Saratoga News Photograph by George Sakkestad Saratoga's Keala Meyer rips the ball in field hockey action against Los Gatos last week. The Falcons ended up losing 2-0 to the Wildcats, who went on to win the CCS title. Falcons fall in polo playoffs Saratoga girls lose to Gatos in hockey By Dick Sparrer Collin Mitchell poured in 11 goals in three games to lead the Saratoga water polo team into the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs. But the Falcons' trip to CCS was short-lived. Saratoga ran into Menlo in the first round of the tournament and dropped a 10-4 decision to fall out of the competition. Still, getting to the playoffs was quite an accomplishment for the Falcons, and they did it with back-to-back wins over Cupertino and Lynbrook at the league tournament. Saratoga lost its tourney opener 9-8 to rival Los Gatos, despite four goals by Mitchell. But the Falcons came back to edge Cupertino 8-7 and Lynbrook 7-6 to advance to CCS. Mitchell tossed in four goals to spark Saratoga to the important win over Lynbrook that helped the Falcons clinch fifth place in the tourney that wrapped up the season in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. Jordan Jones supported with two goals in the win, and Omar Malik added one. Mitchell and Gur Doitel had buried three goals apiece to lead the Falcons to the tight win over Cupertino a game earlier. Jones and Chris Leh added goals in the win. Mitchell scored four goals, and Chris Cappello hit two in the 9-8 loss to Los Gatos to open the tourney. Doitel and Michael Batra also scored goals for the Falcons. Saratoga finished up 6-3 in the division and ended up 16-12 for the year after the loss to Menlo at CCS. Going to state Saratoga is sending a cross country team to the state meet in Fresno this weekend... that is, a team plus one. The Saratoga boys' varsity squad qualified for the state meet by finishing second in the CCS Division IV finals, and Anne Ricketts qualified as an individual for the girls' meet. Ricketts finished third at the CCS finals to clinch a state spot. The talented senior raced to her best ever time at Crystal Springs, covering the 2.95-mile distance in 18:28. The Saratoga girls finished third as a team at CCS, missing an automatic state berth by just two points. Sacred Heart Cathedral won the team title with 60 points. Notre Dame of San Jose was second at 100 with Saratoga a close third at 102. Elissa Dines was 22nd in 21:21 with Laura Lin 23rd in 21:22, MiMi Choi 25th in 21:36 and Dernie Wang 38th in 22:14. The Saratoga boys managed a solid second-place finish to clinch a place in the state meet. Half Moon Bay won the CCS title with 37 points. The Falcons were a close second at 55, with San Lorenzo Valley a distant third at 101. Alex Daniels led the Saratoga effort by finishing fourth in 16:25. Alex Shoor was 10th in 16:48, with Jacob Christopherson 13th in 16:56, freshman David La 15th in 17:04 and Luke Anderson 16th in 17:06. Jeff Beyers was 21st in 17:23, with Richard La 44th in 18:13 to help the Falcons clinch second. Saratoga will compete in the state meet Nov. 28 at Woodward Park in Fresno. Vikings in finals It seemed almost inevitable. Los Gatos and Lynbrook had dominated everyone else all season long in girls' field hockey. And when they played each other, all the Wildcats and Vikings could manage were a pair of ties. So when it came time for the CCS hockey playoffs, everyone expected the two teams to play for the championship. But no one really knew what to expect once they got there. The Vikes and Cats didn't disappoint anyone, except maybe their opponents. They played their way into the section title round, then battled it out for the championship. But after two scoreless ties during the regular season, there were goals scored in this one... and both of the goals were scored by the Wildcats. Los Gatos pulled out a thrilling 2-0 victory over the Vikings to clinch the CCS championship. The win helped the Wildcats get a little revenge for a CCS championship loss to Lynbrook a year earlier. Heather Kottmeier knocked in a first-half goal off assists from Iming Lin and Anita Reyes to give the Wildcats an important 1-0 lead early in the championship match with the Vikings. Courtney Radonich's shot was blocked by Lynbrook goalie Tiffany Swinford, but an alert Alison Carabetta knocked home the deflection to give the Cats what would become an overwhelming lead. Gatos would go on to shut out the Vikings. It was the third shutout of the tournament for the Wildcats, who had blanked Willow Glen 2-0 and Saratoga 2-0 to open the playoffs. The Wildcats moved into the CCS championship match with a 2-0 win over Saratoga. Reyes scored a first-half goal off a Cortney Kelly assist, and a Reyes pass set up Sasha Cichowski for a goal in the second half. Lynbrook had opened the CCS tourney with wins over St. Ignatius (3-1) and Live Oak (2-1). Heather Lamb scored off assists from Sara Hohenshelt and Chrissy Bailey to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead against SI, and Bailey made it 2-1 at the half when she scored off a Hohenshelt assist. Pooja Mehta added an insurance goal in the second half for Lynbrook. The Vikings came back with a hard-fought 2-1 win over a strong Live Oak squad a few days later. The clubs battled to a scoreless tie in the first half before Lamb scored off assists from Hohenshelt and Baily in the second half. Mehta scored the game-winner off an assist from Divya Chowdary. Swinford and Kim Knecht handled the goal-keeping chores for the Vikings in the two wins. The Vikings finished the year 15-1-3, their only loss coming in the final match against Los Gatos. Other members of the Lynbrook squad were Stephanie Bell, Jessica Chan, Kalin Cummings, Erica Lamkin, Jamie Owen, Kristen Quinn, Colleen Ryan, Mona Tahsini, Erin Tueller and Angie Wong. Saratoga opened the CCS playoffs with a 1-0 overtime win over Prospect, but then lost the 2-0 heartbreaker to eventual champion Los Gatos. The Falcons finished the year with a solid 13-3-2 record. Members of the squad included Karin Bencala, Jennifer Carleton, Lynn Chouw, Kim Feldman, Ashley Ferriera, Sonia Hausen, Liana Huie, Jody Kellogg, Tina Lai, Kelly Lapinski, Betsy Masiello, Keala Meyer, Kristy Mincey, Courtney Miyamoto, Jen Ramos, Chrissi Song, Jessica Stanley and Stephanie Szeto. Menlo aces 'Toga The Saratoga girls' tennis team lost in the CCS semifinals to Menlo after opening the tournament with wins over Los Altos and St. Francis. The Falcons were blanked 7-0 by Menlo to finish the season with a 20-6 record. The year isn't over quite yet for the Falcons, though. Saratoga will be represented this week at the CCS singles and doubles tournament at Courtside in Los Gatos. Camille Behnke, who has played No. 1 singles for the Falcons all season, was to enter the singles tournament on Nov. 23 along with the doubles team of Amada Wise and Angi Chua. Belinda Rungsea, the No. 1 singles star from Lynbrook, was also slated to compete in the singles tourney. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, November 25, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.