Saratoga News
Sports
Falcons top Spartans twice, in league play and in tourney
By Dick Sparrer
At first it appeared that Mountain View was just the warm-up, but as it turned out the Spartans would offer the opposition in the main event for the Saratoga High School boys water polo team last week.
The Falcons opened the week with a win over the Spartans in a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game, and they wrapped things up on Saturdays with another victory over Mountain View in the finals of the Monta Vista Tournament.
Senior sensation Marko Pance scored 16 goals in four games and Ryan Hinshaw added seven as the Falcons beat Pioneer 13-5, Valley Christian 5-2, Woodside 11-2 and Mountain View 9-4.
The five wins helped the Falcons improve to 13-10 for the year as they head into the league tournament this week. Saratoga is 2-4 in league play.
Pance poured in five goals and Hinshaw added two to lead the Falcons to the win over the Spartans in the tourney title game on Saturday at Fremont. Ben Hinshaw and Matt Murray also scored in the game.
Saratoga led 3-1 after a period and took that two-goal lead in at the half, 4-2. But the Falcons blanked the Spartans 5-0 in the third, then held on as Mountain View drilled two unanswered goals in the fourth.
The tightest game of the tourney for the Falcons came in their second game on Friday--the 5-2 win over Valley. Max Hnojewyi came through with 10 saves in the goal to lead the defensive effort for the champs.
Single goals in the first and second quarters helped Saratoga open a 2-0 lead by intermission, then the Falcons flipped in three more goals in the third to go up 5-0. Hnojewyi shut out the Warriors over the first three stanzas before Valley threw in a couple of shots in the fourth.
Leading the offensive effort for the Falcons was Michael Byrne with two goals. Pance, M. Murray and Brad Murray added a goal each.
Pance buried seven goals and R. Hinshaw canned three to drive Saratoga to a 13-5 win over Pioneer in the tourney opener. B. Hinshaw, Myles Hornberger and Brad Rollinson also scored in the win.
The Falcons took a commanding 7-0 lead in the first period and were up 8-4 at the half. They put the game away when they blanked the Mustangs 5-0 in the third.
Pance scored three goals in Saratoga's 11-2 win over Woodside. R. Hinshaw, M. Murray and Rollinson supported with two each and Hnojewyi and Nick Lopez also scored.
The Falcons took control of the game with four goals in the first and four more in the second while blanking the Wildcats defensively. They coasted from there to the victory.
The Falcons nailed a tight 9-7 win over Mountain View in a league game to open play last week. Pance popped three goals and Byrne added two. R. Hinshaw, B. Hinshaw, Hornberger and M. Murray also scored in the win.
The clubs were tied at 2-2 after a period before the Falcons went up 5-2 by blanking the Spartans in the second quarter. Mountain View fought back to top 'Toga 4-2 in the third to cut the lead to one at 7-6, but the Falcons prevailed by outpointing the Spartans 2-1 in the fourth.
The Saratoga girls, meanwhile, dropped a 12-9 decision to Los Gatos last week. The Falcons slipped to 2-3 in De Anza Division play. Courtney Nolet was Saratoga's top scorer with four goals. Allison Norris and Hayes Hyde tallied two apiece and Marcy Lopez added one.
"The two teams could easily meet again in the league tournament," said Los Gatos coach Ted Mathewson. "Both teams should win in the first round and could meet in the third-place game."
Saratoga and Los Gatos began play in the SCVAL De Anza tourney on Oct. 31 at Palo Alto. The Wildcats tangled with sixth-place Gunn (0-5 in De Anza play) and the Falcons squared off with fifth-place Mountain View (1-4). Both local teams expect to win in the first round and gain berths in the Central Coast Section championships, Nov. 7-18.
The second round of the De Anza playoffs is set for Nov. 2 with the Los Gatos-Gunn survivor taking on Palo Alto (4-1) and the Saratoga-Mountain View winner opposing No. 1 Los Altos (5-0). Thursday's winners meet Nov. 4 for the De Anza tourney title, after the second-round losers vie for third place. Of the 24 girls teams in the CCS playoffs, four will come from the SCVAL's De Anza Division.
Mike Barnhart contributed to this story.
