Menlo to play in CCS Division I soccer championship match

The top-seeded Menlo girls’ soccer team will be making its third straight appearance in the championship match of the Central Coast Section playoffs after beating visiting Branham 1-0 Wednesday.

The Knights (9-0-1) will face No. 3 Soquel (12-1-1) for the Division I title at home Saturday morning. Soquel beat No. 7 Sacred Heart Prep 4-1 to advance into its first-ever championship appearance.

Menlo controlled possession through most of the first half but remained scoreless through the first 55 minutes.

The Knights had several scoring opportunities in the second half before junior Carolina Espinosa delivered the game winner 15 minutes into the second half.

Menlo outshot the Bruins 13-3 and sophomore Samantha Sellers earned the clean sheet, the Knights’ sixth of the short season.

The Knights lost to Burlingame on penalty kicks in their last appearance, in Division III, and won the Division I title in 2019. Menlo will be going for its eighth CCS title.

Brenda Melgoza scored for SHP (8-4) to make it 2-1 just before halftime.

In the Division II semifinals, Menlo-Atherton fell to host Sequoia 1-0 Wednesday. The Ravens play Lincoln of San Jose for the title Friday.

Boys soccer

Menlo-Atherton fell, in overtime, to visiting Leigh 1-0 in a semifinal of the CCS Division I tournament Wednesday.

Girls tennis

Menlo defeated visiting Evergreen Valley 5-2 in the CCS semifinals Wednesday.

Menlo (10-1), which took a six-week break when the boys season began, will meet No. 6 Harker (10-0), which beat St. Francis 7-0.

Harker ended Menlo’s state record 24-year league winning streak earlier in the season.

The Knights won the CCS title in the last season competed and will look to defend their title Friday afternoon at Menlo.

“The nerves, rust and lack of play was there early, but the girls quickly got over it, and played really well,” Menlo coach Bill Shine said. “I was impressed with the way they handled all of that today.”

Addie Ahlström, who will play for Brown in the fall, won in straight sets at No, 1.

Junior Tricia Zhang and sophomore Sofia Labatt fell at Nos. 2 and 3 singles, while sophomore Charlotte Yao picked up a win at No. 4.

In doubles, senior Lindsey Ball and junior Brynn Brady swept at No. 1, junior C.C. Golub and sophomore Natalie Westermann teamed for a win at No. 2, and senior Penelope Anderson and junior Alex Viret completed the doubles sweep at No. 3.

Baseball

Zander Darby tripled among his five hits and drove in three runs and Palo Alto clinched the SCVAL De Anza Division title with a 13-4 victory over host Cupertino Wednesday.

Bowman Wingard had three hits, and Danny Peters and Ritter Amsbaugh added two hits for the Vikings (19-4, 12-1), who host Cupertino Friday afternoon.

Amsbaugh, Hayden Jung-Goldberg and Xavier Esquer each drove in a pair of runs.

Peters and Ryan Harvey shared pitching duties, with Peters earning the win.

Christopher Dodge collected three hits and drove in a pair of runs but Woodside fell to host El Camino 8-6 Wednesday in a PAL Ocean Division game.

Dodge doubled home two runs during a five-run rally in the sixth and the Wildcats (11-11, 8-8) had the go-ahead runs on base when the inning ended.

JC Ng hit a home run and Eric Young drove in two runs but Menlo School fell to visiting Capuchino 10-3 in another PAL contest.

Adam Collins collected four hits, including a pair of doubles, and drove in five runs in helping Priory beat host Westmoor in a PAL Lake Division game.

Softball

Brenna Birnbaum and Kylie Liu each drove in four runs on two hits and Gunn downed visiting Monta Vista 13-2 in a SCVAL El Camino Division contest Wednesday.

Ashley Ng collected three hits and drove in a run for the Titans (13-1, 11-1), who finish the regular season with a division co-championship, with Cupertino.

Winning pitcher Maddie Ta, the lone senior, honored by the team, on the team, also had two hits and drove in a run. On the mound, she allowed two unearned runs on six hits. Ta walked two and struck out five.

Birnbaum tripled with the bases loaded as part of a five-run rally in the second. The rally started with two outs and no one on base. Lauryn Selvaraj sparked the scoring spree with a single.

An error and walk later, Birnbaum tripled into right field, clearing the bases. Ng followed with a RBI double, Liu walked and Ta singled home a run.

Gunn’s CCS fate will be determined at seeding meeting on June 6.

Boys basketball

Calvin Kapral recorded a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds and had five assists as Woodside kept it close until late in the game before falling to host Half Moon Bay 65-55 in a PAL contest Wednesday.

Danny Salinger-Brown added 11 points while Timmy Yee and Luke Buddie combined for another 18 points.

Woodside (3-4, 3-4) held the lead into the second quarter and the game was tied 33-33 at halftime.

Half Moon Bay (18-3, 7-0) took the lead early in the third quarter though the Wildcats stayed with the Cougars until the final minutes.

Woodside hosts Half Moon Bay Friday evening.

Palo Alto lost to visiting Mountain View 56-47 on Wednesday in a SCVAL De Anza Division contest, snapping a four-game winning streak.

The Vikings (8-8, 6-5) travel to play at Mountain View Friday evening.

Paly celebrated its seniors in a brief ceremony: Andrew Li, Aidan Rausch, Martin Segura, Simon Minami and Ziggy Tummalapalli.

Gunn lost its final home game to Los Gatos 44-36 in a SCVAL El Camino Division game. Senior Gavin Kitch led the Titans with 11 points.

Gunn honored its 11 seniors: Sengal Araya, Lorenzo Boccio, Aidan Chi, Yotam Elazar, Kitch, Samuel Lee, Luke McFaul, Connor Missett, Ayaan Rahim, Anand Sekar and Josh Tanaka.

Girls basketball

Avery Lee scored 21 points and Menlo beat host Sacred Heart Prep 62-4 in a WBAL Foothill Division game Wednesday.

Riley Jensen added 12 points for the Knights (4-4, 3-4), who will compete in the CCS playoffs. Coco Layton returned to action, hitting a pair of 3-pointers.

Priory beat host Notre Dame Belmont 60-31 in another league game. The Panthers (8-3, 7-2) opened a double-digit lead in the first quarter and continued to increase the margin the rest of the game. It was 19-4 after the first quarter and 29-16 at halftime.

Priory travels to play at The King’s Academy on Thursday night.

Courtni Thompson scored 25 points in helping Pinewood beat host Lynbrook 74-63 in a non-league game Wednesday.

Annika Decker produced a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists as the Panthers (14-0) won the battle of league leaders. Lynbrook (12-2) tops the SCVAL De Anza Division while Pinewood clinched the WBAL Foothill Division title.

Thompson was 7-of-11 from 3-point range and Pinewood made 15 as a team. Decker was 3-of-5 from long range.

Pinewood is likely headed for a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the CCS Open Division. Lynbrook could also play in the Open Division.