After winning back-to-back league and playoff titles in the West Bay Athletic League (Foothill Division) lacrosse action, the Sacred Heart Prep girls saw a third straight season of domination end in 2015.
That was Menlo School’s season to shine, as the Knights thumped the Gators twice during the regular season and again in the playoff finale.
That scenario won’t happen again in 2016, however. Sacred Heart Prep saw to that with a 13-12 sudden-death overtime victory over the visiting Knights on Wednesday.
Menlo (1-1, 4-5) forced the extra period when Abby Wolfenden scored her third goal with just 41 seconds left to play.
In the three-minute sudden-death period, SHP’s Cameron Gordon got possession after the draw and, on a breakaway, scored the winning goal. That gave her six for the game.
Libby Muir and Allison Carter each finished with three goals for SHP (2-0, 8-1).
In addition to Wolfenden, Menlo got two goals each from Nikky Price, Indira Varma, Allison Liddle and Kaitlin Frangione, plus one from Charlotte Swisher.
Menlo goalie Alena Stern had eight saves and SHP keeper Emma Briger had nine.
Menlo, which had its 59-match league win streak snapped by SHP in 2013, is now 134-10 in league (including the Peninsula Athletic League) since 2004. It appeared that mark was going to improve by a victory perhaps when Menlo grabbed a 6-5 halftime lead.
Muir, however, scored on a free-position shot immediately after the draw to tie the match. Carter scored for the Gators and it was 7-6 less than five minutes into the half.
The game went back and forth from there. Menlo held leads of 10-8 and 11-9 following goals by Price, but SHP battled back to tie at 11 on back-to-back goals by Gordon with 7:30 left. Muir nabbed a draw ball and drove solo for a score and 12-11 lead with 7:11 remaining, but Price found Wolfenden, who scored, and the match was tied as 12 with 41 ticks left.
Menlo had a free-position opportunity, which was denied by Briger. The Knights got the ball back back, but couldn’t get off a shot. That set the stage for OT and Gordon’s winning effort.
SHP out-shot Menlo by 23-22, but the Knights held a 14-11 advantage in draw controls.
The teams will meet again on May 10 at Menlo School. In the JV match, Menlo went two overtimes to beat SHP, 7-6.
Menlo was coming off a 2-2 effort on its spring break trip to Florida. Stern had 49 saves in the four matches played over a 24-hour period. Price led the offense with 13 goals and three assists.
Baseball
Sacred Heart Prep opened its PAL Bay Division season with a 7-0 loss to host Capuchino. The Gators (0-1, 4-12) managed just three hits.
Boys golf
Menlo saw any hope of catching Harker in the WBAL race disappear in a 185-193 dual-match loss to the undefeated Eagles at Palo Alto Hills Golf & Country Club.
Scout McNealy shot a 2-under 34 to earn medalist honors for Harker (7-0). Jeff Herr and Max Ting led Menlo (4-3) with 37s. Herr had two birdies and was 1-under until he hit his approach shot on No. 9 out of bounds. Ting and Rohin Chandra (41) each had a pair of birdies.
Sacred Heart Prep pulled into a second-place tie with Menlo following a 200-210 dual-match win over host King’s Academy at Sunnyvale Muni. Shane Snow led the Gators (4-3, 4-5) with a 3-over 38 while Erik Morris shot 39, Holland Sutton shot 40, Brad Oliver carded a 41 and Will Johnson a 42, matched by teammat Anikait Bhardwaj.
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports