Saratoga's Derrick Wong gets his head on the soccer ball in last week's clash with Los Gatos. The Falcons lost 2-0 to the Wildcats.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Falcons win behind Meyer, Weiner
Saratoga nails first league hoop win
By Dick Sparrer
Keala Meyer and Alexis Weiner were a little offensive on the soccer field for the Saratoga girls team last week.
And because of it, the Falcons nailed a win and a tie in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
Meyer had two goals and two assists in two games to finish the week, and Weiner drilled three goals to help the Falcons to a 2-2 tie against Los Gatos and to a 4-1 win over Gunn.
Weiner knocked in two goals, one off a Meyer assist, and Meyer drilled a pair of goals in the 4-1 win over the Titans to close out the week.
Saratoga improved to 3-6-1 in the tough division and to 8-7-1 for the year with the win.
Earlier in the week, the Falcons knocked in two first-half goals, then held on in the second half to clinch a 2-2 tie against the Wildcats.
Weiner scored off a Meyer assist to give the Falcons an early 1-0 lead, and Allison McNally scored later in the half to put Saratoga up 2-0 at intermission.
The Falcons would need all of that offense to hang on for the tie. Los Gatos scored two goals in the second half to knot the score at 2-2, but neither team could break the deadlock.
Saratoga had lost 2-0 to Homestead to open the week.
The Saratoga boys, meanwhile, lost their only game last week, falling 2-0 to rival Los Gatos.
The loss left the Falcons 2-6 in the De Anza Division and 6-10 for the year.
Saratoga will try to get back on the winning track this week. The Falcons were headed to Santa Clara on Jan. 31 and visit Homestead on Feb. 2 for a couple of De Anza games.
Wrestling
Mark Ross and David Ashraf each nailed third-place finishes to lead the Prospect showing at the rugged Overfelt Classic wrestling tournament last weekend in east San Jose.
Ross finished third at 132 pounds for the Panthers, and Ashraf was third at 277 pounds. Rocco Lucero supported with a sixth at 142 pounds for Prospect.
Westmont had two placers at the Overfelt Classic. Junior Johnny Bauman finished fifth at 132 pounds for the Warriors and senior Billy Stouffer was sixth at 191.
A week earlier, Westmont sent teams to the Ceres varsity tournament and the Del Mar frosh-soph tourney, and Warriors came home with four places in each of the events.
Bauman finished fourth at 132 pounds to lead the Westmont showing at Ceres. Gareth Gorman was fifth at 160 pounds, Jason Kennedy was fifth at 171 and Tom Miller was seventh at 189.
Eric Salmons made the finals at the Del Mar tournament, posting a 3-1 record to finish second at 217 pounds. Ryan Kennedy (137) and Sergey El-Morshedy (162) were each fourth and Matt Meo (154) was fifth.
Westmont and Prospect will compete in the BVAL junior varsity finals on Feb. 3 at Valley Christian. The league varsity finals are scheduled for Feb. 10 at Overfelt.
Saratoga, meanwhile, is looking forward to the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League finals that are set for Feb. 10 at Wilcox. The junior varsity finals will be held a day earlier on the same mat.
Basketball
Daniel Ruby poured in a team-high 18 points to lead the Saratoga boys basketball team to a 49-46 win over Santa Clara last week. It was the first win of the year for the Falcons in De Anza Division play.
The 6-foot-6 Ruby had a three-pointer among his eight field goals on his way to the 18-point night.
Jesse Alejandro and Alexi Sevastapoulus joined Ruby in double figures. The two seniors pitched in 10 points apiece in the win. Sevastapoulus popped a pair of threes.
Junior guard Alan Tsai supported with five points, including a three. Matt Ashburn added four points and Justin Zebb had two.
The Falcons slipped to 1-6 in the division and to 9-11 for the year when they lost 50-32 to Milpitas a couple of days later.
Ashburn led the club with eight points, including a three-pointer. Tsai had a three among his seven points.
Eric Lee hit five points, Alejandro popped four and Sevastapoulus and Ruby had three apiece. Zebb and Mike Mann added two points each.
In girls basketball action, Saratoga split last week. The Falcons lost a 46-45 heartbreaker to Santa Clara before whipping Milpitas 62-39.
Dernie Wang poured in 25 points, including a couple of threes, to lead the Falcons to the win over the Trojans. Stephanie Morrison tossed in 13 points, Tiffany Tan eight, Karen Woo and Tannaz Altafi six apiece, Diana Shih two and Courtney Miyamoto and Szu-Han Wang one each. Woo drilled a couple of threes and Tan had one.
The Falcons, 2-6 in the El Camino Division and 5-12 for the year, lost by a point to the Bruins despite a 14-point night by D. Wang. Altafi had 10 poknts, Wood eight, S. Wang six, Tan four and Morrison three. D. Wang and Woo each hit a pair of three-pointers.
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