Briefly In Sports

Nogueira earns Pac-10 Player of the Week

Marina High alumna Mariah Nogueira, a freshman midfielder on the Stanford women’s soccer team, earned Pac-10 Player of the Week honors recently after helping the Cardinal sweep a pair of top-10 teams.

Nogueira headed in the opening goal when Stanford beat No. 5 Notre Dame, 2-0, on Sept. 13 and defended well in a 2-1 victory over No. 7 Purdue. She earned all-tournament honors at the Santa Clara Classic.

Last weekend, Nogueira then helped No. 3 Stanford (9-0) win its host tournament, the Stanford Nike Invitational. She scored two goals in a 6-0 victory over Wisconsin on Sunday.

Stanford is off to its best start since opening 10-0 in 1994.

— Matt Szabo

McElroy is third at Woodbridge Classic

Edison High senior Matt McElroy placed third Saturday night in the boys’ sweepstakes race at the 30th annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic.

McElroy finished the three-mile course in 14 minutes, 13 seconds, behind only Heyden Wooff of Adolfo Camarillo (14:08) and Ammar Moussa of Arcadia (14:11). The three also had the top three times at the entire event.

“I’m pretty disappointed,” McElroy said.

“I know I should have won it. I know I’m better than that. I had a strategy to go out and claim position and I got boxed in really, really bad.”

Among other locals, Marina junior Jason Van Hamersveld finished in 14:41, which was second in the varsity boys “rated” race.

McElroy, who finished fifth in Division II at last year’s CIF State finals, said he’s now preparing for a night race in San Diego this weekend.

— Matt Szabo

Marina advances to Dave Mohs Division II final

The Marina High girls’ volleyball team fell to Beckman, 25-16, 25-20, in the Division II final of the Dave Mohs Invitational volleyball tournament Monday night at Edison.

Marina (10-1) had got to the final by winning its pool then topping Brea Olinda, San Marcos and Bonita.

In Division I play, Edison won the silver bracket by defeating Liberty, 25-15, 28-30, 15-12. The Chargers’ run included a 30-28, 21-25, 15-10 victory over Huntington Beach, which had beaten Edison in a five-game nonleague match Sept. 15.

South Coast offers unique martial arts opportunity

Starting Oct. 1, South Coast Fight Club of Huntington Beach is looking for “a few good kids” to receive a truly unique opportunity in return for demonstrating they are dedicated to learning and developing martial arts skills.

Kids signing up for SCFC’s martial arts training during the month of October will get half off their tuition for the entire month, plus be eligible to receive free martial arts training for the rest of their life.

In order to take advantage of this program for life, students will be required to purchase their own uniform and commit to at least three days of lessons per week. South Coast Fight Club will then select the top five students from each age category, ages 4 to 7 and 8 to 13, to receive this offer. Determination of award winners for each group will be based on a combination of criteria that students will be expected to demonstrate, such as interest level, achievement, positive attitude, motivation, leadership skills and attendance.

For more information, call South Coast at (714) 655-3757.