After 2-0 Win, St. Francis Reaches First Section Final

Eric Johnson scored twice off passes from Pete Vagenas as the St. Francis High boys’ soccer team defeated Canyon Springs, 2-0, Tuesday in a Southern Section Division III semifinal at Canyon Springs.

The Golden Knights (22-3-2) advance to a section championship for the first time in the program’s history. St. Francis will play Arroyo Grande on Saturday at Gahr High in Cerritos.

The Golden Knights outshot the Cougars, 15-5.. Canyon Springs finishes at 15-10-3.

Peninsula 2, Westlake 1--Mark Puskaf scored an overtime goal in the 96th minute to give the Panthers (28-1-3) a Division I semifinal victory at Peninsula.

Rossano Rocha scored in the ninth minute to give the Warriors (19-2-2) a 1-0 lead. Peninsula tied the match in the 36th minute.

Orange 3, Rio Mesa 1--The visiting Spartans (16-7-3) trailed the Panthers (18-3-6) at halftime, 2-0, of the Division II semifinal and could muster only a second-half goal by Jaime Ambriz.

La Canada 5, Temecula Valley 0--The Spartans (24-0) stretched their string of consecutive victories to 49 with a Division IV semifinal victory over the Bears (21-3-3) at Temecula Valley.

Leo Cuellar, Chris Cuellar, Matt Dannaker, Cameron Adams and Jason Cropley scored. La Canada goalkeeper Matt Cardis needed to make only two saves. La Canada will play Corona at Gahr High on Saturday for the division title.

Corona 5, Santa Paula 0--The Panthers (23-1-3), champions of the Mountain Valley League, routed the visiting Cardinals (22-3) in a Division IV semifinal.

Garfield 3, Chatsworth 2--The 12th-seeded Chancellors (11-9-4) fell to the fourth-seeded Bulldogs in a City Section quarterfinal at Garfield.

Chatsworth’s Mike Preis used a 30-yard direct kick in the 35th minute to score his 27th goal of the season and pull the Chancellors into a 1-1 tie. But Garfield, a 1995 section finalist, scored twice in the second half to take a 3-1 lead. Chatsworth’s Jose Castillo scored in the 75th minute with a 40-yard shot.

GIRLS

Chatsworth 5, El Camino Real 0--Denise Paul scored twice and Michelle George, Trisha Tomono and Liz Gonzalez also scored as the Chancellors (18-0-1) routed the visiting Conquistadores (8-8-3) in a City Section 4-A Division semifinal.

San Pedro 4, Granada Hills 3--The visiting Highlanders (8-8-4) led three times but surrendered the winning goal midway through the second half of a 4-A semifinal.

Michelle Deul, Sabrina Love and Amanda Light scored for Granada Hills.

Kennedy 3, Cleveland 2--Erica Espinoza scored the winning goal in the 110th minute as the top-seeded Golden Cougars (17-5-3) won a double-overtime 3-A semifinal at Kennedy.

The fifth-seeded Cavaliers (11-2-4) had a 2-1 lead in the second half on goals by Bree Blumstein and Bahbi Wilson before Kennedy’s Nicole Goldberg scored her second goal of the game.

El Modena 4, Buena 2--The visiting Bulldogs (19-5-3) fell to the Vanguards in a Southern Section Division II semifinal. It was Buena’s second loss to El Modena this season.