From the Desk of Stan Morrison:

Dear Highlander Fans,

Classes have not begun yet but Athletics has begun as anyone can see by the activities on our fields, in the gym, on our courts, and in the strength and conditioning center her in the Physical Education building.

We are under way and the Highlanders are busier than any summer I have seen since I walked on this campus on August 15, 1999. Entering year number eight with the Blue and Gold gang, there is an energy here now that excites me and reflects unusual degrees of planning and organization by our administrative team, our staff, and, more than any, our coaches!

Chancellor France Córdova had just returned from Australia and fought off the cobwebs of jet lag to see her UCR Men’s Soccer team play perhaps it’s finest match in their Division I history by beating visiting No. 27 ranked San Diego State University on the home pitch! The Aztecs played in the NCAA Tournament last year! Neither team wilted and the physical, quick, and extremely competitive Highlanders simply stayed after it to bring the “W” to the home crowd, much to the delight of the Chancellor and her husband, Christian Foster.

UCR Men’s Soccer stands 2-2 on the season with a 2-1 win over UNLV (Senior Erasmo Solorzano earned Big West Conference Player of the Week honors for his two goals in the victory) and identical 2-1 road losses at Oregon State (PAC-10) and Michigan State (Big Ten) in overtime. With as many as eight freshmen on the field at any one time, the future is bright as the veterans and rookies blend into a dynamic force preparing for their Big West Conference opener September 20th at Cal State Northridge. Coach Junior Gonzalez and Assitant Coach Jimmy Nordberg have done a great job this season. The next home match is Saturday, September 23 at the UCR Soccer Stadium as the Highlanders open their Big West home schedule against UCI. First ball is at 3:00 p.m. I will be looking for you.

Friday, September 1, saw our UCR Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams come down from their high altitude - and high attitude - training at Mammoth Lakes to host UCLA in a dual meet at UCR's Agricultural Operations Course off of Canyon Crest. The highlight was the performance of sophomore Cristina Olivas, who finished second behind a UCLA All-American and in doing so, shattered the UCR four-kilometer record. That effort earned her the Big West Conference Athlete of the Week Award! Congratulations to Cristina! The women’s team lost to the Bruins, but it was a tremendous performance.

The Men’s Cross Country team produced a great six-kilometer race against the Bruins. Junior Raul Lara took top honors for the race, sprinting past the UCLA leader in the last 100 yards, as he continues to get stronger through his team’s incredible training regimen. UCR finished 1st, 5th, 6th and 8th UCLA won the meet 25-30 but the message was sent... last year’s great improvement was not just a pie in the sky experience. It was the real deal! Evidence of that fact was demonstrated when everyone immediately showered, dressed and got in the vans to return to Mammoth to continue to train with their high altitude runs of 20+ miles a day!

If you have never come to a cross country meet, I invite you to come out to the UCR Cross Country Invitational on Saturday, September 30th at the Ag/Ops Cross Country Course. The races begin at 7:00 a.m. It is an exciting event to watch, especially as you see the runners chugging to the finish line at the end of a six or eight kilometer run.

With 11 freshmen on the squad, the Highlander Women’s Volleyball team is off to a slow start, but what you can't see in the record is the fact that very real improvement is showing every day. Day to day and match to match, Head Coach Sue Gozansky and Assistant Coach Monica Trainer put the squad through grueling three and four hour practices to catch the young players up to the realities of Division I play before entering the always tough Big West Conference to face several top 20 teams. With their first 11 matches all on the road, the team is getting hardened to the reality of tough “all we have is each other” competition. The enthusiasm remains high as I have had the pleasure of attending parts of several practices and I have observed the great technical teaching/coaching that is essential for improvement with total emphasis on repetitions. Do it again! Do it again! The capacity to translate the “breakdown drills” into play and then the play into matches is the key to catching this young team up to the standard that Coach Sue has set for her team. The team is on the road as this is being written and UCR will play Western Kentucky, Syracuse, University of San Francisco, and Sacramento State over the next two days. The Highlanders open their home schedule on Saturday, September 16 at 5:00 p.m. as they host UNLV in the Student Recreation Center.

Much like our Men’s Soccer Team, Veronica O’Brien and her Assistant Coach, Chris LeMay, have put together a blend of returning veterans and young first-year players who take few prisoners. With the team standing at 3-1 today, fine wins have been achieved over the Air Force Academy 2-0 on the road, the University of Oregon (PAC-10) 1-0 at home, and Southern Utah at home 3-1. The lone loss was at Colorado College which saw a 65 minute delay at the start of the match due to a rain storm and cancellation of the last 11+ minutes of the match due to lightning! Hey! No one told us it would be this way!! This exciting team is fun to watch. They are tough, fast, fit, and very deep. Creighton University will visit UCR on Sunday, September 17th at 1:00 p.m. Don't miss this exciting match against the Bluejays.

We also have a bunch of exciting events coming up that you want to be sure not to miss. Mark your calendars for these fabulous Highlander events:

Men’s and Women’s Basketball players have been here in Riverside for most of the summer. Men’s and Women’s Golf are getting under way. There is a lot going on and you’ll hear more about it next month. Thanks for reading!

“Take Pride in R’Side!”

Stan