September 21, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

No need to rebuild at Menlo

by Keith Peters

o sooner had Jimmie Sandman and Andy Suiter hung up their Menlo School water polo suits did local water polo coaches wipe their collective brows and predict doom and gloom for the Knights in 2005.

After all, who did Menlo return from a squad that finished 29-6 in 2004 while taking second to St. Francis in the Central Coast Section Division II finals? Ben Hohl, that's who.

While the lanky Hohl would be entering his junior season as one of the best players in the state, the cast surrounding him was in question.

Those questions, however, have been answered. There is no rebuilding season for coach Jack Bowen. The Knights, in fact, may be as good as they ever have been. Menlo is off to an 8-1 start this season, which includes a 10-9 win over defending CCS Division I champion Bellarmine in Saturday's finals of the annual Scott Roche Memorial tournament at Menlo College.

"This team is a very well-balanced team," Bowen said. "They play very well together. This year, our offense comes from so many different players."

While Menlo's offensive attack in 2004 was centered around Suiter and Hohl with Sandman responsible for stopping everything that slipped through on defense, the Knights this season have to be balanced in order to be successful.

They showed that balance, and received a huge boost from junior goalie Mike Merlone, during their 4-0 finish in the two-day Roche tourney. Nine different players scored with Hohl leading the way with 16. Senior co-captains Travis Read (five) and Matt Hudnall (four) provided scoring and leadership while seniors Kyle Hudson, Matt Wilson, Pete Howard and Deitrich Graumann not only contributed to the scoring, but sparkled on defense in what Bowen called a total team effort.

The biggest plus for Menlo came from Merlone, who entered the season facing his first varsity start and the unenviable task of trying to fill the gaping hole left by Sandman, who is now playing at Stanford. Merlone was shaky in his season-opening test a week ago in the Schmitt NorCal Invitational. That included a 6-3 loss to Bellarmine in the finals.

"We had a lot of fine tuning to do after the NorCal tournament," Bowen admitted. "Bellarmine showed us our weaknesses."

Menlo didn't have a lot of time to fix those problems because its seniors were gone on a retreat last Monday and Tuesday. Bowen, an All-American goalie during his Stanford days, worked with Merlone on body positioning and anticipation (among other things) and Merlone proved to be a quick learner.

"I can't believe how well he played," Bowen said. "He had 28 saves in the final two wins. It was a huge improvement."

Merlone had 12 saves in a 10-6 semifinal win over defending CCS Division II champ St. Francis. It was Menlo's second win over the Lancers this season. Merlone came up even bigger against the Bells with 16 saves, including a few in the final moments when Bellarmine bounced one shot after another off the cage.

"Bellarmine perennially has the most consistent pure shooters I've seen," Bowen said. "No one has the shooting skills as the Bells."

Menlo, however, did a pretty good imitation. More important, the Knights were patient and worked the ball around for the best shots. The victory over Bellarmine, Bowen, "put a lot more confidence in our field players."

Menlo will take all the good things accomplished from the Roche tourney to the Coronado Invitational this weekend in Southern California. The most important thing, Bowen said, is the realization that Menlo won two of its matches last weekend by just one goal each - including a 5-4 second-round win over Sacred Heart Prep.

Still, Bowen said, "there's a lot to look forward to."

The same can be said for all the other local boys' teams this season. Sacred Heart Prep is young and talented, Menlo-Atherton is much improved, Palo Alto is ready to make a move and Gunn has the personnel to challenge for postseason honors once again.

Sacred Heart Prep

The Gators (7-2) may have one of the youngest teams in the CCS with only four seniors. They also have a new coach in former Stanford men's assistant Brian Kreutzkamp. Sacred Heart, which went 3-1 and finished fifth in the Roche tournament, is not looking to next season.

"We kind of committed at the beginning of the season that we didn't want to wait two years to be good," Kreutzkamp said. "We wanted to be good now. We did it for the seniors."

That comes as good news for Randy Ang, Kevin Deggelman, Atilla Lazar and goalie Alex Dunlevie. They have a very good chance at competing against Bellarmine and St. Francis in the tough West Catholic Athletic League this season, in addition to making waves in the postseason. SHP's only losses are to Bellarmine (3-2) and Menlo (5-4).

"We're very young, but there's definitely a lot of talent there," Kreutzkamp said.

