COLLEGES / IRENE GARCIA : Rubins Give Toros a One-Two Punch

The Cal State Dominguez Hills women’s soccer team has been an NCAA Division II powerhouse since 1985, but this year the Toros have been so good that opponents are often doing double takes.

They often see halfback Anna Rubin dribbling toward her identical twin, forward Amy Rubin, who is an adept shooter. The scenario has occured many times this season.

The combination is a big reason the Toros (7-1-1) are ranked No. 5 in the latest NCAA Division II poll. They defeated Cal Poly Pomona, 2-0, Wednesday in their California Collegiate Athletic Assn. opener.

Amy, who is 11 minutes older than Anna, leads the Toros with nine goals and four assists for 22 points. Anna is second with three goals and four assists for 10 points.

“I just let them go and they’re coming up with numbers,” Dominguez Hills Coach Marine Cano said.

The 19-year-old juniors from Hawthorne High attribute their success to good chemistry and a strong sibling bond.

“We’re really close and we’re best friends,” Amy said. “We push each other to be the best.”

“We help each other on our weak points,” Anna said. “We always talk about things before and after a game.”

As a freshman in 1989, Amy had seven goals and 16 points for a Dominguez Hills team that reached the NCAA final four and finished 18-3. Last year she fell two goals short of a school single-season record. She finished with 19 goals, 42 points and a school-record two hat tricks.

“Amy is vicious,” Cano said. “She is not afraid of anything (around the goal). She’s fearless and she’s intimidating. Usually defenders intimidate forwards, but she intimidates defenders. She’s possessed in front of that goal.”

Anna led the Toros with nine assists last year. As a freshman she was a fullback, the same position she played at Hawthorne High. A couple of games into her sophomore year Cano switched her to halfback.

“She’s come a long way,” Cano said. “She wasn’t getting much playing time before. Being a defender in high school she had to deny and destroy and I asked her to find skill and play offense. Before she just stopped the opponent. I said, ‘No, get into the attack.’ ”

Anna enjoys playing halfback, although it wasn’t easy to master.

“I’m more involved in the game now,” she said. “But it was a tough transition for me last year. Amy really helped me through it. She taught me how to take opponents on and become a better scorer. Now I’m behind her, looking for her and I always know where she’s going to be.”

Amy says Anna has helped her with defense.

“She taught me to get the ball away from opponents,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot from her.”

The sisters grew up in Lawndale and started playing soccer in local American Youth Soccer Organization leagues when they were 4. The youngest of six siblings, Amy and Anna were standouts at Hawthorne.

Amy holds the school’s career assist record. She was a two-time All-Bay League selection and an All-CIF player as a senior. She was also Hawthorne’s most valuable player as a senior.

Anna was strictly a defender in high school. She was voted the team’s best defensive player as a senior.

Cano says he learned firsthand how close the Rubin sisters really are.

“In 1989 we were ranked No. 2 in the country and we were playing in the NCAA final four at the University of Denver,” he said. “Amy got kicked in the leg and she was rolling on the ground in pain. The referee stopped the game because she was in so much pain.”

“She was crying and holding her leg. Well there’s Anna, standing there crying like she was in pain too. It was really weird. Amy couldn’t play so we pulled her off and Anna is still not functioning. She almost refused to play . . . I really had to get on her to go back out there and play. It sounds strange but it’s true.”

Forward Gerardo Yepez has proven to be a force on the Dominguez Hills men’s soccer team. The junior from Hawthorne High and El Camino College leads the Toros with six goals and two assists for 14 points. His closest challenger is freshman Keith Martin, who has two goals and two assists for six points.

“He’s the best player I’ve seen this year in Division II and Division I,” Cano said. “He’s making me a very happy coach.”

Yepez was an All-Bay League player at Hawthorne and a member of two El Camino teams that reached the state final. In 1987 the Warriors won the championship.

Yepez, 25, didn’t plan to compete at Dominguez Hills. He enrolled at the school to complete his education, but Cano asked him to play.

“It’s been four years since he’s played but it hasn’t hurt him at all,” Cano said. “He’s doing everything for us. He has tremendous skills. He’s the type of player that not only plays offense, he comes back and plays defense. He’s a tireless worker and that’s what we need.”

The Toros are 4-5 overall and 1-0 in the CCAA after Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over Pomona.

Louis Perez took a chance by walking on to UCLA’s football team. The former Carson High and El Camino kicker joined the Bruins’ fall practice a week late (his name isn’t even in the Bruin media guide). Then he had to battle three experienced players for the starting job.

The gamble paid off.

Perez is not only the Bruins’ top kicker, he earned a full scholarship last week and he leads the team in scoring. Perez has made two of three field goals and eight of 10 extra points (one was wide and one was blocked) for 14 points.

“He came in and was very impressive early on,” UCLA assistant Bill Rees said. “He did a great job under pressure. He had to compete with three other kickers here and he did so well he won the job.”

As a sophomore at El Camino, Perez made 38 of 40 extra points and eight of 13 field goals for 62 points.

In two years at El Camino, Perez made 76 of 80 extra points and 19 of 28 field goals for 133 points.

Notes

West Torrance High graduate Carolyn Hueth leads the 14th-ranked Pepperdine women’s volleyball team (10-4) with 193 digs . . . Loyola Marymount middle blocker Stacey Trapp is fifth in blocking and eighth in hitting in West Coast Conference play . . . Junior setter Melissa Yeto set a Dominguez Hills single-season assist record (768) at the UC Riverside Tournament last week. Yeto, a transfer from Ventura College, also holds the school’s single-match assist record (71) . . . Dominguez Hills sophomore outside hitter Gale Derricott last week set a single-season school dig record with 256 . . . The El Camino men’s soccer team is ranked third in the state by the JC Athletic Bureau.