CLU’s 1st-Place Soccer Teams Face Stiff Test in Claremont

The Cal Lutheran men’s and women’s soccer teams will engage their Claremont-Mudd-Scripps counterparts in important matches today. The men are home for a 10 a.m. match, and the women will play at Claremont at the same time.

The Cal Lutheran and Claremont men’s teams, each 5-0 in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play, lead their respective divisions and figure to advance to the conference championship game Oct. 31.

“Claremont is very physical and aggressive and plays with a lot of heart,” Cal Lutheran Coach George Kunz said.

The women, ranked third in this week’s Division III poll conducted by the Intercollegiate Soccer Assn., virtually could assure themselves of a conference title with a victory over the Athenas (8-4, 6-1).

The Regals (12-3, 8-0) have won nine consecutive matches, the past eight by shutout. Included in the streak is a 2-0 victory over then-No. 3 UC San Diego on Oct. 9, the Tritons’ first regular-season loss to a Division III opponent.

UCSD began its women’s program in 1981 and was 49-0-4 against Division III opponents in the regular season before the Cal Lutheran match.

The NASCAR Southwest Tour and Winston West Series will combine for 500 laps of racing this weekend at Bakersfield’s Mesa Marin Raceway.

The Southwest Tour, in its next-to-last event of the 17-race season, will run a 200-lap main tonight on the track’s half-mile paved oval. The Winston West, in its 10th of 11 events this season, will follow with a 300-lap race Sunday. Racing begins at 7 tonight and at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Points leader Ron Hornaday Jr. of Palmdale, in pursuit of his first Southwest Tour championship, enters tonight’s race with a 65-point advantage over Doug George of Atwater, Calif. Defending champion Rick Carelli of Denver is third, 97 points behind Hornaday. Hornaday cannot clinch the title tonight.

Bill Schmitt of Redding, Calif., holds a 19-point lead over defending champion Bill Sedgwick of Granada Hills in the Winston West points race. Carelli is third, 49 points behind Schmitt. Hornaday, also running in the Winston West, is a distant fifth.