Saratoga News

Sports

Local athletes star at the collegiate level

By Mike Barnhart

As San José State University men's soccer team prepares for the 2006 season, former Leland High School standout Richard Mann looks forward to his second season as the Spartans' starting goalkeeper.

Mann, a four-time all-Blossom Valley Athletic League performer for coach Dave Gold, sat out his first season at SJSU after graduating from Leland in 2004 but took over as the Spartans' top goalie last fall. He started every game for SJSU, and finished second among Mountain Pacific Sports Federation goalies with a 1.13 goals-against average and fourth in saves with 3.63 per game. Four shutouts, a season-best game of seven saves at Cal State Fullerton and an all-MPSF honorable mention laurel highlighted Mann's freshman year.

Mann is one of just four returning starters for the Spartans, who opened the new season Aug. 27 against Fullerton. Among many newcomers bidding to break into the SJSU line-up are freshman Colby Moore (Bellarmine) and sophomore Matt Schembri (Westmont, De Anza College).

Moore, a Los Gatos resident, was a first-team all-West Catholic Athletic League selection during his junior season at Bellarmine and was the Bells' team MVP as a senior. The SCC Breakers, the 6-foot forward prospect's club team, were State Cup champions and regional semifinalists earlier this year.

Schembri, a 6-foot midfielder, scored 52 goals and had 50 assists as a four-year varsity starter at Westmont. After one season at De Anza College (2004), he transferred to SJSU, where he redshirted last year. Schembri was a "Scholar Athlete" award winner for the Spartans.

SJSU head coach Gary St. Clair is beginning his 17th season at his alma mater, following 13 seasons combined at West Valley College and Leland. Ron Smare, another alum who has coached alongside St. Clair for 16 seasons, recently was promoted to associate head coach for the Spartans. Smare, also a teacher and girls soccer coach at Branham High, previously was the head coach at Del Mar for 13 seasons and Mission College for six.

Fourth-year SJSU assistant Chris Behler previously served as assistant coach to former Spartan Mani Hernandez for three seasons at Presentation. His stint included 2002, the year the Panthers were co-champions of the Central Coast Section.

Two 2006 Presentation graduates, Nina Butera and Roxanna Kamal, along with Los Gatos Elite club teammate Katie Bonadies, are three newcomers to San José State's women's program. While Butera competes with two redshirt freshmen for the Spartans' goalkeeper job, Kamal vies for a midfield position and Bonadies--a three-time SCVAL-De Anza Division MVP while at Los Gatos High--seeks a forward spot.

One of the Spartans' best returning players is sophomore Liz Behlen of Sunnyvale, the Western Athletic Conference's Freshman of the Year last season. Behlen, who played club soccer for the Sunnyvale Roadrunners and was a three-time all-league performer at St. Francis High, led SJSU's offense with eight goals and 20 points a year ago.

Another returnee is sophomore Kelly Madej, who played three seasons for Archbishop Mitty and club soccer for the De Anza Clash.

Other Bay Area college soccer players who prepped locally include Katherine Kimure (Homestead) at University of San Francisco, Jeremy Cleveland (Los Gatos) is a freshman at Cal Poly. Ben Hancock (Leigh) is a junior transfer, who played defender at West Valley.

Jessica Buffum, a three-time all-league volleyball performer at Lynbrook, has begun her second season at Georgetown. The 5-foot-10 sophomore outside hitter played in 16 matches as a freshman and proved to be an impact player for the Hoyas. She was fourth on the squad in digs (152) and notched 117 kills. Georgetown will play in the Stanford Invitational Sept. 14-16.

Santa Clara comes into the women's season ranked sixth nationally in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. The defending West Coast Conference champions return five starters, including 20-4 Los Gatos graduate Caroline Walters. The 5-9 junior libero started all 32 matches for the Broncos last season, distinguishing herself as one of the conference's best back-row players.

A recent Los Gatos grad, 6-1 Nina Sevastopoulos, is one of six freshmen joining the Broncos for the 2006 season. Lauryn Dowd (Leigh) and Heather Middleton (Mitty) also are new to SCU.

