Streaking Cougar Hard to Catch

No one is quite sure if Jason Roufs has set an NAIA record but at the very least, his is a streak that will be difficult to duplicate.

Roufs, a junior forward for the Azusa Pacific men’s soccer team, has scored in 12 consecutive games. His feat apparently is a Golden State Athletic Conference record, since no team has gone 12 games without being shut out, but the NAIA does not keep records on individual scoring streaks.

Whatever else it may be, it’s impressive.

“It hasn’t really hit me yet,” Roufs said. “I don’t think about it because I don’t want to have the whole ego thing. Other people are enjoying it more than I am. My only goal is for the team to do well and go to the playoffs.”

If it hasn’t hit Roufs yet, it has hit his coach.

“It’s unbelievable, isn’t it?” Don Lawrence said. “It’s like those longevity records, like Cal Ripken, or one of those Wilt Chamberlain records. It’s one of those things that just don’t happen very often.

“If you score two or three games in a row, you’re a marked man, so Jason has been a marked man for a while. I mean, they were just pelting him, taking him down and hammering him, but he’s resilient.”

Ironically, Azusa Pacific’s most prolific scorer was invited to the school as a defender.

Roufs is listed at 5 feet 8 but his coach says he is more like 5-6. He has a 36-inch vertical leap and always has been one of the fastest players on his teams, but his size--he weighs only 155 pounds--seemed to be a drawback. He was not recruited in high school and ended up taking a year off from school after his graduation in 1994.

He did play club soccer, however, and was moved to defender to fit the needs of the team.

So when Azusa Pacific went looking for a defender, Roufs was highly recommended by his club coach, Tony Parker.

“I’d like to say it was brilliant coaching on my part to move him to forward, but it happened kind of by accident,” Lawrence said. “We moved him up to an attacking midfielder spot and he struck one from the top of the [goalie box] into the upper [corner]. We figured we ought to move him after that.”

Brilliant enough.

Roufs has 19 goals this season and the Cougars, 17-2 overall, 10-0 in GSAC games, are ranked fifth in the country by the NAIA.

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The Cal Poly Pomona men’s cross-country team is No. 1 in the ratings after winning the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. meet last week.

Pomona had six finishers in the top 12 and Jose Rangel, Rondie Gibbs and Bryan Ramos finished second, third and fourth, respectively. Gavin Klinger of UC San Diego was the individual winner.

The Broncos will host the NCAA Division II regional meet Saturday at 8:30 a.m.

Twenty Division II schools from the western United States will participate and the top two teams will advance to the NCAA championships Nov. 22. In addition, three individuals from schools that fail to qualify will advance to the championships.

The women’s regional meet also will be held at Pomona, with a couple of format differences. The top three teams will advance, along with the two best individual runners from schools that did not qualify.

UC San Diego won the women’s CCAA title and Sawako Nakamura of Cal State Los Angeles was the top individual finisher.

College Division Notes

Jamie Simpson, a junior on Bakersfield’s soccer team, broke her school record for goals and points in a season. Her three goals in three games last week did the trick, bumping her totals up to 15 goals and 38 points. Last season she scored 13 goals and had 26 points. . . . Cal State Dominguez Hills (14-3-2, 7-2-1) and Bakersfield (12-6-2, 7-2-1) finished as co-champions of the CCAA in women’s soccer. Dominguez Hills is ranked sixth and Bakersfield 24th. Pomona (12-4, 7-3) was a close third, one point behind the leaders, and has an outside chance of making the NCAA Division II playoffs. Playoff teams will be announced Monday.

In men’s soccer, three teams have a shot at the playoffs. Fourth-ranked Bakersfield (16-4, 8-2) won the conference title, and No. 11 Pomona (12-6, 7-2-1) and No. 19 Dominguez Hills (12-6, 7-2-1) both finished one point behind. Pomona has never qualified for the NCAA playoffs. The men’s Division II playoff pairings also will be announced Monday.

Cal Poly Pomona upset Bakersfield in women’s volleyball last week. With one week of play left, Bakersfield (20-2) leads the CCAA with a 7-1 conference record. Cal State L.A. (22-8, 5-3), UC Riverside (18-12, 5-3) and Pomona (19-7, 5-3) trail by two games.

Claremont-Mudd won the men’s title and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps the women’s title at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference cross-country championships last weekend at Prado Park in Chino.