The St. Francis boys soccer team had plenty of scoring opportunities, twice nicking the goal posts, in a 1-0 West Catholic Athletic League loss to visiting Valley Christian on Wednesday.

A pair of quality corner kicks from Alexander Giannapoulos led to some close encounters in the waning minutes. Bruno Inzunza and Gabriel Barbera were among those who helped the Lancers (6-5-1, 2-3-1) keep the pressure on Valley Christian, which scored in the first 10 minutes and then staved off several St. Francis attacks.

St. Francis is 0-3-1 in its past four matches after opening WCAL play with a pair of victories. The Lancers look to snap the dry spell Saturday, when they take on Sacred Heart Cathedral in San Francisco at 11:30 a.m.

In the West Bay Athletic League, both Sacred Heart Prep and Menlo School were big winners. SHP beat Crystal Springs Uplands 3-0 and Menlo topped Eastside Prep 8-0.

Luke Maxwell was in on all three SHP goals, assisting on two of them and scoring on another. He recorded the assist on the first goal of the afternoon, scored by Carlos Deras.

Maxwell scored the second goal of the game early in the second half, getting an assist from Aneel Bulchandani.

Luca Suarez was the beneficiary of Maxwell’s second assist.

In Menlo’s win, Alessandro Velazquez recorded a hat trick while Daniel Louie added a pair. Andre Gonzalez Lombera scored a goal and recorded three assists. Cisco Argueta and Julian Sheehan also scored. Jonah Blaydes-Greenberg added two assists.

In the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, Gunn beat Los Gatos 2-1, Los Altos edged Homestead 1-0 and Palo Alto played Santa Clara to a 1-1 tie.

Gunn’s Joaquim Bonnet started the scoring with a header into the goal off a free kick from Jack Fallows.

The Titans (5-4-2, 1-1-1) scored again when Dane Jefferson advanced the ball down the left side of field before crossing to Spencer Chen at the top of the box, who buried it into the net.

Gunn had several more opportunities to score in the second half but couldn’t extend their lead. Gunn travels to Homestead on Friday.

Arya Hatami scored in the second half for Los Altos while Zach Meyn recorded the shutout.

Zachary Cooper scored for Palo Alto, assisted by Noah Adesnik. Isaac Kirby made five saves.

In the Peninsula Athletic League, Sequoia beat Westmoor 7-1 and Woodside fell 2-0 to Aragon. Menlo-Atherton’s game with San Mateo was postponed.

Daniel Schembri and Ryan McDowell each scored twice and added an assist for Sequoia. Benjamin Schwartz, Gabe Fedrighi and Isak Reinenmann also netted goals. Diego Jimenez added two assists.

Gunn beat Los Gatos 3-1, Los Altos topped Homestead 2-0 and Palo Alto played Santa Clara to a 2-2 tie in SCVAL matches Wednesday.

Gunn’s Ana Schremp opened the scoring with a penalty kick as Los Gatos recorded a hand ball in the box.

Natalie Smith sent a perfectly weighted outlet from half field to Elina Saab-Sundén, who outpaced her defender and beat the keeper to extend the lead

In the second half, Smith drilled home a shot after a Gunn corner for the final score.

Gunn’s next match is Friday night at home vs Homestead.

Mariana Kessinger scored a goal and recorded an assist in Palo Alto’s tie. Payton Anderson also scored and Katherine Thomsen added an assist.