The Burroughs High boys’ soccer team had an opportunity to see how it would stack up against a quality opponent as the Bears visited St. Francis High in La Canada Flintridge.
Burroughs showed flashes of fine play, but the host Golden Knights controlled much of the match and earned a 4-1 nonleague win.
“It is a good lesson for us. They play very similar to Arcadia High School. This is a good opponent, a respected program. It is such a valuable learning lesson for us,” Burroughs coach Makan Afzali said. “They physically beat us around. We have a young team, but we need to step up and play more physically.”
St. Francis (4-0-1) had six solid goal-socring opportunities in the 16 minutes of the match, but were unable to hit the target.
Burroughs (1-2) struggled with the high pressure put on by St. Francis. But the Bears were able to get the ball into the opponent’s half a few times.
Ironically Burroughs scored the first goal of the match as Bears freshman forward Justin Trigo intercepted a pass by the Golden Knights’ goalie in the 20th minute and put it into the left corner of the goal.
But St. Francis did not panic and roared right back.
In the 28th minute junior forward Cole Fletcher tapped home a cross from Daren Stepanians to tie things.
Burroughs was able to move the ball around more in the second half. But it also resulted in the Golden Knights scoring three times.
Fletcher put St. Francis up 2-1 in the 45th minute as he was able to get himself open and put a left-footed shot in the upper left corner of the goal.
St. Francis went up 3-1 in the 54th minute when Alex Hartley headed home a cross from Fletcher.
The Golden Knights scored again in the 62nd minute, as Jack Green fired a left-footed shot into the upper left of the goal.
