Community College Notebook : Now, He Gets Good Marks in Class, Too

Pat Merrell has proven himself on the soccer field several times. Merrell, a forward for Orange Coast College, leads his team with 21 goals, scoring 16 times in 8 Orange Empire Conference matches.

His talents also have been recognized on the national level. He has a scholarship offer from Southern Methodist University, one of the top programs in the nation.

But before he can head for Texas, he has to prove himself in the classroom, where he has had his share of trouble.

Merrell’s academic problems started his senior year at Corona del Mar High School, where he was the Sea View League’s most valuable player in 1987. He came down with mononucleosis, missed most of the spring quarter, but was able to graduate.

“I was an average student, maybe even a little below average,” Merrell said. “I never really studied that much. I sort of took everything for granted.”

Last fall, he attended Irvine Valley College--where there’s no longer a soccer team--to concentrate on his class work.

Merrell came to the attention of the SMU program when he played for the North Huntington Beach Untouchables, an under-19 club team last spring and summer.

But Merrell still needed 24 transferable units to get into SMU, so he decided to attend OCC this fall because he wanted to continue playing soccer.

“I made a pact with myself to get my academics in order,” Merrell said. “I guess you could say I turned over a new leaf. . . . My dad always harped on me about class work, but I never really understood what it all meant until now.”

Merrell, who was having a strong season for OCC, scored 5 times in a 9-0 victory over Cypress on Oct. 25.

“I haven’t scored that many goals in a game since I was 9 or 10,” Merrell said. “It just seemed to come easy. My teammates got the ball to me at the right time in the right place a lot that day.”

Two days after the Cypress match, Merrell scored 3 goals in a 5-0 victory over Riverside.

OCC (14-4-3 overall and 6-0-2 in conference play) is tied for first place with Rancho Santiago. The teams play at 3 today at OCC in the second-to-the-last conference match. OCC plays at Cypress Thursday and Golden West is at Rancho Santiago.

Golden West, Saddleback, Orange Coast and Rancho Santiago all qualified for the Southern California Regional water polo playoffs.

The top 4 seeded teams--Long Beach, Golden West, Cuesta and Saddleback--received byes, and 8 more teams play Wednesday in the first round.

Los Angeles Pierce plays Orange Coast at Cerritos, Rancho Santiago plays at San Diego Mesa, Mt. San Antonio is at Ventura and Palomar is at Cuesta. All matches start at 3:30 p.m.

The regionals move to Belmont Plaza in Long Beach Friday for the second round.

Long Beach plays the winner of Cuesta/Palomar at 9:30 a.m., Saddleback meets the winner of OCC/Pierce at 11 a.m., Golden West plays the winner of Ventura/Mt. San Antonio at 12:30 p.m. and Citrus meets the winner of Rancho Santiago/San Diego Mesa at 2 p.m.

The winners of the second-round matches qualify for the state tournament, Nov. 18-19, at De Anza College.

When the season started in September, OCC women’s soccer Coach Barbara Bond said this could be her best team ever. So far, the Pirates have proved her right.

OCC is 16-0 overall and 8-0 in the South Coast Conference. OCC, which has already clinched a tie for the conference championship, travels to Golden West for a match at 6 tonight. Michele Nadon leads OCC with 12 goals. Kim Doleman leads in assists with 9 and Nadon has 8.

Community College Notes

Golden West running back Blaise Bryant, the state’s leading rusher, is nearing 3 school rushing records. Bryant has gained 1,192 yards in 249 carries. He needs 2 carries to break the season-single record of 250 set by Rick Rice in 1972. Bryant needs 112 yards to break the single-season record of 1,303 set by Mark Davis in 1975. Bryant rushed for 801 yards as a freshman and needs 309 yards to break the career rushing record of 2,301 set by Leonard Altavilla (1978-79).