Men’s Soccer Play Proving Tough

There is plenty of talk about the Orange Empire Conference being the toughest in the state in baseball, softball and men’s and women’s basketball the past few years.

But the way things look now, that description also could be extended to men’s soccer.

Defending co-champions Irvine Valley (5-0-2) and Orange Coast (3-3-4) are expected to be strong again, but Fullerton (5-1-3) and Rancho Santiago (5-0-1) also could be in the title hunt.

Golden West (4-4-1), Cypress (1-6) and Riverside (3-2-1) also have improved.

“Who knows what’s going to happen,” OCC Coach Laird Hayes said. “Everybody is stronger, I guess. We hope we are ready.”

Henry Crompton of Fullerton is the leading scorer in the conference with eight goals. Brad Wilson of Irvine Valley has seven, Ali Mossadeghi and P.J. Polowski of OCC and Fred McCollum of Golden West each have five.

In today’s 3 p.m. games, Fullerton is at Cypress, Golden West is at Orange Coast and Riverside is at Irvine Valley. Rancho Santiago has a bye.

The Orange Empire Conference starts its first season of women’s soccer today.

Long Beach is at Irvine Valley, Mt. San Antonio is at Palomar and Cypress is at Golden West. Orange Coast has a bye.

Tearng Ung of Long Beach is the leading scorer with six goals and Laurie Wilson of Cypress has five.

The Rest of the Story: When Saddleback stopped El Camino, 36-8, Saturday, the passing of quarterback Tim Snowden made headlines. He threw for 412 yards and five touchdowns, but Saddleback’s defensive accomplishments were perhaps more impressive.

There were many standouts for the Gauchos, including linebackers Penn Bushong, Sean Mallett and Todd Norman.

Bushong had two interceptions, assisted on eight tackles and caused a fumble. Mallett assisted on 15 tackles, recovered a fumble and had a sack for a safety. Norman had an interception and assisted on 10 tackles.

Defensive lineman Damon Psaros assisted on 10 tackles, two of which were sacks, and defensive back Cedric Blanks contributed on 10 tackles and caused a fumble.

Cross-Country: The Irvine Invitational, the biggest race in Orange County, will be held Friday at Irvine Regional Park.

The meet, co-hosted by Orange Coast and Rancho Santiago, will feature an open men’s and women’s race at 2:30 p.m.

The women’s team race is at 3:30 p.m. and the men are scheduled at 4:15 p.m. About 25 teams are expected to compete, including Cypress, OCC, Fullerton, Golden West, Irvine Valley, Rancho Santiago, Riverside and Saddleback.

El Camino will be back to defend the women’s title and Long Beach will return to defend the men’s title.

Football Poll: Pasadena (3-0) moved to the top of the Southland Poll this week, with Moorpark (2-0) falling into second place.

Orange Coast (2-0) is third, Fullerton (2-0) fourth, Mt. San Antonio (3-0) fifth, Saddleback (2-0) sixth, Antelope Valley (3-0) seventh, Bakersfield (1-1) eighth and Santa Barbara (2-0) is ninth. Golden West (2-0) moves into the poll for the first time this season at the 10th position.

The best matchup of the week is top-ranked Pasadena playing host to fourth-ranked Fullerton at 7 p.m. Saturday.

In other games involving county schools, Grossmont is at Orange Coast, Golden West is at San Diego Mesa, El Camino plays Rancho Santiago at Santa Ana Stadium and Saddleback is at Southwestern.

All games are at 7 p.m.

Community College Notes

Orange Coast was supposed to play Fullerton in water polo today at Fullerton but the game has been switched to OCC because of a scheduling problem at Fullerton’s Independence Park. . . . Brian Mena, an outfielder from Golden West, will play at Cal Poly Pomona next spring. Mena hit .336 with five home runs and 28 runs batted in last spring for Golden West. He hit .400 with five home runs and 19 RBIs over the summer for Pomona in the Metropolitan League. . . . Dan Zamora, the Saddleback wide receiver who caught three touchdown passes Saturday, is the son of Capistrano Valley High School baseball Coach Bob Zamora. . . . OCC defensive lineman Sedric Shorter had eight tackles--four unassisted--a sack and caused a fumble Saturday in the Pirates’ 35-15 victory over Cerritos.