LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — On more than one occasion this season, including its most recent win on Friday over Alemany High, the St. Francis soccer team has used a last-minute goal to propel its way to a victory and send an opponent walking off the field stunned and dejected.
But the Golden Knights, who scored late to pull even with visiting Chaminade and were charging hard for yet another late game-winner, found themselves on the other side of the equation following Thursday's Mission League contest at Friedman Field after the Eagles scored inside of injury time in the second half to hand St. Francis its first league defeat, 2-1.
"I don't know if we were so eager to win that guys were pushing when they should have been dropping, but we just didn't have enough guys back and we left a guy wide open on the counter-attack," St. Francis Coach Glen Appels said of the Eagles' winning goal on a breakaway with numbers. "It's disappointing and what happens is the more the offense misses, the more pressure there is on the defense not to give up the off goal."