Palacios on the clock at UCI
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The scouting report on UC Irvine women’s soccer star Kiana Palacios is out, though its shelf life is as brief as fresh produce.
And, unfortunately for the Anteaters, the junior forward is awaiting a pending recall that will put a premature end to her 2016 collegiate campaign.
Palacios, who has six goals in six games to help Coach Scott Juniper’s squad take a 5-1 record into Friday’s clash with Oregon to open the Fullerton Tournament at Cal State Fullerton, will soon begin training with Mexico for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup that begins in November in Papua, New Guinea.
Mexico opens the tournament on Nov. 14 against Korea Republic and Palacios will be counted upon to spearhead the attack in the event that runs through Dec. 3.
Though Juniper enthusiastically supports Palacios’ international soccer sojourn, he won’t be able to count on Palacios for production when the Big West Conference season begins Sept. 30 at Long Beach State.
“It’s going to be hard,” Juniper said. “There is no way to adequately prepare to make that seamless transition. But when she does leave, I think we have a couple of players that will by then have played more minutes and be ready to share the weight of that situation.”
Juniper cited freshman Jessica Miclat, sophomore Lili Andino and junior Alex Karlowitsch as those who will need to step up. Andino has two goals and one assist, while Karlowitsch has three assists.
Palacios has already surpassed her goal total from last season, when her five scores and 13 points led the team and helped her earn second-team all-conference recognition.
“She’s phenomenal,” Juniper said of Palacios. “She’s really enjoying herself, enjoying her teammates and enjoying the role we’ve given her. She finds different ways to score. She can score from distance, by supporting inside the 18-yard box, and she has a couple of goals off her head on set pieces.”
Pirates D start strong
Orange Coast College opened its football season with a 27-3 home victory on Saturday over East Los Angeles, which had just one trip to the red zone and three possessions on which it crossed midfield.
OCC first-year defensive coordinator Carl Lopez came close to pitching the program’s first shutout since Week 2 of the 2006 campaign when the Pirates blanked Compton, 26-0.
“I was really happy with the outcome and I thought we played with great effort,” said Lopez, 46, who coached OCC safeties in 2014 and spent 2015 on the staff at Whittier College. “We have an opportunity to be a pretty good defense. I’m working with some talented players, who are smart, can make adjustments, and they play hard.”
It’s a far cry from Lopez’s first season as a defensive coordinator in 2013 at Pasadena City College. That season, the Lancers (1-9) gave up an average of 37 points per game, including single-game outputs of 54, 52, 45 and 43.
Lopez, who orchestrates things from the sideline in order to better interact with his players, said the energy invested in preparing for and overseeing execution during the game left him particularly spent. But it was the fatigue experienced by his only child, 20-month-old son Jacob, who dictated the way he and fiancée Stacy Conley chose to celebrate.
“Jacob was at the end of his rope, so we knew it was best to just go home as a family, get him to bed and just hang out,” Lopez said. “It took me a little while to decompress. I actually popped on a [college football game] I had recorded earlier in the day to kind of relaxed.”
The Pirates have no time to rest. Coach Kevin Emerson’s unit, ranked No. 14 in the state, visits No. 17-ranked Canyons (1-0) on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Gomez comes up big
Vanguard University men’s soccer is off to a 3-0 start and the Coach Randy Dodge’s Lions have yet to allow a goal this season.
Junior goalkeeper Brandon Gomez, an All-Golden State Athletic Conference performer in his first two seasons out of San Pedro High, has made eight saves this season. Gomez, who had 10 shutouts in 2015 to help the Lions finish 16-5, now has 19 shutouts in 38 career starts heading into Saturday’s nonconference home meeting with Bathesda of California.
Gomez was the GSAC Defensive Player of the Week last week.
Busby starts hot
OCC women’s soccer forward Sydnee Busby is off to a hot start for the 2-1-1 Pirates. The sophomore, who had 10 goals and three assists as a freshman, had five goals and two assists through three games this season.
OCC plays host to Mira Costa on Friday at 3 p.m.
Fells on TV
Former UC Irvine men’s basketball standout Darren Fells opens the NFL season on Sunday as the starting tight end for the Arizona Cardinals.
The 6-foot-7, 281-pound Fells, 30, begins his third season when the Cardinals play host to New England in the 5:30 p.m. Sunday Night Football game on NBC.
He started 12 games in 2015, when he caught 21 passes for 311 yards and three touchdowns.
Fells, an Anteater from 2004-2008, played professional basketball internationally for five seasons, before switching to football, which he played at Fullerton High.
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Barry Faulkner covers colleges and high school field hockey in the fall.
Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5
