Luke, Andrade named No. SB County Athletic Round Table athletes of the week

ORCUTT, Calif. -- A pair of first time winners highlighted Monday's gathering of the Northern Santa Barbara County Athletic Round Table.

The male athlete of the week award was given to Ozzie Andrade of Santa Maria soccer.

"It's something that I'm grateful for because we've been working hard on and off the field everyday and we've been trying so hard," said Andrade.

The senior goalkeeper made 20 saves to help lead the Saints to a pair of Mountain League victories.

Santa Maria beat Paso Robles 1-0, followed by a 1-0 win over Arroyo Grande.

Santa Maria is currently tied for first place in the league with San Luis Obispo.

The Saints and Tigers will meet in a first place showdown on Tuesday.

"It feels like Rocky when he went to Russia," said Andrade, referring to the 1985 sports drama Rocky IV. "Rocky left with the win. That's the mentality we want to go into that game."

Taye Luke of Santa Ynez water polo was named the female athlete of the week.

"It's a really big honor," said Luke. " I've never won anything like this before and I'm honored to have received this award."

The junior combined for 14 goals in a pair of victories.

She also added 3 assists and 6 steals in the wins over Cabrillo and Buena.

The Pirates will meet Channel League powers Santa Barbara and Dos Pueblos this week.

"I'm excited to play them," Luke said. "We've shown this week that we can work as a team and with this teamwork, maybe we can play great in the games. It doesn't matter the score. I just hope we play great as a team. I know they're really good and maybe we're not as high-standing as them, but they are going to be really good games."

Both the Dons and Chargers are ranked in the CIF-SS Division 1 top 25 rankings.

The Pirates are unranked in Division 5.

The Round Table will be off next week in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

The next meeting is Monday, Jan. 27 at Giavanni's Pizza in Orcutt.