The Sacred Heart Prep girls' water polo team improved upon last year's finish, but came up short of its eventual goal while taking fourth at the annual NorCal Championships that concluded Saturday in Atherton.

The Gators finished 2-2 and took fourth overall while Menlo-Atherton was 12th, Gunn 13th and Castilleja 15th in the 16-team tournament.

Sacred Heart Prep (17-7) started out strong on Friday with an 8-6 win over defending champ St. Francis Sacramento and an 8-7 victory over defending North Coast Section Division I champ San Ramon Valley.

Saturday, however, proved the Gators' downfall as they fell to eventual runner-up Clovis West, 8-6, before falling in the third-place match to West Catholic Athletic League rival St. Francis, 8-7.

It was the second time in four days that SHP had lost to St. Francis. The teams likely will meet again this weekend in the WCAL playoff finals, also at SHP.

Junior Morgan McCracken led SHP with 10 goals in the four matches with freshman Malaika Koshy adding six. Junior Caitlin Stuewe and senior P.J. Bigley each tallied five and junior goalie Kelly Moran had 37 saves.

Boys' water polo
Palo Alto went 3-0 at the Ron Freeman Memorial Tournament that wrapped up Saturday at Monta Vista High. The Vikings (16-7) opened with a 9-8 win over Lynbrook, edged Soquel, 10-9, and topped host Monta Vista, 14-13. Bret Pinsker scored 12 goals and Quinn Rockwell added 11 for the Vikings.

In nonleague action, Menlo School (13-10) beat Campolindo for the second time this season -- this time in Moraga and without its top scorer.

With sophomore Nick Bisconti sidelined for the rest of the season with an injury, the Knights stepped it up with Johnny Wilson scoring four goals and Alexander Carlise and Cameron Walker adding two each. Goalie John Wilson (no relation) came up with 16 saves.

"We are running a system that every player knows and does well," said Menlo coach Jack Bowen. "Losing any player hurts us, especially a leading scorer. But, the good news is that we have an entire team that knows what to do and has a lot of heart. Beating a team of this caliber at this point in the season is great for us. We're really peaking at the -- we're really peaking at the right time."

2012 NORCAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
FRIDAY
At Sacred Heart Prep
Game 1 -- San Ramon Valley 13, James Logan 1
Game 3 -- Sacred Heart Prep 8, St. Francis (Sacramento) 6
Game 5 -- Clovis 9, St. Ignatius 4
Game 7 -- Clovis West 10, Monte Vista (Danville) 9
Game 9 -- St. Francis (Sac.) 9, James Logan 5
Game 11 -- Sacred Heart Prep 8, San Ramon Valley 7
Game 13 -- Monte Vista 9, St. Ignatius 8
Game 15 -- Clovis West 7, Clovis 6 (OT)

At Menlo-Atherton
Game 2 -- Campolindo 17, Castilleja 4
Game 4 -- Acalanes 5, Davis 2
Game 6 -- Leland 13, Menlo-Atherton 3
Game 8 -- St. Francis (Mt. View) 5, Gunn 3
Game 10 -- Davis 9, Castilleja 2
Game 12 -- Campolindo 7, Acalanes 2
Game 14 -- Menlo-Atherton 7, Gunn 3
Game 16 -- St. Francis (MV) 7, Leland 6

SATURDAY
At Sacred Heart Prep
Game 17 -- San Ramon Valley 10, Clovis 6
Game 19 -- Leland 10, Acalanes 9
Game 21 -- Clovis West 8, Sacred Heart Prep 6 (semifinal)
Game 23 -- Campolindo 9, St. Francis (MV) 6 (semifinal)
Game 25 -- Clovis 10, Acalanes 3
Game 27 -- San Ramon Valley 11, Leland 6 (5th place)
Game 29 -- St. Francis (MV) 8, Sacred Heart Prep 7 (consolation final)
Game 31 -- Campolindo 11, Clovis West 7 (championship)

At Menlo-Atherton
Game 18 -- St. Ignatius 9, James Logan 2
Game 20 -- Gunn 12, Castilleja 6
Game 22 -- St. Francis (Sac.) 10, Monte Vista (Danville) 7
Game 24 -- Davis 8, Menlo-Atherton 0
Game 26 -- Castilleja 9, James Logan 6 (15th place)
Game 28 -- Gunn 9, St. Ignatius 4 (13th place)
Game 30 -- Monte Vista (Danville) 7, Menlo-Atherton 6 OT (11th place)
Game 32 -- Davis 8, St. Francis (Sac.) 6 (9th place)

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