Mike Mulvey will have made two cross-country trips in two weeks.

One was last weekend to spend Thanksgiving weekend with his family in Carlsbad.

The other is this weekend as he makes the flight from Annapolis, Md., to Northern California where No. 3-seeded Navy (29-5) will meet No. 2 California (26-) on Saturday in the NCAA Division I water polo semifinals at Stanford. USC (18-2), ranked No. 1, tackles No. 4 Loyola Marymount (13-15) in the other semifinal.

"I'm really happy with this season," said Mulvey, a junior who starred at Carlsbad High before choosing the Naval Academy.

"This is what the seniors on our team have been working toward.

"We all jumped on them."

While Mulvey tries to deflect the spotlight, he's one of the major reasons the Midshipmen will play for a national title.

He leads the team with 72 goals to go along with 22 assists, ranking 10th on Navy's single-season scoring list with 94 points.

He had a pair of goals as the Midshipmen beat St. Francis (N.Y.) to win the Eastern Championship and a berth in the NCAA championships.

He was named the College Water Polo Association's All-South player of the year.

A day later, he earned CWPA first-team All-East honors.

For his career, Mulvey has 204 points (140 goals, 64 assists) and needs six points to become the 12th Navy player to score 100 points in a season. He's on pace to post 300 career points, a mark attained by just five Navy players.

"I've been working hard and seem to be in the right place at the right time," Mulvey said. "I had a fair amount of goals in high school, but I've never been the go-to guy. But I've always been one of the guys who could score."

Mulvey said his experience playing at a high level for Carlsbad helped him make the jump to college.

"Playing for J.B. Feaster at Carlsbad, playing a great schedule in the spring and summer, was a lot like playing at the college level," Mulvey said. "So I kind of knew what to expect.

"At Carlsbad, they set the standards pretty high."

The standards are set pretty high at Navy, too.

Athletes get no academic breaks.

Mulvey said athletes get some help on road trips with laptops and tutors, but no one is given a grade because he's on a team.

"The academics here are the most challenging thing," Mulvey said. "With the academics, athletics and the military aspects at an academy - it's not overwhelming - but all together, it's tough.

"There were times I didn't think I could cut it. There were times I thought about quitting. But I never really wanted to leave."

Navy wasn't Mulvey's first choice.

He was recruited by most of the West Coast water polo powers - California, UCLA, UC San Diego and Pepperdine.

"I went to a tryout camp at Annapolis, liked the area, so I looked into it and applied," Mulvey said. "I wasn't planning on going to Navy, but when I researched the academics, the benefits of graduating an officer, it sounded like a pretty good deal.

"The weather is different in the East, no doubt. I love the fall and spring, but the winters are freezing, and it's hot and humid in the summer."

Now, a little more than a year away from graduation, Mulvey - a computer science major - is thinking about the future.

"I'd like to be a surface warfare officer," Mulvey said. "That's a guy who works on a ship, launching missiles as well as launching and landing aircraft - planes and helicopters."

He doesn't, however, want to get too far ahead of himself.

There is the immediate business of playing for a national title.

"It's going to be tough, but it's going to be fun," Mulvey said. "My parents, cousins and uncle are all planning on coming to Stanford.

"We have a lot of players from California on the team (including three from Coronado High, one from Bonita Vista and one from Mar Vista, six others from Southern California and four from Northern California), so hopefully we'll have a nice little cheering section."

Men's water polo

• Peter Gresham (Torrey Pines) finished the season with 17 goals and 15 assists for a UC San Diego team that finished fifth in the Western Water Polo Association Championships. Goalie Mark Stemler (Poway) had 95 saves for the Tritons and earned all-conference freshman recognition.

Family affair

Kristin Hasselberg (Carlsbad) wrapped up a tremendous women's volleyball career at the University of San Francisco with 16 kills against Gonzaga in her final collegiate match.

Those kills ran her career total to a school-record 1,530, breaking the record of 1,518 by Brittanie Budinger (La Costa Canyon), who played for the Dons from 2000-2003. Hasselberg finished the season with 311 kills. She had 494 as a junior, 514 as a sophomore and 211 as a freshman.

Hasselberg had 80 career double-figure kill matches, another school record.

Across the country, Hasselberg's brother Nick Hasselberg (Carlsbad) was a linebacker and special teams player for a Harvard football team that beat Yale 37-6 to finish 8-2 and win the Ivy League championship.

