Former UCI Players Creating International Sensation
Two former standouts at UC Irvine are making their marks in women’s international soccer.
Simone Ferrara, who holds Anteater records for assists in a season (nine) and career (27), recently returned to New Zealand, where she hopes to be selected to the national team. Ferrara has dual citizenship, according to Irvine Coach Marine Cano.
Last month Ferrara toured South America with an Auckland select team that included several members of New Zealand’s national team. The select team posted a 4-1-1 record.
“We played the national teams of Argentina and Paraguay and two top clubs in Uruguay,” Ferrara said. “It was an awesome experience for me to play at the international level.”
Ferrara scored two goals and had three assists during the tour, a good showing that bettered her chances of landing a permanent spot on the New Zealand national team. She’s been invited to play with the national team May 31-June 11 at the Pacific Cup in Australia. The competition features eight teams, including the United States and China.
She is currently playing for New Zealand’s top club, Three Kings.
Meanwhile, Irvine’s all-time leading scorer, Nicole Bucciarelli, is excelling for Bardolino of the women’s Series A in the Italian League. She leads the team in scoring and has one three-goal game and two two-goal games this season.
Bardolino (13-7-6) is in sixth place with 46 points, but can make up ground with a victory over third-place Pisa (16-3-7, 51 points) Saturday. Bardolino first plays Milan on Tuesday in a semifinal of the Italian Cup tournament.
“I have been playing in Italy since August and I have really learned a lot here. The game is a lot different here and I have been training hard,” Bucciarelli said. “I have been improving by training all year and playing at a high level.”
Bucciarelli holds Irvine records for career goals (56) and total points (129), and single-season goals (17) and points (37).
DIAMOND DOINGS
Former county players continue to shine for college softball teams.
Fresno State sophomore second baseman Lovianne Jung, who played at Fountain Valley and Westminster, was named player of the week in the Western Athletic Conference for the week ending April 8. She went nine for 18, scored six runs and had a walk, three doubles and four RBIs as the Bulldogs won six consecutive games. Jung is second in the conference in batting average (.384), hits (61) and RBIs (31) and leads the conference in total bases (77) and doubles (11).
Jesseka Bartholomew, formerly of Santa Margarita High, was named Ivy League rookie of the week for her performance for Yale in the last week of March. In the first game of a doubleheader against Fairfield, Mass., the freshman shortstop went three for three and drove in two runs. She entered this week with a batting average of .297 and is second on the team with 29 runs batted in.
At Virginia, Rubilena Rojas (Mater Dei) and Jennifer Krill (Huntington Beach) are having fine seasons.
Rojas, a freshman shortstop/third baseman, entered last week with 47 starts and a batting average of .306. She had eight doubles and 19 RBIs.
Krill, a senior, has started 36 games and is batting .280 with 16 RBIs.
