COLLEGES: WAVES AREN'T TAKING IT EASY EARLY.

Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE  Staff Writer

After an improbable Cinderella run to the NCAA Tournament last season, no one would have blamed the the Pepperdine women's basketball team for sitting back a little while longer and enjoying the memories.

But that's not exactly Waves' coach Julie Rousseau's style. So instead of scheduling a couple of easy games to start the year, Rousseau decided to use the momentum from lastyear's late-season run for good, on and off the court.

Pepperdine opens its regular season Nov. 10 at Texas A&M, then flies to UNLV for a game two days later. The following week, Pepperdine will host Rutgers (a Sweet 16 team lastyear) at its Tip-off Classic, which includes a special program to raise money and awareness for HIV/AIDS charities.

As for the unprecedented strength of the Waves' schedule in the early season, Rousseau was blunt.

``We made it to the tournament last year and we need to get a taste of what it takes to get back,'' she said. ``We're trying to get battle-tested.''

Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount were the picked as co-favorites in the West Coast Conference in the preseason coaches' poll.

Title time: The UCLA women's soccer team (16-2, 7-0) can win its fourth straight Pac-10 title with a win Friday at Oregon (10-6-2, 4-1-2).

Stanford (13-5-1, 6-1-1) is alone in second place.

USC (9-3-5, 2-1-4) is alone in fifth place. Barring a stumble at Oregon or Oregon State this weekend, the Trojans will likely make the NCAA tournament because of their strength of schedule. The NCAA selection show is Monday at noon.

Matadors dress to impress: It's one down, one to go and hold your breath for the Cal State Northridge men's soccer team. The Matadors (7-6-5, 4-2-3) picked up a good win Tuesday over Oregon State and need to beat UC Irvine on Saturday in a late-season push to impress the NCAA Selection committee and earn a fifth-straight NCAA bid.

UC Irvine (12-3-3, 5-2-1) enters this week's play in a position to win the Big West Conference title or fall to thirdplace in the final standings. UC Irvine (16 points) hosts first-place UC Santa Barbara (18 points) on Wednesday before facing the Matadors (15 points) on Saturday.

Rematch: After playing five times in 2005, including the NCAA championship match, the USC and Stanford men's water polo teams will meet for the first time this year Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Palo Alto. USC has a 37-game winning streak, which is just 14 wins short of the national record set by Stanford from 1985-87.

Hoop Dreams: The Vance Walberg Era at Pepperdine officially begins tonight as the Waves host Cal Baptist in an exhibition game. Walberg has attracted national attention for his fast-paced, attacking offense. His teams averaged 104 points a game in four seasons at Fresno city college.