You see, Allison Reyes, Jodi Christiansen and the rest of the Los Gatos seniors don't know any different. They played for the CCS championship last Saturday on the Gatos field ... just as they had in the three previous years.

This year's outcome was a little different than the three before. This year there was no winner.

Los Gatos and St. Francis battled to a 1-1 tie in the CCS title game. Because there are no tiebreakers in section championship games, the Wildcats and Lancers are considered co-champions after playing through two regular 30-minute halves and two 10-minute overtimes.

"We're as nappy as we can be, short of one more [goal] on the board," said Los Gatos coach Henry Reyes after the game. "I'm very proud of [the team]. That's four finals in a row for these seniors."

It's more than that for Reyes. The coach has led the Wildcats into the finals in each of the past seven seasons and in nine of the last 12 years. The Cats have now won six section field hockey titles—1993, '95, '98, '99, 2002 and '03.

Los Gatos and St. Francis have met in the finals in each of the last three years. The Lancers won in 2001, the Cats won in '02 and the clubs tied this year.

"Two very balanced teams met and showed they had the ability to score," said Reyes. "It was a steady, balanced game. I'm proud it went this way."

For seniors Reyes, Christiansen, Courtney Furia, Sarah Yuki and Robin Rector, it was a fourth straight CCS final. And all of them played well in their final high school field hockey game.

The coach praised the work of Yuki, Christiansen and Reyes in the front line along juniors Caroline Stege and Bailey Richardson. He also singled out Furia and Rector for their defensive efforts, along with juniors Felicia Bersano, Stacey Cushman and goalkeeper Nicole Wasserman.

The Wildcats took the early lead in the game when they scored with 11:10 left in the first half. Reyes fired a shot that the St. Francis goalkeeper blocked, but Furia kept the ball alive in front of the goal for junior Carrie Sporck to knock in the cage.

The Lancers threatened in the first half, but Wasserman stepped up with three saves on attempted shots by St. Francis, and Stege and Furia foiled other attempts by the Lancers.

But the Lancers kept up the assault in the second half, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Los Gatos residents Jenny and Missy Crane. Wasserman and Furia thwarted early attempts by St. Francis, but J. Crane eventually found the inside of the net when she scored off a Jatue Quaglia assist with 25:07 left in the game.

Reyes got a few shots off in the second half and M. Crane kept the pressure on Gatos with rocket-like crossing passes, but the clubs remained scoreless the rest of the way.

It was more of the same in the first overtime, but Los Gatos had a great scoring opportunity late in the period and coach Reyes called time-out with 3:33 left to discuss the strategy.

"We set up two plays to run to see if we could get something going," said the coach. "But St. Francis responded."

Reyes' shot was blocked by the St. Francis keeper, and the Lancers were able to clear the ball out of the circle to end the Gatos opportunity.

Neither team mounted a real scoring threat in the second overtime period, and the game ended in a tie.

Christiansen, Stege and Richardson were all over the field in the game for Los Gatos and junior Claire van Zuiden also contributed defensively.

Los Gatos ended the year with a 17-1-2 record, and St. Francis finished the season 16-2-1.

The Lancers earned their place in the finals with a 2-0 win over Mitty, and Los Gatos outlasted Monta Vista 3-2 in overtime the same day.

Richardson scored two goals and Reyes had a goal and an assist for the Cats win the tight win over the Matadors. Furia finished with two assists and Yuki had an assist.

The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead in the first half, but the Mats tied it with two unanswered goals in the second half. Gatos clinched the win with a goal in the first overtime period.

J. Crane and Nicole Ng each scored for the Lancers in their victory.