Footloose and fancy free

Mike Sciacca

Kim Stempkowski is taking full advantage of her youth.

At 22, the Huntington Beach resident is venturing to new places,

having recently arrived back in Surf City following a five-month stay

in Europe as part of a student exchange program.

A few weeks after returning home, she continues to be on the move,

venturing into fairly new territory once again as an active member of

the Ultimate Soccer League.

Stempkowski, who prepped at Edison High, is a defender for the New

York Star Gazers in the four-team league that is in the midst of a

month-long season.

“I’m having a blast with all of this,” she said. “I just got

back from an awesome experience in Europe and now it’s back to

soccer. I’m having fun, staying in shape and meeting some great, new

people.”

Stempkowski is one of 18 players on the New York roster. Don’t let

the team’s name fool you: the team itself is not based in New York.

Star Gazer home games are played at various sites in the South Bay

area.

Stempkowski scored two goals in New York’s season opener, which

was a loss to the Los Angeles Roxies on July 6.

“Kim definitely was one of the league’s standouts after our first

weekend of play,” said Mike Evans, an Ultimate Soccer League coach.

“She scored two beautiful goals and has a really good-looking

shot.”

Stempkowski and the Star Gazers will meet the Miami Wave Breakers

at 10 a.m. Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

“What’s fun about this league is that it gives me the opportunity

to play on the same team with girls whom I normally would play

against,” she explained. “We’re now friends on the same team,

instead of enemies on opposing sides.”

The Ultimate Soccer League is in its second year of existence. The

league offers a quicker, faster paced game of soccer with eight

players -- instead of the standard 11 -- per side.

Participants in the league are either top level collegiate or club

players.

Following a standout career at Edison, which included All-CIF

honors as well as offensive MVP of the Sunset League as a senior in

1997-98, Stempkowski went on to play at Cal State Long Beach, which

started a women’s soccer program when she entered her freshman year

in the fall of 1998.

She played four years for the 49ers and, although her playing

eligibility is up, she will return to campus in August to complete

her studies in human resources.

She is one semester shy of earning her degree.

“Playing in the Ultimate Soccer League is a lot different than

playing in college, even high school,” she said. “You play with the

same girls for up to four years at both levels but with this new

league, girls come and go.

“For instance, the Star Gazers didn’t have a practice before we

played our first game earlier this month. A lot of us actually met

each other about an hour before our first match. That makes it

interesting because you have to learn to read a person and their

playing habits in the first 10 minutes of a game.”

That’s not all that Stempkowski -- and the league’s other players

-- finds of interest.

Ultimate Soccer League plays by its own rules.

First off, there is what the league terms a “fast field,”

something that Stempkowski likes. The game is played between the

10-yard and sidelines of a football field, measured 80 yards by 50

yards. Ultimate Soccer also has its own goal posts, although net

sizes have not been altered from the standard.

Eight players -- including a goalkeeper -- comprise each team.

Free substitution is allowed to keep players “fresh” and there are

no “offsides” penalties.

There are direct kicks on all penalties and on all out-of-bounds

situations, kick-ins resume play. What Stempkowski also likes is the

league’s scoring system, which is completely different than standard

soccer score keeping. There are two different point systems, one

which allows for three points on a traditional net goal, and a

one-point addition for a long distance score.

“It makes for a fun game. The scoring is much higher than the

soccer that I’m used to playing, and it makes for much quicker-paced

action for the fans,” said Stempkowski, who learned of the new

league last year through her father, Joe, who works for Toyota, a

sponsor of the Ultimate Soccer League.

While she has enjoyed playing in the league in its first two

years, Stempkowski isn’t certain about playing in 2003.

She just returned from studying for five months at the Hoges

Haarlem Business School in The Netherlands. While there, she, along

with three Cal State Long Beach teammates, had the chance to visit

nine other European countries.

She has applied for an internship in England, and has plans of

moving there by the end of the year.

“I loved Europe and didn’t want to come back,” she said. “I

figured, I’m young now, so why not take advantage of the

opportunities presented to me. The Ultimate Soccer League gave me the

opportunity to play soccer again, and getting an internship in Europe

would be amazing. I figure I should take advantage of my youth while

it’s here.”

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.