Hasselberg finished the season with four tackles and two assists.

National team candidates

Texas freshman outside hitter Juliann Faucette (Westview) and UCLA senior opposite Rachell Johnson (Torrey Pines) have been invited to the U.S. women's national volleyball team tryout in Colorado Springs, Colo., in January.

Faucette, a first-team All-Big 12 selection as well as the conference's freshman of the year, leads the Longhorns with 340 kills. Texas hosts Texas State in a first-round NCAA playoff match on Thursday.

Johnson has 352 kills and 122 blocks for a UCLA team that meets Alabama A&M in the first round of the NCAA playoffs on Friday in Clemson, S.C.

Women's volleyball

• Rebecca Bailey (Orange Glen), a junior outside hitter at UC San Diego, was named honorable mention NCAA Division II All-America. She was also first-team All-California Collegiate Athletic Association as well as first-team NCAA Division II All-Pacific Region. She had 424 kills this season, with at least 10 kills in 23 of her 28 matches, including 15 or more in 15 matches. She set a school record with 30 kills in a first-round NCAA tournament match against Northwest Nazarene. For her career, Bailey has 972 kills, ranking sixth on the school's all-time list. The all-time kills leader is Stacy Dunsmore (Vista), who collected 1,182 from 2001-2004.

• Caitlin Tomaska (Torrey Pines), a junior at Connecticut College, was named first-team All-Northeast Small College Athletic Conference, the third straight season she has been honored. In addition, she was named second-team All-Northeast Region. She set a school record with 375 kills this season and has 1,040 career kills and 1,117 career digs. The team posted its second consecutive 20-win season this year.

• Cassie Lee (Vista), a junior at Robert Morris, was named to the All-Northeast Conference tournament team after posting 17 kills against Sacred Heart, eight against Central Connecticut in the semifinals and eight in a finals loss to Long Island. She finished the season with 270 kills and 42 blocks.

• Kelly Clausen (Tri-City Christian), a 6-foot middle blocker, had a solid freshman season at Colorado Christian University, finishing with 171 kills, 49 blocks and 12 aces.

Football

• Running back Craig Sheppard (San Pasqual) scored UCLA's only touchdown Saturday in a 16-0 win over Oregon as the Bruins became bowl eligible. His 20-yard, fourth-quarter TD run highlighted an eight-carry, 49-yard day for the walk-on sophomore.

• Justin Witzmann (La Costa Canyon), a junior defensive tackle at Charleston Southern, finished the season with eight tackles, including two for losses, and 22 assists for a team that finished 4-6, including a loss at Hawaii.

• Sophomore running back Alex Gomez (Carlsbad) had nine rushes for 41 yards and four tackles on special teams at Cal Lutheran.

• Shane Kilcoyne (Torrey Pines), a junior running back at Cornell, finished the season with 42 carries for 124 yards and 10 receptions for 61 yards. He also returned seven kicks for 189 yards, including a 94-yard TD return.

• Defensive back Nick Graves (San Pasqual/Palomar College) had six tackles, nine assists and two interceptions this season for Redlands. Linebacker Cameron Mann (Oceanside) had three tackles and two assists for a team that finished 8-2.

• Sophomore linebacker Blake Whitcomb (La Costa Canyon) finished the season with four tackles, five assists, a quarterback sack and a blocked kick for a Chapman team that went 6-3, the school's best record in 11 seasons.

• Justin Fields (Orange Glen) is back home after playing for the Aschaffenburg Stallions of the German Professional League. A linebacker, he was the defensive captain on a team that finished 2-12. Still, he had 75 tackles - including 52 solo tackles and five sacks - three interceptions and a pair of fumble recoveries. Fields, who played at the University of La Verne, has been contacted by teams in Italy and Vienna, but is hoping for a tryout with an NFL, CFL or Arena League team.

Cross country

• A.J. Acosta (El Camino), a sophomore at Oregon, finished 117th out of 250 runners at the NCAA championships at Indiana State. He ran 31 minutes, 27 seconds over the 10,000-meter course as Oregon won the men's team title.

• Samantha From (San Pasqual), a senior at Point Loma Nazarene, ran despite being ill and finished 164th in the NAIA nationals in Kenosha, Wis., running 20:29 over 6,000 meters.

See ya in South Bend

Former La Costa Canyon women's soccer standouts Kelly McCann and Carrie Dew will be matched against each other on Friday when McCann and Duke travel to Notre Dame for an NCAA quarterfinal playoff match against Dew and the Fighting Irish.

