It Was a Magic Weekend for 3 Elite Club Players
Lisa Engel and Natalie Sanderson of Buena High and Kim Taylor of Chaminade missed the first week of the soccer season to compete in the Adidas Showcase last weekend.
Engel and Taylor were loaned by their club teams to play for the Mission Viejo Magic, Sanderson’s club team.
The tournament was created to showcase top high school players in front of college coaches. The four-team tournament was held in San Jose, site of the women’s NCAA final four.
More than 50 college coaches attended, including those from Notre Dame, Santa Clara, North Carolina and Penn State.
The Magic, representing the Far West Region, defeated Washington, 5-0, and Texas, 3-1, but fell to Missouri, 3-0.
“It’s good because all the college coaches get to watch you play,” Engel said. “We kicked butt up there against teams that have national rankings.”
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Girls’ coaches Tony Scalercio of Valencia and Aerick Brown of Westlake were reunited on the soccer field last week.
Scalercio played goalkeeper and Brown was coach at San Diego State in 1985. Scalercio played professional soccer for the San Diego Sockers, and Brown became a disc jockey.
“We used to sit around and play darts and figure out how to beat opponents, and now we are trying to figure out how to beat each other,” said Brown, whose team won, 2-0. “I was looking forward to how my squad would stack up against his. We are great friends and he is a great coach.”
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Forward Jesse Servin of Reseda has narrowed his college choices to the University of San Diego, Cal State Northridge and Oregon State. Servin said he is leaning toward Northridge.
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Jen Lilley, sister of Chaminade girls’ coach Mike Evans, had her jersey retired by Royal before the Highlanders’ game against Chaminade on Friday.
Lilley, who went by Jen Evans when she attended Royal and teaches at Chaminade Middle School, is the Royal’s all-time leading scorer with 59 goals and 38 assists, including 30 goals and 15 assists in 18 games during her senior season.
Lilley’s No. 8 was retired in pregame ceremonies by Coach Kenny Byrd of Royal. Lilley then faced a dilemma, whether to sit on the Royal side and root for her alma mater or sit on Chaminade’s side and cheer her brother’s team.
She spent a half on each sideline.
Chaminade won, 3-0.
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Defender Lauryn Loftus of Westlake will take a recruiting trip to Washington State on Friday. She could become the second Warrior to sign with the Cougars.
Midfielder Jenna Wirtz has already accepted a scholarship from the school.
Loftus also is being recruited by the University of San Diego, Goucher College in Maryland and UC Santa Barbara.
Warrior Danielle Della Corna, who is out for the season with a knee injury, is on a recruiting trip to George Washington.
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Imani Dorsey of Harvard-Westlake has been selected a National College Assn. of America Youth All-American.
The defender-forward was invited to accept her award at a luncheon on Jan. 15 in Baltimore.
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The Hueneme girls’ program is making strides. After winning only two games last season, the Vikings are 4-0 under first-year Coach Jesus Duran.
Hueneme returned all but two lettermen from last season, but a change in attitude has been equally important in the turnaround.
“I can’t explain how happy we are,” Duran said. “These girls are starting to believe. They are hungry to win. They’re experiencing something they never have before.”
Hueneme has outscored opponents, 20-1, allowing only a last-minute penalty kick in a 4-1 victory over Santa Paula.
Goalkeeper Jackie Berry has three shutouts and Jhoana Mejia leads the Vikings with five goals in three games.
“We have some very strong players,” Duran said. “The girls work hard every minute. They give more than 100% every day.”
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The Chatsworth girls’ team had warmed up for more than 30 minutes Tuesday, preparing for what it thought was a game at Alemany, when the Chancellors were approached by a group of Valencia players.
“Who are you?” the Viking players asked.
Turns out Valencia was there to play Alemany, too. The scheduling mix-up occurred when Chatsworth failed to call and confirm the game, prompting Alemany to schedule Valencia.
Chatsworth packed up and went home.
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Teams from the region have taken the South Torrance tournament by storm.
Harvard Westlake, Buena and Louisville reached the quarterfinals by winning their brackets. Ventura, the fourth team from the region in the tournament, tied South Bay powerhouse Mira Costa, 2-2, but Mira Costa advanced on penalty kicks.
Area teams have combined for a 7-0-1 record, outscoring opponents 39-5. In what could be a preview of the Mission League title game, Harvard-Westlake plays Louisville in a quarterfinal Saturday.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
The Top 10
Rankings of soccer teams from the region
BOYS
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RK LW School (League) Rec. 1 1 El Camino Real (West Vly) 0-0 2 3 St. Francis (Mission) 2-0-1 3 4 Reseda (Valley Mission) 2-0 4 2 Birmingham (West Valley) 2-2-1 5 6 Buena (Channel) 3-1 6 9 Ventura (Channel) 4-0 7 10 Hart (Foothill) 3-0 8 7 Crescenta Valley (Pacific) 3-1 9 5 Thousand Oaks (Marmonte) 1-1-1 10 8 La Canada (Rio Hondo) 2-0
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GIRLS
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RK LW School (League) Rec. 1 1 Harvard-Westlake (Mission) 4-0-1 2 2 Buena (Channel) 3-0 3 3 Westlake (Marmonte) 1-0-2 4 5 Hart (Foothill) 1-0 5 6 Louisville (Mission) 3-0-1 6 10 Ventura (Channel) 5-0-1 7 4 Chaminade (Mission) 2-1-1 8 8 Chatsworth (West Valley) 1-0 9 9 Canyon (Foothill) 5-1-1 10 7 Crescenta Valley (Pacific) 0-1-1
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