Neighborhood rivals Menlo School and Sacred Heart Prep will meet in two championship lacrosse matches on Saturday at Burlingame High as the West Bay Athletic League and Peninsula Athletic League playoffs will be decided.
The girls take the field first in the WBAL title finale at noon, with top-seeded Menlo School (14-7) taking on No. 3 Sacred Heart Prep (9-12) in a rematch of last year’s finale. Following that match, around 1:30 p.m., the No. 1 Menlo (15-5) and No. 2 Sacred Heart Prep boys (16-5) will square off in the PAL title match.
The Menlo girls advanced to their 12th straight championship match after defeating visiting Burlingame, 15-4, in the WBAL semifinals on a rainy Thursday. Sacred Heart Prep has won the past two playoff crowns, but Menlo handed SHP a pair of lopsided losses during the WBAL Foothill Division regular season.
Burlingame (6-12) reached the semifinals with a 16-5 win over Castilleja on Tuesday, but had no answer to Menlo’s prolific scoring despite getting 15 saves from goalie Tori Rickman. Sophomore Sophia Donovan had four goals and two assists to pace Menlo and now has more than 100 points for the second straight season.
Junior Parvathi Narayan adding four goals. Sophomore Indira Varma finished with three goals plus an assist and Kaitlin Frangione contributed two goals and one assist.
Frangione had the first goal before Narayan scored twice, just 21 seconds apart. Burlingame called time before getting on the scoreboard at 3-1 before Menlo pulled ahead at 6-1 as Varma sandwiched goals around one by Donovan.
After Burlingame got one goal back, the Knights tallied six unanswered goals to put the match away with a 12-2 halftime lead. Goalie Alena Stern came up with six saves for Menlo, including four in the first half. Menlo out-shot Burlingame, 36-17, and won the battle of draw controls, 16-5.
The Sacred Heart Prep girls advanced with a 14-6 victory over No. 2 seed and host Menlo-Atherton (15-6) on Thursday evening. The No. 3-seeded Gators (9-12) got six goals from senior Brigid White, three goals plus two assists from junior Juliana Clark, two goals and one assist from sophomore Cameron Gordon, two goals from junior Emma Johnson and one goal from sophomore Kailey Wachhorst.
Boys
Sacred Heart Prep rallied from four goals down in the first half, tying the score in regulation before winning it in overtime, 6-5 over rival Menlo-Atherton in the semifinals of the PAL playoffs on a rainy Thursday afternoon.
The host Gators (16-5) trailed the Bears by 5-1 at halftime, but battled back. In sudden-death overtime, Trevor Peay tallied the game-winning goal.
Frank Bell and Will Kremer each had two goals and Fred Eder also tallied in regulation. Goalie Austin Appleton came up with 10 saves to help the Gators advance to Saturday’s playoff finale.
Menlo School advanced with an 11-5 win over Woodside. The Knights held a 6-5 lead at the half before charging into the third period.
In other lacrosse playoff finals on Saturday, top-seeded Palo Alto will host No. 2 Gunn in the girls’ SCVAL De Anza Division title match at 11 a.m. The Palo Alto boys will visit regular-season champ Los Gatos at 2 p.m.
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports