The last time the Falcons were in the Central Coast Section finals for field hockey was in 1982, but they have done it again. Saratoga not only participated in the finals, but came out of it with a co-championship with the Monarchs of Mitty.

The No. 3-ranked Falcons faced the No. 1-ranked Monarchs on Nov. 20 at Los Gatos High School. The two teams fought a long, grueling battle that went through regulation and two 10-minute overtimes before ending in a 0-0 tie.

But perhaps the most impressive accomplishment for Saratoga this year was not the tie with Mitty, who they had lost to twice earlier in the year, 3-0 and 2-1—it came on Nov. 16 when the Falcons shut out the Los Gatos Wildcats 2-0 to advance to the CCS finals. Kellie York scored twice off assists from Kate Dennis and Gwen Belomy in the win. The Wildcats had been in the CCS finals in each of the last seven years but Saratoga knocked them out this year.

"I'm really proud of my girls," said Saratoga head coach Amber Olsen. "We played a hard game, and they played a hard game, but we were the underdogs so the pressure wasn't on us."

Saratoga began the game on the offensive, but were quickly forced back to defense. The ball changed hands many times and the Monarchs found themselves deep in Saratoga territory. But a good defensive play by senior captain Belomy cleared the ball out and put the Falcons on the offensive again.

The first shot on goal came with 23:53 left in the first half by Saratoga, but the goalie for the Monarchs was able to keep it out of the net.

Junior Katie Barco of the Falcons came up with a huge defensive play, avoiding a two-on-one by knocking the ball out of bounds.

Senior captain York took the ball deep into Mitty's side of the field, but was unable to score.

The first shot on goal for Mitty came midway through the first half and never even made it to senior goalie Lindsay Walker. The ball was stopped by a host of Falcons.

Only two shots were actually blocked by Walker in the first half. The rest either sailed wide or were stopped by Saratoga.

The second half was very similar with Walker blocking two shots.

"Mitty was a bigger team, but we were quicker," said Olsen. "We knew we could win, but it was a hard-fought game."

The best attempt by either team came in the first 10-minute overtime when Mitty had three consecutive shots on goal. Penalties had given them the field position they needed to have their open shots. The first two of those shots were blocked by senior captain Suzanne Lessack. Lessack ran from the goal toward the shooter, where she threw herself in front of the ball and laid her stick flat on the ground, stopping the two shots, and the third sailed wide.

Senior Michelle Saxby came up with a big defensive stop deep in the Saratoga territory where she knocked the ball out of bounds, saving a possible Mitty score.

Shweta Balakrishnan helped out with a strong stop on defense as well in the middle of the second half.

Junior Melissa Mandell and sophomore Maddie Block stole the ball and drove into the corner, but were forced out of bounds by the Mitty defense and the Monarchs took over.

Mitty came back with a vengeance in overtime, taking many shots on the goal, but they all sailed wide of the net.

Saratoga had a couple of drives, but could not put anything together against the Monarch defense.

Saratoga only got off a couple of hard shots in the game and they came in the second overtime. But the Monarch goalie was equal to the task and protected her net.

Walker came up with a great save late in the game, diving to the side and making a great stick save to keep the game tied. As the clock ran down, so did the chances for each team, and with little time left a shot from the Falcons sailed wide.

"It was a back and forth game," said Olsen. "We had a lot of chances and they had a lot of chances. Our defense stopped them a lot. We passed well and fought hard." Olsen pointed out a number of players, whom she said "played great," including Belomy, York, Lessack, Walker, Barco, junior Caroline Charles, Saxby and senior Dennis.

Rounding out the squad were juniors Alex Block, Mandell, Natalie Usher, Annie Batanides, Balakrishnan, Jennifer New and Elisa Paul; senior Alyssa Johnson; and sophomores M. Block, Laura Barrett and Tamara Schroeder.

Tears flowed on the field after the game was over—tears of happiness and some of sadness. Happy tears for being champions of CCS and sad tears for being co-champions of CCS. All-in-all, though, it was a successful season for the CCS champion Saratoga Falcons.

Panthers fall in semi's

Prospect also had a good run in the CCS field hockey playoffs, but the Panthers lost 1-0 in the semifinals to Mitty. Prospect finished the season with a solid 10-5-3 record.

The Panthers opened the postseason by blasting North Salinas (10-2-2) 5-1, then pulled out a 2-1 overtime thriller against Monta Vista (12-4-2). The two wins pushed Prospect into the semi's, but they lost by a goal to the Monarchs.

Starring for the Panthers this fall were seniors Lizzie Innes, Casie Reis and Linney Warren, along with Paige Madsen.