Jenny Sparks

Barry Faulkner

The chances of scoring goals for most soccer teams, let alone one

player, usually fall somewhere between slim and nil.

But, backed by some talented, unselfish and cohesive teammates,

Costa Mesa High girls standout Jenny Sparks is making a mockery of

those odds this season.

The sophomore forward has turned 13 of her 28 shots into goals, an

eye-popping 46%, to help the Mustangs forge a 7-1-2 record, including

a pair of wins to open their inaugural Golden West League season last

week.

“If you have a shot percentage better than 10%, you’re doing

really well,” Costa Mesa Coach Dan Johnston said.

Sparks, a second-team All-Pacific Coast League performer as a

freshman, collected three goals and one assist in a 9-1 romp over

Saddleback Dec. 19. She contributed a goal and an assist in an 8-0

league-opening rout of Orange Dec. 17. The Daily Pilot Athlete of the

Week’s 13 goals lead the team and she has totaled three assists.

“She’s very inventive,” Johnston said of his overproductive

underclassman. “She makes a lot of runs that surprise the other team

and she’s very adroit at finishing her shots. She just recognizes the

flow of the game. She is someone who plays with her head turned on,

she has very good speed and good skills. That’s a hard combination to

beat.”

Sparks has beaten goalkeepers in a variety of ways, Johnston said.

“Her scores have come off headers on crosses, long outside shots,

or little dink balls around the goal,” Johnston said. “We’re playing

so well as a team, we’re doing a good job of getting the ball up to

her. And, she has been very good at not wasting those opportunities.”

Sparks, who estimated she scored 14 goals all of last season,

credits her teammates, including All-CIF senior returner Sharon Day,

whom Johnston believes is the ultimate playmaker, for much of her

success. Sparks is confident she can continue clicking at this

extremely high rate.

“I think (the shooting percentage) will stay up,” she said. “It’s

like an honor to play with Sharon, and Jazzy (freshman Jasmin Day) is

really good, too. We’re working real well together. I don’t think

anyone on our team cares who scores as long as we win.”

Sparks helped the Mustangs win the program’s first CIF Southern

Section playoff game last season.

And, with the Mustangs a leading contender to win the Golden West

League crown (they were tied for No. 10 in the CIF Division III

preseason rankings), Sparks is also confident about her team’s

future.

“I think this team will go far,” said Sparks, who has progressed

into the club system and the Olympic Development Program, after

beginning in the first grade on an AYSO team.

She has played six years with the Wolfpack club program and enjoys

the diversity that exists between club and high school soccer.

“Club is the ultimate, but it’s fun to play high school,” said

Sparks, who also plays volleyball for the Mustangs, earning

second-team all-league honors as a sophomore setter in 2002. “I like

playing with girls I played with in AYSO and all different age

groups.”

Though one of the younger members of the team, Sparks does not shy

away from leadership responsibilities, an attribute Johnston admires.

“She’s very bright and very respectful,” Johnston said. “Yet, she

can be blunt. If she sees something she thinks needs to be changed,

she won’t hold her tongue.”

With Sparks consistently cashing in scoring chances, the Mustangs

could more than hold their own well into the postseason.