Quick Start Enough for St. Francis

St. Francis High’s soccer team found its mark Tuesday afternoon--he was standing in the Alemany goal.

For the first 46 minutes anyway.

The Golden Knights pounded Alemany goalkeeper Travis Harding with 11 shots on goal until that point, then escaped with a 3-2 Del Rey League win at Alemany.

Leading, 2-0, at halftime, St. Francis (11-1-1, 3-0 in league play), scored again at the six-minute mark of the second half when midfielder Jason Sinner sneaked a shot past an oncoming Harding.

“We were clearing the ball before they could get on defense,” St. Francis Coach Glen Appels said of his team’s quick-strike offense, which took 16 shots on goal.

The remaining 34 minutes, though, were all Alemany’s.

Harding, a senior, finished with eight saves, including five consecutive stops in the second half to stymie the St. Francis offense.

Alemany (8-6-2, 0-3) scored its first goal at the 16-minute mark on forward Dan Figueroa’s head shot on an assist from Keith Allen.

With three minutes remaining Javier Oliveras, standing near the St. Francis goal, gathered in a free kick by his older brother Jaime and converted the pass to make it 3-2.

Alemany took just six shots on goal, all in the second half.