WINTER SPORTS PREVIEWS : BOYS’ SOCCER : Jurgemeyer Working to Reach Full Stride : Mission Viejo Star Gets a Late Start

Jeff Jurgemeyer has not quite gotten his soccer legs in order. Jurgemeyer, a center forward, scored 19 goals for Mission Viejo High School and was the South Coast League’s offensive soccer player of the year last season.

But he is also a starting cornerback on the football team, which reached the semifinals of the Division III playoffs. So 7 games into the soccer season, Jurgemeyer is still trying to work himself into condition.

“In football, you are just trained to go for 40 seconds of play, then it’s back to the huddle to rest,” he said. “In soccer, it’s running, sprinting, jogging, running, sprinting, jogging all game long. So it’s a big transition.”

Jurgemeyer, a senior, has played in only 5 games so far for the Diablos (7-0), the top-ranked Orange County team in the Southern Section 3-A rankings. He scored his first goal of the season Tuesday in a 2-0 victory over Newport Harbor.

Once he reaches top form, the Diablos figure to be even stronger, although it will be a while before he “gets in touch with the ball to where he is ready to play up to his ability,” Mission Viejo Coach Cal Foster said.

Jurgemeyer, who also competes in track, is hoping to improve on last season’s 19 goals, although he doesn’t believe he has a chance to reach the single-season county scoring record of 41 goals, set by Mater Dei’s Paul Oldham 2 years ago.

“It’s tough because I play football and run track, so I don’t have the skills to go up to 40 because I don’t play year-round like everybody else does,” Jurgemeyer said.

“The skills are there, I just don’t get a chance to work and develop them like the other guys on our team who work year-round.”

Jurgemeyer seems to have an innate feel for being in the right place at the right time.

“Probably his biggest strength is just his desire and his ability to be around the ball when it’s around the goal,” Foster said.

Jurgemeyer, 5 feet 10 inches and 160 pounds, called 9 of his 19 goals last season “garbage goals because they bounce off someone else and I put it in just because I happen to be there.”

Foster is dumbfounded by his team’s lofty ranking, fourth among all Southern Section 3-A teams and first in one area newspaper’s Orange County poll. Seven starters, including all-league players Greg Morales and Sean Foster, graduated from last season’s 17-5-4, South Coast League championship team. And a third all-league player, three-sport star Eric Ekdahl, decided to concentrate on baseball and is not playing soccer this season.

“I don’t know if I feel we are No. 1,” Foster said. “Fountain Valley (has) 11 returners from their team last year. Brea-Olinda is definitely a top team.”

Mission Viejo has passed early tests so far, defeating Edison, the ninth-ranked 4-A school in the Southern Section preseason coaches’ soccer poll, and Brea-Olinda, No. 6 in 2-A.

The Diablos’ ranking has put some pressure on his team, Foster said. “It gives everybody something to shoot at,” he said. “If you’re playing a weaker team, you don’t get up for it, but if you’re playing somebody who is supposed to be the best, everybody gets up for it.

“One thing about soccer is the ball bounces right or wrong for you. If it bounces one way, you’re in good shape. If it goes the other way, you’re in trouble.”

Some other teams to watch:

Brea Olinda, under Coach Manny Toledo, had won four consecutive Orange League titles until injuries and discipline problems disrupted the squad last year. Still, the Wildcats advanced to the 2-A quarterfinals.

The Wildcats, with seven returning starters, are off to a 4-3-1 start, but 2 of those losses were to strong Mission Viejo and Fountain Valley teams. Brea-Olinda is led by brothers J.R. Ochs (midfielder) and Jaysn Ochs (forward).

Fountain Valley, under Coach Gerold Ashby, advanced to the semifinals in the Southern Section 4-A division last season and finished at 16-6-1. The Barons have seven returning starters and are 6-2 so far. The Southern Section preseason coaches’ soccer poll ranks them fifth in 4-A.

Laguna Beach is the top-ranked county school (No. 2) in the Southern Section 2-A rankings and has six returning starters from a team that was 21-4-3 last season. The Artists are the defending Pacific Coast League champions.

Mater Dei, No. 4 in the Southern Section 4-A in the soccer coaches’ preseason poll, is off to a rocky start. The school took disciplinary action taken against several players and first-year Coach John O’Neil for the players’ misconduct involving alcohol at a team retreat this month. The Monarchs were 24-2-2 last season.

San Clemente started the week at 7-1-2 under first-year Coach Mike Pronier. The Tritons, unranked in the preseason poll, have been surprises, winning the 16-team Irvine tournament. Their only loss came on penalty kicks to Alhambra.

But three returning starters have been injured recently, two of them halfbacks.

“I feel a bit unlucky,” Pronier said. “We were short on halfbacks to start with and now I have lost two. It is getting pretty thin.”

The Tritons have yet to play a ranked opponent. It remains to be seen how they regroup in the wake of injuries.

Santa Ana, also unranked in the preseason, won its 16-team Santa Ana Elks tournament.

Others to consider: Edison, Pacifica, Laguna Hills, Ocean View and Troy.