Valencia Has Two Gifts for Coach

For Vince Ferry, Christmas came a day late.

The Valencia High boys’ soccer coach spent Monday at Henry Mayo Hospital with his wife, who was having complications with her pregnancy, and nearly didn’t make it to the Hart tournament on Tuesday.

But he was glad he did.

The Vikings sent Ferry back to the hospital with two late gifts--tournament victories over Crescenta Valley, 4-0, and Granada Hills, 2-0.

“I wasn’t going to go to the games, but my wife said I had to because she thought I should be there for the kids,” said Ferry, who slept in a chair by his wife’s side at the hospital Monday night. “They are starting to do well as a team and we couldn’t take a step back now.”

The Vikings (8-4-1) are two points ahead of Quartz Hill in their pool. Valencia and Quartz Hill meet today, with the winner advancing to Thursday’s semifinals.

Against Granada Hills (2-3), Valencia forward Junior Brambila scored both Viking goals on a counterattack in the 45th minute and a header off a corner kick by Huey Park in the 60th minute.

Granada Hills played even with Valencia but had difficulty creating scoring opportunities. The Highlanders didn’t test Valencia goalkeeper Courtney Schroeder, who needed to make only three saves for a shutout.

“That’s where our weakness is; we’ve been having trouble scoring goals,” said Granada Hills Coach Wilson Herrera. “Our defense is fine. Our halfbacks are fine. We just need to find someone to score.”

In another boys’ pool-play game:

Kilpatrick 3, Glendale 2--Robert Santillana tied the score in the 57th minute and scored the game-winner on a breakaway in the 65th minute to complete a hat trick for the Mustangs (7-1).

GIRLS

Louisville 7, Muir 0--Jenny Farenbaugh scored four goals, bringing her season total to 16, for the Royals (8-2-1) in a pool-play game of the Hart tournament.

In other Hart tournament girls’ pool-play games:

Hart 12, North Hollywood 0--Mandy Maysfield, Kim Nakamaru and Ali Pavoni each scored two goals for the Indians (4-4-1), who exceeded the goal total in their first eight games combined.

Buena 12, Burbank 1--The Bulldogs, ranked No. 1 in the region by The Times, romped.

Hart tournament notes:

Competition was tough to find among the 16 girls’ teams. In seven games, winning teams outscored their opponents, 48-1. The closest games were 3-0 victories for Arroyo Grande over Gahr and Peninsula over Cleveland.

Valencia played the second half of its 6-0 victory over Azusa with 10 players instead of 11 in attempt to make the game more even.

“Through the reputation of the Hart tournament, we expected the competition to be a lot stiffer,” Valencia defender Stephanie Romney said. “It was nice to be able to settle down and relax for some of the tougher games ahead.”

Clovis West, among Central California’s top teams, made the long drive to the Santa Clarita Valley only to find its opponent, Alemany, was a no-show.

Clovis West wasn’t disappointed.

The team packed its gear and went to Magic Mountain.