Nathan Medina's No. 1 goal this season, as well as that of his Sonoma State men's soccer teammates, is to play for an NCAA Division II championship.

But the former Mt. Carmel High star and the rest of the Seawolves know they'll probably have to travel the same road as last season, a road that was filled with potholes.

After a fine 2006 regular season, Sonoma State lost in the first round of the California College Athletic Association tournament to Cal State Dominguez Hills, then the Seawolves were bounced out of the NCAA tournament in the first round by Seattle. Both were gut-wrenching, 2-1 defeats.

This season, both Medina and Sonoma State are enjoying great seasons.

The junior forward has 12 goals and four assists for a team that is 17-2-1, has won 16 matches in a row - outscoring the opposition 45-12 in that span - finished the conference season 14-0 and is ranked 11th in the nation, including No. 2 in the Far West behind Seattle.

"We're trying not to look too far ahead," Medina said. "But we know that somewhere down the road we're going to have to play Cal State Dominguez Hills and, hopefully, Seattle again.

"We're on a school-record winning streak, but that means nothing now. When you get to the postseason, streaks - winning or losing - mean nothing, because it's one and out.

"We just need to focus, play our game and see how far we can go."

Out of high school, Medina almost had nowhere to go.

Despite being an All-CIF San Diego Section first-team selection, his college options were limited.

"I didn't talked to many college coaches," Medina said. "They don't watch too many high school matches, and my club team wasn't very good.

"But Sonoma State called, I visited and fell in love with the place. The coaches were awesome and they had a lot of San Diego guys on the team.

"It seemed like a great fit."

Medina, a two-time conference player of the week this season, rewarded Sonoma State's coaches with a 14-goal freshman season.

He fell off to three goals last season, but has bounced back nicely in 2007.

"We're a very efficient team," Medina said. "We do a lot of the technical stuff very well.

"We're not just a boom-it-forward team. We keep the ball in play. We can't muscle it in.

"We work to find weaknesses in the defense, then we exploit them.

"We're fun to watch."

Medina, who ranks sixth all-time at Sonoma State in goals (29), seventh in points (68) and fourth in game-winning goals (ninth), is just one of several players on the Seawolves roster from the San Diego area.

Forward Michael Asaro (St. Augustine/Escondido resident) and midfielder Steve Browne (La Costa Canyon) play key roles, while defender Mike Duncan (Mt. Carmel) and forward Eric Lafon (Point Loma) are contributors as subs.

Browne has two goals and four assists while Asaro has six assists.

"We have a pretty good North County connection going," Medina said. "That's one of the reasons I chose to come here. And the coaches have fun with it. Sometimes in practice, we'll play SoCal-versus-NorCal just to keep things light."

Medina has now seen the light. He's a business/marketing major, and his grades are good.

He'd like to get into sports management after college, but he'd also like to try his hand at the professional game.

"I still have a year here, but the coaches have connections with pro clubs in Holland," Medina said. "That would be a great opportunity.

"That's a long way off, though. Before I can think about that, I want to play for an NCAA championship."

Dodging the fires

Oregon and Oregon State have a number of North County athletes in a number of sports. Nearly all their families were evacuated by the fires, though none lost their homes.

At Oregon the list included women's lacrosse players Jana Bradley (La Costa Canyon), Ann Poponyak (La Costa Canyon), Kelly Giblin (La Costa Canyon), Casey Rector (La Costa Canyon) and Celeste Mayer (La Costa Canyon), softball star Joanna Gail (Poway) and cross country runners A.J. Acosta (El Camino) and Brooke Giuffre (La Costa Canyon).

At Oregon State, the families of quarterback Sean Canfield (Carlsbad) and receiver Darrell Catchings (Escondido) escaped without damage.

Football

• Bobby Byrd (Oceanside) is starting at left guard for Washington State. He was there Saturday, playing every snap as the Cougars upset UCLA. In his four active seasons at Washington State, Byrd has started 40-of-42 games.

• Donnie McKillop (Poway) is the starting quarterback as a freshman at Middlebury College in Vermont. The team is 5-1 after a victory Saturday over Trinity in which McKillop completed 14-of-22 passes for 145 yards, including touchdown strikes of 25 and 40 yards. On the season, he's 89-of-172 for 1,059 yards with nine interceptions and seven TDs.

• Michael Marquardt (Rancho Buena Vista), a senior defensive tackle at Arizona State, is a semifinalist for the 2007 Daddy Trophy, also known as the Academic Heisman. Marquardt was an academic All-Pac-10 selection last season. Nominees for the award must be a senior or graduate student in his last year of eligibility, have at least a 3.0 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale, be a first-team player, and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. The award was established to honor former National Football Foundation chairman Vincent dePaul Daddy, a quarterback at Manhattan College and the man who founded the Izod and LaCoste clothing brands.

• Boise State wide receiver/running back Vinny Perretta (La Costa Canyon) is injured and has missed the last four games for the nationally ranked Broncos. At the time of the injury, Perretta had five rushes for 30 yards and nine receptions for 81 yards.

• Jake Jorde (Fallbrook), a junior free safety at Fresno State, has 12 tackles for the Bulldogs.

• Scooter Belasco (Torrey Pines), a sophomore at Penn, has one rush for 20 yards and one pass reception for 21 yards.

• Freshman Bill Bennett (Torrey Pines) is handling the kickoff duties for No. 2-ranked Boston College.

• Will Yeatman (Rancho Bernardo), a sophomore tight end at Notre Dame, has six catches for 37 yards.

• Shane Kilcoyne (Torrey Pines), a junior at Cornell, has 10 pass receptions for 61 yards and 35 rushes for 98 yards.

