BRIEFS

UCI ANNOUNCES RECRUITS

UC Irvine men’s soccer coach George Kuntz is excited about this year’s high school recruiting class of 14, which includes the likes of midfielder Brett Berman (Westlake High), midfielder Brett Faggioni (Surrey Garden Christian, Ariz.), forward Adrian Burgess (Bishop Montgomery) and defender Stephen Carveth (Clovis West).

“We are on the heels of the best season in the history of the men’s soccer program at UC Irvine and want to continue the tradition of excellence,” Kuntz said in a press release. “This year we had three players drafted and four signed with Major League Soccer, the four players are Anthony Hamilton, Brad Evans, Kenny Schoeni, and Cameron Dunn.

“We played three Major League Soccer Teams Chivas USA, Los Angeles Galaxy, and the Columbus Crew in exhibition matches this spring and had 11 players named Big West Scholar-Athletes.”

Kuntz guided the Anteaters in his 12th season to a 13-4-3 overall record and 6-3-1 in the Big West Conference, good enough for second place.

The other recruits include Lucas Clardy (Apple Valley), Sebastian Garcia (Calabasas), Diego Hernandez (Diamond Ranch), Andrew Minter (Trabuco Hills), Kevin O’Conner (Santa Margarita), Spencer Thompson (Mountain Pointe, Ariz.), Syd Tom (Leilehua, Hawaii), Navid Torabian (Rio Americano), Daniel “DJ” Vigil (Paraclete) and Amani Walker (Francis Parker).

UC Irvine was ranked as high as seventh in the country last season.

— From staff reports

UCI’S KAAKE EARNS HONOR

UC Irvine women’s senior water polo player Robyn Kaake was named to the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches All-American Honorable Mention, making it the third straight season Kaake has earned the honor.

Kaake is UCI’s all-time leading scorer with 217 goals.

She was named All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation honorable mention after finishing with 50 goals and helping guide UC Irvine to a seventh place finish at the MPSF Championships, which was the school’s best finish.

— From staff reports