Busy week with titles, state tourney on tap Busy week with titles, state tourney on tap (October 26, 2005)

Menlo boys face M-A for crown, join SHP in Truwest event

by Keith Peters

Staying focused on the task at hand is the top priority for the Menlo School boys' water polo team this week.

On Wednesday, the Knights (5-0, 23-2) will visit Menlo-Atherton (5-0, 17-7) with the PAL Bay Division regular-season title at stake. Game time is 7 p.m., marking the debut of the Bears' newly installed lights.

At 6 p.m., the Menlo girls (6-0, 20-4) and M-A girls (6-0, 18-6) will meet in their title-deciding contest.

While the Bay Division crown is important, with the winner receiving the No. 1 seed for the upcoming league tournament, the real competition arrives Friday for the Menlo boys in the annual Truwest Memorial Invitational.

The two-day event brings together the top eight boys' teams from Northern and Southern California in an unofficial state tournament that honors the memories of former referee John Felix and Cal men's coach Steve Heaston.

"It's a chance to play the best teams in the country," said Menlo coach Jack Bowen. "We pride ourselves on trying to become the best team we can. This is why we go out of our way to do that. This is a great tournament to be a part of."

Menlo and Sacred Heart Prep (20-5) will open play Friday morning. The Knights will play Los Alamitos at 9 a.m. at Lynbrook while SHP takes on Harvard-Westlake at Bellarmine Prep at 10:10 a.m. The winners will play at 2:50 p.m. at the same sites.

The field includes SoCal powers Newport Harbor, Long Beach Wilson, Harvard-Westlake and Foothill. The championship match will be Saturday at Bellarmine at 6:30 p.m., with third place decided at 5:10 and fifth place at 4 p.m.

"Our goal is to try to finish in the top 10 of this tournament," said SHP coach Brian Kreutzkamp. "These are the best 16 teams in the state. A top-10 finish for us would be outstanding."

Menlo is coming off a 21-2 win over Woodside on Monday, sparked by six goals from junior Ben Hohl and three each from Allen Reed and Kyle Hudson.

Sacred Heart Prep, which wraps up its West Catholic Athletic League regular season on Wednesday against visiting Serra at 3:30 p.m., is coming off a 4-0 weekend and the championship in the Sacred Heart Prep/Menlo-Atherton Invitational. The Gators defeated Menlo-Atherton in the championship game, 8-7 in double overtime on a backhanded goal by Andrew Child.

SHP senior goalie Alex Dunlevie gave up an average of only 3.75 goals per game in the 4-0 tourney finish. Freshman Paul Rudolph scored 10 goals and senior Randy Ang added nine for the Gators.

Menlo-Atherton, which topped Burlingame on Monday (12-7), also had a solid tournament. Junior Stephen Hicks scored 11 goals in the four matches.

Girls

Menlo and Menlo-Atherton tuned up for Wednesday's showdown by posting easy wins Monday. The Knights got five goals from Kim Krueger in a 16-6 win over Woodside while the Bears got a season-high eight goals from Heidi Kucera in a 17-5 romp over Burlingame.

On Saturday, Sacred Heart Prep (25-1) won the Independence Tournament with a 9-3 win over Menlo-Atherton. Senior Christie Clark led a balanced SHP attack with three goals. Pallavi Menon tallied 14 goals in the four wins to pace the Gators.

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