Briefs: Five Pirates honored

Sophomores Brandon Bauman and Jake Little, as well as freshman Jorge Sanchez, have been named first-team All-Orange Empire Conference in men’s soccer.

Sophomore Baji Chela and freshman Frankie Muñoz represent the Pirates on the second team.

Bauman, a midfielder, had eight goals and 22 assists to help the Pirates finish 12-5-5, 7-4-3 in conference. OCC was third in the OEC and earned a berth in the Southern California Regional playoffs for the first time since 2006.

Sanchez, a forward out of Costa Mea High, had a team-leading 15 goals and seven assists, while Little, a defender, had one goal and one assist.

Chela, a forward, totaled 13 goals and seven assists, while Muñoz, a midfielder, had two goals and one assist.

Max Talbert, a sophomore defender who helped Golden West claim the conference title, was named Most Valuable Player.

Golden West’s Alex Gimenez was Coach of the Year.

— From staff reports

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UCI tops poll

UC Irvine, the reigning NCAA champion in men’s volleyball, was picked to finish first in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation preseason coaches’ poll announced Tuesday.

The Anteaters, who will be guided by first-year coach David Kniffin, received 11 of 13 first-place votes to top the poll with 143 points.

BYU, which received two first-place votes, was second with 134 points, followed by Pepperdine (113), Stanford (110), UCLA (94), Long Beach State (85) and USC (83).

Cal State Northridge (61 points), UC Santa Barbara (55), Cal Baptist (49), Pacific (35) and Hawaii (three) rounded out the poll.

The nine-point separation between UCI and BYU was the largest between the top two teams in the history of the poll.

UCI returns four starters, including first-team All-American Kevin Tillie, a senior outside hitter, and first-team All-MPSF outside hitter Jeremy Dejno, a junior.

The ‘Eaters play host to Concordia of Irvine in an exhibition match on Jan 2, before opening their regular season at the UC Santa Barbara Invitational on Jan 4-5. UCI opens MPSF play on Jan 8 at home against Pepperdine. UCI visits BYU on Jan. 18 and plays host to the Cougars on March 1.

UCI visits UCLA, coached by former UCI head man John Speraw, on Jan. 29. UCLA visits UCI on March 30.

— From staff reports

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Fischer honored

Newport Harbor High graduate Shanay Fischer, a freshman at Saint Peter’s University in New Jersey, was named All-Metro Athletic Conference as a freshman women’s soccer defender.

Fischer started all 19 games and recorded two assists for the Peacocks, who finished 2-17, 1-8 in conference.

— From staff reports

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Donahue’s event

Aspiring college football athletes will have the chance to show NAIA and NCAA Division II and III programs what they have to offer during the California Showcase put on by the National Football Foundation and former UCLA Coach Terry Donahue, a Newport Beach resident.

Athletes will display their talents by completing a set of tests and drills designed for specific positions during the event, scheduled Feb. 23 at the Home Depot Center in Carson. After the activities, players can meet with representatives from schools to discuss scholarship opportunities.

Eligible athletes must be graduating high school, must not have accepted a scholarship from a Division I school and must register online beforehand. They must also have a 2.5 grade-point average or be in the top half of their graduating class or have a minimum SAT score of 1,000 (math and verbal only) or ACT of 18 or higher.

For information visit https://www.cashowcase.org.

— From staff reports