STRIKING A BLOW FOR GIRLS SOCCER : COLOMBIAN TEAM TRAVELS TO SOUTHLAND FOR KIDS KUP MEET.

Byline: Virginia Gonzalez Daily News Staff Writer

For weeks, 11-year-old Johana Quintero-Gonzalez had dreamed of coming to the United States to play soccer. This week, she finally got her chance.

Quintero-Gonzalez is among 15 members of Team Estrellas, a Colombian youth soccer team which is on a nine-day tour of Southern California.

The team participated in a scrimmage game against an AYSO All-Star team in Granada Hills on Monday and will participate in the Mexicana Airlines Kids Kup soccer tournament Sunday at Occidental College.

``I still can't believe that I am a part of this dream,'' said Quintero-Gonzalez, a spunky 11-year-old from Bogota.

``I want to take this once-in-a-lifetime chance to do what I love, play soccer, and to make my countrymen proud and to make (the event organizers) proud for believing in us and giving us every attention they have since we arrived.''

The girls, who range in age from 9 to 12, were sponsored by a Beverly Hills couple and numerous members of Los Angeles's Latino business community, including Granada Hills resident Al Lopez.

Lopez, a member of the Los Angeles-area Colombian Chamber of Commerce, organized Monday's scrimmage for the Estrellas against his daughter's North Hills Region 174 ``Hot Shots'' All-Star team. The players enjoyed a barbecue pool party at the Lopez home following the game.

America ``has given me so much by way of education and a career, and I always told myself that when I was able to, I was going to get involved and give back to the community for what it has given me,'' Lopez said.

Richard and Maria Hamar, attorneys who serve as legal counsel to the Colombian Consulate, discovered during a business trip last year that Colombia provides few opportunities for organized girls soccer despite the country's obsession with the sport.

``We wanted to make soccer available to all lovers of the sport in Colombia and felt compelled to do what we could to give that opportunity to girls from every economic background,'' said Richard Hamar, who with his wife Maria Rivas-Hamar came up with the idea.

Latino business and community leaders and others throughout the Los Angeles region proved eager to participate in Project Estrellas.

Mexicana Airlines provided free air transportation for the girls and two adult coaches and will also sponsor Team ``Estrellas'' - which means stars in Spanish - in the Mexicana Airlines Kids Kup during the all-star soccer tournament in Eagle Rock on Sunday.

Monday's soccer game attracted most of the DeVandry family of Granada Hills, who made the scrimmage game a family event.

Geno, the family patriarch and the region's girls soccer commissioner, helped referee the game while his wife, Sue, and their children Aaron, 17, Sarah, 13 and David, 9, cheered for their daughter Bethany, 11, who was on the field for the Hot Shots.

``We think that soccer is the common denominator for all of these girls and we are so happy to share a common love for the sport while making many new friends,'' said Geno DeVandry after the game.

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO (1) Estrellas team members Paula Botero, No. 4, right, and Sar a Valencia, No. 3, far right, hobnob with the North Hills Hotshots.

(2) Hotshot Priscilla Cannistraci, left, and Estrella Catalina Chaverra kick the ball.

(3) The Hotshots and the Estrellas exchange high-fives after Monday's scrimmage.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News