And the Wildcats have arguably the best home around, considering that the Central Coast Section picks the site every year for the championship tournament.

It's the same story again this fall, and the Wildcats that it's the same story indeed. A year ago the Cats beat St. Francis on their home field to win the CCS championship, and they open play this week in the tourney that they hope has the same results.

Los Gatos beat Prospect 3-0 on the final day of the regular season to finish 10-1-1 and in first place in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. Toss in five non-league wins this year, and the Cats own a 15-1-1 season record, good for the No. 1 seed in the CCS playoffs.

Los Gatos will open the playoffs on its home field on Nov. 13, 2:45 p.m. The CCS quarterfinals will be played at Gatos on Nov. 15—10 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 3:15 p.m.—with the semifinals on Nov. 18—1 p.m., 2:45 p.m.—and the finals on Nov. 22—11 a.m.

Of the 15 Los Gatos victories, 13 were shutouts, thanks in no small part to the work of junior Nicole Wasserman in the goal.

Seniors Alison Reyes, Sarah Yuki, Courtney Furia, Robin Rector and Jodi Christiansen are team leaders for the Cats.

A 2-1 loss to St. Francis and a 1-1 tie against Mitty are the only mars on an otherwise perfect season slate for Los Gatos. The Wildcats beat Leigh 3-0 and 2-0, Los Altos 3-0 and 6-0, Lynbrook 1-0 and 7-0, Prospect 2-1 and 3-0, Mitty 3-0 and St. Francis 1-0 in league play.

Water polo

There may be no swimming pool at Los Gatos High School right now, but the Wildcats are still splashing up a storm in Santa Clara Valley Athletic League water polo.

The Gatos boys finished second in the regular season, then nailed third place in the De Anza Division tournament, and the girls won the title in the El Camino Division season-ending tourney. Making the season even more impressive was a title-tie by the Los Gatos boys frosh-soph team.

"It's been a great season for both the varsity and frosh-soph teams," said Los Gatos boys coach Steve Spencer. "The team continues to improve weekly and has a great chance of making the CCS playoffs."

The Gatos boys varsity beat Gunn 10-9 on the final day of the regular season to post a 5-1 record, good for second to Los Altos (6-0) in the division. The Cats went on to win two of three games in the tourney to finish league play 7-2 and push their season mark to 16-12.

"Eight of the 11 games we lost were to league champs who are going to CCS, and three others were to second place teams also going to CCS," added Spencer.

Leading the charge for the Wildcats have been Jeff Mohr, Scott Silva, Austin Nichols, Robert Shamshoian and Brian Rose, who each scored more than 30 goals this season. Senior goalie Tyler Scales "is playing at the top of his game," added Spencer, indicating that Scales blocked five attempts in the fourth quarter to clinch the win over Gunn.

The coach also praised the defensive effort of senior Andy Hight.

Los Gatos clinched third place in the tournament with a 4-3 win over Cupertino on Saturday at Saratoga. Mohr scored three goals and Nichols added one in the win.

Gatos had opened the tourney with a 15-8 win over Palo Alto. Silva led the Cats with four goals and Rose and Mohr had three apiece. Nichols and Shamshoian added two each.

The Wildcats lost 12-10 to Gunn in the second round of the tournament. Mohr led the Cats with three goals and Nichols, Shamshoian and Rose had two each.

The Los Gatos boys frosh-soph, led by coach Chris Spencer, posted a 5-1 record to tie with Los Altos for first place in the division. The young Cats then won three straight games to take the league tournament title, beating Cupertino 5-1, Monta Vista 11-3 and Los Altos 11-8.

Meanwhile, the Los Gatos girls won three straight games to take the El Camino Division tournament. The Cats beat Wilcox 9-5, Santa Clara 11-34 and Mountain View 8-7.

Breezy Conner pumped in four goals to help the Cats to the title-clinching 8-7 win over the Spartans. Gatos entered the final period trailing 6-5, but outscored Mountain View 3-1 to claim the win.

Kim Ratzliff supported with two goals and Jessica Safir and Ana Graziosi added a goal apiece.

Conner had pitched in four goals and Ratzliff and Ashleigh Weissman added two each to lead the Cats past Santa Clara in the semifinals.

In the opener against Wilcox, Conner buried a team-high seven goals and Weissman and Ratzliff had one each in the 9-5 win over Wilcox.

Volleyball

The Los Gatos girls volleyball team will open the CCS Division II playoffs this week when the Wildcats meet the Homestead (20-17)­Leigh (24-13) first-round winner on Nov. 15, 1 p.m., at Aptos High School. The Cats are 30-4 and seeded No. 2 in the division behind Mitty (27-3).