Northwest -- Seattle U. Soccer Team Gets Naia Regional Bid

Seattle University defeated Pacific Lutheran 5-1 to clinch the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges championship. The Chieftains were led by Kurt Swanson and Sean Cassidy, who scored two goals each.

Swanson scored the first two goals of the game, at 6:30 and 22:40, to give Seattle U. the early lead yesterday. Cassidy scored the Chieftains' third goal before PLU got on the board. Arne Klubberud gave Seattle U. a 4-1 lead at 74:15, then Cassidy finished the scoring at 80:45. Seattle U. (20-1-1), unbeaten in its past 21 games, will play in the NAIA Pacific Northwest regional championship next weekend at Western Baptist College in Salem, Ore.

UW CREWS DOMINATE

Washington crews won five times in the Head of the Lake races on Lake Washington.

The women's varsity won its 5-kilometer race in 17:18.19. The Huskies entered four boats in the women's junior-varsity race and took first and second.

The men's varsity recorded the fastest time of the day, 15:18.29, in winning the men's open eight event. The men's junior-varsity shells finished first, third and fourth. Husky boats took first, second and sixth in the men's open fours races.

COUGARS WIN FINAL EXHIBITION

Carlos Daniel scored a game-high 30 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked five shots as Washington State's men's basketball team defeated Hungary Select 90-79 in the Cougars' final exhibition contest of the season.

Chris Crosby added 16 points, Rodrigo de la Fuente had 15 points and eight rebounds and Leif Nelson had 11 points for the Cougars.

COOK DEFENDS TITLE

Rob Cook of Tacoma defended his 1996 title in the Pacific Northwest Association Championship cross-country meet at Woodland Park. He ran the 9.7-kilometer course in 30 minutes, 23 seconds.

Liz Wilson of Eugene, Ore., defended her women's title. The top local finisher in the women's race was Emily Anderson of Seattle, who finished 10th.

HUSKIES DEFEAT DONS

Five Huskies scored as Washington's men's soccer team defeated the University of San Francisco 6-1 to finish the season 14-2-2. Jason Boyce scored two goals and had one assist, Rees Bettinger and reserve Lane Jerdal each had one goal and one assist, and Brandon Prideaux had two assists for the Huskies, who outshot San Francisco 21-5.

NOTES

-- Washington's women's soccer team finished the season with a 4-1 loss to USC (6-2 Pac-10, 16-3-1 overall) at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Casey Dickerson scored the only goal for the Huskies (5-4, 7-12).

Courtney Barham scored three goals and assisted on the other for USC. Goalkeeper Gretchen Mensinger recorded seven saves for the Huskies.

-- Husky tennis player Robert Kendrick defeated teammate Eric Drew 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 in the finals of the Ice Volleys Showcase in Bloomington, Minn. The two then teamed to win the Flight I doubles title over Ivo Bratanov and Ivallo Traikov of Bulgaria, 8-3.

Husky sophomore Nicholas Quatrochi won the Flight V singles title by defeating Edward Marques of Minnesota, 6-0, 6-4.

-- Husky women's tennis players Kristina Kraszewski and Zuzana Stunova both lost quarterfinal matches at the Northwest Rolex Regional tournament in Stanford, Calif.

-- Apolo Ohno, a speedskater from Seattle, finished 18th in the Short Track Olympic Qualifying Event in The Hague, Netherlands.

Because Ohno and the other U.S. skater, Rusty Smith (11th), finished in the top 20, the United States will be allowed four entries in the men's competition of the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan.

-- The Washington State women's soccer team lost 4-0 to UCLA (9-0 Pac-10, 17-2) after holding the Pac-10 champions scoreless in the first half.