The Sunnyvale Sun
Sports
Ley earns a place on U.S. National Team
By Mike Barnhart
Summer vacation has been a real kick for Cupertino teenager Sandra Ley.
After enduring a grueling, 10-day tryout at the University of Idaho, Ley was selected from a group of 200 Olympic Development Program soccer players from 13 states as a member of the under-15 girls U.S. National Team player pool. Then she trained in Pomona with U.S. national soccer team coaches.
The events could be building blocks toward Ley's long-term goals of earning a position on the U.S. Women's National Team and competing in the Olympic Games and World Cup, but her next goal is to begin traveling and competing for the under-15 girls U.S. team.
A member of the Mountain View-Los Altos Avalanche club team, Ley has been an ODP player since 2005. This season she helped the Avalanche win the prestigious Cal-North State Cup Championship Tournament and earned spots on the Cal-North State and U.S. Region IV ODP teams for the second year in a row.
Ley keeps a busy schedule, training three days a week in Los Altos, attending state ODP practices in Northern California and traveling to soccer tournaments around the country.
Cleveland raises Ruckus
It has been a busy summer for former Los Gatos High soccer standout Jeremy Cleveland. While enjoying a break from college classes at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, Cleveland immersed himself into high-level competition on the soccer field.
Anchoring the defense for the Ruckus, Cleveland helped the San Jose-based under-19 club post a perfect 11-0 record in Northern California State Cup and earn a berth in a national championship tournament in Dallas. The Ruckus lost two games and tied one in the tourney.
Later this month Cleveland will begin his second season as a defender for Cal Poly. As a freshman last fall, Cleveland was a big part of a defense that registered seven shutouts and allowed an averaged of just one goal per game.
Cal Poly will open the 2007 season with an exhibition against visiting UC-Berkeley on Aug. 21. Another local product on the Cal Poly roster is senior Ben Hancock, formerly of Leigh High and West Valley College.
Another former Leigh Longhorn, sophomore midfielder Imaan Kerchgani, is a member of Cal's roster. Chris Deal, who attended college in Missouri after an outstanding prep career at Lynbrook High, is listed on the Bears' roster as a freshman forward.
Rivals are teammates
When Jake Rosener controlled the net for Homestead High's volleyball team in 2005, some of his team's strongest competition came from Los Gatos and a talented player named Sam Moisenco. Two years later, Rosener and Moisenco were teammates at UC-Santa Barbara, both 6-foot-6 redshirt freshmen.
Both saw limited duty last spring, playing in one-fourth of the Gauchos' 32 matches, Rosener at outside hitter and Moisenco at opposite hitter. Both players figure to play bigger roles for UCSB in 2008.
Lancers off to college
St. Francis High School wrapped up another successful sports year in the spring with the announcement that five scholar-athletes had signed letters of intent to play college athletics.
The five gathered in Raskob Gym at St. Francis late in the school year for a special signing ceremony, bringing to 17 the number of Lancers who had committed to colleges to compete in athletics after completion of the 2006-07 school year.
Participating in the signing ceremony were Saratoga resident Lauren Copenhagen, who will play volleyball for Elon University; Emily Dougherty, who will play golf for University of Northern Colorado; Soula Ellenikiotis of Saratoga, who will play field hockey for University of Michigan; Jenna Gunderson of Cupertino, who will play water polo for Stanford University; and Daniel Stienstra, who will play baseball for San Jose State University.
Earlier in the year, St. Francis signees included water polo player Travis Bickham (UC-Berkeley), soccer players Bryan Giudicelli (Dartmouth University) and Danielle Drago (San Jose State University); football players Rhett Ellison (USC) and Andy Vargas (San Jose State); gymnasts Eric Haeussler (UC-Berkeley), Haley Bogart (University of Washington) and Stefanie Cheng of San Jose (UC-Berkeley); track and field stars Natasha Barthel of Campbell (Stanford University) and Casey Roche (Stanford); volleyball player Emily Ettel (University of Pennsylvania); and diver Hallie Ivester (Stanford).
Scoffone joins Broncos
Alex Scoffone, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker from Lincoln High, began training with Santa Clara University this month, joining four other Broncos with local ties.
"We look forward to her competing for a starting middle position as a freshman," Santa Clara coach Jon Wallace said when Scoffone signed her national letter-of-intent back in April.
Among Scoffone's new teammates are senior libero Caroline Walters and 6-foot-1 sophomore outside hitter Nina Sevastopoulos, a pair of former Los Gatos High talents.
Former Leigh star Lauryn Dowd played in 26 matches for the Broncos last season. The 5-foot-11 outside hitter started 11 times and racked up a season-best 13 kills in an October match with Saint Mary's.
High Intensity for Sclavos
Alex Sclavos, an all-league basketball player for Saratoga High School as a sophomore, prepared for her junior season by playing on the High Intensity Hoops club team.
High Intensity's tournament schedule included the prestigious End of the Oregon Trail Invitational in Oregon City in early July. Sclavos and her teammates won the consolation championship of the 32-team Diamond Bracket. The team's only loss was to the Tennessee
Flight, which proved to be the best team overall out of 128 teams in the National Division tournament.
Among Sclavos' teammates were Valley Christian players Amy Griffith, Sarah Johnson and Kiley McDermott, and Mountain View's Sarah Hess.
