11:58 PM PDT on Thursday, April 7, 2005
By LYLE SPENCER / The Press-Enterprise
TEMECULA - A 1999 World Cup champion and '96 Olympic gold medalist for a U.S. women's soccer team that captivated the nation, Shannon MacMillan has been to the mountaintop.
Escondido's MacMillan, 30, is alive and kicking, hoping to score many more goals for the national team. The spectacular forward is the scheduled headliner Saturday night, when the College Classic welcomes about 400 young athletes to the Pechanga Resort & Casino for a seminar on strength and conditioning in the sport.
The 7:30 p.m. question-and-answer session with MacMillan, national strength and conditioning coordinator Kim Sanborn and San Diego State women's coach Mike Giulliano is part of a busy weekend featuring games between college powers and teens from premier girls' club teams in the western states and Canada.
Freedom United of Temecula, Arsenal FC of Alta Loma and host Southwest Soccer Club, founded by Ken Smith, will compete in club friendlies.
Last weekend's male event drew about 5,000 spectators to the John Blanche Soccer Complex on Diaz Road for the weekend. A similar turnout is anticipated this weekend by promoter Greg Morales as games run from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
UC Riverside faces two nationally ranked squads on Sunday: Pepperdine at 9:45 a.m. and University of San Diego at 3 p.m.
On Saturday, Cal State San Bernardino can be seen at 11:30 a.m. against Les Bois United and at 5 p.m. against Celtic Storm.
Ever-powerful UCLA is featured Saturday, against Loyola Marymount at 9:45 a.m. and Wyoming at 3 p.m. UC Santa Barbara plays twice on Sunday: San Diego at 9:45 a.m., New Mexico at 3 p.m.
Hundreds of girls on the club teams will aspire to attract scouts from prominent universities and following in the footsteps of MacMillan, who went from San Pasqual High to Portland University, where she was 1995 national player of the year.
MacMillan played professionally in Japan in 1996 and 1997 and was a popular member of the San Diego Spirit during its three-year run from 2001-03 as the first women's pro soccer league in the United States.
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