Loyola

BOYS' GOLF Loyola 190, St. Francis 192: Richie Maloof carded an even-par 35 to lead the Golden Knights in a Mission League loss at Brookside Park Golf Course No. 2 on Wednesday. Michael Finney shot a 36, Vince De Pinto shot a 39 and Michael Doll shot a 40 for St. Francis (4-11, 2-7 in league). BOYS' SWIMMING Crescenta Valley 133, Burroughs 46: The Falcons cruised to victory in Tuesday's Pacific League home dual meet, led by wins from Louis Wojciechowski in the 200-yard individual medley in 2 minutes 2.72 seconds and the 50 freestyle in 22.29.

Erik Boal STENGEL FIELD -- For 4 1/2 innings of Sunday's Mickey Mantle League game at Stengel Field, a victory seemed like a sure bet for the Burroughs Indians. However, all bets were off in the bottom of the fifth, as the Loyola Cubs rallied from a four-run deficit, scoring the final two runs with two outs to defeat the Indians, 7-6, in five innings. The game was called due to the two-hour, 20-minute time limit. What made matters worse for Burroughs was the way Loyola mounted its comeback.

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan MOYSE FIELD -- Forty eight minutes of hard-hitting, nail-biting and adrenaline-flying action wasn't enough to settle matters between Loyola and Eisenhower highs during Friday's CIF Southern Section Division I semifinal game. Than finally, it all came down to two men. Kicker Nathan Oakes from Loyola and kicker/receiver Michael Hawkins Jr. from Eisenhower. At the end, Oakes held us head up high, while Hawkins Jr. lied down in despair.

Erik Boal It went from a dominant effort to a frustrated effort to a valiant come-from-behind effort to an effort that fell just short. That was the scenario that painfully unfolded for St. Francis High in Wednesday's Mission League boys' soccer match against L.A. Loyola. The Golden Knights scored first and last, and had plenty of chances to add to that total in between, only to watch as the Cubs made the most of their 20-minute surge. Playing the final part of regulation and all of the two 10-minute overtime periods a man down, the Golden Knights still battled all the way to the final whistle, but it was the numerous opportunities that got away in the early going that hurt them the most as they fell, 3-2, at Friedman Field.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — With yet another missed opportunity, St. Francis High senior Nick Posthuma dropped to his knees, his hands covering his dejected expression. “When we were getting all those chances, I was just thinking to myself, ‘All over again, not this again, we’re getting all these chances and we’re not finishing,’” Posthuma said. After a 2006 Mission League season that saw St. Francis lose to Loyola twice by one-goal margins despite outshooting its foes, 2007 was supposed to be different.

Charles Rich The spit-and-polish image isn't about to disappear. The boys' soccer players who compete -- and the seven Mission League coaches who direct their teams -- understand the realizations, even after they've played an exhausting 100 minutes, including the final 20 in the twilight. St. Francis and L.A. Loyola added another grand chapter to their rivalry Wednesday, as the squads battled to a 1-1 deadlock at Loyola High. -- BOX SCORE -- -- St. Francis 1 0 0 0 -- 1 L.A. Loyola 0 1 0 0 -- 1 -- -- ST. FRANCIS Buddenbohn (Hertz, 5th minute)

Charles Rich NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- There are some similarities that Steve Susdorf can't ignore. Susdorf, a Newhall Hart Connie Mack League baseball player, has displayed a compact swing which might compare to that of his brother, Billy, an All-CIF player at Hart in 2001. Steve Susdorf used a compact swing to drive in the winning run Tuesday night to lead Newhall Hart to a come-from-behind 6-5 victory against Loyola in a Mack League game called after six innings due to the league-imposed two-hour, 20-minute time rule at Stengel Field.

Erik Boal Double take: Following Tuesday night's four-game win at Mission Hills Alemany, Mark Frazee knows his St. Francis High volleyball team (7-2) is in good shape in the Mission League at 3-1. The veteran coach also knows the Golden Knights' standing could be even better had they taken advantage of a handful of opportunities in a four-game loss March 20 at Harvard-Westlake (4-3, 3-2). But even though St. Francis is a half-match ahead of the rest of the pack in the race for second place, Frazee's squad will face its annual uphill climb next week against L.A. Loyola (6-0, 4-0)

BASEBALL Crescenta Valley 1, Loyola 0: Ted Boeke got the win, the shutout and a no-hitter in the second game of a nonleague doubleheader on Tuesday night at USC. Boeke also doubled and came around to score the game's only run when Michael Russo drove him in. The win improved the Falcons to 9-5 and was their fourth win in a row. Brian Gadsby threw a complete game for the 2-1 victory, striking out seven, allowing four hits and...

