Contreras Realizes a Few Goals--14, in Fact
Kristy Contreras had spent a week thinking about breaking the state record for the most goals scored by a player in a girls’ soccer game.
The record had been on her mind since her friend, Kendra Payne of La Verne Bonita High, set the mark with 13 goals against Pomona Ganesha on Jan. 20.
Contreras and Payne are teammates on an Orange County-based club team called ICE.
“I hadn’t spoken with Kendra since she got the record, but when I read it in the newspaper, it got me thinking that I could probably break it,” said Contreras, a senior forward at Los Altos in Hacienda Heights.
Los Altos Coach John Erdhaus agreed that Contreras had the ability to break the record, so he let her loose in a game against Pomona on Tuesday afternoon at Los Altos.
Pomona, which resumed playing the sport in 1994 after dropping it 10 years earlier, hasn’t won a game in the Miramonte League this season.
Contreras scored six goals in the first half of Tuesday’s game and added eight in the second for a record 14 in a 19-0 victory. Her final goal came as time expired. She played the entire game.
“Kristy had talked to me about getting the record because her friend had set it last week,” said Erdhaus, whose team improved to 10-8. “I normally don’t like to run up the score, but this was for a record. I apologized to their coach [Becky Rodriquez] after the game, and she seemed to understand.”
Pomona’s athletic director was less understanding.
“I talked to Becky after the game and she didn’t have a problem with the record,” said Ed Taylor, Pomona’s athletic director. “Her main concern was that if they were running up the score and pouring it on, then it was hurting her players.
“To know that this record quest was thought out and was intentional is very wrong to me, and their day will come,” Taylor said. “This kind of record is in no way good for the sport or the CIF. My goal is to keep the spirits and morale of my players up while they’re still trying to build up their team.”
Contreras has 129 goals in her career, including 42 this season. She said she scored seven goals in a game last season.
The crowd at Los Altos was also aware of Contreras’ quest. In the second half, fans often chanted the number of goals she need to break the record.
“I know a lot of people won’t agree with the record,” said Contreras, who was selected to the All-Southern Section team last season and plans to play soccer in college. “But I look at it like I had a chance to break a record, and I wanted to leave high school by making a mark.”
Rodriquez is in her second year at the school. The Red Devils, who have 13 players, didn’t win any games last season but have won five this season.
Los Altos has 21 players and Erdhaus said all played against Pomona.
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A close vote is expected today when the Southern Section Council considers a proposal to adopt a shot clock for the 1997-98 boys’ basketball season.
If the council votes in favor of the shot clock, it must then decide if it wants it for 30 or 35 seconds.
The CIF state council will vote on the matter next month.
The girls use a 30-second clock in California.
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The Inglewood Morningside girls’ basketball team, the defending Southern Section Division III-A champion, will have to forfeit at least 12 games for using an ineligible player.
The player, sophomore forward Acheve Barre, didn’t have proper paperwork filed after transferring from Long Beach Poly in the summer. Although she changed her residence, she also changed her guardians, violating section rules.
Before the forfeitures, Morningside was 13-7 and 6-0 in the Ocean League.
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