Sacred Heart is pretty familiar with a good number of the teams in its half of the bracket, having played four of them in recent seasons, as well as having been eliminated by a fifth, Saugus, in last year’s postseason.
“We’re on a side of the bracket with a lot of people we know,” said Sacred Heart co-Coach Frank Pace, whose team finished second in the Mission League behind Division II No. 1 seed Harvard-Westlake. “The biggest unknown right now is Brea Olinda. ...It’s an interesting draw.”
The Wildcats finished third in the Century League behind highly-regarded Anaheim Canyon and El Dorado and had one common opponent with the Tologs, Maranatha, which they defeated, 3-1.
Sacred Heart beat Maranatha, 4-1.
“I don’t know so much about the team, but I know they play in a really good league and I’ve developed a healthy respect for the amount of time and preparation [Coach] Mike [Knaus] puts into high school soccer,” Pace said. “I expect it to be a very good matchup and I expect them to be a very prepared, well-coached team.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do in four days.”
Sacred Heart would play either St. Lucy’s or Lancaster in the second round on Feb. 24 and could possibly be rematched with Saugus in the quarterfinals on Feb. 26 if both teams advance that far.
Crescenta Valley (15-1-3) will open its playoff run at its on-campus field against Knight (10-8-4). The Falcons just clinched their second straight Pacific League title, while the Hawks finished third in the Golden League, but Falcons Coach Reggie Rivas cautioned against overlooking Knight because of its record.
