Tologs finish as No. 8 team in country
GLENDALE — The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene.
FSHA ENDS YEAR AS
ESPN RISE NO. 8
Following the most successful season in area girls’ soccer history, the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy soccer team ended its run as the No. 8 team in the nation, according to the latest and final winter ESPN Rise Powerade Fab 50 poll, which was released Tuesday.
They also weighed in at No. 4 in the final state poll on Monday.
Sacred Heart entered its final match on Saturday as the No. 1 team in both polls, but suffered a 3-1 upset loss to Oaks Christian in the CIF Southern California Division III Regional Championships final.
Oaks (26-2-1) finished its year as the No. 7 team in the country and No. 3 in the state.
Sacred Heart (23-2-1) ended its season having won its second Mission League title in program history and the area’s first-ever CIF Southern Section Division I championship.
It will graduate reigning All-Area Player of the Year standout Natalie Zeenni and standout forward Alyssa Conti, who scored the game-winning goal in the team’s Southern Section semifinal win.
However, it will return a multitude of standouts, including junior Katie Johnson, sophomore Kayla Mills and sophomore Sarah Teegarden. Johnson is ranked as the No. 17 club soccer player in her class by TopDrawerSoccer.com, while Mills is No. 18 in her class and Teegarden is No. 34. Rankings were released this week.
Other standouts returning will be Breeana Koemans, Tera Trujillo, Krista Meaglia and Alexa Montgomery. Mills, Meaglia and Jill Jacobs, another returning starter, did not play on Saturday, while Johnson was lost 10 minutes in due to an injury.
BIG MONTH
FOR SARKISIAN
Glendale Community College men’s tennis player Alex Sarkissian was named the Male Athlete of the Month for February by the California Community College Athletic Assn. Sarkissian, the Vaqueros’ No. 1 singles player, went 7-0 in singles matches in February. In addition, he teamed with Trevor Campbell to go 5-1 in doubles for the month.
Sarkissian finished 14-0 in singles sets, winning 10 of them by 6-0 scores. He bested preseason No. 2 singles player Oliver Andrzejenr of Cypress College, 6-2, 6-4, and topped No. 8 player Nikoliv Ivanov of Santa Barbara City College, 7-6, 6-0.
HONORS FOR RUSSELL AND KAZANGIAN
Flintridge Prep boys’ soccer players David Russell and Eric Kazangian were recently voted to the All-Prep League team.
Russell, a senior forward, collected nine goals and seven assists for 25 points to earn first-team honors.
“He was a handful for the other teams,” said Flintridge Prep Coach Fabrice Gautrat, whose team went 5-10-2 on the season and was 2-6 in league. “He’s the leader of our team and he deserves it.”
Kazangian, a senior stopper, was named to the second team despite being hobbled by a knee injury throughout most of the season.
“He proved to be very hard to get by,” Gautrat said. “He’s super fast and strong.
“He’s got a lot of character.”
ECLAR NETS CONFERENCE HONORS
Glendale Community College women’s basketball player Michelle Eclar received honorable mention for the Western State Conference. The freshman guard, who graduated from Glendale Adventist Academy, averaged 10 points per game for the Vaqueros (0-24, 0-12 in the conference’s Southern Division).
“She’s one of the hardest working guards in our conference,” Glendale college Coach Carrie Miller said. “She did anything to help the team.
“I’m very proud of her. She did a lot of things, like taking at least one charge per game.”
LOCALS STAND OUT
AT VILLAGE CHRISTIAN
Glendale’s Nick Parent and La Crescenta’s Garrett Van stood out on a struggling Village Christian boys’ soccer team this past season and were rewarded for their efforts.
Parent was an All-Olympic League first-team selection, while Van was a second-team pick, according to Coach Josh Ault.
Parent, a sophomore forward, had five goals, while Van was a junior defender.
Village went just 0-16-2 on the season, but will have both all-leaguers set to return.