.
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•The No. 14-ranked USC women’s soccer team that that visits UCI on Sunday includes Newport Coast resident Savannah Levin.
The Irvine-based Tarbut V’Torah school product, whose older sister Camille helped Stanford win a national championship and earned first-team All-American honors in 2011, is a sophomore forward-midfielder for the Women of Troy (5-0-1). She has started five games and has one goal and one assist.