Chaminade Girls’ Soccer Sleepover More a Form of Sleep Deprivation

On a recent Thursday night the Chaminade High girls’ soccer team took over the school gym for its second annual “Soccer Sleepover.”

However, Eagle Coach Mike Evans is the first to concede the title is a misnomer.

“There’s not much sleep involved in this,” Evans said, “just a lot of bonding and very intense indoor soccer.”

The team began its evening by gathering to watch television, then embarked on four hours of games pitting the seniors and freshmen against the juniors and sophomores.

After that, it was a movie video in the Chaminade wrestling room with microwave popcorn and then a series of practical jokes on those trying to sleep.

“At 6:30 in the morning I walked into the gym with a megaphone and turned the siren on to wake them up for breakfast and class,” said Evans, whose two hours of sleep dwarfed the half-hour most of his players were able to catch. “Then I told them we were going on a five-mile run.”

There was no run but Evans was still feeling run-down days later.

“I struggle to get back on track with my hours of sleep,” he said. “The girls adjust back right away, but it takes me three or four days.”

Power position: Orlando Magic megastar Shaquille O’Neal shatters glass backboards, and Antelope Valley College center Taryll Franklin might pull the stunt one of these days.

For now, Franklin is keeping to busting rims.

Since the season started, Franklin has ripped three from the backboard with thunderous dunks that brought those practice sessions to premature endings.

Franklin, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound sophomore from Dorsey High, says he’s aiming at more.

“I’m not finished yet,” Franklin said, laughing. “I’m hoping to get one during a [Foothill] Conference game.”

By the Numbers

The Antelope Valley College men’s basketball team dropped two of its first three games this season but has won nine of the past 10, including six in a row, and is ranked 11th in the state.

The Marauders (16-5) have defeated five opponents each by 26 or more points, including two by 53 or more.

Who are you? The Cal State

Northridge basketball team has used nine starting lineups in 14 games. The only players to start every game are guards Trenton Cross and Robert Hill. The most common lineup was used only three times.

Quotebook

“I’m glad to see the $200 my wife sends every year is doing some good.”

--Mark Felix, basketball coach at Colorado-Colorado Springs and a Cal State Northridge graduate, commenting while in town on the school’s repairs since the 1994 earthquake.

Honors

Matt Riordan, The Times’ 1995 Ventura County high school baseball player of the year, has been picked by Baseball America as the 65th-best prospect in the nation. Riordan, an outfielder from Westlake High, has signed to play college baseball at San Francisco.

Riordan’s Westlake teammate, pitcher Tim Carr, was listed at No. 99 on the Baseball America list.

Things to Do

The Cal State Northridge men’s volleyball team will play host to USC tonight at 7 in the teams’ opener at Matador Gym. The Matadors also will play host to Long Beach State, at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Contributing: Fernando Dominguez, Jeff Fletcher, Irene Garcia, Tris Wykes.