HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER PREVIEWS : Birmingham Got Help From Italy, Royal From Across Town : Boys: Mastrocinque returns from playing two seasons abroad to plug a hole in goal for the Braves.

Fans of the Birmingham High boys’ soccer team had plenty of fun watching their team last season--at one end of the field.

The Braves, who advanced to the quarterfinals of the City Section playoffs, were often spectacular on the attack. But every time the ball moved near the Birmingham goal, it was a white-knuckle experience for Coach Jose Freire and the program’s supporters.

“In the beginning of the season I didn’t trust my goalies because they were short and inexperienced,” said Freire, whose team finished 14-3-1. “I told my team we would have to win by 4-3 or 5-4.”

Freire eventually plugged the leak by playing 6-foot-1 forward Basil Grant in goal for the last half of the season. Grant played well but when forwards Joel Moreno and Edwin Esperanza graduated--taking their 29 goals with them--Freire again had holes in his lineup.

Enter Peter Mastrocinque.

Mastrocinque (pronounced MASTRO-ching-kway), 16, spent the past two years playing in Potenza, Italy, with an under-17 team sponsored by a professional team in the Italian third division.

The addition of the 6-foot, 165-pound junior gives Birmingham a standout goalie and allows Grant to move back to forward. The team is solid up the middle with sweeper Jesus Medellin, stopper Joshua Smith and midfielders Victor Escobar and Gabriel Ortega.

“He has the potential to be the best goalie in the Valley,” said Freire of Mastrocinque. “Maybe not this year, but definitely by next year. He’s very athletic and he loves to work. He’s soccer crazy.”

No kidding. Mastrocinque moved more than 6,400 miles from his family’s Van Nuys home after an uncle living in Italy arranged a tryout.

After two weeks of drills, Mastrocinque made the Potenza Calcio under-17 team. After four games, he was a starter.

But then his uncle moved away, leaving Mastrocinque on his own, attending an Italian junior high school, practicing at least three hours a day and living in a team dorm.

“I didn’t know anybody, I didn’t know the language; I was real scared,” said Mastrocinque, whose living expenses were paid for by the team.

Each challenging day in the classroom was followed by more trials on the practice field. A good goalie carries on a dialogue with other defenders while anticipating the play. Mastrocinque was lost on both counts.

“I had to learn to direct and talk to the players and they didn’t understand me at first,” Mastrocinque said. “They all laughed at my accent, but it got better.”

The competition was better than in the matches Mastrocinque played in the American Youth Soccer Organization at Sherman Oaks Park. Superbly conditioned players crossed the ball at full speed and placed shots on goal with pinpoint accuracy.

Mastrocinque performed well enough to be invited to play on one of 18 regional teams that competed for the Italian under-17 championship. His quickness and savvy also endeared him to the 8,000 to 10,000 fans a game who watched his team during a pair of 16-match seasons.

“The first couple of games the fans were like, ‘Who is this guy?’ ” Mastrocinque said. “But after they saw I could hold my own they started chanting my name along with the other players’ names.”

Finally, being so far from home took its toll. Mastrocinque returned home last summer. In September, three days before he was to return to Italy for his third season, he informed his coach that he was staying in the United States.

“I was homesick and it was just too hard,” said Mastrocinque, who hopes to return to play in Europe after playing for an American college team. “Once you come home you don’t want to go back.”

His mind made up, Mastrocinque, who lives in the Grant High attendance area, took advantage of open enrollment policies and went to Birmingham, where a number of players from his club team, the L.A. Cosmos, are enrolled.

Grant, the goalie Mastrocinque replaces, is happy to have him.

“He used to be a good goalie but a fat little kid,” said Grant, who has played with and against Mastrocinque since they were 6. “Now he’s tall and quick and nothing gets by him.”

Although City soccer is not of the quality Mastrocinque has been playing, he is anxious nonetheless.

“It’s my first high school season and I don’t know the teams and the players out here so that will make it tough at the start,” he said. “[Last Friday] in our scrimmage against Belmont I was a little scared but it passed. I’m sure things will work out fine.”

TEAMS TO WATCH

* ROYAL

1994-95 record: 22-5-2

The defending Southern Section Division I champions lost several top players to graduation but are reloading, not rebuilding. Seven starters return, led by midfielders Caleb Westbay, a senior, and Kendall Simmonds, a junior. Senior forward Jesse Garner led last year’s team with 15 goals. Senior goalie Brian Pineau is a capable replacement for Ty Russell, now at UC Irvine. But if Pineau is injured, the Highlanders must play a freshman. “This team is into the season already,” Coach Kevin Corley said. “They have a reputation now and feel they have something to defend.”

* ST. FRANCIS

1994-95 record: 18-4-1

St. Francis, the 1994 Mission League champion, lost in the second round of the Southern Section Division III playoffs. But with nine returning starters seventh-year Coach Glenn Appels expects this team to advance farther. “They already know the subtleties of our game plan so now we have a chance to go beyond the things we normally do,” Appels said. Leading the way will be All-American midfielder Pete Vagenas (nine goals, seven assists), forward Shunta Shimizu and midfielder Eric Johnson, who was the team’s leading scorer with 15 goals and seven assists. All are among the team’s 11 seniors, nine of whom are in their fourth season together.

* LA CANADA

1994-95 record: 25-0

The Spartans aim for consecutive Southern Section Division IV titles. Sweeper Josh Henderson has moved on to Duke but nine starters return. Defenders Derrick Dyslin, Nick Paneno, Chris Sawicki and Gaston Haupert and midfielder Josh Sweeney are all seniors who last season were All-Southern Section picks. Junior goalie Matt Cardis, who had 20 shutouts, injured a finger recently but that seems of little significance to a team that averaged more than five goals per match and allowed only six goals last season.

* SANTA PAULA

1994-95 record: 16-3-2

Joe Magdaleno begins his 16th season at Santa Paula, which wins without club soccer programs. The Cardinals made the playoffs each year since 1986 and nine starters and six seniors are back from last season’s Frontier League champions. Midfielder Hugo Llamas, striker Oscar Crisosto and sweeper Gabriel Villa are senior leaders. Senior stopper Victor Meza was an All-Southern Section Division IV pick two seasons ago and has rejoined the team after sitting out for personal reasons.

* RESEDA

1994-95 record: 23-3-4

Julio Castillo, an assistant the past two seasons, was hired as coach Monday and will implement a new system. Four starters expected to return from last season did not. Senior forward William Diaz is back and with junior midfielders Marvin Quijano and Alex Acevedo the team should have enough scoring.

BEST OF THE REST

Simi Valley should be explosive with All-Marmonte League forwards John Gonzalez, a junior, and Sean Herrity, a senior. Senior Billy Castonguay, last season’s league defensive most valuable player, returns at stopper. . . . Burroughs returns seven starters from a team that won its fourth consecutive Foothill League championship. . . . Striker Steve Lee, midfielder Danny Miller and sweeper Jeff Teague give Notre Dame a nucleus of seniors. . . . Chatsworth will go as far as diminutive striker Michael Preis (15 goals) can carry it. . . . Midfielder Casey Barber and strikers Jeremy Wessely and Rossano Rocha are three of 16 seniors for Westlake.