Condition of Fields Probably Won’t Stop Soccer Playoffs

Half of the county’s soccer fields might resemble swamps by midweek, but that shouldn’t affect the Southern Section boys’ soccer playoffs, which begin Wednesday. It is the referees’ job to determine whether a field is playable. Expect most fields to be deemed playable.

“Safety is our primary concern,” said Gary Mantey, vice president of the Orange County Soccer Officials Assn. “But a muddy field is rarely dangerous unless there’s lightning in the area.”

One of the muddiest fields in the county is San Clemente’s. The Tritons are scheduled to host Anaheim on Friday in the first round of the Division II tournament. San Clemente Coach Michael Pronier said his field can’t take much more rain.

“If it rains a lot, it’s going to be very muddy,” Pronier said. “Early last week, it was slippery and gooey. It took a beating in the last rains. We’re trying to work something out where we can roll it.”

If the field is too gooey, Pronier said he might consider looking for another field in the area. Wherever the Tritons play their game Friday, the field will be sloppy and that will undoubtedly affect the level of play.

“Usually, you just go ahead and play them regardless,” Pronier said. “That cost us a game five years ago. Half the field was under water. We had the more skilled team, but when you get into conditions like that, it’s kind of an equalizer.”

San Clemente defeated Anaheim, 2-0, in the Irvine Tournament on a relatively dry field. The fifth-ranked Tritons (16-3-5) have won six consecutive games. The last four have been shutouts by goalkeeper Kevin Mehrens, who has 11 shutouts this season.

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Marina junior center Chanda McLeod, the team’s second-leading scorer and top rebounder, is not expected to start in the Vikings’ first-round playoff game against Glendora because she broke a team rule--with the permission of Coach Pete Bonny.

McLeod (13.1 points, 9.2 rebounds) skipped Monday’s basketball practice to play for the Orange County Volleyball Club at the three-day Las Vegas Invitational Tournament, where the team finished first. Approximately 100 college coaches were in attendance.

Bonny and McLeod worked out a deal. Bonny agreed to let McLeod miss Monday’s practice if McLeod passed up Friday’s OCVBC volleyball practice in Las Vegas and, instead, attended Marina’s basketball practice. McLeod, agreed and took a later flight to Las Vegas, but nonetheless must sit out.

“Our team rule is, if you miss a practice, you don’t start and it would be unfair for Coach Bonny to change the rules just for me,” McLeod said. “I can live with that. I know I will play.”

The compromise averted another in a growing list of conflicts between high school and club sports teams. On Friday, the Fountain Valley boys’ soccer team was without leading scorer Ryan Futagaki and lost to visiting Esperanza, 1-0, in the Sunset League title game. Futagaki was in Florida with the under-20 national soccer team. And last fall, University junior standout distance runner Alyson Marquand was kicked off the Trojans’ cross-country team because of conflicts with her club soccer schedule.

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Savanna, which opens Friday at third-seeded Redondo Beach Redondo Union in the Division II-A boys’ basketball playoffs, survived two forfeitures and back-to-back losses on the final week of the regular season to earn an at-large berth.

The Rebels’ troubles started when they played Ocean View mid-season transfer guard Solomon Brown without checking on his eligibility status and they were forced to give up Orange League victories to Anaheim and Valencia. That helped Valencia move in front of them into third place behind champion Magnolia and runner-up Brea Olinda to earn the league’s third automatic qualifier.

Still, making the playoffs was a great accomplishment for the team and first-year Coach James Honell. Savanna had won a total of 10 games in the two years before the start of this season.

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After Loara won a share of the Empire League boys’ basketball title, Coach Ed Prange could hardly wait to see where his team would be placed in the Division II-AA bracket.

He was taken aback Sunday when he learned Loara had been given a Wednesday wild-card game against Tustin.

“I was surprised,” Prange said. “When you win a league, you assume you get a third-place or at-large team. I was speechless when I found we are playing 19-7 Tustin.

“But we lost a coin flip to Katella, which didn’t help. And when I looked at the brackets. The way I figure, 22 teams qualified in our division and 12 are first-place teams. So you were going to get a tough draw no matter what.

“And for whatever reason there were no at-large teams. [Riverside] Ramona [17 victories] and El Dorado [15 victories] didn’t get in. You have Katella and Villa Park, two first-place teams, facing each other in the first rounds. But . . . no matter what, everyone cries about their draw. If you make playoffs you have to play good teams. And Tustin is a good team. It should be fun.”

Times staff writers Paul McLeod and Mike Terry contributed to this report.