THE MASTER'S COLLEGE NOTEBOOK: MASTER'S HAS VIEW FROM TOP MEN'S SOCCER NO. 1 IN NATION.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Staff Writer

NEWHALL - It's not where they are now. It's where they want to finish.

But No. 1 still looks impressive to The Master's College men's soccer players, its coach and athletic director.

The players, including junior transfer Tyler Hergenrader, were overwhelmed by the news Tuesday that the 14-1 Mustangs had surpassed Lindsey Wilson College (Ky.) for the top spot in the NAIA Top 25 rankings.

``All I've got to say is 'Wow!' '' Hergenrader said of the honor, the first for any Mustangs' men's or women's team.

It's not as if coach Jim Rickard wasn't expecting this day over the past few weeks, when The Master's vaulted from unranked to third in the country and then settled in at No. 2 behind Linsdey Wilson, which lost its first match of the year to Union (Tenn.) last week.

``It was a shock that we were even No. 3, No. 2 and now No. 1,'' Rickard said. ``It's hard for a team from the West to be ranked this high consistently because they don't see us in those other regions. Those other regions kind of interplay each other.''

In past years, such a lofty ranking would be considered more significant since the independent Mustangs' postseason fate was out of their hands. But as members of the Golden State Athletic Conference, an automatic Region II bid is available. At 6-1, the Mustangs lead the GSAC with four matches remaining but suffered their first loss of the year Thursday, a 1-0 overtime setback to visiting Fresno Pacific.

Rickard is looking at the big picture when discussing his perch atop the nation.

``We can end the season being No. 1 ranked, lose in the (regional) playoffs and we're not going to Nationals,'' he said. ``It's neat, something to hang on the wall. It's a recruiting tool. It's pretty much just confirmation that we're playing good soccer.''

And giving first-year athletic director Paul Berry reason to be proud.

``That's unbelievable,'' Berry said. ``You want to be there at the end of the season. But it shows how hard these kids have worked.''

--Card tricks: Rickard will be watching the referees for the remainder of the regular season.

Three key starters, Lucas Bongarra, Curtis Lewis and Anthon Brueggeman, have received four yellow cards apiece this season.

An NAIA (and NCAA rule) mandates that a fifth yellow card results in a one-match suspension. So Rickard has warned his three players to play more carefully than maybe they'd prefer.

``Those cards that were kind of stupid cards earlier start to mount up,'' Rickard said. ``I think those rules are kind of ridiculous. I think after you've gone 10 games, it should be wiped (clean). To get four cards in 14 games is a pretty good ratio.''

--Cardiac kids: The women's soccer team's two consecutive GSAC wins haven't provided coach Jamie Lindvall with too much time to relax.

After the Mustangs needed double overtime to fend off Biola on Saturday, a 1-1 tie with Fresno Pacific was broken when Celine Chenoweth's cross was kicked in by Sarah Riojas with 10 seconds left in regulation to finish off the Sunbirds 2-1 on Tuesday.

The Mustangs (8-2-1, 3-1-1) have won three GSAC matches in a row. But Fresno Pacific is in last place in the conference.

``We didn't finish early and we just didn't play very well at all,'' Lindvall said.

``We had 27 shots in the first half and we couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. We had too many opportunities that we couldn't hit. And it almost cost us the game.''

--Back to running: The cross country teams, which took last weekend off, return to action today at the UC San Diego meet in La Jolla.

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Goalkeeper Eric Pattison is one of the reasons The Master's soccer team is ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News