SportScope : Heat Plays Finale Against San Diego With Soccer Title at Stake
The Los Angeles Heat, scrambling for a divisional title and a playoff advantage, will finish the regular Western Soccer League schedule playing host to first-place San Diego at 7:30 Saturday night at West Torrance High.
The Heat’s chance of winning the South Division title is slim because the Nomads have a game in hand, but the Heat could win the division under the WSL’s point system. The Heat is 10-5 and leads the WSL with 35 goals for a total of 81 points in the standings.
San Diego is 10-4 with 88 points and has to play Portland, also 10-4, in its last game Sunday. The Heat and Nomads have clinched playoff spots but are fighting for home-field rights.
Teams get six points for a victory plus a point for each goal in regulation up to three, so the Heat could sneak in if the Nomads lose both games and are held to one goal.
Heat forward Jeff Hooker goes into the weekend tied for fourth in scoring with 19 points. San Diego’s Jerome Watson leads the WSL with 25 points. The Heat’s Billy Thompson and Jim Gabarra each have 11.
Defender Mike Lapper and forward Jeff Hooker of the L.A. Heat were named to the first team of the Western Soccer League. Lapper, only 18, is considered the league’s finest marker. Hooker, a former UCLA star and 1984 Olympian, is among the WSL’s scoring leaders with 19 points. Heat midfielder Jim Gabarra, a member of the U.S. National Team, was named to the second team. Goalkeeper Kasey Keller of Portland was named WSL Player of the Year.
The 27th annual International Surf Festival will be held July 28-30 with events on Manhattan, Hermosa, Redondo and Torrance beaches. The highlight will be lifeguard team competitions among groups representing Southern California, Australia and New Zealand, beginning with a match race to kick off the festival at 10 a.m. July 28 at Hermosa Beach.
The first day will include L.A. County lifeguard championships at the Hermosa Pier at 7 p.m. The second day’s events include bodyboarding and bodysurfing competition, volleyball, a beach run and the Taplin lifeguard championships at 7 p.m. Sunday’s finales include volleyball finals, a pier-to-pier swim and the lifeguard dory championships.
Ed McGar of Harbor City had the thrill of his golfing career when he chipped in for an eagle on Harbor Park’s 505-yard, par-5 third hole. McGar had birdied the second hole and finished the round with a par 36.
San Pedro resident Edward Ericson aced the 205-yard, par-3 fourth hole at Harbor.
South Torrance High will be the site for a soccer coaching program Saturday and Sunday sponsored by the Amateur Athletic Foundation and California Interscholastic Federation. Sessions will begin at 8 a.m. to train men and women coaches. Instructors will include members of the U.S. national team and UCLA Coach Sigi Schmid. The program will cover developing specific skills, coaching tactics and care and treatment of injuries. Similar sessions will be held at Westminster High in late September and La Serna High in October and November.
