But what the Falcons did have was a handful of very good players—and they proved to be good enough to win the championship in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL).

"This was the first time in seven or eight years of coaching water polo that I didn't have one go-to guy," admitted Saratoga coach Mark Taliaferro. "But we had three or four guys who could do a lot of things."

"We had a more balanced team," he added, "and I think that's what carried us through to the league championship."

Lynbrook, behind superstar Cole Robinson, breezed through the regular season with a 6-0 record to enter the league tournament as the top seed. Saratoga was second at 5-1, its only mar a 10-9 loss to the Vikings.

The Falcons swept through the league tournament, though, winning three straight games. The third and final win was a tight 7-5 victory over Lynbrook.

By winning the league tournament, the Falcons clinched the league championship and a berth in the Central Coast Section Division 2 tournament.

Saratoga lost 9-4 to Menlo in the first round of CCS, but the Falcons still managed a solid 16-12 season.

Leading the Saratoga effort was senior goalkeeper Matt Allen.

"He was absolutely our anchor," said Taliaferro. "Offensively, we were average. But defensively, we really started to learn how to play well as a team, and he really came through in the end of the year when we needed him."

The Falcons ripped Fremont 17-8 and beat Mountain View 12-8 in the first two games of the league tournament. Saratoga faced off with Lynbrook in the title game and came out on top 7-5.

"It came down to the last game of the year," said Taliaferro. And when junior Nick O'Gorman pitched in an insurance goal late in the game to give the Falcons a 7-5 lead, Saratoga had the championship wrapped up.

Seniors Steve Azzi and McCord Blackwell, junior Chris Hornberger and sophomore Brandon Smith joined Allen as key players for the Falcons this fall.

"Those five guys really put it together," said the coach. "Each one of them is very different and brings something very different to the table. I think that's what helped us win the league title."

Azzi has a strong arm and peppered the nets for eight goals in a tournament win over Mountain View.

"He just went nuts," said Taliaferro. "That really helped us, because Lynbrook had to pay more attention to him. Once they did, it opened up other guys."

Taliaferro calls Smith the "best athlete on the team. He's the fastest swimmer and he's very versatile—he can play a lot of different positions."

O'Gorman finished with three goals and Azzi and Hornberger tossed in two apiece in the title-clinching win over Lynbrook.

A game earlier, it was an eight-goal day by Azzi that sparked the Falcons to the win over Mountain View. O'Gorman popped two goals in that one, and Hornberger and senior Aaron Burke scored one each.

Saratoga had opened the tournament with a 17-8 win over Fremont. Smith and Azzi led the locals with three goals apiece.

The Falcons lost 9-4 to Menlo in the CCS playoffs on Saturday despite getting goals from Azzi, Smith, Hornberger and O'Gorman.


Girls water polo

The Saratoga girls water polo team finished second in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL to earn a place in the CCS tournament. The Falcons opened CCS with a 5-2 win over Presentation, but they were eliminated 10-2 to No. 1 seed Menlo.

The Falcons, 19-10 for the year, were led by Sarah Nakaji, who tossed in two goals in an 11-4 loss to Palo Alto in the league championship game.


Volleyball

The Saratoga girls volleyball team earned a place in the CCS Division 3 playoffs, but the Falcons lost in the first round to Willow Glen.

Saratoga lost a 15-13, 15-5, 7-15, 4-15, 15-9 heartbreaker to the Rams. The Falcons, behind the play of sophomore Bryte Nielson, finished the year with an impressive 21-6 record.


Field hockey

The CCS field hockey championship will be decided on Nov. 23, and the Prospect Panthers hope to be playing for the title.

The Panthers, 14-5-1 for the year, opened the CCS playoffs with wins over St. Ignatius (2-0) and Los Altos (1-0) to earn a spot in the semifinals that were to be played on Nov. 19 against top-seeded St. Francis (14-2-1).

The winner of Tuesday's Prospect-St. Francis game advances to the finals Saturday, 11 a.m., against the Los Gatos (16-3)-North Salinas (11-1-1) winner.

A first-half goal by senior Jenn Iwagoshi helped the Panthers to a 1-0 win over Los Altos last Saturday in the CCS quarterfinals.

The Panthers had opened CCS with a 2-0 win over SI. Stephanie Nichols scored in the first half off a Brooke Madsen assist, and Iwagoshi scored an insurance goal in the second half off an assist from Christie O'Hara.

Westmont also made it to the CCS playoffs but lost its opener 6-1 to St. Francis. Shelby Chapman scored the lone goal for the Warriors, who finished the year 10-2-6.


Girls tennis

The Prospect and Saratoga girls tennis teams both made it to the second round of the CCS playoffs before losing.

The Panthers opened with a 5-2 win over Monterey but lost 7-0 to St. Francis.

The Falcons handled Branham 6-1 but then lost 7-0 to No. 1 seed Menlo.

Prospect's Julie Martin, who finished second in the Blossom Valley Athletic League qualifying tournament, will now advance to the CCS singles tournament on Nov. 25, noon, at the Courtside Tennis Club in Los Gatos.

The Westmont team of Katherine Bamford and Stacey Yamashita, second in the league tournament, will play in the CCS doubles tourney on Nov. 25.