‘Eaters battle USC to scoreless tie

UC Irvine freshman goalkeeper Marissa Welliver made five saves to

help the Anteater women’s soccer team play host USC to a 0-0 tie in a

nonconference clash Sunday.

Welliver helped the ‘Eaters withstand a 15-4 shot advantage for

the Women of Troy, who are now 7-0-2 in their last nine meetings with

UCI.

UCI is now 5-2-2 this season, while USC, ranked No. 21 in he

nation, is now 3-3-2.

Lauren Baer had two shots for UCI.

UCI finishes ninth

* WATER POLO: The No. 7-ranked UC Irvine men’s water polo team

defeated No. 11 UC Santa Barbara, 9-6, Sunday in the ninth-place

final of the Southern California tournament at the Anteater Aquatics

Complex.

After Santa Barbara’s Doug Arthur tied the game, 6-6, with 6:10

remaining, UCI pulled away on goals by Curt Merlo, Rick Merlo and

Nate White to even its record at 5-5.

Dan Noon and Rick Merlo each had a pair of goals for UCI against

UCSB, which fell to 7-5.

UCI defeated No. 19 Cal Baptist, 9-8, in the ninth-place semifinal

earlier Sunday.

USC defeated Stanford, 10-9, in sudden-death overtime to claim the

tournament title. Both teams came in with a share of the No. 1

national ranking.

Leathernecks edge UCI

* SOCCER: Two goals early in the second half lifted the Western

Illinois men’s soccer team past UC Irvine, 2-1, at the Crescent

Financial Solutions Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M. Sunday.

Efrain Salcedo scored in the seventh minute with an assist from

David Yemane to give the Anteaters (2-5) the lead.

But the Leathernecks (4-2) tied the match in the 50th minute and

Matt Wieclaw scored the game-winning goal in the 59th minute.

The Anteaters outshot Western Illinois, 23-13, including 14-7 in

the second half. Ryan Mathy had five saves in goal for UCI, while the

Leathernecks’ Chris Frenz and Armen Tonianse combined for seven

saves.

Youth league nears

* BASKETBALL: The Boys & Girls Club of the Harbor Area Lou Yantorn

Branch will host a basketball program for girls in grades 1-8

beginning this fall.

The program will begin later this month and run into November.

First- and second-grade students will play in one league while those

players in third- and fourth-grade will be clumped into a league and

so on through eighth grade.

Games will be played on weeknights starting at 5:30, 6:30 and

7:30.

Girls are asked to sign up at the Boys & Girls Club, 2131 Tustin

Ave., Costa Mesa.

Volunteer parents are also needed to help coach. Call (949)

642-8372 for information.

All-Net tryouts set

* BASKETBALL: Tryouts for National Junior Basketball boys All-Net

teams will be held Saturday at Lincoln Elementary School in Corona

del Mar.

Eighth-grade boys tryouts are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.,

followed by seventh grade (10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.), sixth grade

(noon to 1:15 p.m.) and fifth grade (1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.).

Contact Rob Boyer at rboyer@tbgnfp.com for information.

Riptide wins three

* SOFTBALL: The Newport Beach Riptide, a girls under-18 travel

fastpitch softball team, opened its fall season with three victories

in the Westminster Tournament Sept. 13-14.

Riptide defeated American Pastime Gold, 3-0, the SoCal Blasters

Gold, 3-1, and Strike Force, 5-1.

Sasha Grumman, from Newport Harbor High, drove in three runs and

added stellar defense while Julianne Bass, also from Harbor,

contributed several key hits and solid defense in right field. Corona

del Mar High’s Heather Lohrman scored two runs.