Like Crescenta Valley, St. Francis is hoping to return to its former, more dominant self. A young Golden Knights squad took its lumps under veteran coach Glen Appels, only to rebound toward the end of the season in finishing 8-11-5 overall and 5-6-1 in league for third place within the Mission League. St. Francis won a wild 5-5 (4-3 on penalty kicks) match versus Canyon Springs in the wild-card round before falling in the first round of the Division I playoffs, 6-0, to Palos Verdes. “The biggest thing last year is we had so many sophomores on varsity and they just didn’t have the experience,” Appels said. “In fact, it was seven sophomores and two freshmen with only five seniors. “Now all those sophomores are juniors and they have experience and we’re excited about what we have going this year.” The Golden Knights welcome back senior forward Frankie Veiga, who spent a good portion of last year injured, and an experienced back row in junior defenders Benjamin Gabella, Jason Carmody and Paolo Ramirez. “I think with this core, we’re not going to be in many shootouts,” Appels said. “Our problem may be more in generating offense.” Appels is expecting a breakout effort from senior midfielder Griffin O’Brien, who will be paired with sophomore Jacob Anderson and junior Carlo Taglioretti. The trio will attempt to fill the void left by senior Ryan Renn, who is making the switch from halfback to fullback this season, as Renn primarily plays defense with his club team. One team member that Appels is looking forward to seeing is junior Kareem Zeenni, who is currently kicking for the football team as it advances deep into the postseason.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 22:33:44 +0000
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