McLaughlin to Miss City Final

The El Camino Real High girls’ soccer team has advanced to the City Section championship game for the third year in a row, but for the second consecutive season, Kandice McLaughlin will not be there.

“This year, it’s for a better reason,” McLaughlin said Tuesday, after the top-seeded Conquistadores’ 7-0 semifinal victory over Chatsworth.

McLaughlin, a junior who is second on the team with 22 goals and 11 assists this season, has been invited to an under-17 U.S. national team training camp through Thursday in Florida. She sat out last year’s title-game victory over San Pedro because of a red card she received in the semifinals.

Two-time defending champion El Camino Real (22-1-3), which is riding a 17-match unbeaten streak, plays second-seeded Granada Hills (20-5-1) at 3:30 p.m. today at UCLA’s Drake Stadium.

The girls’ game will be preceded by the boys’ championship game between L.A. Locke (13-4-3) and Van Nuys Grant (21-1-5) at 1:15 p.m.

-- Lauren Peterson

Mission Viejo will meet South Coast League rival San Clemente in the Southern Section Division I girls’ soccer championship game at 3 p.m. today at Cal State Fullerton.

Each advanced with semifinal victories over league rivals. Second-seeded Mission Viejo (16-3-7) defeated Lake Forest El Toro, 1-0, on Tuesday, while San Clemente (15-5-4), the defending division champion, beat Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley, 1-0, in overtime.

In their league matchups this season, Mission Viejo beat San Clemente, 3-0, and the teams tied, 1-1.

San Clemente is expected to be without sophomore McCall Zerboni, the Division I offensive player of the year last season, who is scheduled to participate in a tournament in Florida with her under-17 national team, San Clemente Coach Stacey Juhl Finnerty said.

Other girls’ soccer section championship games at Cal State Fullerton today feature Walnut (20-4-5) playing Costa Mesa (22-1-2) at 5 p.m. for the Division III title, and Valencia (20-3-1) meeting Westlake Village Westlake (20-0-1) at 7 p.m. in Division II.

The boys’ soccer section finals at Cal State Fullerton today begin at 9 a.m. with the Division III championship game between La Palma Kennedy (15-6-6) and Pico Rivera El Rancho (23-2-2).

That is followed by Irvine Woodbridge (17-1-5) playing La Canada St. Francis (26-5) at 11 a.m. in Division II, and Long Beach Wilson (25-0-5) meeting Huntington Beach Marina (18-7-2) at 1 p.m. in Division I.

The Division IV, V and VI finals for boys and girls will be played today at La Mirada High, beginning with a 9 a.m. game between the Cathedral City and Anaheim boys.

(See Scoreboard below for the other matchups.)

-- Bob Rohwer