He can start with Dunlevie, who should be one of the better goalies in CCS this season. There's sophomore Tim Norton, who played on the USA Cadet Team during the summer. And there's freshman Paul Rudolph, a member of the U.S. National Development Team.

Add to that group players like Ang, Deggelman, Lazar, sophomore Elliott Samuels, sophomore Andrew Child and junior Austin Stahley (a talented swimmer who transferred in from Florida) and the Gators are set for the season.

Gunn

The Titans had a rocky outing in the Roche tournament, but did knock off De Anza Division foe Monta Vista, 9-3.

"What I like about this year's team is our up side," said head coach Mark Hernandez. "When we start playing our best polo, we're going to be tough to beat. The question for us is how long it takes for this team to gel."

Gunn has depended on Sid Menon and Arjan Ligtenberg in past years, with the 6-foot-9 Ligtenberg drawing a lot of attention in 2004.

"It's no secret Arjan was invaluable to us last year," Hernandez said, "and we're still going through some growing pains as we learn to play without him. Without Arjan, both offensively and defensively, we've put in entirely new game plans to help highlight the skill set of our players.

"Most of these players were on the team that won the league championship last year, so they have high expectations. We'll get there."

Gunn has been inconsistent on offense, which has made it tougher on goalie Matt Johnson, one of the best in the CCS. Fellow senior Brandon Johnson, his brother, is the team's leading offensive threat, but needs more help from seniors Eric Stewart, Kyle Gertridge and Rodrigo Rengifo plus juniors Jamie Nusse, Will Agramonte and Chris Preston.

Palo Alto

The Vikings (3-6) are coming off two straight losing seasons under coach Jon Barnea, now in his third campaign. The former Paly standout, however, has his team headed in the right direction - despite the Vikings' overall record and 1-3 finish in the Roche tournament.

"We're really playing at a much higher level," Barnea said. "It's both good and bad. We recognize we are a good team and should be winning these close games. They've shown how good they are, and I expect them to play at a certain level now."

Paly opened with a 3-2 win over SCVAL De Anza Division foe Los Altos, fell to Bellarmine (11-3), dropped a 10-6 decision to La Jolla and lost to Live Oak, 12-6. the good news is Paly faces only Los Altos the rest of the season.

The Vikings already hold on to a share of first place in the De Anza Division, by virtue of their 9-4 win over Gunn last week. Winning the regular-season title and earning the No. 1 seed for the division tournament is crucial for Barnea's team, as it hopes to return to the CCS playoffs.

Seniors Gregor Horstmeyer, Mike Sorgenfrei and Eric Vallone lead the way. They accounted for 13 of Paly's 18 goals last weekend. Sophomore goalie Will Simon is playing beyond his years.

Barnea, however, needs to get more production out of the rest of his lineup. Seniors Dan Griffin and Cullen Hollyn-Taub along with juniors Tyler Thompson and Alex Jozefov offered a sign of that with goals in the tourney.

Besides battling the tough competition, the Vikings also must deal with training at Stanford. Renovation of the Vikings' pool fell behind schedule and the facility won't be ready for water polo. Thus, the players have been practicing at odd hours.

"Some nights were practicing until 9:30 p.m.," Barnea said. "I not only have to coach, but I have to make sure their homework is getting done after school. It's been a wild time."

Menlo-Atherton

Speaking of wild times, first-year coach Johnny Bega has gone from facing state-power Long Beach Wilson (last season) while coaching at Long Beach Milliken, to taking on heavyweights like Menlo and Sacred Heart Prep this season.

The Bears took their lumps last season during a 7-22 campaign, but Bega has his squad off to a 2-2 start following a solid showing in the Roche tournament.

M-A knocked off 2004 CCS Division I runnerup Gunn, 7-6, and edge Leland, 7-6, in overtime. The Bears are playing without junior Todd Hazen, who has a rib injury that Bega says will keep him sidelined until October.

There's still plenty of talent with seniors Matt Wertz and Daniel Kadvany, juniors Peter Jacobs, Robbie Eaton, Jacob Morton, Eliot Welsh, and Stephen Hicks and sophomores Matt Bogott and goalie Alex Popp. Newcomer Richard Hong has been starting and playing well. Six players contributed in the big win over Gunn, which seems to be the tone of the offense this season - getting everyone involved.

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