WATER POLO

Corona del Mar, seeded No. 1 for the Southern Section Division IV girls’ water polo playoffs, will play Laguna Beach at 2 p.m. today in the first of four semifinals to be played consecutively at El Toro High.

Laguna Beach defeated Corona del Mar twice this season, including a 9-6 win over the Sea Kings in their league game.

In the other Division IV semifinal, second-seeded University, which shared the Pacific Coast League title with Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach, will play at 7 p.m. against unseeded El Dorado, which defeated third-seeded Santa Monica, 8-7, on Tuesday.

Between the two Division IV semifinals are the Division I semifinals. Second-seeded Santa Margarita, which won the Division IV title last season, plays unseeded El Toro at 3:30 p.m. and top-seeded Foothill, the defending Division I champion, plays fourth-seeded Capistrano Valley at 5:30.

SOCCER

Santa Margarita goalkeeper Erick Foss, who has 17 shutouts this season, has been named Gatorade’s state high school boys’ soccer player of the year, the company announced Tuesday.

Foss’ latest shutout came Saturday, when the Eagles (20-4-3) defeated Valencia, 4-0, in the first round of the Southern Section Division III playoffs.

Santa Margarita, ranked second in the final Orange County sportswriters’ poll, hosts Artesia in a second-round game at 3:15 p.m. today.

Foss, who will attend Southern Methodist in the fall, becomes a finalist for Gatorade’s national high school boys’ soccer player of the year award. Ventura Buena’s Natalie Sanderson was named the state girls’ player of the year.

SOFTBALL

Four-year varsity starting center fielder Beth Burchell of Glendora High has signed to play at Vanguard next year, the university announced.

* Julie Adams, who played softball at Cypress High, UCLA and the Ohio Pride of the Women’s Professional Softball League, will be the featured speaker Saturday during opening ceremonies for the Mission de Oro softball league at DePortola Elementary School in Mission Viejo. The ceremony begins at 9 a.m.

TRACK AND FIELD

Concordia distance runner Tricia Mattson has qualified to compete in the two mile, mile and 800 meters at the NAIA indoor national championships March 2-3 in Johnson City, Tenn.

Rachel Lafady and Karen LeBlanc have qualified to run in the 5,000 meters and Katie Lindenmeyer will compete in the two mile. The Concordia women’s distance relay and the men’s distance medley relay teams also qualified.

TENNIS

Villa Park senior Arpi Kojian swept her singles and doubles matches at the Girls’ 18 National Open Championships in Maui last weekend. She defeated Jessica Siebel of Racine, Wis., in singles, 6-0, 6-1. Kojian paired with Lindsay Stauss, also of Racine, in doubles to beat Megan Tierney and Alyson Tyson of Northern California, 6-1, 6-3.

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