November 23, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Menlo's double dip in CCS finals

by Keith Peters

It really shouldn't have come as a surprise that the Menlo School boys and girls registered identical 6-4 victories to claim Central Coast Section water polo championships on Saturday.

These, after all, are two very similar programs with a lot in common.

The Menlo boys have a veteran coach in Jack Bowen, who in six seasons has guided the Knights to three CCS titles.

The Menlo girls also have a veteran coach in Kyle Utsumi, who in nine seasons has guided the Knights to three CCS titles.

The Menlo boys were led by a senior-dominated squad in 2005 while the girls were led by a young, but very experienced group that won the 2004 section title.

The Menlo boys went into the CCS tournament seeded No. 1 in Division II while the girls were seeded No. 2. Both teams had excellent underclassmen goalies - Mike Merlone and Elise Ponce - who have trained under Bowen, a former All-American goalie at Stanford.

On Saturday at Independence High in San Jose, everything came together as expected for both teams. The Menlo boys beat No. 3 Sacred Heart Prep, 6-4, with the Menlo girls following with their 6-4 triumph over Menlo-Atherton.

The Menlo boys finished with a school-record 32-3 mark while the girls finished 28-4. It was the first time since girls began playing in the CCS that two teams from the same school captured titles in the same season.

"The goal from Day 1 was to be our best," said Menlo senior Deitrich Graumann, who could have been speaking for both teams. "We wanted to win CCS to prove that was true.

"We had high expectation," Graumann continued. "We felt (going in) like if we play our best, we'll win CCS. And we did."

Graumann provided the game-winning goal late in the fourth quarter to break a 4-4 tie. Fellow senior Kyle Hudson followed with a backhand goal for insurance. Merlone came up with a crucial save just before Graumann's goal and junior Ben Hohl kept his team on top throughout with three goals despite a concerted attempt by Sacred Heart Prep to keep him and his teammates out of scoring range.

"We were just trying to keep Ben Hohl and the Menlo players away from the strike zone," said SHP first-year coach Brian Kreutzkamp, whose plan was to push the Menlo offense away from the cage. "If I had known we could hold Menlo to six goals, I may have thought we had a good chance. But, they played great defense and their goalie made some great saves.

"You could tell they're a veteran team. We tried to rattle them, but they have a lot of seniors and they've been in this game before. Without question, we lost to a better team. I have no problem with that."

The Gators (25-10) kept it competitive and interesting to the end, however, and showed why they will be contenders for years to come while graduating only Kevin Deggelman, Randy Ang, Atilla Lazar and goalie Alex Dunlevie. Sophomores Tim Norton and Elliott Samuels scored two goals each in Saturday's final while freshman Paul Rudolph is definitely another star of the future.

Menlo, meanwhile, started five seniors and will graduate six. In addition to Hudson and Graumann, senior co-captains Matt Hudnall and Travis Read joined with Matt Wilson and reserve Pete Howard in celebrating their first (and last) CCS title.

"I love the fact the seniors were able to win their last game," said Bowen, whose seniors were the first group he had from their freshman year to win a CCS title. It was no surprise, then, that Bowen had tears in his eyes while his players were receiving their CCS medals after the game. "It has been amazing. It's as powerful an experience as one can have on the high school level."

Bowen said two things made the difference in Saturday's finale - team defense and Menlo's system.

"We had seven guys with steals and 16 total," he said. "How many offenses do you get in a game? Twenty?

And the system?

"The fact we trusted in our system," Bowen said. "This Sacred Heart team is very patient. It was a matter of who's going to be more patient? I knew we could match their patience. I didn't want us to take shots out of character."

And Menlo didn't. Everything worked together as planned. The Knights controlled the pace of the game, didn't make a lot of mistakes and took advantage of the mistakes SHP made.

"I could not be prouder of this group," Bowen said.

Utsumi echoed that sentiment following the Menlo girls' 6-4 victory over fifth-seeded Menlo-Atherton (26-9), which helped open the door to the Knights' title by eliminating top-seeded Sacred Heart Prep in the semifinals.

What worked for M-A first-year coach Chris Rubin against SHP, didn't against Menlo. The Bears didn't get the same kind of perimeter offense they did against the Gators as Menlo pressured the wings and clamped down on M-A seniors Kelly Eaton and Heidi Kucera. Eaton finished with two goals and Kucera muscled in a third, but neither were factors with the game on the line as Menlo's defense took over.

"Kelly's such an offensive talent that we needed to be in position," Utsumi said of stopping the Stanford-bound Eaton.

Utsumi watched M-A's startling 6-5 semifinal win over Sacred Heart Prep (30-2) and adjusted his game plan.

"I can't complain about our defensive effort," Utsumi said, acknowledging the 11 saves in the cage by Ponce. "We adjusted on defense very well."

Utsumi's other plan was to stay aggressive on offense.

"The main thing we wanted to do was keep attacking," he explained. "We knew we needed to score. We turned the ball over a lot late in the game, but we wanted to keep mentally aggressive."

The teams were evenly matched throughout with four ties. The last came when Kucera, with Menlo players hanging all over her, fired home a shot for a 4-all deadlock early in the fourth quarter. Menlo junior Camy Sullivan, who finished with three goals, then provided what proved to be the winning goal on a lob shot that just eluded M-A junior goalie Jessie Welton.

Sullivan then assisted on a goal by sophomore Cayley Bowles for a 6-4 lead with 4:26 left to play and it was all over except for the celebrating.

For M-A, it was a tough end for the program's finest season ever. Along with Eaton and Kucera, the Bears lose Kelly Fero and Danielle Hildebrandt.

For Menlo, Angie McPhaul is the only senior starter who played in her final game Saturday.

"We played as a team," she said. "We communicated. We were all working together. Everything worked."

And McPhaul got to raise the CCS championship trophy afterward with fellow seniors Mattie Goldman and Galen Avery.

Said McPhaul: "It doesn't get any better than this."

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