Stephanie Rigamat headed for the show

Mirjam Swanson

GLENDALE -- Fresh off a stellar collegiate career, Stephanie Rigamat

is headed to Washington, D.C., after being drafted 18th out of 32 picks

Monday in the second WUSA draft.

“It’s exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time,” Rigamat said.

If she makes the Freedom’s 18-member opening-day roster, the former

Crescenta Valley High girls’ soccer standout will play alongside

international superstar Mia Hamm, as well as other well-respected and

former UCLA players, Tracey Milburn Skylar Little.

The Freedom -- one of eight WUSA teams -- plays its matches at the

56,500-seat Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C., where

Rigamat’s never been.

“I’m kind of a homebody, you could say,” said Rigamat, whose younger

sister, Rachael, is currently a greshman starter on the CV girls’ soccer

team.

“It’s going to be a real challenge for me to tmove away from my

family, but I tink it’s going to help me mature, and I think my game’s

going to mature a lot also, because I’m goign ot be playing with awesome

players.”

Last season -- which was the WUSA’s first -- Washington’s lack of

consistency led to the Freedom not playing to expectation and finishing

out of the playoffs with a record of 6-12-3.

Rigamat will try to make a difference -- just as she did fr the

Bruins.

“[The league] wasn’t around when I was [at CV],” Rigamat said. “It’s a

grat opportunity to keep playing soccer and travel around the country,

it’s like a dream coming true.

A forward on the UCLA women’s team, Rigamat finished her senior season

with 30 points on 13 goals and four assists.

And with her aboard, UCLA achieved unprecedented success. The Bruins

lost to the University of North Carolina in the NCAA Division I

championship two years ago before reaching the NCAA Division I

quarterfinals last season. The 5-foot-3, 22-year-old was named a

second-team NSCAA/Adidas All-American last season, and she was one of

only 11 players named to Soccer America’s Collegiate MVP team after

scoring 37 points on 13 goals and 11 assists as a junior. Her UCLA

teammate, Mary-Frances Monroe, was drafted 13th by the Philadelphia

Charge.

In high school, Rigamat received first-team All-CIF honors as a senior

in 1997 after setting the Falcon record with 109 career goals.

She also holds the UCLA single-season record for most assists, which

she set with her 11th against Clemson in the 2000 NCAA quarterfinals.