SOCCER BEAT : WHO WILL SAVE THE DAY?

Byline: - Lee Barnathan, Patrick Hipes

When the Crescenta Valley and Quartz Hill girls' soccer teams meet in Saturday's first round, watch the goalies. They don't receive as much attention during the season but suddenly are critical to their teams' successes in the postseason.

Both Lauren Stevenson of Crescenta Valley and Christa Gallier of Quartz Hill have had good seasons so far, having led their teams to their respective league titles. Gallier also is battle-tested, having been in the nets in the Rebels' 3-2 wild-card win Wednesday over Valencia.

Both goalies are strong and capable but have been hampered by a lack of strong competition (the Golden and Pacificleagues aren't considered the strongest). If Gallier can neutralize the always-dangerous Rebecca Hildalgo, the Rebels have a chance. Stevenson has more pressure because the Falcons will be without defenders Ally Weber (broken nose), Darcy Parker (bone chips in ankle) and Sonia Teymouri (student trip to Washington D.C.). She will have to watch for Jodie Cox, Julie Gold and Shauna Murray.

PLAY WHEN YOU CAN

That's the warning City Section commissioner Barbara Fiege told the coaches Tuesday. With rain scheduled for today's boys' first round, Fiege advised teams to play as quickly as possible, perhaps Thursday.

Birmingham and Marshall agreed and moved their match to Thursday, and Birmingham won 4-0. Poly coach Win Hainbuch wanted to play Thursday, but the Hamilton coach decided his team needed another day of practice.

The Southern Section has said play goes on, rain or shine.

``We've got a time frame we've got to stick with,'' spokesman Tom Simmons said. ``In Europe, they play in the rain. Everywhere else in the world, they play soccer in the rain. (Here), you play football in the rain. (However), we cannot tell schools they can't cancel. We encourage them to play as long as it's not a health hazard. Should a school decide it's not in the kids' best interests, they are expected to notify us and then play the next available day.''

In other words, play.

BY THE NUMBERS

7-0-1 - Record of the Simi Valley boys' team since late January, when the Pioneers were in seventh place in the eight-team Marmonte League.

10 - Assists in Marmonte League matches by Royal's Evan Kay, a school record.

ETC.

Politicking: Whoever thinks the San Fernando Valley is fragmented ought to have seen the girls' soccer coaches in action Tuesday. When the City seeding committee voted on whether to keep North Hollywood and SOCES in the playoffs, the coaches from Birmingham, Chatsworth, Cleveland, Monroe and Poly voted as one, helping the Huskies and Knights into the bracket.

``If you know them, you think, `Yeah, they're pretty good,' '' Poly's Pam Miller said.

Big field, shmig field: The defending Southern Section Division I champ Royal boys will not play on its huge stadium field today when it hosts Golden League champ Palmdale at 3 p.m.

An extremely packed surface has created hard conditions on the field, too hard for the oft-injured ankles of key defenders Sean Gesell and Jerrod Gonzales to practice more than 10 minutes at a time earlier in the week.

Instead, the team will play on the lower field, where a large crowd will encircle the sidelines for a much more intimate feel - a nice side-effect.

``It's as hard as cement,'' Royal coach Kevin Corley said of the stadium pitch. ``It was unbearable.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--2) no caption (Girls' soccer)

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News