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The first girls' soccer tournament of the season is also one of the best, with the Palo Alto Winter Classic featuring some of the top teams in the Central Coast Section.

Sacred Heart Prep, the defending CCS Division III champion, kicked things off in the annual tourney with a big 10-3 romp over Santa Clara on Monday on the new El Camino field at Palo Alto High.

It was one of four matches to open the 12-team, week-long event. In other openers, Presentation blanked Saratoga, 5-0; Carlmont edged Santa Teresa, 1-0; and St. Francis held off Aragon, 4-2.

Action continues on Tuesday with Los Altos facing Saratoga on the Paly football field (4 p.m.); the Gunn opening its season against Aragon on the El Camino field (4 p.m.), The Priory meeting Santa Teresa on the El Camino field (6 p.m.) and host Palo Alto facing Sacred Heart Prep in the feature match on the football field at 6 p.m.

Semifinals will be Friday on both fields at 4 p.m., with the championship match set for El Camino field on Saturday at noon.

Any number of teams could be there Saturday, including Sacred Heart Prep. The Gators return plenty of scoring and experience from last season's 15-3-5 team that defeated Santa Cruz in the CCS Division III title match, 2-1.

One of those players is junior Abby Dahlkemper, who scored two goals with one assist on Monday. Junior Nicole Quilliam added two goals and two assists while sophomore Stephanie Terpening had one goal and two assists. SHP senior Lizzy Weisman finished with a goal and an assist as did junior Geena Graumann.

The Paly-SHP match features two CCS finalists from last season. The Vikings reached the Division I final before losing to Monta Vista. The Vikings will play their second-round match on Wednesday (4 p.m.) against Santa Clara on the El Camino field.

Gunn will open its season with a new coach, former Priory head coach Damian Cohen. The Titans won the SCVAL El Camino Division title last season, reached the CCS Division I semifinals (before losing) and were elevated to the De Anza Division for 2009-10.

In a nonleague soccer opener Monday, Castilleja's Caitlin Colvin scored three times in a 4-1 victory at Mills.

Colvin gave the Gators (1-0) a quick lead on a corner kick just five minutes into the first half, but Mills answered a minute later. Emily Mosbacher gave Castilleja the lead on a solo goal 25 minutes into the half.

Colvin took over in the second half and tallied goals with assists from her sister, Emily, and Rachel Brownell.

Girls' basketball
Sacred Heart Prep opened the second coaching stint of Lamont Quattlebaum at the school with a 45-37 nonleague triumph over visiting Mercy-Burlingame on Monday.

Quattlebaum, who spent the past few years at Canada College, is back at SHP after replacing his wife, Wendy, who took over the Gators when Lamont left.

Catherine Donahoe, who last weekend played goalie in SHP's CCS championship victory in water polo, led the Gators with 11 points despite missing nine free throws. Erin Sheridan, another water polo player, added nine points as did Ann Sheridan.

Sacred Heart could have won by a lot more, but made only 15 of 42 free-throw attempts. The Gators' defense, however, clamped down on the visitors and allowed just 11 field goals. SHP pulled away in the second half, outscoring Mercy 22-11 in the final two quarters.

In another nonleague opener on Monday, host Eastside Prep got 20 points from Ahjalee Harvey in a 59-33 victory over visiting Mills. Ausjerae Holland added 14 points while Leanne Martin finished with 10. Takara Burse had six points and 11 rebounds for the Panthers, who reached the CCS Division V semifinals last season before losing to eventual CCS champ Pinewood by one point.

Boys' soccer
Sacred Heart Prep and Menlo opened their respective seasons will nonleague losses on Monday.

The Gators dropped a 2-0 decision to host St. Ignatius while the Knights fell to visiting Los Altos, 3-0, to ruin new head coach Mark Arya's debut.

-- Keith Peters