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Harbor College showcased its balance in a 4-1 nonconference men's soccer victory over visiting L.A. Mission on Friday in the season opener for both teams.

Eric Medina (Narbonne) had a goal and two assists for Harbor. Guillermo Beltran (Banning), Jose Casillas (Narobnne) and Felipe Ortiz (Venice) also scored goals.

Goalkeeper Gregg Williams (Culver City) had six saves, including two breakaways.

Harbor used 23 different players, mixing and mashing different combinations together. Its conditioning essentially ran Mission off the field.

USC soccer player Amy Massey, a former Mira Costa High standout, won one of the NCAA's two Walter Byers postgraduate scholarships.

The NCAA announced Thursday that Massey and Arizona diver Craig Sheedy, will receive $24,000 to pursue graduate degrees.

Massey will attend the University of Oxford in hopes of earning a master's degree in forced migration. She has applied to law school, where she plans to study international human rights law.

After transferring from St. Mary's to USC, Massey helped the Trojans win the 2007 national championship. She has a 3.97 GPA and was a Rhodes Scholarship finalist last year.

Sheedy, from Tempe, Ariz., will attend Vanderbilt in hopes of becoming a pediatrician. He has a 4.0 GPA, was a member of the Wildcats' 2008 national championship swimming and diving team and has been a contributor in biomedical research at Arizona.

North Torrance boys soccer coach Matt Chavez, the 2009 Daily Breeze Coach of the Year, has been fired, a source said Thursday.

Chavez was let go on Wednesday, the same day an article in the Daily Breeze honored him.

Chavez, who just finished his third season with the Saxons, guided his team to consecutive Pioneer League titles.

North had concluded its best season under Chavez, making the CIF Southern Section Division IV semifinals for the first time.

Neither Chavez nor North Torrance athletic director Brian Ormsby could be reached for comment. The Breeze will try to follow up soon.

PHOTO: Goalkeeper Chanell Crawford and the San Pedro girls soccer team found itself tangled in controversy, but the junior varsity players helped deliver a 5-0 first-round win.

With San Pedro facing a dire situation in girls soccer, Coach Gerhard Weber turned to his junior varsity players.

And they delivered in a big way.

Second-seeded San Pedro used a JV-laden team and still posted a 5-0 home win over No. 31 Huntington Park on Wednesday in the first round of the L.A. City Section Championships, advancing to play the Birmingham-Manual Arts winner on Friday in the second round.

San Pedro (14-2-1) was forced to play without most of its varsity players as a result from a brawl with Narbonne in the regular-season finale. The referee in the match assessed a red card to essentially every player on both teams after a fight broke out in the final minute.

The fallout cost Narbonne a chance to compete in the first round as school officials elected to forfeit a first-round game at Fremont.

San Pedro was fortunate that it was missing four players in its game against Narbonne -- goalkeeper and captain Chanell Crawford, Dominique Ma and Keyse MacKenzie were at a Youth and Government Conference in Sacramento and Reana Burich was sick and was not at the game. They were allowed to play Wednesday.

Ma scored two goals, and Crawford made six saves for her ninth shutout.

But junior varsity players Danette Lopez, Tatiana Padovan and Jaqueline Anaya also scored goals to provide an unxpected lift.

"This game is for whoever has been a JV player," Weber said. "They're unheralded, but in this case, they're heroes. They had a chance to take on a varsity team and dismantled them. They won the game for the varsitys of the world."

San Pedro only found out Tuesday that it would be without most of its varsity squad.

Weber tracked down his junior varsity captain, and they used a phone tree approach to ask the junior varsity players to help the varsity get through the first round.

"I've always claimed that San Pedro's JV team could beat some other varsity teams," Weber said. "Looking at some comparable results, our JV team is at about the same level as Carson, which finished fourth in our league.

"I know the JV players don't always feel respected or validated in their skills, but I am eternally grateful to them."

San Pedro is expected to welcome back its varsity players for Friday's match.

Former Chadwick girls soccer star Christen Press has been recalled by the United States Under-23 Women's National Team for its next tournament.

Press will be part of an 18-member contingency that will travel to La Manga, Spain for a one-week tournament beginning on Saturday. The U.S. will face Norway on Feb. 4 and England on Feb. 6.

This is being touted as the first U.S. Under-23 team featuring a majority of professional players with 11 of the 18 having been drafted by clubs in the new WPS.  Press is one of the few collegiate players.

Press is a two-time Daily Breeze Player of the Year, was chosen by Coach Bill Irwin after a January training camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista.

As a sophomore at Stanford this past season, Press established herself as one of the nation's most explosive collegiate scorer with 16 goals and 11 assists to lead the Cardinal (22-2-1).

Press separated herself in the NCAA Tournament, scoring the game-winner and an assist in the first round against UC Santa Barbara, scored the lone goal to eliminate powerhouse Portland and added another goal in a third-round loss to Rutgers.

Press was the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and a first team All-Freshman All-American.

Palos Verdes' boys soccer team turned a big second half into a 2-0 Bay League victory over rival Peninsula and stayed close to first-place Leuzinger in the league standings in the process.

Zach Petow scored in the 52nd minute on a free kick from 20 yards out to give Palos Verdes (9-4-2, 2-1) a 1-0 lead.

"Petow hit a brilliant shot that I don't think any goalkeeper is going to save," Palos Verdes coach Bruce Myhre said. "Then we were just chasing, scrapping and giving it our all."

Conor Burke added an insurance goal in the 70th minute from 25 yards out. Matthew McNab made eight saves to record the shutout for Palos Verdes.

"Peninsula kept possession of the ball better than we did, but we just hung in there," Myhre said.

Second-place Palos Verdes will try to stay close to Leuzinger (3-0 in league) when it plays at defending league champion West Torrance on Friday. Peninsula (0-1-1 in league) will try to regroup when it hosts Mira Costa on Friday.

Kei Kamara returned to Leuzinger bearing gifts Thursday afternoon.

The 2003 Daily Breeze Player of the Year donated new jerseys for the Leuzinger boys soccer team, surprising the Olympians before Friday's Bay League match at Palos Verdes.

"They were full set of jerseys for the varsity and JV teams," Kamara said. "I heard what was going in the school district. They're stopping some sports and making kids pay, and it's not something anyone could afford. Luckily Adidas gave me good help with it too."

The players certainly appreciated the gesture by Kamara, who they already hold in high regard.

"It means a lot," midfielder Jose Lezama said. "Right now the economy is really bad, and the school doesn't have much money, so it's cool he's helping us out. We need it more than ever."

Though Kamara went on to star at Cal State Dominguez Hills and has played for the Columbus Crew, San Jose Earthquakes and now the Houston Dynamos, he has never lost touch with his roots.

"Every time I'm in town, I always show up to the school," Kamara said. "I assist with the coaching sometimes. I still know what's going on with Leuzinger and CSDH. They are my families."

Leuzinger beat Mira Costa, 3-2, in the Bay League opener and looks to build off last season's strong second-place finish.

Kemara takes pride in helping the Olympians and watching their team continue to devleop.

"Most of the players have my number," Kamara said. "They always ask me questions, like what college to go to, things like that. We have a good relationship."

Lezama said the players certainly appreciate Kamara.

"He's really cool, and he helps us out all the time," Lezama said. "Last year he trained with us a little and taught us some new plays. He really helps out Leuzinger."

Add Shelbie Luna to the growing list of Division I girls soccer players from Bishop Montgomery this season.

Luna has committed to the University of New Mexico.

Luna joins Bishop Montgomery teammate McKenzie McGoldrick, who has committed to the University of Michigan.