Soccer Players

Two standout girls' soccer players have committed to play for UC Santa Barbara and plan to sign letters of intent. Today is the first day such letters can be signed for soccer.

Soccer players from Brazil's national team reacted with horror upon hearing that Italy Coach Azeglio Vicini will bar his players from sexual activity during the World Cup. Renato, a reserve striker with one name and a bent for amateur psychology, predicted if Italian players were forced to abstain from sex, training-camp workouts could be plagued by tension and even fights. "The blood rises . . . " he said at the team's training camp in Teresopolis, Brazil.

Eight Estancia girls' soccer players were suspended by the school because they consumed alcohol while at a summer soccer tournament in Santa Barbara, Athletic Director Tim Parsel said Wednesday. Parsel said the eight students were dismissed under the school district's zero-tolerance policy. Five students already have transferred to another Newport-Mesa District high school and the other three will transfer in the coming weeks, Parsel said.

Even though their team did not make it past the first round of competition, this year's World Cup was a triumph for Colombians. Fans won because soccer became fun again. For the last four years, the World Cup had been yet another reminder of the lawlessness and violence in this cocaine-producing country. In 1994, Colombia lost, 2-1, to the United States--and was eliminated from the tournament--because young star Andres Escobar kicked the ball into his own goal.

Seven players from the UC Irvine men's soccer program are quitting the team and will ask for a release from their scholarships. Members of the group said they are unhappy with fourth-year Coach George Kuntz. Neither Kuntz nor Athletic Director Dan Guerrero could be reached for comment Friday. All seven players receive at least partial scholarships and must be released by Irvine officials before they can play elsewhere.

Soccer officials in Zimbabwe banned four members of the army's first division Tongogara side for life after they urinated in front of several thousand spectators at a stadium in eastern Zimbabwe Sunday. Nelson Chirwa of the Zimbabwe Football Assn. said the players were practicing tribal witchcraft in an attempt to change their side's fortunes. It was losing, 1-0. "I would like to advise all football teams that next time they should go to a better witch doctor," Chirwa said.

It's right there on videotape: Dwight Angelini, a soccer star at the prestigious Harvard-Westlake High School, kicking a competitor--in the head--during a match. The video, shot by parents attending the match and turned over to police, presents prosecutors with an unusual question. Was the kick a risk that any athlete faces? Or was it so flagrant that it calls for nothing less than the full weight of a criminal assault charge?

The Women's Sports Foundation backed the U.S. women's soccer players Tuesday in their dispute with the federation over wages. The 20 women who won the World Cup last summer are boycotting next month's Australia Cup because they do not have new contracts with the U.S. Soccer Federation. "These young women have brought honor to their sport and have given their absolute best to U.S. Soccer and the American public," foundation President Nancy Lieberman-Cline said. "They deserve better treatment."

Six soccer players from Orange County high schools received player of the year honors when the All-Southern Section boys' and girls' soccer teams were announced. Capistrano Valley's Kim Abbamonto and Santa Margarita's goalkeeper, Erin Regan, were named Division I and II defensive players of the year. Capistrano Valley's Jack Peterson was named Division I coach of the year.