February 25, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

M-A and Gunn boys hope to buck odds

by Keith Peters

If the seedings hold up in the Central Coast Section soccer playoffs, the Gunn boys will advance to the Division I championship game and the Menlo-Atherton boys will not.

The scenario was tested Tuesday night (weather permitting) when the No. 2 Titans (15-3-5) took on No. 3 Gilroy (20-0-5) and the No. 4 Bears (13-3-6) met No. 1 Watsonville (23-1-1) at PAL Stadium in San Jose.

The Division I finals are scheduled at PAL Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m.

Menlo-Atherton advanced with a 2-1 win over Bellarmine while Gunn eliminated Mt. Pleasant, 2-1 in overtime in the quarterfinals.

If you talk to the experts, Gilroy and Watsonville will be playing for the Division I title. If you talk to Menlo-Atherton's Juan Camahort or Gunn's David Burgee, the local teams just might have a chance.

Camahort pointed to the fates suffered by the Palo Alto boys and girls last Saturday. Both teams were ranked No. 1 in their respective divisions and both were unceremoniously booted from the tournament in shocking fashion.

"So," Camahort said, "you just don't know what's going to happen."

The Paly boys (17-5-1) looked like a good bet to challenge for the Division II title, but gave up three goals in the first 30 minutes against No. 8 St. Ignatius and were sent packing with a 3-1 second-round loss at Burlingame High.

The Paly girls (14-3-3), with a favorable bracket in Division I, also an excellent shot at winning a section title. Those hopes, however, disappeared in a very painful 2-1 second-round loss to No. 8 Santa Teresa on Saturday afternoon at Milpitas High.

The losses suffered by the Palo Alto teams are perfect examples that there are no sure things in the CCS soccer playoffs. Bellarmine, for example, was once a perennial national power with 11 section titles (including one tie) to its credit - including four straight. The Bells, however, were beaten by Gunn in last season's Division I finals and were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Menlo-Atherton.

The Bears' win over Bellarmine on Saturday at PAL Stadium caught Camahort off guard.

"I was actually shocked," Camahort said of his team's first win over the Bells in his 13-year coaching career at M-A. "It was just incredible. When the final whistle blew, my kids jumped like crazy, like they had won the championship."

The triumph avenged M-A's 1-0 loss to the Bells in last season's second round.

While Bellarmine (19-5-3) played without four starters who were serving a one-game suspension after allegedly practicing with an off-campus team, Camahort pointed to the Bells' depth and dismissed the assertion his team had an advantage.

The Bears, in fact, trailed by 1-0 early and had to battle back. Senior Javier Hil converted a penalty kick in the 27th minute after teammate Xeronimo Castaneda was taken down in the penalty box by the Bells' goalie. Hil provided the winning goal in the second half after taking a pass from Alex Ruck, dribbling past a defender and chipping a shot over goalie Nick Matalone.

"From then on," Camahort said, "it was just a matter of trying to defend and hold."

The Bears' defense proved to be at their best when called upon. Goalie Anthony Nikolchev, sweeper Darren Borcherdt, stopper Spencer Collom, Josh Moffett, Ricardo Corea and Ramon Madriz all made the necessary plays to secure the victory. Collom suffered a twisted knee in the second half but was expected to face Watsonville.

"It was a great defensive effort," Camahort said. "Everyone was confident that we could beat Bellarmine."

Gunn, meanwhile, had to be confident against No. 7 Mt. Pleasant (16-3-3) after senior Pablo Rivera gave the Titans a 1-0 lead early in the second half. The pesky Cardinals, however, tied things late to send the outcome to overtime. Once again, Rivera came through with his 19th goal of the season in the first of two mandatory 10-minute overtime periods.

From there, the Titans' defense held tough and the defending champions advanced to another day.

The same, however, can't be said of the Paly boys and girls.

"We were on our heels for the first 20 minutes as SI took advantage of the wet and quick field turf artificial surface," said Paly boys' coach Don Briggs. "They were quick to the ball, used the width of the field, and had several nice crosses. SI was very efficient. They had four shots on goal in the first half and converted on three of them."

With only 30 minutes gone in the match, the outcome was all but decided. Paly settled down in the second half and finally got a goal from junior Manny Barrigan.

Paly loses only seniors Justin Nolley, Pedro Duarte, Jeff Hering, Michael Bianchi (all starters) and backup keeper Will Snyder. The Vikings will return seven starters and 16 players overall next season.

For the Paly girls' coach Jeff van Gastel, he too will have 16 players back - including seven starters. That, however, won't take the pain away from Saturday's loss to Santa Teresa.

"This year, with basically everyone back, we had the best team we've had in my six seasons here," van Gastel said. "We won our league, but once again we lacked the mental toughness required to compete in the postseason."

Paly jumped to a quick 1-0 lead on a goal by senior Kat Stolpa, her school-record 31st of the season and the 58th of her career, also a school record. At that point, it appeared the Vikings would roll.

The Vikings, however, made two mistakes after that and it cost them dearly. The first came on an indirect kick that got past the Paly wall and ticked off a Santa Teresa player and past goalie Perris Aufmuth. The second mistake came in the 78th minute when Aufmuth tipped a high bouncer off the crossbar. The ball landed in front of the goal and at the foot of a wide-open Saints' forward Jasmine Stephens, who put the ball into the cage.

Paly put on a wild flurry of shot attempts in the final moments, but to no avail - ending the fine prep careers of Stolpa, Rachel Hamilton, Dani Hanabusa, Anna Hartley, Danielle Miller and Emira Cowan.

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