Menlo School went overtime to beat host St. Francis, 11-10, in a nonleague boys water polo game Friday.
Sacred Heart Prep went south to earn a pair of victories on opening day of the S&R Sports tournament at UC Irvine, clobbering Irvine, 16-0, and beating Coronado 14-4.
The Gators (10-2) meet Corona Del Mar (11-5) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals. The Sea Kings beat Acalanes and Miramonte to advance.
The Knights (12-3) needed a big defensive stop to keep the game tied and that turned into a breakaway with Sam Untrecht taking a long pass from Menlo goalie Josh Poulos and converting the winning shot just before the second overtime was about to end.
Menlo tied the score at 10 three minutes earlier on a pass from Miller Geschke to Maxwell Patterson, who buried the shot.
The Knights out-shot St. Francis, 39-23, including a 4-1 edge in overtime. David Reo gave the Lancers a 10-9 lead before Patterson knotted things again.
A key to the contest was Menlo’s defense, which killed off five of the Lancers seven power-play opportunities. The Knights were 0-of-2 on power plays.
Senior Niko Bhatia led the defense with seven steals. Poulos added another four to go with seven saves.
“Tonight’s game again demonstrated this team’s character and their heart,” Menlo coach Jack Bowen said. ” And to see our young goalie step up like that in sudden victory overtime and throw a perfect pass at that distance was just inspiring. I love being with these guys.”
Menlo has consistently been competitive with St. Francis and holds a slight edge in the past 18 years at 17-10.
The Knights have another big test Tuesday, when they play at Sacred Heart Prep at 7 p.m. The girls teams play at 6 p.m.
Untrecht scored three goals in the contest, matched by Jayden Kunwar, who also had three assists.
Sacred Heart Prep scored the game’s first four goals en route to the victory over Coronado. Alex Tsotadze led the Gators with five goals and an assist. Larsen Weigle and Walker Seymour each added three goals and an assist. Andrew Churukian added two goals.
The Gators scored their 14 goals on 28 shots and were 3-of-9 on power plays.
Alexander Nemeth and John Petrakian shared time in the goal during both games. They combined on 16 saves for the day.
Kyle Ballack scored three times, on three shots, to lead the victory over Irvine. Tsotadze, Churukian and James Plaschke each added two goals while Michael Sonsini had a goal and two assists.
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
Once again, Menlo & SHP seem to be the class of CCS wo po. Serious consistency from those programs year after year