Charles Rich
The St. Francis High soccer team won't have much time to rest.
Coming off an exhausting come-from-behind 5-3 victory against
Westlake in a CIF Southern Section Division II second-round match at
Moorpark College on Tuesday, the Golden Knights will hit the road
again today.
St. Francis, which shared the division championship last season
with Irvine Woodbridge, will meet host Newport Beach Corona del Mar
in a quarterfinal match at 3 p.m. today. The winner will meet
top-seeded Thousand Oaks (24-3-3) or Newport Harbor (16-6) in
Tuesday's semifinals.
"That second [match] is always a tough one, especially on the
road," St. Francis Coach Glen Appels said. "We were worried when we
fell behind, 2-0, but then we picked up the pace."
St. Francis (24-5-1) won the Mission League crown before opening
the playoffs with come-from-behind wins against Saugus and Westlake.
Corona del Mar (14-3-6) took first in the Pacific Coast League, and
then knocked off Moreno Valley and fourth-seeded Santa Monica.
The Golden Knights, who have won or shared three CIF titles in
Appels' tenure, received three goals in the Westlake match from
junior forward Chris Hertz.
Jeff Buddenbohn and Clark Sanchez-Figueras each scored for St.
Francis, which received 12 saves from senior goalkeeper Tashi
Nakanishi.
Buddenbohn, a junior attacking midfielder, leads the area with 28
goals. He's two shy of tying the program record for goals in a season
set by Ryan Shaw in 2001.
In other quarterfinal matches today, L.A. Loyola will meet Palos
Verdes Peninsula and Calabasas will face Riverside Poly.
BOYS' BASKETBALL
Redlands Adventist Academy at Renaissance Academy, 6:30 p.m.: The
fourth-seeded Wildcats (20-5) were originally supposed to play their
CIF Division VA quarterfinal Friday. According to Renaissance
Academy Coach Sid Cooke, Redlands Adventist Academy isn't allowed to
compete on Friday because of religious reasons.
The Wildcats posted a 59-51 win against West Valley Christian in a
second-round game Tuesday. Brian Beam recorded 19 points and Jason
Shapiro added 16 points and 11 rebounds for Renaissance Academy,
which won the American League title.
Redlands Adventist Academy (20-7), which won the Victory League
title, recorded a 91-62 win against Twin Pines in its second-round
contest.
The Renaissance Academy-Redlands Adventist Academy winner will
meet top-seeded L.A. Price (18-7) or L.A. Community Harvest Charter
(14-6) in a semifinal game Tuesday.
