Cypress’ Morgan Has More Talent Than Confidence

Colby Morgan, a freshman at Cypress College, isn’t reluctant to evaluate her skills as a soccer player.

Despite playing four years of varsity soccer at Whittier La Serna High, she was convinced she didn’t have the talent to play at a four-year college. She even balked for a time at going to a community college.

“I don’t have any confidence in myself,” she said. “I don’t think I’m a good player. I can get a lot of things done but it’s because I play with a lot of heart.”

Opponents probably haven’t shared her opinion of her talent.

Morgan leads the Chargers with eight goals in 10 games.

Cypress (8-0-2) is at Rancho Santiago at 3 p.m. today to open Orange Empire Conference play.

Morgan has slowly made one major adjustment this season and it has led to her improved play. In high school, Morgan was all over the field, helping the defenders, then the midfielder, then playing forward.

“She had to do a lot in high school,” Cypress assistant Tino Younger said. “If Colby didn’t get the goal then she did all the work that created the goal.”

Morgan started with the same plan at Cypress. But she quickly realized the Chargers have several other players of equal talent. As a result, her blind hustle mostly left her out of position.

“I had to get out of that habit,” Morgan said. “It was just the way I was in high school but here we have a lot of good athletes.”

Morgan looked down a well-marked path when she decided to attend Cypress.

Her father, Bill, was a student there in the early ‘70s and her sister, Caren, played on the 1992 and 1993 Cypress teams. Caren Morgan is currently in her senior season at Cal State Fullerton.

Colby has admired Caren for her passion and skill for the game and tried to emulate it. Bill, who is a vice president for a food distribution company, has worked for a local cable company producing high school soccer telecasts.

As a result, Colby has had plenty of chances to watch entire games and highlight films to evaluate her play.

“He tapes every game,” Colby said. “Then he makes highlight films not just for me but for all the players. We have so many tapes at home.”

*

Wrestling update: Golden West and Rancho Santiago meet in a key South Coast Conference meet at Golden West at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Golden West (5-3, 1-2) is ranked fifth in the state and Rancho Santiago (6-2, 2-1) ninth.

Rancho Santiago’s top wrestler is Terry Tuzzolino, who is 15-0 and top-ranked in the state at 177 pounds. If he stays at that weight, he will face Golden West’s Raphael Davis (13-2), who is ranked third in the state. Davis’ only losses this season have been against Tuzzolino.

Tuzzolino could also move up to 190 and face Golden West’s Tito Ortiz (14-2), who is ranked third in the state.

Notes

Football poll: El Camino (5-0), which plays at Saddleback Saturday, remains the top-ranked team in the Southland poll. Los Angles Valley (6-0) is second, Long Beach (6-0) third, San Bernardino Valley (6-0) fourth, Bakersfield (4-1) fifth, Citrus (5-0) sixth, Palomar (3-2) seventh, Moorpark (5-1) eighth, College of the Desert (5-1) ninth and Rancho Santiago (3-2) 10th.

The key county game Saturday matches Orange Coast (2-3, 1-0) vs. Rancho Santiago (3-2, 2-0) at Santa Ana Stadium at 1.