PASADENA - If a baseball team plans to implement small ball in order to manufacture runs, it better not make mistakes while in the field. If a squad relies on bunts, steals and infield singles to get runners home, then errors, hit batters and passed balls need to be held to a minimum. It was the little things that did in the St. Francis High baseball team in losing its Mission League opener to Loyola, 6-2, at Jackie Robinson Field at Brookside Park on Monday afternoon. "Coaching is interesting," said St. Francis assistant Coach Aaron Milam, whose team fell to 3-5. "It's like a video game.

LOS ANGELES - In between helping win a pair of relay events, Kirsten Vose had enough energy to excel in her individual races. The Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy freshman swimmer got stronger toward the end of her races and kept the Tologs unbeaten. Vose won the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 breaststroke Thursday afternoon to spark Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy in a convincing 111-65 nonleague dual meet victory against Crescenta Valley at Loyola High. In the boys' portion of the meet, Loyola, the defending CIF Southern Section Division I champion, registered a 108-72 win against Crescenta Valley, which took third last season in Division III. Vose captured the individual medley in 2 minutes 16.28 seconds and the breaststroke in 1:08.67.

LOS ANGELES - The late stages of Mission League games have often gone badly for the St. Francis High soccer team this season and the second half of Wednesday's league and regular-season finale at Loyola may have been the unkindest cut of all. Despite having seen some winnable games turn to ties on late goals this season, the Golden Knights entered Wednesday's match two points behind the Cubs for first place and could have locked up the outright...

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE - Like the predicted cloud bursts that never transpired, Saturday afternoon could have been a lot worse for the St. Francis High boys' soccer team than what actually materialized. The host Golden Knights fell behind by two goals after 35 minutes, but rallied for two scores in tying rival Loyola 2-2 in Mission League play at Friedman Field during a free-rain match. “With all things considered, a tie isn't that bad,” Golden Knights Coach Glen Appels said.

LOS ANGELES - It was a day of met and exceeded expectations locally at Saturday morning's 38th annual Bellarmine-Loyola Cross-Country Invitational at Griffith Park. While the three-mile, hilly course proved a challenge for several teams and individuals, the La Cañada High boys and girls certainly weren't phased. The La Cañada girls turned in the most impressive effort of any team by winning the varsity white race with an incredible 15 points, the best score possible. Spartans' junior Sonja Cwik dominated the race in a near-equally impressive effort, finishing in a course personal-best time of 17 minutes and 44 seconds.

GLENDALE — The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene. KOSTELNIK MAKES LAST RUN WITH CUBS Glendale resident Philip Kostelnik recently graduated from Loyola High, but was able to take to the track as a Cub once more for some significant races, June 18 at the New Balance Track Nationals in Greensboro, North Carolina and Saturday in the Nike Track Nationals in Eugene, Oregon. Kostelnik captured a third-place medal in the 800 in 1 minute 53.89 seconds on Saturday at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon.

NORWALK — St. Francis High's James Knowles and Philip Kostelnik of Loyola arrived at Cerritos College for Friday night's CIF Southern Section Track and Field Masters Meet brimming with great expectations. They had earlier navigated their way through the ultra-competitive Mission League and straight through the CIF Division Finals to get to a point in the season where neither had previously ventured. Knowles and Kostelnik left the venue with mixed emotions after they didn't qualify for the CIF State Meet in Clovis.

PASADENA — In control of its own destiny, the St. Francis High baseball team wasn't going to squander an opportunity to lock up an automatic playoff berth. The path to grab a playoff berth was clearly defined before the Golden Knights took to the field for their regular-season finale against Loyola on Thursday afternoon — win and they would clinch a playoff spot. St. Francis responded to the challenge, as it got big hits from David Hubinger and Pete Hofman to record a 9-4 Mission League victory at Jackie Robinson Field.