Kayla Mills quickly takes lead for USC Trojans

The following are updates on local athletes at the collegiate level.

Kayla Mills (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, 2013) freshman, USC soccer: Only a few months removed from her last days as a Tologs standout who racked up All-Area, All-Mission League and All-CIF honors, Mills is making a borderline astounding transition to the NCAA game.

Heading into the Trojans’ Thursday afternoon home match against Florida Atlantic, Mills was leading No. 23 USC (4-2-1) in points with 11, having tallied three goals and a team-high five assists.

Against Loyola Marymount on Sunday, she had a pair of assists. Both came on goals scored by former Tologs teammate Katie Johnson, who had a hat trick.

Mills, who has started and played in all seven games, had a goal and an assist in her first NCAA game on Aug. 23, as the then-unranked Trojans blitzed then-No. 11 San Diego State, 4-1.

Indeed making an amazing debut, Mills had a goal or an assist in the first four games of the season and has scored in five of her team’s seven games, with the only exceptions coming in shutout losses.

Mallory Carcich (Crescenta Valley High, 2012) sophomore, California Lutheran soccer: Carcich has been a key component in a Cal Lutheran defense that registered consecutive shutouts before opening Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 2-1 overtime win against Redlands.

However, it was her offense that led Cal Lutheran in Wednesday’s win against Redlands, as she was on the scoring end of a Kristina Hulse cross to tally the game-winner in the 102nd minute. It was Carcich’s first collegiate goal.

Carcich has started five of six games for Cal Lutheran, playing in all six.

The Regals have allowed eight goals in six games in running off a 4-2 record. The defense has registered three shutouts in all.

Meghan Spencer (Glendale High, 2013) freshman, Oxford Emory College soccer: Spencer, a multi-sport athlete as a Nitro, has taken to the NCAA Division III level in a big way for Oxford Emory, having garnered six goals and an assist in seven games with three two-goal games.

Her last offensive flurry came on Saturday on the road against Andrew in a 5-2 win.

Spencer and Oxford (3-3) return to the pitch Saturday at USC Salkehatchie.

Chris Cabrera (St. Francis High, 2010) senior, California Lutheran football: A tackling machine in high school for the Golden Knights, he’s continued his exploits as a mulit-year starter for Cal Lutheran.

The Kingsmen opened their season Saturday with a 31-24 loss to Pacific Lutheran of Washington. Cabrera was the game’s leading tackler, though, racking up eight, including one for a loss.

Cal Lutheran travels to face Linfield (Ore.) on Saturday.

Krista Meaglia (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, 2013) freshman, Northeastern soccer: Author of the biggest goal scored in Flintridge Sacred Heart soccer history, Meaglia tallied her first collegiate goal on Sept. 5 against New Hampshire to key a 1-1 tie for Northeastern.

Meaglia, who scored in Flintridge Sacred Heart’s 1-0 CIF Southern Section Division I championship win over San Clemente in 2011, started in her very first collegiate game as Northeastern made it a homecoming for Meaglia with a road game at UCLA with her family and former Tologs Coach Frank Pace in attendance.

Meaglia has started two games this season and played all seven.

The Huskies are struggling, though, with an 0-5-2 record heading into Friday’s home match against Maine.

Cassandra Orozco (Crescenta Valley High, 2012) sophomore, Pasadena City College soccer: Orozco has started all four games for the Lancers, who sit at 1-2-1 heading into a road tilt at L.A. Valley on Friday. One of those starts was Aug. 31 against Ventura, which ended with a 1-0 win and the first in coach Reggie Rivas’ PCC head-coaching career. Rivas was a longtime Crescenta Valley girls’ soccer coach, who now leads a staff that includes former Hoover High standout Catrina Flores and current Crescenta Valley High boys’ soccer Coach Grant Clark.

Bryan Luna (Crescenta Valley High, 2011) sophomore, Pasadena City College football: The Lancers are off to an 0-2 start, but Luna, a linebacker, is holding his own, having tallied eight tackles thus far with four in each game.

PCC, which also features Hoover High product Craig Settles (four tackles, two for a loss), returns to the field Saturday on the road at El Camino.