Pfitzer Giving the Fellows Fits : High school soccer: Los Amigos senior has earned her spot on the Lobo boys’ varsity team.

Sitting in her living room, stroking her pet cat, Muffin, Kathy Pfitzer of Los Amigos High School doesn’t look fearsome.

But slip a pair of cleats on her and the 5-foot-2 Pfitzer becomes a soccer player with the tenacity of a mountain lion.

She has to. Pfitzer plays on the boys’ varsity soccer team at Los Amigos.

Since Los Amigos didn’t field a girls’ team this season, Pfitzer is eligible to play on the boys’ team. But she is not a charity case; Pfitzer has earned her position.

“She’s on the team because she’s good enough,” Los Amigos Coach Bill Brunner said. “She’s not on the team because she’s a girl, but because she’s one of the best players in the school.”

Certainly, heads turn when Pfitzer, whose hair reaches past the middle of her back, walks on the field during a match and takes her midfield position. But Pfitzer pays no mind because she’s only concerned about playing soccer--and playing it well.

“People act differently,” says Pfitzer, a senior who wants to pursue a career in commercial art. “I’ll go on the field and I’ll hear comments like, ‘Oh, my gosh, there’s a girl on the team.’ But then, they (the opposing players) will get all embarrassed when I take the ball away from them.”

Stealing the ball is something Pfitzer, 17, has been doing a lot of since Brunner switched her from forward to midfield two weeks ago.

“I first thought she’d make a good center forward because of her willingness to fight for the ball,” says Brunner. “Then I moved her to wing and she wasn’t getting the ball enough and the speed of the other players got her down.”

Pfitzer, who also competes in cross-country and track and field, was moved up from junior varsity when the league season began. Brunner says he never expected Pfitzer to make the varsity.

“When she first came out for the team, I saw she was a good player, and I was thinking she’d play junior varsity because I didn’t think she was good enough for varsity,” Brunner said. “Watching her in practice, she convinced me she was good enough.”

At first, Pfitzer had trouble convincing teammates she could play soccer. Her teammates wouldn’t give her the ball for fear she would get hurt. Finally, she got the message across by getting mad.

While some people try to protect her because she’s a girl, others try to hurt her.

“A lot of times, other teams don’t know how to react to her when she comes on the field,” Brunner said. “Some back off, some hit her harder, thinking since she’s a girl, they’ll hit her and knock her out.”

Against Garden Grove Jan. 15, Pfitzer was being dogged by a defender, who kept trying to tackle her by either knocking her legs out from underneath her or hitting her shoulders. After she assisted on a goal, which was nullified, the player tackled her, hitting her left knee. Garden Grove was penalized, and the player apologized to Pfitzer, who did not retaliate.

“He was bigger than me so I really couldn’t do much,” said Pfitzer.

Brunner says Pfitzer’s size is deceiving.

“Out of gear, she looks so small and not that physical,” Brunner said. “But she goes out there and mixes it up with them. She’s been hit several times this season and just gets right back up.”

Pfitzer, who has played soccer since she was 5, honed her skills playing AYSO and with a club team. Her mother, Marge Pfitzer, believes Kathy, who is the youngest in a family of six, gets her aggressiveness from her family.

“She’s got two brothers and she’s always been very feisty,” her mother said. “She may look shy and quiet, but she’s not. She can get herself around to wherever she wants to go or do whatever she wants to do.”

The Pfitzer family wasn’t surprised Kathy wanted to play on a boys’ team. After all, Kathy’s sister, Susie, 23, played on Los Amigos’ junior varsity team in 1985 and 1986.

Los Amigos has never had a girls’ team since the school opened in 1968. In fact, the school suspended the boys’ team in 1987 because of problems with walk-on coaches. Athletic Director Dave Auxier reinstated the team this season and attempted to field a girls’ team, but only eight girls showed up for practice.

“Kathy’s just a real tough-minded girl,” says Auxier, who believes Pfitzer is the first girl to play full time on the boys’ varsity. “I don’t think she sets limits. I don’t even think it enters her mind she’s a girl playing on a boys’ team--she just goes out and plays.”

And Pfitzer wouldn’t have it any other way.