Alta Loma Tries to Make Mark in Upland

As a central midfielder, senior Jimmy Pusey is one of the playmakers for the Alta Loma boys’ soccer team. But the second-year starter has also been a valuable defensive player for the Braves, who will take a 9-1-1 record into the start of the Upland tournament Friday.

It was Pusey who marked high-scoring forward Victor Portillo in Alta Loma’s 2-0 victory over previously unbeaten Pomona Garey last week, and it was Pusey who helped keep forward Chukwudi Chijindu under control in a 1-1 tie with La Verne Damien the previous week.

Chijindu, an all-Southern Section Division I selection last year, did score in the 71st minute against Alta Loma off a punt from his own goalkeeper. But he did not wreak havoc as he had in several games this season.

“A lot of high school players don’t have the discipline to stick with another player throughout a match, but Jimmy does,” Alta Loma Coach Ryan O’Connell said of his decision to have Pusey mark certain players.

Long Beach Millikan, Anaheim Esperanza and Long Beach Wilson, ranked No. 3, 5 and 10, respectively, in the Southland by The Times, will be among the 32 boys’ soccer teams entered in the Huntington Beach Marina tournament, which starts Friday.

Wilson (6-2-1), the defending Southern Section Division I champion, will play Huntington Beach in a first-round game at 7:30 a.m., with Millikan (11-0-2) playing Santa Ana Century and Esperanza (9-1-1) playing Anaheim Loara in games at 9.

Wilson and Huntington Beach will be playing each other for the second time after tying, 1-1, in their season opener.

The first and second rounds will be played Friday, with the quarterfinals and semifinals scheduled for Saturday.

The championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday.

John Ortega

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Thirty-two of the Southland’s top girls’ soccer teams begin play Monday in the 14th Excalibur tournament at Santa Ana Foothill High.

Among the most competitive invitationals in its class, this year’s field includes seven of The Times’ top 10 teams: No. 1 Huntington Beach Edison, No. 2 San Clemente, No. 4 Santa Margarita, No. 5 Dana Point Dana Hills, No. 6 Aliso Niguel, No. 7 Arcadia and No. 9 Long Beach Wilson.

First-round matches begin at 8 a.m. Monday, and half the field plays a second-round game that afternoon. The tournament ends Wednesday with the semifinals at 9:30 a.m. and the finals at 2:30 p.m.

Elia Powers

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The Chino Hills Ayala Best of the West girls’ basketball tournament, which begins Friday, features a bracket in which all four teams have been ranked in The Times’ top 25.

Seventh-ranked Santa Margarita opens against Palmdale at 11 a.m. at Pomona Ganesha, and the winner advances to the championship round at Ayala High, where it will meet No. 8 La Puente Bishop Amat or No. 24 Alhambra Keppel on Saturday. The tournament continues Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Martin Henderson

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Hesperia Sultana, the runner-up in the Division II girls’ race of the state cross-country championships at Woodward Park in Fresno last month, is seventh in Harrier magazine’s final national rankings.

Sultana and No. 5 Pleasant Hill College Park tied for first with 73 points in the state meet, but College Park was declared the champion because its No. 6 runner finished ahead of Sultana’s No. 6 runner.

Sultana, third in last year’s national rankings, is one of three girls’ teams from the Southland to be ranked among the top 25 in the nation.

The others are state Division I champion Ventura in 13th and state Division I runner-up Murrieta Valley in 17th.

Chino Don Lugo is ninth in the final boys’ rankings after winning the state Division I title. Simi Valley Royal is 20th.

-- John Ortega