Notebook

Boys’ Soccer

Santa Ana, the county’s top-ranked boys’ soccer team most of the season, will attempt to reach its first section final in six years when it hosts Simi Valley Royal at 3 p.m. today in the Division I semifinals. The second-seeded Saints (20-0-4) have outscored three playoff opponents by a combined score of 12-2. Sweeper Mario Gonzalez has scored twice in the postseason and forward Juan Reyes has scored five goals and assisted on three others. Unseeded Royal (24-5-1) has defeated Palmdale, Camarillo and third-seeded Bell-Gardens in the playoffs.

In the other Division I semifinal, Fountain Valley (19-4-2) will gain its second final appearance in three years with a victory at home today over Redlands (17-6-5), which is in the semifinals for the sixth time in the 1990s. Fountain Valley, which has not given up a goal in the playoffs, will be without senior forward Adam Novak, who was given a red card in Thursday’s 1-0 victory over Esperanza. Junior forward Ryan Futagaki is playing despite a strained left quadriceps. Redlands’ two leading scorers are senior forward Jeremy Roush (18 goals) and freshman forward Landon Donovan (21 goals). Senior goalkeeper Jerad Bailey had 16 saves and saved three of four penalty kicks in a quarterfinal victory over Alta Loma.

Mater Dei (22-1-3), the top-seeded team in Division II, will host Ventura Buena (17-3-5) at 3 p.m. today. The Monarchs narrowly Woodbridge in the quarterfinals, 3-2, in sudden death overtime on a Tony Micheletti header. Micheletti has scored 25 goals, including three in the playoffs.

Micheletti and senior midfielder Mike Ulgade have picked up the slack for forward Walter Camargo, who is out for the season because of an appendicitis. Ulgade scored his first goal of the season in the second round against San Clemente and his second against Woodbridge. Buena reached the semifinals by beating fourth-seeded El Dorado, 1-0.

In Division III, unseeded Santa Margarita (15-7-4) will host unseeded Moorpark (21-5-1) at 3 p.m. today. Santa Margarita upset third-seeded Newport Harbor, 1-0 in overtime, in the second round, then won another overtime game, 1-0 over Laguna Hills, in the quarterfinals. The Eagles haven’t been scoring much, but goalkeeper Byron Foss has five shutouts in a row and six in his last seven games.

Laguna Beach (17-4-1) will travel to Whittier Pioneer (14-6-3) for a 3 p.m. game today, but the Artists will not have their leading scorer, Chris Whitworth, who has 19 goals, five in the playoffs. Whitworth was given a red card for two minor infractions in the quarterfinals against Pasadena Mayfair and must sit out one game.

“It’s a loss,” Laguna Beach Coach Andy Thomas said. “Chris has had a great year, but in every game we’ve had young kids who have stepped up.”