Harvard-Westlake Seeded No. 1 in Soccer

North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake High, ranked No. 2 by The Times and No. 3 in the Southern Section coaches’ poll, was seeded No. 1 in the Division I girls’ soccer playoff pairings announced Monday.

The Wolverines (15-0-5), co-champions of the Mission League, apparently earned the top billing on the strength of their unbeaten record.

South Coast League champion Mission Viejo (12-3-7, 5-1-4) is seeded No. 2 in Division I, followed by Serra League champion Santa Margarita and Aliso Niguel.

Arcadia is the top-seeded team in Division II and Fullerton Troy is the No. 1 team in Division III.

Pasadena Poly is top-seeded in Division IV, with Cerritos Valley Christian the No. 1 team in Division V and Los Angeles Windward top-seeded in Division VI.

-- Lauren Peterson

Long Beach Wilson will be the top-seeded Division I team when the Southern Section boys’ soccer playoffs begin Wednesday with wild-card games.

Wilson (21-0-5), the only unbeaten Division I team, will play host to Bellflower St. John Bosco in a first-round game at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Santa Margarita (19-1-4), the top-ranked team in the nation by Student Sports magazine and in the Southland by The Times, is not among the top four seeded teams.

The other top-seeded teams are Los Angeles Loyola (19-1-5) in Division II, Lynwood (17-2-5) in Division III, Cathedral City (23-2-1) in Division IV, Inglewood Animo (20-2-1) in Division V and San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s (11-1-3) in Division VI.

-- John Ortega

Upland Coach Terry Kimberling was surprised to see most of the strong teams on his side of the Division V bracket when the Southern Section announced its girls’ water polo playoff pairings.

Upland, No. 9 in The Times’ rankings, could find itself matched up with Riverside Arlington in the semifinals. Arlington has defeated North in the last two Division V championship games.

“I didn’t figure Murrieta Valley, Redlands, North and Arlington would all end up on our side of the bracket,” Kimberling said.

Upland, which plays host to Lake Elsinore Temescal Canyon in a first-round game Thursday, is No. 2 in the division behind Riverside Poly.

The other top-seeded teams are Santa Ana Foothill in Division I, Corona del Mar in Division II, Temple City in Division III, Santa Barbara in Division IV and Jurupa Valley in Division VI.

-- Dan Arritt

Southern Section officials have allowed the Malibu boys’ basketball team into the playoffs after locating required paperwork that had been submitted to the wrong office, Malibu Athletic Director Jeff Gardella said. Malibu (18-5) will play at second-seeded Pasadena La Salle (21-5) on Wednesday in a first-round Division IV-AA game.

-- Ben Bolch