McCann has started all 22 games at defender for the 10-5-7 Blue Devils, including NCAA tournament wins over South Carolina, Georgia and Indiana.

Dew is a starting defender for 18-4-2 Notre Dame, which has beaten Loyola-Chicago, Illinois and North Carolina in postseason play.

Sophomore Kelsey Lysander (Rancho Bernardo) is the reserve goalie for the Irish, playing in six games with one start.

Women's soccer

• Rachel Buehler (Torrey Pines), a senior defender at Stanford, is a finalist for the U.S. Soccer Young Female athlete of the year award. She is one of only five players on the on-line ballot. Voting closes Dec. 7. In addition, she was named first-team ESPN The Magazine all-academic team for posting a 4.0 grade-point average in human biology. She also was first-team All-Pac-10 and is a pool player for the U.S. women's national team. She led a Stanford defense that posted nine shutouts and had an 0.69 goals-against average.

Stanford was upset 2-0 by Connecticut on Friday in the third round of the NCAA tournament, ending the season 15-3-5. The Cardinal was 53-22-13 in Buehler's four seasons.

• Cal State Fullerton junior defender Jenae Gibbens (Mt. Carmel) has been named to the ESPN The Magazine academic All-America team. A third-team selection, Gibbens was one of 33 athletes honored nationally - and one of only four in District 8 - for their achievements on the field and in the classroom. A marketing major with a 3.96 GPA, Gibbens was the Big West Conference defensive player of the year. She helped lead the Titans to a third straight Big West title and a berth in the NCAA tournament, where they lost to UCLA in the first round.

• Casey Schostag (Valley Center), a junior defender, started all 22 games and had three assists for Cal State Fullerton. Leslie Munoz (Fallbrook) played in 20 games for the Titans, and Brianna Buffington (Mt. Carmel) played in every game and had five goals and an assist.

• Kelsea Kakadelas (La Costa Canyon), a sophomore defender, played in all 23 games for a Brigham Young team that won the Mountain West Conference championship, but lost to No. 7-ranked Texas in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

• Cammie Burke (Torrey Pines), a freshman defender at Pepperdine, was named honorable mention All-West Coast Conference and earned WCC all-freshman honors.

• Amanda Rupp (La Costa Canyon), a junior forward, led Pepperdine in scoring with five goals and five assists.

Men's soccer

• San Diego State's Kraig Chiles (Poway) was named Pac-10 player of the week after leading the Aztecs to a pair of come-from-behind ties with UCLA and Washington. He assisted on the tying goal against the Bruins and scored the tying goal in the 69th minute against the Huskies. For the season, Chiles led the Aztecs in games started (19), goals (eight), points (20) and shots on goal (26). He was a first-team All-Pac-10 selection.

• San Diego State sophomore defender Jamel Wallace (Oceanside) was an honorable mention All-Pac-10 selection after helping the Aztecs limit opponents to 22 goals in 19 matches. He also scored three goals.

• Adrian Brambila (Fallbrook) had a fine freshman season at the University of Dubuque, an NCAA Division III school. He started 17 of the team's 19 games, scoring two goals and assisting three others on a team that went 10-8-1. Dubuque earned the last spot in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament, losing to Central College in a shootout. Brambila assisted on the tying goal with under three minutes to play in that game and scored a goal in the shootout.

Men's golf

San Diego State sophomore Aaron Goldberg (La Costa Canyon) shot a 12-under-par 201 over three rounds at the 33rd Western Refining College All-American Golf Classic in El Paso, Texas, to finish the fall season with a second-place finish.

He had rounds of 66, 67 and 68, finishing three shots behind Webb Simpson of Wake Forest. Simpson won the event with birdies on Nos. 15, 16 and 17.

Past All-American Classic winners include David Duval, Davis Love III and Tiger Woods.

Goldberg and the Aztecs return to action on Jan. 28 in the PING Arizona Intercollegiate in Tucson, Ariz.

Baseball

• Left-hander Troy Cate (Fallbrook), who was released by the St. Louis Cardinals at the end of the season, has signed a minor-league contract with the Oakland A's.

- John Maffei's Alumni Report appears every other Monday through the college season. He can be reached at (760) 740-3547, by fax at (760) 740-5045 or at jmaffei@nctimes.com. Readers are urged to submit information on former North County prep athletes. Comment at sports.nctimes.com.