SOCCER BEAT : TALENT COMES OUT.

Growing up in Acapulco, Mexico, Cleveland High freshman goalie Sergio Zendejas couldn't help but know and watch goalie Jorge Campos. He saw how Campos, who has gone on to star for the Mexican national team and the Los Angeles Galaxy, often left his 6-yard box to challenge breaking forwards.

Zendejas decided he wanted to do that, too. When he was 8, he asked Campos about it.

``He told me, `If you like, you can be what you want to be,' '' Zendejas said. ``I wanted to be the goalie from Mexico and he told me to do it.''

Zendejas demonstrated his ability in the Hart tournament by stopping Saugus forward Jeff Hammond on a breakaway. He came so far out that he startled Hammond and prevented a goal. Hammond said he thought Zendejas was a defender.

``Sergio came out with everything,'' Cleveland coach Mario Campos said. ``He might get hurt, but he came out and stopped the goal. . . . He's fearless.''

Zendejas leads the area with eight shutouts this season.

Here's the buzz

Michelle French and Erin Kelley never thought their hair-cutting experience would come in handy. Both have cut their boyfriends' hair, so they were recruited to shave Chaminade coach Mike Evans' head.

Evans offered up his six-inch mane for shearing as incentive for a victory over Chatsworth. When that happened Dec. 11, Evans had a date with his two barbers.

In front of the entire school during Monday's winter sports rally, French and Kelley showed what they could do with a razor.

``My sister is a hair stylist, so I knew what to do with it,'' French said. ``I've shaved my boyfriend four times. Whatever way the hair's going, go the other way.''

Evans was left with a quarter-inch buzzed cut and numerous compliments from faculty members, who said he looked better.

Poll results disputed

Something seems wrong with the Southern Section Division III girls' poll. La Canada's girls are 4-3-2, yet they're ranked fifth, ahead of 12-1-3 Chaminade.

``That highlights a problem,'' said Harvard-Westlake coach Ned Smith, whose team is ranked No. 1.

The poll is determined by four division coaches (Chaminade's Mike Evans is one) who vote weekly based on whatever information they can get, such as scores and tournament finishes. A first-place vote is worth 10 points, a second-place vote gets nine points, and so on down to one point for a 10th-place vote.

``Maybe we're a little higher than our record shows, but we deserve to be fifth,'' La Canada coach Mary Pat Durkin said.

The problem is that many coaches aren't reporting all of their results to their representative, or the results are being reported incorrectly, so the vote gets tainted and slanted.

Evans said he didn't vote for La Canada, but the other three coaches did. Chaminade was six points from No. 2 St. Joseph (Lakewood). Evans and Smith said the winner of tonight's Mission League contest between the two teams likely would be at the top of the next poll. The teams meet at 5 p.m. at Chaminade.

Successful shuffling

El Camino Real's boys are 9-0-2 in their past 11 matches, the most recent being a 1-1 tie Thursday at Birmingham. The success is tied to the return of goalie Phillip Graham from the football team and freshman defender Chris Johnstone excelling on defense.

Because of them, coach David Hussey said he was able to move three players, Gerardo Herrera, Jason Leonard and Eric Choi, into their natural forward and midfield positions.

Herrera has 10 goals and 10 assists, Leonard eight goals and Choi has four assists.

ETC.

Calming effect: Ever since Crescenta Valley's Stephanie Rigamat orally committed to UC Irvine, her game has improved. In her seven games since deciding, she has scored 12 of her 14 goals.

``It was a load off my shoulders,'' she said. ``I was stressing out a lot. Now that I've decided, I can relax.''

Muddy scorer: The mud brings out the best in Monroe's Ruth Hebert. She scored six goals Tuesday against Van Nuys and scored `four in a muddy match last season.

``Some girls, when they play in the mud, they slip,'' she said. ``I don't slip.''

She beat her twice: It's rare when Moorpark's Tracey Milburn, who plays basketball and soccer, faces a player in both sports on the same day. Last week, she went against Malibu's Tara Gableman, who knew Milburn played both sports.

After Milburn scored three goals in helping Moorpark win 7-0, Gableman came up to her and asked where the gym was.

``She had heard I played both,'' Milburn said.

Milburn outscored Gableman 16-8 on the court, and the Musketeers won 75-20.

Beware the Huskies: A boys' team to watch is North Hollywood. The 3-1 Huskies have given up just six goals, in part because defenders Henry Reyes and Tomas Martinez and goalie Vartan Hovsepyan are shutting down opposing forwards.

Human highlight film: Too bad Sherman Oaks CES boys' coach Dan McDonnell doesn't videotape his games. Senior Carlos Sibrian puts on quite a show in goal.

In Monday's game against Foshay, Foshay's strategy was to shoot high, so Sibrian knocked them over the goal, then curled into a ball and rolled over. He made eight saves.

Free kicks: Campbell Hall's boys team has scored 15 goals in six matches, or three more than all of last season. . . . Hart's boys haven't scored in 435 minutes. . . . Chaminade's girls are 0-4-1 in their past five matches against Harvard-Westlake. . . . Agoura's boys and Camarillo's girls have had four coaches in four years. . . . Quartz Hill's Hiram Johnson isn't named for the famous former California governor and senator. His parents liked the Biblical name, meaning ``noble born.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo, 2 Charts

Photo: Cleveland's Sergio Zendejas

John McCoy/Daily News

Chart: (1) GIRLS' SOCCER SCOREBOARD

(2) BOYS' SOCCER SCOREBOARD