Football may reign supreme in the Pac-12, but it’s far from the only sport going on as October begins. We took a look at sports around the conference that may not be cash cows, but deserve attention nonetheless.
Arizona
The Arizona men’s golf team finished with a tie for fourth place in a 16-team field at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate in Albuquerque, N.M. The Wildcats were led by Eric Oja, who shot even-par for the tournament to finish tied for 5th place. Arizona’s other top-10 finisher was Juan Pablo Hernandez, who shot 2-over-par for the tournament, good enough for a ninth place finish.@@http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/team/static/team3068.html@@
Arizona State
The Sun Devils’ volleyball team has struggled through a miserable first half of the 2011 season. Arizona State remains winless (0-6) in Pac-12 play, most recently falling to Cal and Stanford and is only 4-11 overall. The Sun Devils might as well pencil in losses 12 and 13 as well – next week, they travel to Southern California to play top-10 powerhouses UCLA and USC.@@http://www.pac-12.org/Portals/7/images/wvolleyball/2011-Stats/HTML/CONFSKED.HTM@@
California
It was a whopper of a match, but the No. 3 California men’s water polo team dropped a heartbreaker 10-9 in overtime to No. 4 Stanford in the SoCal Tournament on Sunday. The Golden Bears, who had navigated through a loaded field to reach the finals, tied the match with 1:09 left in the final period, but Stanford’s Alex Bowen scored the winner for the Cardinal with 42 seconds left in the three-minute overtime. The Bears will open their Mountain Pacific Sports Federation league schedule on Friday at UCLA.@@http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-wpolo/cal-m-wpolo-body.html@@
Colorado
There were many advantages to Colorado’s move to the Pac-12 conference; competing for a conference volleyball title was not among them. Through the first six games of conference play, the Buffaloes are winless – worse yet, they have yet to win so much as a set in any league match. Colorado should have an opportunity to change that over the next few weekends, however. On Saturday, they start a three-game stretch playing fellow cellar-dwellers Washington State, Arizona and Arizona State.@@http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=205243667@@
Oregon State
With a near-capacity crowd in attendance, Oregon State’s men’s soccer team knocked off No. 22 Washington 2-1 last Friday night. Perhaps more impressive than that actual victory itself were the two goals scored by the Beavers on Husky goaltender Spencer Richey, who entered play with a 0.35 goals against average, the lowest in the Pac-12. The Beavers will try and sustain their momentum when they host San Diego State on Friday.@@http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-soccer/sched/orst-m-soccer-sched.html@@
Stanford
In a conference full of volleyball stars, Cardinal middle blocker Carly Wopat shone the brightest last week, earning Pac-12 player of the week honors for her role in Stanford’s sweep of the Arizona schools. Wopat hit .502 over the course of the weekend, averaging 3.71 kills and 2.00 blocks per set. Additionally, Wopat became the first Pac-12 player to earn both offensive and defensive player of the week honors – she earned defensive honors on Sept. 12.@@http://www.gostanford.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/100311aaa.html@@
UCLA
The highest of five Pac-12 teams ranked in the top seven in the nation, the No. 2 UCLA volleyball team has been exceptional during the first half of the season. The Bruins are tied for first in the Pac-12 with a 6-1 conference record and are 13-2 overall. Aside from an early-season slip-up at Pepperdine and a conference loss to No. 3 Washington, the Bruins have been nearly flawless. They’ve won four matches in a row, including victories over top-10 foes California and Stanford.@@http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/w-volley/stats/2011-2012/teamstat.html@@
USC
The then-No. 1 USC men’s water polo team suffered a couple of major upsets on the second day of the SoCal Tournament over the weekend. The Trojans, winners of eight straight SoCal Tournament titles, fell 6-4 to Stanford in the semifinals and were defeated 7-6 by rival UCLA in the third place game. The two losses were the first the Trojans had suffered this season; their record now stands at 9-2.@@http://www.usctrojans.com/sports/m-wpolo/sched/usc-m-wpolo-sched.html@@
Utah
Unlike its football team, Utah’s women’s soccer team has fared well in its inaugural season in the Pac-12. The Utes have won five straight games to bounce back from an 0-3-1 start. The biggest reason for the turnaround is a resurgent Utah offense. Since going scoreless in their first four games, the Utes have averaged two goals a contest. Utah will resume its Pac-12 schedule next weekend when it visits Washington State and Washington.@@http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/sched/utah-w-soccer-sched.html@@
Washington
High-level sports teams aren’t usually much for moral victories, but the Washington women’s soccer team must take some measure of optimism from its 1-0 overtime loss to No. 1 Stanford on Sunday. A day after earning a draw with No. 21 Cal, Washington (4-4-3, 0-2-1 Pac-12) became only the second team to push the undefeated Cardinal to overtime this season, an encouraging development.@@http://www.pac-12.org/SPORTS/SoccerW/Standings.aspx@@
Washington State
Throughout the first half of the 2011 season, Washington State’s women’s soccer team has been a pleasant surprise. The Cougars (8-4-1, 2-1-0 Pa-12) have already surpassed their 2010 win total. Washington State’s latest impressive performance on the pitch came in a home match on Saturday, when the Cougars scored two second half goals to upset No. 21 California 2-0.@@http://www.wsucougars.com/sports/w-soccer/sched/wast-w-soccer-sched.html@@