Cypress, Irvine Valley Join County’s Growing Soccer Ranks

For years, soccer has been considered the fastest growing sport in the United States, and some of that growth has resulted in doubling the number of women’s programs at the local community college level.

Until this fall, Golden West and Orange Coast were the only Orange County schools that had teams, but Cypress and Irvine Valley have fielded squads this season.

Irvine Valley, under Coach Monique Brass, opened last weekend in the Moorpark Tournament and the results weren’t encouraging. The Lasers lost four games and tied another.

Still, Brass found some positives.

“Now the team knows the level of collegiate play,” she said. “How it compares to high school, how physical it gets and what the referees will call and won’t call.”

Irvine Valley, Golden West, Orange Coast and Cypress, the other fledgling program, all play in the Bakersfield Soccerfest Friday and Saturday.

Cypress started out as a club program last season.

The Chargers are coached by Ray Haas, who formerly headed the Cypress wrestling program. Haas, who has never coached soccer, said he made the change because he was looking for a new challenge.

Cypress’ first game will be against Irvine Valley at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

Hired: Lance Stewart, former volleyball coach at Laguna Beach High School, will coach the men’s volleyball team at Rancho Santiago next spring.

Stewart had been the boys’ and girls’ volleyball coach at Laguna Beach the past four seasons. He attended Laguna Beach High School and was a football and volleyball standout.

Fullerton has added Walt Simon, the Hornets’ all-time leading scorer in men’s basketball, to its coaching staff.

Simon (1964-66), who scored 1,708 points in his career, also holds the Fullerton single-game record with 51 in a 1965 game against Chaffey. He will join assistant Gary Larson and head Coach Roger See.

Simon Paek is the new head coach of the women’s tennis team at Cypress. Paek, a graduate of Loara High School and UC Irvine, has been the assistant at Cypress the past four years.

Paek, who will be in a part-time role, replaces Ron Johnson who resigned after two seasons because of conflicts with his work schedule.

El Camino starts the season as the top-ranked football team in the weekly Southland Poll. Bakersfield is second, Riverside third, Moorpark fourth, Fullerton fifth, Glendale sixth, Orange Coast seventh, Palomar eighth, Pasadena ninth and Cerritos 10th.

Alumni update: Eric Lange, a former J.C. Grid-Wire All-American kicker from Fullerton, had a key role Saturday in Tulsa’s 13-7 upset of Oklahoma State.

Lange kicked field goals of 34 and 45 yards, helping Tulsa to a 13-0 lead early in the fourth quarter. Lange was an All-American for Fullerton in 1989 and an All-Mission Conference kicker last season. He attended Los Alamitos High School.

Lange was hardly recruited out of Fullerton and didn’t sign with Tulsa until late this summer.

Notes

Clint Larson recorded his first shutout as a soccer goalie for Golden West Saturday when the Rustlers beat Citrus, 4-0. Larson is used to much leaner times at Golden West. He was the goalie in 1989 when the Rustlers were 1-16-2 and he had no shutouts. Larson spent last season in the Naval reserves. . . . Tricia Barr, who was the 1991 Orange Empire Conference softball player of the year, will attend Oregon State on a scholarship. Barr, who hit .318 with six home runs, helped Cypress to the state title last spring. . . . Vince Hizon, the 1989-90 Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball most valuable player, has left Boise State and will play at Biola this season. Hizon left Boise State, where he played a limited role, looking for more court time. . . . The Cypress baseball team, which won the state title last spring, will be honored Friday before the Angels’ game against the White Sox.