By Dick Sparrer
The water polo team at Saratoga isn't perfect. After all, nobody's perfect.
But try to convince the teams in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League of that this fall. Because so far, the Falcons are very perfect, indeed.
Saratoga improved its perfect league record to 4-0 last week with a 27-6 win over Fremont, thanks to a balanced scoring attack where 10 different Falcons got into the act.
The high-scoring, fast-scoring Falcons jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the first period and upped that to 14-2 by the half. Saratoga outscored Fremont 8-2 in the third and coasted from there to the easy win.
Jason Cooper led all Saratoga scorers with six goals, and Gerald Askew pumped in four. David Breitenbach supported with three goals, and Jaison Carter, David Prendergast, Simon O'Connell, Jon Cox, Daniel O'Connell and David Kim tossed in two goals each. Even goalkeeper Travis Engleman got into the scoring act with a pair of goals.
The Falcons, now 13-8 for the year, are coming off of a solid showing in the Lynbrook Rosenbrock Tournament.
Carter, S. O'Connell and D. O'Connell pitched in three goals each to lead Saratoga to a 12-8 win over Mountain View. Kim added two goals, and Breitenbach tossed in one.
The Falcons lost 17-6 to powerful Leland despite four goals by Breitchbach. The O'Connell brothers had a goal apiece in the loss.
Saratoga ran into another top-ranked team, Live Oak, and dropped a 15-9 decision. Breitenbach buried four goals to lead all scorers for the Falcons, and D. O'Connell hit two. S. O'Connell, Carter and Jordan Jones added a goal each.
Lynbrook was the host team in the Rosenbrock Tournament, but the Vikings dove head first into some tough competition.
Lynbrook lost 13-6 to Leland despite four goals by Ross Morrill. Clifton Awuy and Scott Anderson also scored goals for the Vikings.
But the Vikings pulled out a 12-7 win over Fremont earlier in the tournament. Jason Gan buried four goals for the Vikings and Derek Chung added three. Jason Chavez added two goals and Morrill, Frank Liao and Anderson added one each.
The Vikings lost a 23-13 decision to Mountain View despite five goals by Morrill, and four more by Awuy. Chavez, Chung, Gan and David Shin added a goal each for the Vikes.
In other action, the Lynbrook boys lost a 15-3 nod to Palo Alto to slip to 0-4 in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL. Morrill fired in two goals and Awuy added one in the loss.
Girls' water polo
The Saratoga girls, meanwhile, lost a tough 19-13 decision to Palo Alto in Santa Clara Valley Athletic League play. Senior Shannon Moore pitched in eight goals for the Falcons in the loss.
The Falcons slipped to 1-6 in league play and to 2-8 for the year with the loss.
In other local action, the Lynbrook girls pounded Los Altos to improve to 7-0 in league play and to 11-4-1 for the year.
Joanna Chung buried three goals to lead the Vikings to the victory. Jasmyn Cox, Claire Holt and Tine Van Criekinge hit two goals each for the winners, and Diana Nguyen, Jennifer Martin and Samara Silverman also scored goals.
The Vikes led 2-0 after a period, but were tied 3-3 at the half after getting outscored 3-1 in the second period. But Lynbrook topped Los Altos 5-1 in the third and 4-2 in the fourth to pull out the win.
Rams stick Falcons
The Saratoga girls' field hockey team could manage just a single in a 5-1 loss to Willow Glen last week in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. The Falcons slipped to 2-1 in the division with the loss.
Elsewhere in the division, Monta Vista fought Prospect to a scoreless tie. The Matadors are now 1-0-1 in the division, and Prospect slid to 0-0-3.
Lynbrook jumped to 3-0 in the Mt. Hamilton Division and to 6-0 for the year with a 2-0 win over Live Oak.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, October 23, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved