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Gunn boys and girls both willl play for water polo titles
Girls upset top-seeded Los Altos in semifinals; M-A boys and girls also play for championships

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The Gunn boys' and girls' water polo teams have a chance to win SCVAL De Anza Division playoff titles on Saturday, both at the same time.

The girls will take on Los Gatos at Los Altos High while the boys face Los Altos in the Titans' pool, both at 2 p.m.

It's no surprise that the Gunn boys have a title shot, but the girls' position in the finals is quite a surprise. The Titans were seeded only fourth in the playoffs and had to face host and top-seeded Los Altos in the semifinals on Friday. That seemed a daunting task indeed for Gunn. The Titans, however, toppled the Eagles, 8-5, in shocking fashion.

Los Altos, the regular-season champ, will play Palo Alto in the third-place game at 3:30 p.m. The Vikings (16-10) fell to Los Gatos in the other semifinal, 6-3.

"It was a stirring, exhilerating game," said Gunn coach Mark Hernandez. "Before the game, I told the girls that as the fourth seed, there was absolutely no pressure on us -- and that there was something beautiful about facing the top seed in their house in the semifinal. We talked about how they had nothing to be afraid of.

"And they went out and played like it. We took an early lead, but were trailing by halftime. We made some defensive adjustments, and only allowed one goal in the second half. On offense, we ran multiple schemes, and countered well. We just kept working, and eventually, we broke through, and scored four goals in the fourth quarter . . . I should also point out that our big-time players made big plays in the big game."

Sisters Elizabeth and Jenny Anderson accounted for seven of Gunn's goals with Elizabeth, a sophomore, leading the way with four. Katie Lacek added the final tally.

"Obviously, I'm very proud of the girls for the way they finished," Hernandez said. "Holding them down and scoring that many goals in the fourth quarter speaks to the work they've done in their conditioning. In the final analysis, we played great team defense, and great team offense. I'm more than proud of these girls. This was quite an upset."

While the Gunn girls (12-6) go after their title, the Gunn boys will be trying to find a way to beat Los Altos for the first time after dropping two regular-season matches to the Eagles. On Friday, the Titans put themselves in position to do that with an 11-7 win over Los Gatos. Gunn (18-5) rallied from a three-goal deficit with six unanswered goals in the third quarter.

Gunn senior Alex Berenfeld led the way with six goals, giving him 17 in the two playoff victories this week. Goalie Spencer Jones was his usual solid self while while Richard Yuan scored three goals Ben Hendricks added two.

Top-seeded Los Altos advanced with a 12-4 semifinal win over Mountain View.

In the West Catholic Athletic League playoffs, the Sacred Heart Prep boys and girls will play for titles on Saturday at Bellarmine Prep in San Jose. The top-seeded boy will take on No. 2 St. Francis at 6:30 p.m. Before that, the Gator girls will face No. 1 St. Francis at 5:30 p.m.

The Sacred Heart Prep boys (20-5) advanced with a 9-5 win over Serra while St. Francis held off Bellarmine, 7-6.

Senior David Culpan scored four goals while senior Connor Still and junior Philip Bamberg added two each for the Gators, who won the WCAL regular-season title but need to win tonight to claim the overall crown. SHP shared the title with St. Francis last season.

The WCAL girls' finale will match last season's CCS Division I and II champions. Pippa Temple scored four goals to pace Sacred Heart Prep (19-7) to an 8-3 semifinal win over St. Ignatius on Friday. Emily Parsons and Heather Smith each scored two goals for SHP while goalie Catherine Donahoe had 10 saves.

St. Francis advanced with an 11-5 win over Mitty.

In the Peninsula Athletic League playoffs at Menlo-Atherton, the top two boys' and girls' teams will meet as expected in title matches Saturday.

Top-seeded Menlo (19-6) defeated Burlingame, 18-5, on Friday to reach the finals against Menlo-Atherton at 3:30 p.m. Menlo junior John Holland-McCowan scored six goals to lead the way while senior Chris Akin added four.

Second-seeded Menlo-Atherton (14-10) advanced with an easy 15-4 semifinal win over Woodside. The Bears jumped out to a 9-1 first-half lead and played lots of reserves in the second half. Seniors Eric Wright and Jed Springer led the way with three goals apiece while eight different Bears scored in a game played under the lights at the Menlo-Atherton Spieker Pool.

In the girls' title match at 2 p.m., top-seeded Menlo-Atherton (24-1) will take on No. 2 Castilleja (17-8). The Bears bring a 22-match winning streak into the finals and have beaten the Gators twice while winning the regular-season title. M-A has yet to lose to a CCS team this season.

M-A advanced to the finale with a 15-4 win Friday afternoon over Menlo. The Bears led 7-0 at halftime. Senior Rebecca Dorst scored five times while teammates Marie Popp and Brittany Krappe added four and three goals, respectively.

Castilleja advanced with an 8-6 victory over Burlingame. The Gators got two goals apiece from Natasha von Kaeppler, Katie Eulau, Sayeh Bozorghzad and Barbara Peterson.


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