Not only has basketball season already begun, another big sport around town in the Winter Sports scene is soccer, and there's plenty of talent to behold at San Pedro, Port Of Los Angeles and Mary Star for their boys and girls programs.

San Pedro's boys will once again challenge for a Marine League championship, while Mary Star Of The Sea & Port Of Los Angeles both look improved and primed for league title hopes. All 3 girls soccer teams won a league title for the second straight year in 2015-2016, with San Pedro claiming an eleventh straight Marine crown, and POLA making it all the way to the CIF State Division V regional playoffs after falling short in the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division IV finals for the fourth time in five seasons.

Here's a look at all six teams...

BOYS

SAN PEDRO (13-6-1 overall in 2015-2016) – The Pirates and fourth-year coach Peter Hazdovac due to the new competitive equity in the CIF-Los Angeles City Section, is now looking to make a mark in the Division 2 playoffs after so many years competing on the Division 1 level, suffering a 1-0 overtime loss to Bell in the first round last year.

Top players to look out includes seniors Jerry Solares and Johnny Cervantes, along with juniors Jorge Alvarenga, Seth Turner and Andries Rodriguez. Sophomore Juan Retana has been impressive thus far, and junior Francisco Ojeda is a deep threat on free kicks, evidenced by his 35-yard shot to spark a spectacular barrage of three goals in 58 minutes in a 3-0 victory over POLA on December 5 at Daniels Field.

San Pedro will once again challenge Banning and Narbonne for Marine League supremacy, as the Pirates finished 6-3-1 in league, runner-up to the Harbor Area neighbor and defending champion Pilots.

MARY STAR (17-4-1 in 2015-2016) - Third-year coach Chris Guastella boasts another solid squad, as so far, Mary Star is on a 4-1-2 beginning, scoring nine goals in one victory, seven in another. The Stars last year won the Santa Fe League title with a 9-1 mark, and advanced to the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division V playoffs.

Sophomore forward Victor Garnier will look to duplicate last year's success, as he scored a phenomenal 45 of Mary Star's 74 goals last season.

A lot of senior leadership returns for Mary Star in the likes of Ervin Rodas-Lima, Michael Sharma, Xavier Martinez and Fernando Franco, and add athleticism from their football team with seniors Robert Enciso, Izzy Amalfitano and Jaime Casiano. Junior Jesus Aguilera is another returner for the Stars, who appear to be the favorite again for a repeat Santa Fe League crown.

POLA (9-7-4 in 2015-2016) - Even though the Polar Bears and coach Vic Lopez went 7-3-2 in the Crosstown League, good for second place, they missed the CIF-LACS Division 4 playoffs due to serving a one-year ban for forfeiting their 2014-2015 first round playoff game due to ten players being academically ineligible.

Now POLA is in Division 5 and is regarded as one of the favorites in the division.

Senior forward Adolfo "Fifo" Mora is one incredible talent, and he is one of many returners for POLA who will aim to dethrone Foshay Learning Center for the Crosstown League championship. 

Other key returning players includes senior midfielder Isaac Garcia, senior goalie Andrew Flores, senior sweeper Roberto Perez, senior midfielder/striker Juan Reyes and junior midfielder Brandon Zuniga. POLA has a dozen seniors on the team, so this could be a potential breakthrough season for the Polar Bears.

GIRLS

SAN PEDRO (20-3-2 overall in 2015-2016) – The Pirates and second-year mother-daughter coaches Crystal Valdes and Chatelaine Ansaldi will be gunning for an unprecedented 12th straight Marine League championship and eager to build on last year's CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division 1 semifinal run. 

In fact, on this past Friday, San Pedro has already posted a gritty 2-0 victory over defending CIF-LACS Division 1 champion Taft of Woodland Hills, the team that ousted the Pirates 2-0 in the semifinals, AND handed San Pedro a 3-1 regular season loss. That, and the current 3-0-1 start has San Pedro thinking big. San Pedro also won their own Lady Pirate Cup for the first time in six years last season by knocking off neighbor POLA, 3-1 in the title game.

Senior midfielders Maddie Villela, a Marymount California commit, and Sydney Engel (18 goals last season) are returning All-City and All-Marine League selections, while junior goalie Carlene Luna also returns.

The defense appears to still be solid with senior Maddy Luna (Carlene's sister) and junior Angelina Camello returning, plus sophomore midfielder Samantha Martinez is a proven clutch player. The loss of senior midfielder Ryann Lozano (52 goals in last 2 years) not being able to play this year may hurt the Pirates, but not by much.

MARY STAR (10-8 in 2015-2016) – Taidigh Simpson is the new coach for the Stars, who are coming off two straight Santa Fe League championships.

Mary Star returns a bevy of talent as well, paced by quadruple captains & returning All-Santa Fe League sophomore midfielder Rose Amalfitano, All-Santa Fe League senior midfielder Kaylee Rucker, senior goalie/midfielder Taylor Garcia, the reigning Santa Fe League Goalkeeper Of The Year, and senior defender Shawnie Carolla. Amalfitano has already produced a four-goal game in a 6-1 victory over Harbor Teacher Prep on December 5.

Other key returners for the Stars include sophomore Berneice Casillas, junior goalie Katin Latka and sophomore Mahjanea Best.

POLA (22-4-4 in 2015-2016) - Could this be the year finally?

That's the question that is likely floating in the head of fifth-year coach Javier Torres as Polar Bears return all but five players from their back-to-back CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division 4 runner-up showings which both ended in overtime, or a penalty kick shootout like last year's upset loss to Northridge Academy.

You can't start any better than with junior forward Briana Mancilla, who already has 74 career goals, 11 this season for the resurgent Polar Bears, currently 4-0 and already knocking off Harbor Teacher Prep on December 9 in an early Crosstown League showdown.

Mancilla is a two-time All-City selection who scored 30 goals last year but also had 26 assists as POLA has a variety of scoring threats, such as All-City Division 4 senior midfielder Anna Vidovich who causes a lot of matchup problems with her height.

Sophomore midfielder Giselle Mora, sophomore defender Kendall Dimson, junior midfielder Christy Messner, sophomore forward Britney Delgado and sophomore midfielder Amber Lopez are also key for the six-time defending Crosstown League champions, who is now in Division 2 for the City Section but appears to still be one of the teams to beat.