October 21, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

They're making waves

by Keith Peters

Theo Ludwick, Johnny Bega and Chris Rubin all have something in common; all are in their first year as varsity water polo coaches.

All three would like to share something else this season - league titles.

Ludwick took that big step Wednesday when his Palo Alto girls' team defeated host Los Altos, 5-0. The Vikings improved to 4-0 in the SCVAL De Anza Division (18-8 overall) while handing the Eagles their first division loss in four matches.

The triumph wrapped up the division's regular-season title for Palo Alto, which visits Gunn next Wednesday (3 p.m.) to conclude the regular season.

The Titans opened the door for Paly's title by dropping a 13-11 overtime decision to host Mountain View on Wednesday. Even if the Vikings are upset by Gunn, they'll still receive the No. 1 seed for the league tournament.

Bega and Rubin are one victory away from achieving what Ludwick did Wednesday. Both will have their teams in the spotlight next week because the Bears just installed new lights at Speiker Pool and the Menlo matches will mark the debut of night water polo at M-A.

Bega, in his first season as the Menlo-Atherton boys' coach, sends his team (4-0, 13-6) against defending champion Menlo (4-0, 21-2) next Wednesday in a showdown for the PAL Bay Division crown at 7 p.m.

Both teams have matches Monday, but each should be mere tuneups.

Rubin, in his first season with the M-A girls' varsity, also has his squad primed for a shot at the PAL Bay Division title. The Bears (5-0, 14-5) will host defending champ Menlo (5-0, 18-4) on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

At stake are No. 1 seeds for the PAL tournament, the outcomes of which will help decide the seeds for the Central Coast Section tournament.

Bega has completely turned around an M-A boys' team that suffered through a 7-22 season a year ago. The Bears fell to Menlo in their final meeting, 18-5. Thus, Bega knows which team is favored next week.

"I believe Menlo is a more experienced team right now, but it will be a good game," Bega said. "We have come a long way and look forward to playing Menlo.

"In my first year at Menlo-Atherton, my goal was to make CCS and go as far we can. Menlo has the experience right now and we are up and coming. We need to slow their counterattack down and score, making Menlo play defense. If we play a great game and lose, I will be happy. If we play out of our minds, we can beat them."

The Bears will start one senior, three juniors, two sophomores and one freshman. That lineup helped post two lopsided wins this week - 11-5 over Aragon and 20-7 over Woodside. Junior Stephen Hicks led the Bears with nine goals in the two wins while sophomore Matt Bogott and freshman Richard Hong contributed five each.

Menlo is coming off a 16-6 win over Carlmont on Wednesday behind a seven-goal performance by junior Ben Hohl. Seniors Matt Hudnall (four), Deitrich Graumann (two), Travis Read (two) and Matt Wilson rounded out the scoring.

Menlo will host Davis on Saturday at 11:30 a.m., while Menlo-Atherton will join with Sacred Heart Prep in hosting the SHP/Menlo-Atherton Tournament at both pools.

The matchup between the Menlo-Atherton and Menlo girls is a replay of last season's showdown when both took 5-0 records against each other. The Knights prevailed, 12-3, and went on to capture the CCS championship.

Menlo-Atherton is a year older, experienced and wiser and hasn't lost since Oct. 1. Seniors Kelly Eaton, Heidi Kucera and Kelly Fero plus goalie Jessie Welton and fellow junior Rita Bullwinkel have led the Bears this season. Eaton had six goals as the Bears beat Aragon and Woodside by 13-4 scores this week. Kucera added five while Bullwinkel and sophomore Elise Delagnes added four each.

"We've been overlooked for a long time, and this gives us an opportunity to change that," Rubin said. "This is a pretty big game. This is what we've been pointing toward."

Menlo lost only one senior off its CCS title-winning team and is still in a youth mode. The Knights, however, haven't been playing like a young team. They went 4-1 in the always tough Western States Invitational in Modesto last weekend with big wins over Miramonte (6-5) and San Ramon Valley (5-4) in their final two games.

In PAL play this week, Menlo romped past Castilleja, 13-2, and swamped Carlmont, 15-1. Sophomores Cayley Bowles and Brittany Westerman each scored five goals. Nine different players scored in the two games while sophomore goalie Elise Ponce was solid as usual.

In the De Anza Division, the Palo Alto girls overcame a sluggish start at Los Altos as junior standout Tanya Wilcox watched from the bench. Wilcox was late to practice a day earlier and thus sat for most of the opening quarter.

Upon entering the game, Wilcox made her presence felt quickly with the first of three straight goals. Senior Charlotte Chiang and sophomore Hallie Kennan added single tallies for the Vikings.

"I would say that our offensive performance wasn't typical," said Ludwick, who coached the Paly JV team before taking over the varsity this season. "Because we have some very dominant players (Wilcox and senior Phoebe Champion), we sometimes fall into the trap of watching them work rather than trying to anticipate what is going to happen next. Los Altos has a very good goalie and plays a physical game of defense. When you combine those two things with a tendency to watch, the offense can stagnate."

Paly, however, made up for its lack of offense with a solid defense of its own.

"On our defensive end of the pool, we were doing a good job of taking away their two-meter play and guarding as a team, which meant that Los Altos wasn't getting high-percentage opportunities," Ludwick said. "On top of that, our goalies (seniors Polly Ziegler and Irene Chang) both had great games, all of which led to the shutout."

The Palo Alto boys, meanwhile, may have to settle for a De Anza Division co-title after falling to host Los Altos on Wednesday night, 7-5. The Vikings (5-1, 14-11) needed only to win to claim the regular-season crown outright. Now, it's likely either Gunn (4-1) or Los Gatos (4-1) will share the title. Those teams play next Wednesday at Los Gatos.

Paly still will earn the No. 1 seed in the division tournament, because the Vikings beat both Gunn and Los Gatos. Los Altos likely would have fallen, too, but all-CCS performer Tyler Smith returned from playing in Europe with a USA junior team and scored three goals. His defense was evident also as Paly seniors Gregor Horstmeyer, Mike Sorgenfrei and Eric Vallone combined for only three goals.

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