Conference Preview: Fall Sports Begin WSC Play

Men's Soccer, Women's Volleyball, and Women's Cross Country have all concluded their pre-season schedules and are set to begin Western State Conference competition.

Soccer

Within the North Division, Mission's men's soccer team is ranked 5^th out of six teams in pre-season standings. The Eagles will have to get past four tough teams to make it into playoffs: Santa Barbara (6-0-3), Santa Monica (8-1-2), Allan Hancock (8-2-2) and Oxnard (7-3-1). Mission enters WSC play with a 4-5-2 record.

Head Coach Julio Castillo does not believe the team's record or ranking accurately reflects its ability to compete on the field. He says with consistency in aggressiveness and energy, the Eagles can beat any team in the division - they just need to show up ready to play.

Mission's most productive player right now is sophomore forward Javier Moran, who claims 7 of the team's 11 goals and is 10^th in the state in goals scored. Freshman midfielders Jorge Rojas and Richard Cuellar have 2 goals apiece to round out the team's scoring.

Their first test will be on Tuesday, Oct. 10, in Oxnard. The Condors are currently 11^th in the state in shots on goal (62) and 5^th in corner kicks (45) and are defending their 5^th consecutive Western State Conference Championship.

Volleyball

LA Mission Women's Volleyball lies in the middle of the WSC South Division, ranked 3^rd out of five teams.

With an 8-6 record, the Eagles will be competing with Bakersfield (12-4) and Canyons (13-4) for a playoff run. After the top three teams, Antelope Valley and West LA follow with 2-7 and 3-13 records, respectively.

Mission begins their tough schedule in Bakersfield on Friday, Oct. 13. The Renegades are ranked 6^th in the state as of the most recent standings from Oct. 9, and are currently in the top 10 in seven statistical categories including kills and points per set.

However, the Eagles remain in good shape with an above .500 record (8-6) and solid statistics. They are currently 2^nd in the state in service aces (203) and 1^st in service aces per set (3.76). Sophomore libero Samantha Sullivan individually leads the team in those statistical categories, ranked 3^rd in the state in service aces with 52 and 3^rd in service aces per set with 1.02.

Head Coach Richard Barraza feels the current standings reflect the obstacles the Eagles will have to overcome within the conference, but they will be competitive if they improve communication, transition hitting, and set location.

"I feel like we have one of the tougher conferences with two top-10 ranked teams in the state," Barraza said. "We have our work cut out for us, but we are training hard and accepting the challenge."

Cross Country

With a break between contests due to a cancelled meet, the cross country team competes in the Western State Conference Championship Meet on Friday, Oct. 20, in Bakersfield.

In order to advance to the Southern California Championship Meet in November, Mission has to finish in the top seven teams at WSC Championships.

In their most recent outing, the Eagles placed 4^th out of seven teams at the Tour de Cuesta in San Luis Obispo, finishing ahead of WSC rivals Citrus and Allan Hancock.

However, the best indicator of where the Eagles stand in conference is their 5^th place finish in the Western State Preview Meet on Sept. 29. Another performance like that will qualify them to advance, and they've only had time to improve since then.

Mission will rely on top performers Natascha Klein and Jessica Garibay to provide the lowest times. At the WSC Preview, Klein ran a 22:00.0 with an average mile time of 7:04.8, placing her 18^th out of 79 runners. In the same event, Garibay ran a 23:52.6, and one week later reduced her time by 29.6 seconds at the Tour de Cuesta (23:23.0).

Freshman Melissa Mejorada is also climbing the ranks. Though she is new to cross country running this year, her times have been steadily improving, and she cut almost a full minute off her 5K time between the WSC Preview and the Tour de Cuesta (25:39.9 to 24:46.4).

If the rate of improvement continues for the Eagles, they will be a true threat at WSC Championships and likely to move forward.