Coasters column: Bond’s luxury: Lauren Cassity

Steve Virgen

Barbara Bond is fortunate Lauren Cassity rekindled her love with

soccer. Sure, Jaycee Mahler is the scoring phenom for the Orange Coast

College women’s soccer team, but it’s also players like Cassity who

define the team’s success.

Cassity, an Estancia High product and multi-sport athlete, might have

never become one of Bond’s girls this season if it weren’t for her

renewed love for the game.

The 5-foot-8 forward, who has played volleyball, basketball and now

soccer at Coast, is a throwback like no other. She’s old school. While

most athletes focus on one sport, she makes like Babe Didrikson Zaharias

and goes for them all.

She displayed her various talents while at Estancia. And she passed up

a chance to attend San Diego State because she saw her opportunities to

play sports slipping away. After all, she had never focused on just one

sport. She was too busy having fun with each game, meet and match.

“I have no doubt that if I concentrated on one sport I would have gone

to a university (on scholarship),” Cassity says.

As an Eagle, she starred in volleyball and basketball. In hoops, she

earned Pacific Coast League co-Player of the Year in 1999 and she was a

two-time All-Newport-Mesa District as a forward.

And in the spring she got even more creative. At home swimming meets,

she went from strokes in the water to swings at the plate. She was on

Estancia’s swimming team and served double duty with a spot on the

softball squad.

“It was pretty crazy,” says Cassity, an art major. “On the days there

would be home swim meets and softball games, I would run out to the field

with my hair wet. I don’t know how it happened, but it made it very

exciting.”

So there’s no wonder she is helping the Pirates’ soccer team in so

many ways this season. She recorded her first multiple-goal game of the

season, when she scored two goals to lead the Pirates to a 5-1 victory

over Riverside Friday. And Tuesday against Golden West she duplicated her

efforts and scored another two goals to help in an 8-1 victory.

“She’s very versatile,” OCC Coach Barbara Bond said. “We can put her

in as a striker. She can play defense and sweeper. Her versatility has

helped us. She’s a strong gal. And to add to her strength, she has some

speed.”

As OCC prepares for the postseason, Cassity is third on the team with

goals (nine) and second in assists (nine). But it’s not about the

statistics when it comes to Cassity. You would have to watch her to know,

but at times she is the difference-maker.

She’s a big reason Coast is 18-4-1 overall, 14-2 in Orange Empire

Conference play. The only other time the Pirates have won at least 17

games in a season was in 1988, when the team advanced to the state

championship game.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better season,” she says. “I don’t want

it to end. It seems like everyday is a Friday. The playoffs are coming.

It’s just going by very fast. I’m trying to enjoy it as much as I can.”

When the soccer season ends, as if on cue, Cassity will continue to

play sports in the spring. She’s wavering between softball and badminton,

but is leaning more toward the bird and racquet.

“I can’t remember a time in my life I haven’t been involved in

athletics,” says Cassity, who coached junior varsity girls volleyball at

Estancia this season. “It keeps me sane. I just want to stay active. I

never wanted to be bored.”

As the OCC women’s water polo team gears up for the Southern

California Regional Playoffs, its strategy, as cliche as it may sound,

remains. The Pirates are taking one game at a time. It’s the reason they

are the top-ranked team in the state and have the majority of community

college coaches saying OCC will win the state crown this year.

However, the Pirates, the Orange Empire Conference champions who have

held their No. 1 ranking for the entire season, are not paying attention

to the critics. There is still much work to be done. And first things

first, the Southern California Regionals. After a bye, OCC, the No. 1

seed, will await the winner of the Cuesta-Fullerton (two teams the

Pirates have beaten soundly this year) matchup and play today at Cypress

College.

Another reason OCC (30-1) is undefeated this year against community

college teams and one Division I team is because of the friendships on

the team. The camaraderie shared on the team is genuine and it starts

from the top. Coach Don Watson and assistant Mike Giles have a superb

working relationship, which influences the players.

Another team that keeps plugging away is Coach Chuck Cutenese’s

women’s volleyball squad. Talk about living up to expectations. Cutenese

knew he had something special in this team before the season started and

his girls aren’t letting him down.

And they’re not done. The Pirates have yet to clinch the conference

title, even though they are undefeated at 17-0, 11-0 in the OEC.

Sophomore transfer Katja Muller has led OCC in kills in 13 non-tournament

matches, while freshman Krystle Davis has been contributing as well in

the kills department.

Muller leads the team with 271 kills thus far, and Davis has amassed

156. In addition, setter Amber McCarthy and middle blocker Daylyn Kelley,

a Costa Mesa High product, have been just as talented on the team packed

with stars.

Kelley is the only returning sophomore on the squad, which means

expect similar efforts next year when the Pirates will be led by Davis.