JUST LIKE MIA; GIRL ATHLETES HAVE SUPER ROLE MODEL.

Byline: Yvette Cabrera Staff Writer

Sure, 10-year-old Jessica Woodgrift has a poster of the U.S. men's soccer team, but there's simply no room on her bedroom wall - or in her heart - for anyone except her hero, women's soccer superstar Mia Hamm. ``She's big . . . all my soccer team loves her,'' Jessica said Monday as she took a breather from blocking goals during the Master's Soccer School camp at The Master's College in Santa Clarita.

Forget the ``I want to be like Mike'' theme of advertising based on basketball great Michael Jordan.

Thousands of girls across the country would rather be like Hamm, 27, the superstar athlete on the U.S. women's team, who broke the international all-time goal-scoring record this spring and who has become the darling of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup games currently under way.

``If I could meet (Hamm) I would tell her that she's probably the best soccer player that ever set foot on this planet,'' said Jessica, a Valencia resident who has played soccer since age 5. ``Then I would want her autograph and then I would be speechless.''

On soccer fields all across the San Fernando Valley and surrounding regions, girls raved about Hamm - her kicking techniques, her sportsmanship, her team spirit, her scoring the first U.S. goal in the Women's World Cup.

Liliana Madrid of North Hollywood has played soccer for only two years, but thanks to Hamm, she now dreams big.

``I want to go the farthest I can go. I see myself on the USA team like Mia,'' said Liliana, 13, one of six girls in the 52-member Aztecas Youth Soccer Group in Sun Valley.

Liliana's room is plastered with five posters of Hamm, as well as any newspaper clipping of Hamm she finds. When she channel-surfs on television,Liliana always looks for Hamm, to pick up new techniques.

``She encourages me. Instead of quitting soccer, seeing her helps me to support myself - that I can do it. That I can be her one day,'' saidLiliana, who plays forward on her team.

The Women's World Cup, which started Saturday and will end July 10, has catapulted Hamm onto a world stage, but she's been catching the attention of soccer fans for some time now.

Hamm's string of achievements includes four NCAA championships at the University of North Carolina, a 1991 World Cup title, and a 1996 Olympic gold medal. For five years in a row she has been named U.S. Soccer Player of the Year.

``There's no question, I think she's done a tremendous thing for women's sports, period, and certainly for soccer,'' said Vic Fodor, manager of the Valley United Stars club, an all-girl soccer team of mainly ninth-graders.

``She presents herself real well and is such a great, great athlete. I think the girls do look up to her,'' Fodor said.

Before Hamm, Fodor said, his players looked up to older siblings or friends. Only a handful of female soccer players, like Michelle Akers - also a member of the U.S. women's team - attracted any attention. Now, with role models like Hamm, girls are even more inspired to join, he said.

``When I put the team together in 1994, we were age 10 and under, but we had to play 11 and under because there were just no club teams,'' said Fodor, whose team is three-time state champion and two-time winner of the Far West Regional Championship.

``Today, you see teams under age 9 and 10. There's just such a great amount of teams.''

As late as 1992, there were no women's soccer teams at the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Southern California; Pepperdine; or Loyola Marymount.

But now, young girls are seeing opportunities are available for them, mainly college scholarships, said Fred Singer, president of the Valley United Soccer Club, which is made up of 24 teams, of which half are girl's teams.

``I see soccer as a great avenue for young girls to advance on to the college level,'' said Singer, who has alumni players who have gone on to Ivy League universities.

``I think girls look up to the women's national program very much so and leaders like Mia Hamm,'' Singer said. ``That's the only place they have to look to at this point in time because the United States doesn't have a professional program.''

Hamm has more than just an avid female-fan base. Her high-profile position also has attracted male admirers, said Jim Rickard, men's soccer coach at The Master's College and coordinator of its youth soccer camp.

``It's not just girls seeing Mia Hamm, my college guys are very complimentary of our U.S. women's team . . . and it's always the utmost respect when they talk about Mia,'' said Rickard, whose camp of about 70 soccer players, ages 5 to 15, is about 40 percent female.

Jessica first heard of Hamm last year during the Women's World Cup and was instantly awed by her kicking techniques, but what impressed her most was her attitude.

``She's a really good sport, she doesn't brag about herself and she cheers on her teammates,'' Jessica said. ``She could beat any male player.''

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2 photos

Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color) Women's soccer superstar Mia Hamm, above, is inspiring girls like Jessica Woodgrift of Valencia, right, to dream big as they drive toward the goal.

John T. Greilick/Associate Press

John McCoy/Daily News