L.A. UNIVERSITY BEAT / WENDY WITHERSPOON : This Much Is Sure: Titans a Goal Short

Let’s suppose that a prominent college football coach sent in 10 players instead of 11 for a play.

How long would it take before the reserves, the assistant coaches and the fans started yelling like madmen because the team was unnecessarily playing one man down?

About five seconds? Maybe less.

Yet, that is exactly what Al Mistri, 13-year veteran Cal State Fullerton men’s soccer coach, would have you believe happened in a 4-3 loss to underdog Loyola Marymount on Oct. 1.

Mistri said that he did not notice when 10 Titan players instead of 11 took the field after halftime. He said that he inadvertently let his team play one man down for more than 30 minutes, even as Loyola Marymount scored three goals to take the lead. What’s more, he said, no one noticed the deficit of players until there were about two minutes remaining.

Said Peter Novakovic, Loyola Marymount coach: “That’s absolutely untrue.

“If that were the case, he would have made the biggest coaching blunder in soccer history.”

According to Novakovic, a Titan player went to the sideline to receive treatment for an injury during the second half and was not replaced. He returned to the game about 12 minutes later. For the rest of the half, Novakovic said, the Titans played with a full squad.

But Mistri maintained otherwise.

“I wish (Novakovic) was right and I was wrong,” Mistri said. “It’s embarrassing enough for me to admit that this happened, let alone get in a controversy over it.”

Perhaps the only people who could give an unbiased account of what happened are among the 210 who attended the game at Fullerton. No reporters covered it.

The game was expected to be a blowout. Fullerton, a soccer powerhouse, shared the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title with UCLA last season. The Titans came into the game against the Lions ranked eighth in the nation and were knocked out of the rankings after the loss.

Before this season, Loyola Marymount had not won an NCAA Division I game since 1989, when it defeated United States International University. Its only other Division I victory since then was on Sept. 25, when the Lions defeated Central Michigan, 3-2, at the Cleveland State tournament.

Loyola Marymount, which offered scholarships this season for the first time, is 0-25 in six years of West Coast Conference play and 19-99-10 overall since 1986.

“My guys were rolling around like it was the World Cup,” Novakovic said. “A likely comparison would be if the (Loyola Marymount) basketball program beat the (L.A.) Lakers, that’s how illogical this (victory) seemed before the game.”

And illogical it remains, in more ways than one.

*

Rattled by a poorly marked course at the Aztec Invitational last month, Karen Hecox of the UCLA cross country team has been concentrating on steeling her nerves before races.

And it has worked.

A confident--and, for the first time in her collegiate career, uninjured, Hecox ran away from the pack with a mile remaining to win the Stanford Invitational on Oct. 2. Hecox, a junior, finished the 5,000-meter course in a personal-best 16 minutes 57 seconds in her first collegiate victory.

“I’m feeling strong at practices,” Hecox said. “Before the race, you never feel good, but once it started, I felt really good.”

At the Aztec Invitational, Hecox was running in the lead pack nearing the finish line when she and a couple other runners strayed about 150 meters off course because the course was poorly marked. Because of the confusion, Hecox didn’t challenge for the lead and she placed second, four seconds behind Megan Flowers of top-ranked Arkansas.

Confidence is important for Hecox. Last year, Hecox was the Bruins’ top finisher at the Pacific 10 Conference meet, but she got so nervous at the NCAA qualifying meet that she ran poorly and failed to qualify, finishing 10th, one place behind teammate and qualifier Beth Bartholomew.

*

Chris Kellerman wanted out.

In 1989, he had been one of the nation’s top water polo prospects out of Punahou High in Hawaii. At UCLA, he helped the Bruins advance to the NCAA final as a sophomore in 1991. Then, in 1992, after nine senior starters had used up their eligibility the previous season, Kellerman was expected to lead the Bruins.

But something was wrong. His body felt awkward in the once-friendly water. His skills, it seemed, had abandoned him. All during last season, Kellerman would look forward to each game, hoping that it would come together for him. But after each game, he was always disappointed.

“I wasn’t really ready for it, and I kind of choked,” Kellerman said.

Kellerman led UCLA in scoring last season, but the Bruins failed to advance to the NCAA tournament for only the fifth time in the 23-year history of the event.

He turned to his parents for advice. He wondered if he should continue to devote so much energy to college water polo if he did not have the skills to advance to the next level. He even considered getting a job.

But then, Rich Corso, U.S. national team coach, invited Kellerman to several practices. Kellerman had nothing to lose, and suddenly, pressure-free, Kellerman regained his confidence in the water. He led the United States to the gold medal at this summer’s World University Games.

This season, Kellerman, a senior hole man, has helped the Bruins rediscover their winning ways. On Oct. 1, sixth-ranked UCLA defeated second-ranked USC, 7-4. UCLA will play third-ranked California on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center.

Notes

California can’t challenge Florida in the college football rankings, but the Golden State is second to none in volleyball. In the Associated Press top 25 college football poll, Florida is represented by three teams, all among the top eight, including top-ranked Florida State. In the American Volleyball Coaches Assn. poll, seven of the top 25 teams are from California, including No. 1 UCLA and No. 2 Long Beach State.

The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team defeated Gonzaga on Sept. 30, giving Coach Nina Matthies her 100th West Coast Conference victory. Matthies, in her 11th season, is 192-147 overall and 102-11 in conference play. The Waves (6-8, 3-2) will play host to University of San Diego (15-1, 3-0) Friday at 5 p.m. in a match that will be televised live on Prime Ticket.

Ground was broken last week on a new $250,000 softball facility at Long Beach State. The 49ers currently play most of their home games at Lakewood’s Mayfair Park, about seven miles from campus. The new facility is expected to be ready for the 1995 season. Long Beach has qualified for the NCAA tournament eight consecutive years and advanced to the College World Series five times.