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BYU's Rockwood Furious over NCAA Bias in Soccer Pairings
By Tad Walch, The Daily Herald
Nov. 8, 1999
PROVO -- The war between BYU and the NCAA over playing on Sundays has resumed on a new front, BYU soccer coach Jennifer Rockwood said Sunday. The No. 15 Cougars (20-3) were flabbergasted Sunday night when pairings for the 48-team NCAA tournament were released. They drew No. 24 Cal (13-6-1) in the first round here Wednesday and, if they win, a road match at No. 1 Santa Clara (20-5) on Saturday. The NCAA soccer championship game is played on Sunday. "My first impression is that the women's soccer selection committee made a pretty obvious statement with their bracketing that they don't want us to screw up their tournament," Rockwood said. "We're the only top 25 teams matched up against each other in the first round. It's a very strong statement against us. "I don't think it's a coincidence we're matched up with Santa Clara for the third straight year." In fact, it's only the third time the five-year-old program has made the tournament. Santa Clara knocked the Cougars out of their first tournament in 1997 with a 1-0 first-round victory. In 1998, BYU frightened NCAA soccer officials by winning their first two matches, against Stanford at home and UCLA on the road. The Cougs finally lost on the road at Santa Clara again, this time 3-0. The soccer and women's basketball committees sought to change an NCAA rule which protects schools with official policies against playing on Sunday. If a conflict arises, the game must be moved to another day. Those committees won a round over the summer before the NCAA's governing body shot down the proposal and restored the rule, which is now more than 30 years old. But Rockwood, whose team won the first Mountain West Conference championship Satur-day in Chula Vista, Calif., with a 2-1 overtime victory over San Diego State, believes the soccer committee isn't through waging its war. To Rockwood, the bias seems evident everywhere. BYU was ranked as high as No. 7 this year, then plummeted out of the polls after losing at San Diego State on Oct. 16. "The poll people are very quick to drop us when we lose," Rockwood said. "A lot of people ranked ahead of us have lost six, seven and eight games. Yes, they've lost some against good teams, but they all have at least one bad loss. "We don't have a single bad loss." She's also miffed that her team didn't earn one of the 16 first-round byes in this tournament, the first with 48 teams. Last year's tournament had 32 invitees. "The power rankings, where no one votes and everything is based on statistics, rank us 11th," Rockwood said. "And that doesn't include our three wins from last week. "All 10 teams above us and the five right below us have first-round byes." All this is especially aggravating because the Cougars are peaking. "We played our best soccer ever in the history of BYU," Rockwood after the Cougs topped San Diego State at the ARCO Olympic Training Center. "Everything we've been working on for three months came together, consistency, composure and work rate," Rockwood said. "We would love the opportunity to upset Santa Clara this year. It's their first year ranked No. 1 and they are expected to win the national title." San Diego State coach Chuck Clegg thought his team brought the best out in the Cougars. "I think it's a case of us beating them four times in a row," he said. "Once you beat a great team like BYU four in a row, they become very motivated to beat you." The Cougars came back from a 1-0 deficit on a penalty kick goal by Sara Reading early in the second half and an overtime score by Kim Lowe, who was assisted by Staci Reynolds and Reading.
BYU outshot San Diego State 27-5. The Cougs put 14 shots on goal to 2 for the Aztecs.
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