The Cupertino Courier

Sports

Mats win a thriller, but fall 2-1 to Wildcats

By Dick Sparrer

Los Gatos and Saratoga are no strangers to each other in the high school sports arena--they've been rivals ever since Saratoga students left Los Gatos to attend their own high school in 1959.

And that longstanding rivalry will be renewed this week when the two schools meet again with a very important prize on the line--a trip to the Central Coast Section field hockey championship game set for Nov. 17, 11 a.m., at Willow Glen High School.

Los Gatos, the No. 2 seed in the CCS tournament and boasting a 13-2-3 season record, edged No. 7-seeded Monta Vista (11-7-1) 2-1 on Saturday to earn its place in the semifinals on Nov. 13, 5:30 p.m., at Gilroy.

Saratoga, the No. 6 seed, had a tougher road. Unlike the Wildcats, the Falcons did not receive a first-round bye, so had to play two games last week. Saratoga pounded No. 11 Monterey (8-5) 8-2 before upsetting No. 3 Lynbrook (14-4-1) 1-0 on penalty strokes on Saturday to improve to 13-5-1 for the year.

On the other end of the bracket, No. 1 St. Francis (17-0-2) blanked No. 8 Leigh (14-3) and No. 4 Archbishop Mitty (12-4-3) topped No. 5 Gilroy (13-4-1) to advance to the semi's. The two West Catholic Athletic League rivals will collide at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday at Gilroy.

In other first-round game, Gilroy defeated No. 12 Del Mar (10-6) 2-1, Monta Vista beat No. 10 Los Altos (4-9-1) 3-2 and Leigh shut out No. 9 Presentation (9-7-2) 2-0.

Saratoga is off to an impressive start in the CCS tournament. The Falcons made short work of Monterey in their opener, then came back to win a thriller against Lynbrook on Saturday.

The Falcons and Vikings fought to a scoreless tie in regulation and remained scoreless through two overtime periods. Saratoga ended up winning in double strokes when junior Kelly Darchuk knocked in the winning goal to push the Falcons to the CCS semifinals.

Senior goalkeeper Stephanie Douglass was impressive in the cage, blanking Lynbrook the entire day. The Vikings had won the championship in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League to earn their place in the playoffs and a first-round bye.

Mitty earned its spot in the CCS semifinals with a tight 3-2 overtime win over Gilroy on Saturday. Jessica Kreck scored on a penalty kick and had an assist for the Monarchs in the win. Claire Dougherty and Courtney Poulsen also scored goals and Jaclyn Zamudio had an assist.

Katie Mitchell had a goal and an assist, and Brianna Dougherty and Lisa Gonia each had goals to lift St. Francis to a 3-0 win over Leigh.

Monta Vista opened the playoffs with a thrilling 3-2 double overtime win over Los Altos before losing a 2-1 heartbreaker to Los Gatos in the quarterfinals.

Wet grounds forced Monta Vista to play its opener on the road at Los Altos on Thursday, and because of a football double-header at the school that day the game was played at 12:30 p.m. Despite the confusing circumstances, the Matadors were able to pull together for the win.

Sarah Hassman knocked in all three goals for the Mats in their win over the Eagles, scoring off assists from Lauren Parcel, Sarah Trankle and Shireen Gupta.

Kasha Sang scored a second-half goal but it wasn't enough to get the Matadors past Los Gatos in the quarter-final round.