SHP, Menlo boys join M-A girls as league water polo champs

The Central Coast Section water polo playoffs get under way this week and there should be little surprise to who the top-seeded teams will be following a handful of league tournaments that wrapped up on Saturday.

The defending CCS Division II champion Sacred Heart Prep boys are back in the favorite’s role following a dominating 6-1 victory over St. Francis in the finals of the West Catholic Athletic League playoffs at Bellarmine Prep.

The Menlo School boys, who finished second to SHP in the CCS tourney last season, looks to get a rematch after dunking Menlo-Atherton, 7-3, in the Peninsula Athletic League playoff finals at Menlo-Atherton.

And the Menlo-Atherton girls, still remembering the disappointment from last season’s overtime loss in the CCS Division I finale, continue to prove they’re the best in any division following a 15-3 swamping of Division II contender Castilleja in the PAL playoff title match at M-A.

In other tourney finals Saturday, the Gunn boys and girls both lost in the SCVAL De Anza Division. The boys dropped a 10-5 decision to Los Altos while the girls fell to Los Gatos, 9-7. In the WCAL finals, the Sacred Heart Prep girls let a close game get away while losing to St. Francis, 10-4.

The CCS Division II boys’ tournament looks to be another SHPO-Menlo affair after both teams used dominating defensive performances to beat teams that played in the CCS finals last season.

In San Jose, top-seeded Sacred Heart Prep (21-5) shutout defending CCS Division I champ St. Francis for the first half while rolling to its impressive victory. Senior goalie Ben Dearborn had 12 saves while junior Philip Bamberg tossed in three goals. Seniors David Culpan (two goals) and Robert Dunlevie (one) finished off the scoring and the No. 2-seeded Lancers.

In Atherton, great defense and timely offense carried top-seeded Menlo School (20-6) to its victory over No. 2 Menlo-Atherton (14-11) in the PAL finals. The Knights gave up two early goals, but Menlo shifted its swarm defense and added a notch to its counter attack and that resulted in a 7-1 run to sink the Bears’ hopes.

Senior Chris Akin, junior John Holland-McCowan and sophomore Nick Hale all scored two goals for Menlo, while Jack Foley did a standout defensive job while limiting M-A scoring leader Jed Springer to just one goal. Eric Wright scored twice for the Bears, who had twice as many extra-man situations than the Knights.

The crucial ingredient to Menlo’s victory, however, was provided by sophomore backup goalie Connor Dillon. With starter Keegan Williams (the PAL’s Most Valuable Goalie this season) sidelined by an injury, Dillon stepped in and played like a veteran.

“He showed a lot of maturity stepping in to a championship game like that,” Menlo coach Jack Bowen said of Dillon. “He played amazingly well.

“As for our defense: it was awesome. We made a total of five mistakes and M-A got goals on all three of them. Connor made a big save on another, and they earned a kickout on the last. To Connor’s credit, he played a near-flawless game from a goalkeeper’s standpoint. His passing was spot-on, and he even made two fullcourt passes landing exactly where they needed to for a 5-meter shot and an ejection — and the three goals they scored really weren’t his responsibility.”

Before Menlo won the boys’ title, the Menlo-Atherton girls made the most of their home-pool advantage and beat Castilleja for the third time this season in a most-convincing fashion as seven Bears scored. The victory for Menlo-Atherton (25-1) was its 23rd straight while the Gators fell to 17-9.

Menlo-Atherton pulled away to a 7-1 halftime lead and never was threatened, outscoring Castilleja in the final period, 5-0. Senior Vanessa Lane led the balanced scoring attack with five goals while sophomores Brittany Krappe, Emily Gran and Marie Popp all scored two goals, as did senior Becca Dorst. Junior goalie Emily Dorst had 13 saves for the Bears while Laura Moreno contributed three assists.

At the SCVAL De Anza Division playoff finals:

The host Gunn (18-6) boys rolled into the finals on Saturday hoping to finally knock off regular-season champion Los Altos, but it didn’t happen as the Eagles clamped down on Gunn scoring leader Alex Berenfeld and held him to just one goal. Berenfeld had scored 17 goals in his two previous tourney games. Alex Doundakov did score two goals for the Titans, but they just didn’t have enough offensive to contend with the champs, who took an 8-5 lead into the final period and then held Gunn scoreless.

Colin Mulcahy led Los Altos with five goals.

At Los Altos High, Gunn (12-7) was hoping to claim its first SCVAL De Anza Division playoff crown after upsetting top seed Los Altos in the semifinals. Whatever momentum the Titans got from that victory wasn’t quite enough on Saturday as they fell to Los Gatos.

The match was even at 5 heading into the final quarter before the Wildcats pulled away. Casey Lincoln and senior Jenny Anderson led Gunn with two goals each.

“We did not complete the Cinderalla story on Saturday,” said Gunn coach Mark Hernandez. “We played our guts out. There were several lead changes, and it was close throughout. In the end, as cliche as it sounds, they just made a few more plays than we did. They are a very, very good team, one that plays a physical, athletic style of water polo. I’m really proud of the way we fought.”

In the third-place match, Palo Alto (16-11) dropped a 5-4 decision to Los Altos. Skylar Dorosin scored twice for the Vikings, who held the Eagles scoreless in the first half behind the solid goalie work of June Ifshar. Los Altos scored three times in the third to tie the match.

At the WCAL finals in San Jose, a one-goal match turned into a rout when top-seeded St. Francis scored five times in the fourth period to earn its victory over No. 2 Sacred Heart Prep. The Gators (19-8) trailed only by 5-4 entering the final quarter before the Lancers pulled away. Erin Sheridan scored twice for SHP while senior goalie Catherine Donahoe had 11 saves.

— Keith Peters

— Keith Peters

— Keith Peters