NCAA, CCAA Plans Improve Toros’ Playoff Opportunities

The Cal State Dominguez Hills women’s soccer program got a double dose of good news this week when the NCAA announced that it will expand its Division II tournament from four to six teams and the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. announced the formation of a women’s league.

The CCAA has perennially been one of the strongest conferences in the nation in men’s soccer, with the champion earning an automatic bid to the playoffs.

The four-team women’s league--composed of the Lady Toros, Cal Poly Pomona, Chapman and newcomer Cal State San Bernardino--won’t have an NCAA automatic bid, but Dominguez Hills Coach Marine Cano feels it will help the top teams get more recognition.

And with the NCAA playoff expansion, he is hopeful there is room for two California teams most years. Last fall, Sonoma State was the region’s top-ranked team and went on to win the four-team NCAA tournament.

“Going from four to six is long overdue,” Cano said. “In the past you had to be No. 1 in your region--and by far the West is toughest. If you’re the No. 2 team--like we were last year--you don’t go. If they took six last year, us and North Carolina-Greensboro would’ve gone. Six is very realistic to bring the cream of the crop to a national championship atmosphere.”

Cano has coached the Dominguez Hills women’s team from its inception in 1984 and for the last five years it has been one of the top programs on the West Coast. In 1989, the Lady Toros were rated first in the West and advanced to the Division II Final Four.

Last fall, they went 11-5-4, with four of the losses to Division I opponents. Sonoma State also had four losses to Division I teams and ranked first in the region. In the South, Barry University of Miami was ranked No. 1 in the country and went to the four-team NCAA playoffs. Greensboro, ranked No. 2 nationally but also No. 2 to Barry in the South, stayed home.

“If you’re No. 1 in your region you’re still in the driver’s seat and that’s what we’ll be shooting for,” Cano said. “But it’s nice to know the wild-card opportunity is there. The No. 2 team in the nation won’t get left behind like last year.”

Without conference games in the past, Cano has had to make up a top-heavy schedule, including some of the top-rated Division I teams, to earn national attention. The CCAA should provide solid Division II competition, home-and-home rivalries and a more orderly method for pollsters to weigh teams’ strengths at that level. He called the formation of a conference not just good for Dominguez Hills, but “a tremendous boost . . . for women’s soccer in the area in general.”

At the least, a conference championship gives the teams something tangible to shoot for, similar to the men’s teams. Cano coaches both squads at Dominguez Hills.

“As a coach, what do I tell my team at the start of the season that they have to do to be a champion?” Cano said. “I tell my fellows we can toughen up with a hard preseason and go 0-10 and we win still the CCAA and go to the NCAAs. And if we have a good record and finish second we may still go. The women have never had that. In 1986 we were 15-1-2 and we don’t go.

“I think a conference will help me recruit. And now we’ll have a lot of girls on the all-conference teams and maybe some MVPs, so this gives them the kind of recognition the guys are already getting. (Conference play) will help start a tradition at the Hills because our players and our recruits will be able to see our accomplishments in black and white. That’s (incentive) for a team--we still want them to think in terms of team success but it’s nice to get some individual recognition.”

In recent seasons, Pomona has had the second-best CCAA team behind Dominguez Hills, and Chapman has been competitive. As a Division III program, San Bernardino emphasized women’s soccer, earning national rankings, and as the school steps up to full-time membership in the CCAA this fall it expects the sport to be one of its strongest.

Cano is hopeful Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and/or UC Riverside will also add women’s teams now that a championship is offered. He is already advising ways for Cal Poly to upgrade its club team.

“If SLO or Riverside comes through with a team (the CCAA) would be very tough,” he said. “Women’s soccer is really growing around the world. Plus, the United States has the No. 1 ranked women’s soccer team. If that isn’t incentive for the other CCAA schools to add women’s soccer, then I don’t know what is.”