Defensive lapses cost St. Francis soccer in tournament defeat
LA CAÑADA — In its first three games, the St. Francis High soccer team yielded just three goals.
In a quarterfinal match of the annual Ralph Brandt Tournament on Friday night against Birmingham, St. Francis yielded four goals in a 29-minute span.
The defensive lapses led to a 4-1 loss at Friedman Field.
“We had played good defense in our first few games and then heading into the second half tonight,” said St. Francis Coach Glen Appels, whose team tied North Hollywood and picked up a win against Sylmat in earlier tournament matches. “It came down to two things. First, we couldn’t put away some scoring chances earlier in the games and then the breakdowns on defense.
“So, we’ll look to work on both of those areas and see what we can do. I thought we played well on defense for about 90%, but that last 10% proved to be tough.”
St. Franics (2-1-1) will meet Crescenta Valley (5-1) in a consolation match at 5:15 p.m. Saturday at St. Francis.
The Golden Knights and Braves (3-0-1) played evenly in the first half before scoring chances became abundant in the second half.
St. Francis, which reached the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs last season, took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Conor McGrory in the 50th minute. After St. Francis forward Colton Ramirez and Birmingham goalkeeper Marcos Hidalgo collided going for a loose ball, the ball squirted to McGrory, who tapped the ball into the unguarded net.
Birmingham responded immediately, tying the match on a goal by Jonathan Turcios in the 52nd minute.
The Braves took a 2-1 lead on a goal by Noel Ortega in the 55th minute. Ortega dribbled up the right side and lofted a shot past St. Francis goalkeeper Michael Bazarevitsch that landed inside the far left post.
Birmingham’s Kevin Menjivar gave the Braves a 3-1 lead in the the 73rd minute before Ortega closed out the scoring with about a minute remaining.
“We got that 1-0 lead and things looked pretty good,” said Appels, a former All-Area Boys’ Soccer Coach of the Year selection. “Birmingham played well and we knew they were a quality team.”
McGrory, a junior forward, said Birmingham proved to be a stiff test.
“They have such a very good technical team,” McGrory said. “At the end, they put away their chances.
“I thought we played well together. We just need to clean up some things.”
Hidalgo made seven saves, including a save inside the box against Christian Ibarra in the 17th minute. Hidalgo then made a diving save on a low shot by McGrory in the 48th minute.
Bazarevitsch collected eight saves, four in each half. The junior turned aside a 35-yard shot by Ortega in the second minute.
