Notebook : Ejection of Leading Scorer Not Enough to Stop Marina

The Marina girls’ soccer team defended its title at the Excalibur tournament and extended its unbeaten streak to 46 games, but there were some shaky moments in the quarterfinals.

Cassie Campbell, the Vikings’ leading scorer, received a red-card ejection six minutes into the game against Dana Hills.

Campbell’s offense? Kicking the ball too hard back at the referee after a disputed call. Despite being one player short, Marina won, 1-0, when Michelle Wilson was taken down in the penalty box with about 15 minutes left and Kristen Palmer scored on the penalty kick.

“It was good for our team from the aspect that we were able to play with 10 players against one of the best teams in the county and still do extremely well,” Marina Coach Bobby Bruch said.

Next up for the top-ranked Vikings: No. 2 Los Alamitos, which Marina plays in a Sunset League opener Thursday in Huntington Beach.

“It’s going to be a war,” Bruch said, “but I’m picking us.”

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Los Alamitos football Coach John Barnes, taking a page out of the Pat Riley approach to coaching, has lofty goals for next season.

“Our goal is to be No. 1 in the nation,” he said before Mater Dei became the nation’s No. 1 team. “If (La Puente) Bishop Amat is good enough to be No. 1 in the nation, why not us? We’re close. But that doesn’t mean you’re going to win. If you set yourself up like that, then you better back it up and work real hard to do it.”

Bishop Amat was No. 1 in some national polls from the start of the season until it was beaten by Mater Dei in the Division I championship game, 28-21. Mater Dei, which finished the year No. 1 nationally, had beaten Los Alamitos in the semifinals, 28-24. Los Alamitos started 11 juniors and two sophomores against Mater Dei.

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Apparently the change of scenery suits former Sunny Hills High tennis player Kevin Kim just fine. Kim, who left Sunny Hills in the fall for Palmer Academy in Florida, won the USTA Boys’ 18 National Indoor title in Dallas by upsetting third-seeded Bryan Getz of Coral Springs, Fla., in the final, 2-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.

Along the way, the 10th-seeded Kim upset top-seeded Brandon Kramer of Reno, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4, and fourth-seeded Elliott Weiss of Dallas, 6-4, 6-2. Kim, who was ranked No. 1 nationally in the boys’ 16 age group, would have been a junior at Sunny Hills this year. In the final, Kim blasted 15 aces past Getz, who will attend Duke.

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After leading Mater Dei to the title of the Reebok/Above the Rim tournament Friday, sophomore sensation Schea Cotton took to the airwaves. He spent part of his late evening answering questions on a Southern California high school sports talk radio show.

“He was going to be on for only 15 minutes but they kept him on for an hour and 15 minutes,” Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said. “They got call after call after call--everyone from little kids to grown-ups to his peers. It was pretty good. He did a really fine job.”

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Times staff writers Martin Henderson and Dave McKibben contributed to this report.