Sophomore Nichole Clark (St. Francis) is one of 10 returning players for Santa Clara.

University of California's squad includes Bryte Nielsen, a 5-11 sophomore who played three seasons for Saratoga High before finishing her prep career at Los Gatos. Alexa Anderson, a teammate of Nielsen at Los Gatos, is a sophomore on the roster of University of Pacific.

Another fall women's sport that is revving up is field hockey, and the California roster is filled with talent that graced local high school fields in years past.

The Golden Bears' offensive attack will include Los Gatos sisters, junior Jenny Crane and sophomore Missy Crane, both played at St. Francis. Jenny scored eight goals last season, while Missy tallied seven goals and two assists as a redshirt freshman a year ago. Kellie York (Saratoga), a redshirt freshman this year, sophomores Katie Cummings (Monta Vista) and Gwen Belomy (Saratoga) and true freshmen Natalie Nurnberg (Leigh) and Kathryn Kamenski (St. Francis) also could figure into coach Shelly Onstead's offensive schemes.

The starting goalkeeper likely will be sophomore Veronica Sykes (Del Mar), who started 19 games and recorded 65 saves as a freshman. Other team members include senior Jamie Nance (Leigh) and sophomores Christina McGrath (St. Francis) and Jamie Sibilia (Monta Vista).

Sophomore Bailey Richardson (Los Gatos) and freshman Nora Soza (Mitty) will play at Stanford this fall, while Erica Nestle (Leigh) is a sophomore at UOP.

Kaiser at Stanford

Kevin Kaiser, a graduate of Saratoga High School, will play tennis on a scholarship at Stanford University this year. Kaiser, who sat out his senior season at Saratoga to concentrate on tournament play, rose to a ranking as high as No. 6 in the Northern California men's division, though he was still a junior at the time. During one span last fall, he reached the finals in fourth straight tournaments, winning three of them.

Pance on top team

Marko Pance, a senior at Saratoga High School this fall, was selected to play for the Pacific Zone National Team in the prestigious Water Polo Division 1 Premier League tournament this past year. The Pacific team was coached by Kirk Everist of UC-Berkeley and John Vargas of Stanford.

Pance was one of only two high school players named to the team that played in the tourney that featured the nation's top water polo players.

Boylan nails 2nd ace

It may not have been the first time Jeanne Boylan knocked in a hole-in-one, but the former Saratoga resident was just as thrilled this year when she nailed an ace as she was in 2002 when she drilled her first.

Boylan, who lived in Saratoga for 35 years before moving to Reno, Nev., pulled out a 5-iron to drop her Titleist into the hole on the 122-yard No. 3 at the Hidden Valley Country Club. She had previously aced hole No. 12 with a 5-iron back in December of 2002.

Boylan played at LaRinconada Country Club when she lived in the area.

Seventeen stars

Area soccer players were members of the USA Seventeen teams that won championships this past season.

The organization's boys under-15 team won the regional title to qualify for the national tournament. Among the team members were Danny Camacho of Cupertino, Geof Cleveland of Los Gatos and Ryan Marcellini, Guillermo Plancarte and Felipe Romero of Sunnyvale. The team was coached by John Cleveland of Los Gatos.

Marcellini, who is a junior at Homestead this fall, also was invited to play for one of the top European youth soccer clubs, FC Porto of Portugal during the summer.

The girls under-13 also won a regional crown and advanced to the nationals. Local team members included Chivon Crump and Carli Hassbroek of Sunnyvale; Erika Roy of Cupertino; Samantha Li of Saratoga; Taylor Comeau and Kelsey Hawker of Monte Sereno; and Brianne Medved, Mariah Cleveland, Taylor Kinser, Heather Rouhier and Carly Weiss of Los Gatos. The team manager was Genevieve Cleveland of Los Gatos.

Earlier this year, Michelle Lin of Cupertino and Lindsey Poulsen of Los Gatos helped the USA Seventeen under-14 girls team win the Nomads soccer tournament in San Diego.

Dick Sparrer contributed to this story.