Annie Smith rifled a shot toward the goal, and it was Oyer's touch that deflected the ball into the net to give Los Gatos a 1-0 win over rival St. Francis.

"We were concerned after last year," said Los Gatos coach Henry Reyes, whose squad lost a heartbreaker to the Lancers in the CCS finals in 2001. "Everyone had a function and a purpose. We developed a smaller and faster kind of passing game, and we kept the pressure on the whole 60 minutes."

Despite the constant pressure, Oyer's shot was the only one that got past talented St. Francis goalkeeper Jen Bow, who blocked nine Gatos shots before the one slipped by her with 14:38 left to play in the game.

On the other end of the field, nothing got by Gatos keeper Nicole Wasserman, thanks in no small part to the defensive heroics of Courtney Furia and Jenny Dixon.

Furia, a senior back, stood guard at the top of the half-circle and allowed virtually nothing to get past her, stopping five St. Francis drives to the goal.

"She did a wonderful job all season," said Reyes of Furia. "We ran a deeper sweep this year."

But it was a diving save by Dixon that really saved the day for the Wildcats.

The Lancers were threatening deep on the Gatos end of the field. Wasserman came out to make a diving stop, but she couldn't smother the ball. As the ball rolled past her toward the open net, Dixon came out of nowhere to slap it away for a crucial save with just 3:07 to play.

Dixon, a senior midfielder, ended up making four big saves for the Wildcats, and Wasserman, a sophomore in the net, finished with four saves, including two on one play midway through the second half.

St. Francis was driving the ball down the field, but Wasserman came out of the net to make a diving block. She jumped to her feet and got back in the cage to make a second stop, thwarting the St. Francis threat.

As tough as the Los Gatos defense was in the win, the offense was dominating, despite scoring just the one goal.

St. Francis controlled the ball in the Gatos end for most of the first 10 minutes before getting off the first shot of the game with 20:06 left in the half. Wasserman made the block, and that would be the last shot for the Lancers for the next 16 minutes.

Alison Reyes and Sarah Yuki, both junior forwards, kept up the attack on the St. Francis end of the field for the rest of the half.

"We just kept telling them to press a little more and it might break their timing a little bit," said Reyes.

And press they did. St. Francis had just two shots in the first half compared to six for the Wildcats.

Reyes, Yuki, Smith, Dixon and Hannah McAuliffe combined to get off 10 shots to just six for the Lancers in the second half as Los Gatos kept up the pressure to the final tick of the clock.

"They fought so well," said Reyes of his Wildcats.

Merin Clark, Jodi Christiansen, Tiffany Baiardo and Bailey Richardson were other key players for Los Gatos in the win over the Lancers. The Wildcats, 18-3 for the year, had dropped two 1-0 decisions to St. Francis earlier this season.

Los Gatos whipped North Salinas 7-1 earlier in the week to get into the CCS title game. Smith and Christiansen led the way for the Cats with two goals apiece, and Clark, Yuki and Emily Augustine also scored.

Baiardo and Reyes handed out three assists apiece for Gatos, and Yuki and Dixon gave out two each. Christiansen, Clark and Richardson also chipped in with assists in the semifinal win.

The Wildcats opened up a 3-0 first-half lead, then swamped North Salinas 4-1 in the second half to cruise into the finals with the easy win.

Emma Gudeman, Stacey Cushman, Lauren Brasier, Jenny Tighe, Marlana Shile, Felicia Bersano, Stacy Cushman, Carrie Sporck, Kiley Fasono, Robin Rector, Kelly Shultz, Emi Kapp, Melanie Goodman, Teresa Weygandt, Claire Van Zuiden and Brittany Murphy were other members of the Los Gatos CCS championship team.

Photograph by Sean Penello Los Gatos middle blocker Sandy Sargent soars above the net to make this hit in the CCS Division 2 semifinals against Carlmont.

It took 21 wins to get there ... it took two more to win it all.

And the Los Gatos girls volleyball team swept to those two wins last week to take the Central Coast Section (CCS) Division 2 championship at West Valley College in Saratoga.

The Wildcats had swept Carlmont 15-5, 15-6, 15-10 in the semifinals on Nov. 20, then breezed by Aragon 15-1, 15-1, 15-3 in the finals to claim their second section championship in three years. The Cats won the CCS Division 2 crown in the 2000 season.

Los Gatos posted a 21-6 record in the regular season, winning the championship in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League along the way.

The 21 victories earned Gatos the No. 1 seed in the CCS Division 2 tournament and a first-round bye. After posting an easy win over Carlmont, the Wildcats posted an even easier win over Aragon in the finals.

The Dons could manage just five points in three games against the powerful Wildcats. Outside hitters Alexa Anderson, a sophomore, and Hilary Lewis, a junior, combined for 20 kills in the championship match. Lewis topped the Cats with 11 kills, and Anderson supported with nine.

Los Gatos will now take its 23-6 season record into the Northern California tournament that begins this week.

The Wildcats opened the playoffs with a three-game sweep of the Scots. Anderson and senior middle hitter Sandy Sargent drilled 11 kills apiece to lead the Cats to the victory.

Along with Lewis, Anderson and Sargent, Joe Ripp's Los Gatos squad includes senior Katie Rowell, juniors Caroline Walters, Cassie Eggers, Katie Kramer and Chloe Wilder and sophomores Rebecca Mason and Michelle Johnson.