Irvine Valley Ready for Tough Test Today

Irvine Valley is off to a solid start in men’s soccer, but the Lasers face their stiffest test of the season at 4 p.m. today.

That’s when Santa Barbara, the defending state champion, visits Irvine Valley, which has a 9-2-3 record.

Santa Barbara (4-0-1) already has taken out a high flying local team. Santa Ana, which had won its first six games, lost to host Santa Barbara, 5-1, Saturday.

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Football poll: Palomar (1-0), which had a bye last week, kept the top spot in the weekly Southland Poll.

Bakersfield (2-0) is second, Saddleback (1-0) third, Long Beach (2-0) fourth, Los Angeles Valley (2-0) fifth, Cerritos (2-0) sixth, Mt. San Antonio (2-0) seventh, Moorpark (1-0) eighth, Pasadena (2-0) ninth and Hancock (1-0) is 10th.

Saddleback host Cerritos at 7 p.m. Saturday in a matchup of top 10 teams.

In Saturday’s other games involving Orange County teams: Santa Ana (0-1) is at Long Beach at 7 p.m.; San Diego Mesa takes on Golden West (0-2) at Orange Coast at 1 p.m. and Fullerton (0-2) and Pasadena play at Occidental College at 6 p.m.

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Hired: Rick Buonarigo has been selected as the softball coach at Orange Coast, athletic director Barry Wallace said Monday.

Buonarigo is the equipment manager at Costa Mesa High, where he was the softball coach from 1989 to 1995. He resigned from coaching in order to finish his bachelor’s degree.

He replaces Erin Gallagher, who resigned in August after two seasons at OCC.