Herder knocked in two goals to lead the Wildcats to an important 2-1 win over rival Saratoga. The victory helped the Cats remain in the top four in the standings in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

Mitty tops the standings with a 6-0-2 and appears to be pulling away from the pack with 14 points (two for a win, one for a tie). St. Francis is second (4-1-2, 10 points) with St. Ignatius third (4-3-1, nine points) and Los Gatos fourth (3-3-1, seven points).

Prospect (2-4-2, six points) remains a close fifth after fighting first-place Mitty to a 1-1 tie last week. Monta Vista (2-5-1, five points) and Saratoga (1-6-1, three points) hold down the last two places in the division standings.

Herder scored a first-half goal off to offset a goal by Saratoga's Alex Block, then she scored against in the second half to snap the 1-1 tie. Passes from Marlana Shile and Jamie Erickson set up both Los Gatos goals.

Los Gatos now boasts a 7-3-1 record for the year and Saratoga is 4-6-1 this season.

It was an interesting week for Prospect. The Panthers battled two of the division leaders to 1-1 draws. After knotting Mitty to open the week, Prospect tied St. Ignatius two days later.

Prospect and SI played to a scoreless first half, but Paige Madsen scored off a Teresa Kullick assist to match an SI goal in the second half.

The Panthers, 5-4-2 for the season, had opened the week much the same way. Prospect and Mitty were scoreless at the break, then a second-half goal by Susie Leckie off a Tara McGaffigan assist helped the Panthers a goal by the Monarchs.

Mitty, 11-0-2 this season, came back with a tight 2-1 win over Monta Vista to close out the week. The Matadors had beaten Saratoga 2-0 two days earlier.

Lynbrook (6-0-3, 15 points) and Leland (6-0-2, 14 points) are fighting it out for the lead in the BVAL's Santa Teresa Division, but they won't meet again until Nov. 1.

Lynbrook, unbeaten and seldom scored upon this fall, is working hard to get back to where it has not been for three seasons--the CCS tournament.

The Vikings' 3-0 win over University High of San Francisco on Oct. 11 was their ninth shutout. A 1-1 decision at Cupertino two days later put the Vikings into second place in the division.

"The 'B' division is a tough league--anyone can beat you if you're not ready to play," noted second-year coach Kiernan Raffo, who moved from Virginia in the summer of 2004 to teach and coach at Lynbrook. "Hopefully we can finish in the top three."

The top three Santa Teresa finishers will earn berths in the CCS's expanded 12-team tourney Nov. 10-19, along with five Mt. Hamilton division teams and two teams each from the lower West Valley Division and Monterey County.

Prior to 2002, the Vikings were the life of the hockey party, racking up more playoff appearances (24) and championships (10) than any other school in CCS history. In fact, since the CCS started passing out hockey crowns in 1976, the Vikings had reached the finals 15 times and missed the playoffs just twice.

But three extremely rough seasons in the Mt. Hamilton Division--the elite seven of the BVAL's three-tiered, 23-team hierarchy--resulted in successive sixth-place finishes and last year's 1-9-2 slip to the bottom.

This fall Lynbrook and Leigh moved down to the Santa Teresa Division, trading places with Monta Vista and St. Ignatius. With a returning core of eight seniors, led by center midfielder Corin Imai and goalkeeper Noveen Moinpour, Lynbrook has been a defense-minded team that has taken advantage of opponents' mistakes, according to Raffo.

"Our eight seniors have come together this year to provide leadership," Raffo praised. "Corin controls everything for us and Noveen is a smart goalie who has been doing a great job."

Much of the offense has been provided by Imai and senior forward Marissa Avina, who tallied the goals in last week's win over University. Imai twice banged in shots off of penalty corners, after taking the ejection pass from steady senior midfielder Erin Yasukawa.

Junior Haley Stock scored the Vikings' lone goal against Cupertino on an assist by Avina.

Lynbrook seniors Taylor Hasco, Sara Krukiel and Shelby White and sophomore Ellice Kang have contributed to the fine defensive effort in front of goalie Moinpour. Senior Mallory Rose and athletic sophomores Megan Shimojima and Lara Verwer help helped the Vikes' forward line.

Mike Barnhart contributed to this story.