St. Francis Strikes at Opportune Time
The key for St. Francis on Monday was patience.
The Golden Knights knew that Royal could only keep up their aggressive, physical play so long and waited patiently for an opportunity to catch the Highlanders gasping for air.
That moment came midway through the second half and St. Francis netted two goals to defeat defending champion Royal, 2-1, in the championship game of the Burroughs tournament in Burbank.
Ryan Shaw, selected most valuable player in the tournament, scored both the Golden Knight goals, one in the 62nd minute and the other in the 67th, as St. Francis (5-1) captured it first Burroughs title in six attempts.
“They chased so hard [that] when we were able to switch the field we did well,” said St. Francis Coach Glen Appels. “We told the guys at halftime if we kept doing the things we did in the first half, the last 10 minutes would be ours.
“We knew we didn’t want to get in a physical game with them. The advantage we have is we have some experienced passers. Some of their key guys got a little tired.”
As hard and physical as Royal (5-1) played, they may have beaten themselves. Late in the second half, the Highlanders’ high-pressure defense appeared to lead to fatigue.
“Our quote for the year is leave everything on the field,” Royal Coach Andy Silva said. “We have the guys play as hard as they can and we feel we have a good bench so we can throw someone else out on the field.”
The Highlanders suffocated the Golden Knights’ offense by stacking as many as eight defenders in their defensive third. But when they won the ball, instead of waiting for their players to move up field, goalkeeper Rafael Calderon punted the ball to their two forwards, who faced a four defenders every time.
The one counter-attack that was executed perfectly came in the 19th minute when David Duncan sent a ball through to Jario Quintero, who ran past the St. Francis defense and beat St. Francis goalkeeper Sean O’Connor to take a 1-0 lead.
The goal was just the second allowed by St. Francis this season and the first is more than 410 minutes.
