Cypress’ Prine Gets Noticed by Dishing Out the ‘Rough Stuff’

Scoring goals is the easiest way for soccer players to gain attention, but Pam Prine of Cypress College has found another way.

Prine gets noticed by being among the top defenders in the nation.

She was selected as the Orange Empire Conference’s most valuable player last season as a freshman and also earned All-American honors.

Cypress Coach Ray Haas and his staff didn’t have to spend any time persuading Prine to concentrate on stopping goals instead of scoring them.

She had already put in four years as a varsity defender at Troy High School.

“I love to mark players,” said Prine, 20. “I like the rough stuff.”

Haas did have to persuade Prine to play soccer at all after she graduated from high school in 1992.

Prine, who had played since she was about 6, finally reached burnout as a senior and quit after high school.

But Haas didn’t give up.

He informed her about the program and kept after her to consider coming out.

Eventually, Prine missed playing and agreed to take part in some tournaments in the summer of 1993. After that, she decided to play again.

“Coming out of high school,” Prine said, “I just freaked out. I wasn’t sure if I could handle (going to class and playing soccer). So I just went to the closest JC with my friends.”

Although Prine plays defense, she is up field often and had nine goals and six assists as a freshman.

This season, Prine already has scored four times for the Chargers (7-0, 5-0 in the Orange Empire Conference), the top-ranked team in the state.

Prine would like to continue playing next season but realizes there are limited scholarship opportunities for soccer players. She is also eager to finish college and become a teacher.

But if this is Prine’s last season, she definitely wants to end it by winning the State title.

Cypress was undefeated last season until the final game, losing the State title to DeAnza on penalty kicks.

“We all came back this year because of the loss,” she said. “The conference is a lot tougher this year but we are starting to finally get it together.”

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Rushing to a record: Orange Coast’s Jeff Clayton is one of the few bright spots for the Pirates this football season. Clayton, a sophomore from Trabuco Hills High, needs six yards to become OCC’s all-time rushing leader.

He has gained 100 or more yards 10 times in 15 games, and has 1,868 yards in his career. Tony Accomando (1974-75) holds the all-time OCC record with 1,873.

Clayton, who had 426 yards in 80 carries this season, is almost certain to break the record Saturday when OCC (0-4) plays at San Diego Mesa (2-2) at 6 p.m.

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Women’s volleyball: Golden West further entrenched itself as the top-ranked team in the state by dominating the College of the Sequoias tournament.

The Rustlers were 8-0 in pool play Saturday, then went 4-0 in best-of-three matches Sunday in the championship round. Neither counts toward a team’s overall record.

The Rustlers, the defending State champions, beat second-ranked San Joaquin Delta, 15-11, 15-6, for the title.

Lemia Astarabadi, Golden West’s setter, was selected as the tournament’s most valuable player. She had 148 assists, 16 aces and 15 blocks in 13 games. Becca Foltz, an outside hitter, also made the all-tournament team.

The Rustlers face a solid test this week in Orange Empire Conference play. Golden West (5-0, 2-0) plays host to Orange Coast (4-3, 2-0) tonight, is at Saddleback (7-0, 3-0) Wednesday, then plays host to Rancho Santiago (5-2, 1-1) Friday. All three matches start at 7.

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Football poll: Bakersfield fell from the top spot of the Southland poll thanks to a 23-20 loss to Moorpark.

El Camino (4-0), unranked at the start of the season, is the current No. 1 team. Cerritos (4-0) is second but the teams meet at 7 p.m. Saturday at Cerritos.

Rancho Santiago (3-1) moved from sixth to third. Los Angeles Valley (5-0) is fourth, Long Beach (4-1) fifth, Bakersfield (4-1) sixth, Moorpark (3-1) seventh, Mt. San Jacinto (4-0-1) eighth, Pasadena (2-1-1) ninth and Mt. San Antonio (2-1-1) 10th.

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Men’s soccer: Cypress ended a long winless streak against Orange Coast Friday with a 4-3 victory in an Orange Empire Conference match at OCC.

Orange Coast had a 15-0-3 record against Cypress dating to 1986. Cypress’ Tony Trevino had two goals in the victory. “It was a nice victory and gives us a great start in the conference,” Cypress Coach Tony Baca said.