Oxnard Soccer Is Alive and Kicking

There’s no doubt college coaches have to be good salesmen, making recruits buy into their programs.

Consider Mike Scanlon, women’s soccer coach at Oxnard College.

The Condors are 9-0 under Scanlon, who in three seasons has turned the team from a disaster into Western State Conference title contenders.

“These girls took a chance to come to Oxnard,” Scanlon said.

In 1997, the season before Scanlon arrived at Oxnard after several successful years coaching at Moorpark, the Condors finished 0-19, their third consecutive winless season. They improved to 4-16-1 in 1998 and 10-7-4 last season.

Leading the charge are sophomore midfielder Norma Gutierrez and freshman forward Anna McCrosky.

Gutierrez, from Santa Clara High, missed last season while trying out for the Mexican national team. She has seven goals and five assists.

“She’s the motor of the team,” Scanlon said. “She’s an absolutely fantastic leader.”

McCrosky, from Channel Islands, leads the Condors with 11 goals and has three assists.

Scanlon said sweeper Jennifer Reveles and defender Janett Osornio, sophomores from Channel Islands, are playing extremely well.

The Condors have posted five shutouts behind freshmen Elba Campos, from Fillmore, and Rosie Santoyo, from Oxnard High.

“I’ve never been blessed with two good goalies,” Scanlon said.

The Condors improved to 2-0 in WSC play by defeating Canyons, 3-2, on Tuesday and don’t play until next week.

But they are not staying away from soccer. On Wednesday night, they attended the Galaxy playoff game against Tampa Bay at the Rose Bowl.

Antelope Valley: Candice Pourghahreman, a freshman forward from Quartz Hill, set a women’s school record with four goals in a 9-0 soccer victory over Porterville last week.

Glendale: The women’s soccer team snapped two streaks with its upset of Ventura, 3-2, last week. The Vaqueros (1-6-1) halted their winless stretch and handed the Pirates their second road loss in WSC play dating to 1996.

Cal Lutheran: Oskar Kantoft is back on the soccer field and the Kingsmen are ecstatic to have him.

Kantoft, a forward from Malmo, Sweden, sat out last season to complete his degree in finance but rejoined the team this season while working toward his graduate degree.

Kantoft, who led the Kingsmen in goals and points in 1997 and ‘98, ranks fifth among Cal Lutheran career leaders with 100 points and sixth with 39 goals.

The Master’s: Midfielder Rusty Brooke leads the men’s soccer team in scoring with four goals and an assist. Masters is 6-1 and has scored 11 goals.

Moorpark: Sandy Jocoy is helping make the first-year women’s golf team into a WSC title contender. Jocoy was the medalist in conference matches, shooting 76 to win Monday at Tierra Rejada Golf Club, Moorpark’s home course.

The Raiders edged Canyons, 327-328, for first place. They lead the WSC, each with 3-1 records.

Cal State Northridge: The Matador men’s and women’s soccer teams will play a doubleheader Sunday at North Campus Stadium.

The men (3-3) play Oregon State at 4. The women (1-3-3) play Hawaii at 6.

Northridge men recorded their first victory over a Pacific-10 Conference team in four years with a 1-0 victory last week over Cal. Goalkeeper Christian Perez recorded his third consecutive home shutout. Northridge has won all three of its home games by 1-0 scores.

Northridge women earned their first victory Sunday with a 1-0 victory over UC Santa Barbara at Northridge. Sophomore Melissa Cleal ended a four-game scoreless streak against Santa Barbara.

Pepperdine: Junior driver Greg Lonzo has picked up where he left off last season in water polo. Lonzo has 15 goals for the No. 6-ranked Waves (4-1). He led the West Coast Conference last season with 53 goals.

Staff writers Fernando Dominguez and Vince Kowalick contributed to this report.