CHATTER: NEWS AND NOTES FROM LOCAL SPORTS N.P. STAR COMMITS TO LMU.

Byline: Sean Martin Special to the Daily News

Newbury Park High girls' basketball player Kavita Goss has orally committed to Loyola Marymount.

``I just clicked with the coaches and the players,'' Goss said. ``It was my gut feeling that this was the perfect fit for me.''

Goss, who will be a senior at Newbury Park next season, was an Daily News All-Area second-team selection last season. The point guard averaged 15.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.6 steals and 3.5 assists per game for the Panthers (20-10), who finished second in the Marmonte League and advanced to the Southern Section Div. III-AA semifinals.

Loyola Marymount was 16-13 and finished second in the West Coast Conference, to Gonzaga, last season.

Goss had considered other WCC and Ivy League schools, but said she had been ``pretty sure about my decision for about a month now.''

--Funeral services for Loyola Marymount soccer standout Jessica Hanson and her father, Kelly, have been set for Monday at 4 p.m. at Holy Family Church, 1501 Rollin Street, South Pasadena.

Hanson, who played at Flintridge Sacred Heart of La Canada Flintridge, and her father died in an Aug. 5 car accident.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Hanson Family Fund at Holy Family Church, attention Theresa Shaw.

--DyeStatCal.com ranked Cal's 2005 distance-running recruiting class as the best in the state, thanks in part to two former Loyola of Los Angeles runners.

Mark Matusak and Matt Miller, who graduated from Loyola this year, will run for the Golden Bears this fall.

Matusak was the gem of Cal's recruiting class. The 2004 Daily News Cross Country Runner of the Year was a two-time state cross country and 1,600-meter (track and field) champion. This summer, he won the bronze medal in the 1,500 at the 2005 Pan Am Junior Championships. Matusak also won the two-mile race at the Nike Outdoor Nationals and the 1,500 at the U.S. Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships in back-to-back weeks last June. Matusak defeated the University of Oregon's Galen Rupp at junior nationals. Rupp, whom Matusak will see in Pac-10 Conference competition, was an All-American for the Ducks as a freshman last season.

--After going 10-15 last year, the Pepperdine women's volleyball team will rely heavily on Oaks Christian High of Westlake Village graduate Julie Rubenstein to help turn things around this season.

Rubenstein, a 6-foot-4 outside hitter, is a big reason Pepperdine's freshman class is ranked No. 13 in the nation by PrepVolleyball.com. The Waves also are ranked No. 25 in the College Sports TV/American Volleyball Coaches Association preseason Division I coaches top-25 poll.

Stanford, which features senior Courtney Schultz (Harvard-Westlake of Studio City), is ranked No. 3. The Cardinal signed Gatorade's 2004 National High School Player of the Year, Cynthia Barboza of Wilson of Long Beach.

USC - featuring Calabasas graduate Staci Venski and former Moorpark College standout Nena Siljegovic - is No. 7, and UCLA, with Westlake graduate and Washington State transfer Brenn Larson, is No. 13.

UC Santa Barbara, which features sophomore Kayce Matthess (Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks), is No. 15. Arizona, who inherited former Flintridge Sacred Heart of La Canada Flintridge setter Brittany Esser as an offseason transfer from Tulane, is No. 17.

Erik Boal contributed.

Sean Martin, [phone]

sean.martin(at)dailynews.com