• Tommy Hill (San Pasqual/Palomar College) has nine tackles as a defensive back for a 6-2 Elon College team.

• Shane Woodward (Vista) and Chuck Oldham (Vista) are playing on the defensive side for Wheaton College. Woodward, a junior defensive back, has 29 tackles. Oldham, a sophomore middle linebacker, has a pair of tackles.

• Senior receiver Tim Paulin (La Costa Canyon) and junior linebacker Corey Cameron (La Costa Canyon) are playing key roles for Columbia. Paulin has 15 receptions for 220 yards. Cameron has eight tackles.

Women's volleyball

• Kelly Bence (Vista), a junior libero at Central Arkansas, leads a 21-8 team in games played. And she has 45 service aces, tops on the team.

• Taylor Groess (La Costa Canyon) has 262 kills, second on the team, for Saint Mary's. She also has 47 blocks and eight aces.

• Serinity Phillips (Valley Center) leads Notre Dame with 283 kills. She also has 67 blocks and nine aces.

• Lauren Jansen (Fallbrook), a junior outside hitter at Vanguard, has 20 kills and a pair of aces.

• Rebecca Bailey (Orange Glen) had 19 kills in a win Saturday over Cal State San Bernardino and leads UC San Diego with 317 kills. She also had 40 aces and 32 blocks.

Cross country

• A.J. Acosta (El Camino) finished 12th at the Pac-10 championships in Corvallis, Ore., helping Oregon to the men's team championship. Acosta ran the 8-kilometer course in 23 minutes, 24 seconds and earned second-team all-conference honors for the Ducks, who are ranked No. 1 in the nation.

• Brooke Giuffre (La Costa Canyon), a sophomore at Oregon after transferring from Brown, finished 27th in Saturday's Pac-10 championships, running the 6K women's course in 21:01. The Ducks finished second as a team.

• Claire Rethmeier (San Pasqual) finished 33rd at the Pac-10 championships, running 21:10 over 6K to finish as UCLA's No. 1 runner.

• Samantha From (San Pasqual), a senior at Point Loma Nazarene, placed seventh in the Golden State Athletic Conference championships at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa.

Field hockey

• Torrie Albini (San Pasqual) of Ohio University has been selected to represent Ohio in the 2007 NFHCA Division I Senior All-Star Game on Nov. 17 in College Park, Md. Albini ranks second on the Ohio's all-time goals list.

• Molly Boyne (San Pasqual) leads Saint Louis with four goals and an assist.

• Missy Briery (Torrey Pines) has played in 19 matches for Louisville, making seven starts. She has four goals and two assists.

• Freshman defender Johnna Simoes (Torrey Pines) is playing at Bucknell.

• Jessica Javelet (Torrey Pines), a recent graduate of Louisville, is a finalist for the 17th annual Woman of the Year Award. While at Louisville, Javelet set eight school records, carried a 4.0 GPA and was the valedictorian last year for the business school.

Women's soccer

• Stanford senior defender Rachel Buehler (Torrey Pines) is one of 10 players nationally nominated for the Lowe's Senior Class Award. Freshman Allison McCann (Carlsbad) is a starting midfielder for the No. 5-ranked Cardinal, while Kelly Birch (Torrey Pines) has played in 11-of-14 matches.

• The University of San Diego improved to 12-2-3 with a split over the weekend. The Toreros had an 11-match win streak snapped with a 4-0 loss to Portland, but bounced back with a 1-0 win at Gonzaga on Sunday. Senior midfielder Leigh Ann Robinson (Mt. Carmel) is the team's second-leading scorer with five goals and six assists. Natalie Vinti (Cathedral Catholic), a sophomore, has played a major role on defense and has a pair of assists. Marina Heberer (Carlsbad), a sophomore defender, is a key reserve.

• Amanda Rupp (La Costa Canyon) and freshman Cammie Burke (Torrey Pines) are playing major roles for Pepperdine. Rupp, a junior, leads the Waves with four goals and has five assists. Burke, a defender, has started 14-of-15 matches for a team that forged a 0-0 tie with No. 22-ranked Duke and a 1-1 tie with No. 6 UCLA.

• Jillian Riker (Carlsbad) is a starting defender at San Diego State.

• Twins Caroline and Grace Shevlin (Westview) are playing key roles for Long Beach State. Caroline has played all 15 games for the 49ers, while Grace has played in 12 with one goal.

• Kim Kennedy (San Marcos), a sophomore at Fresno Pacific, has played in seven matches.

• Becky Willis (San Pasqual) is having a big junior season at Redlands. She has started all 12 matches, scored three goals with three assists and leads the team in minutes played. Erin Benjamin (Mt. Carmel), a senior midfielder, and sophomore defender Kaitlin Benjamin (Rancho Bernardo) are also on the team.

• Kelsea Kakadelas (La Costa Canyon), a sophomore midfielder, has played in all 18 matches and has a pair of assists, for a 14-2-2 Brigham Young team.

• Jessica Ross (Carlsbad), a sophomore midfielder, has played in seven matches for Rice.

Around campus

• Lucy McGovern (Cathedral Catholic), a sophomore at Loyola of Chicago, finished the fall women's golf season with a team-best 79.0 average over nine rounds. She helped the team to its third consecutive top-three finish, shooting a 79-76-155 at the IPFW Fall Classic, good for 13th place. Earlier, she tied for sixth at the Huskie Classic, hosted by Northern Illinois. She shot a 36-hole total 77-79-156 and carded a pair of birdies in the two-day event.

• Kelsey Quist (Francis Parker/Escondido resident) finished the fall softball season at Princeton hitting .400 with two home runs and four RBIs in five games.

- 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.