Saratoga News

Sports

Norris scores four, but Falcons fall to Cats

By Greg Lydon

Whether the goal was flying behind the goalie from deep in the scoring zone, or right in front, it seemed like Alison Norris wasn't going to let the Saratoga girls water polo team lose. Still, the see-saw battle went to Los Gatos as the Saratoga girls fell 16-11 on Oct. 9 in the Saratoga High pool.

Norris scored four times, with three goals in the second half, leading the comeback charge from the Falcons.

"I told the girls this is what I was waiting to see all year long," Saratoga coach Courtney Crase said after the defeat. "We were fired up to play and that aggressive play helped us stay in it all game long."

Saratoga is now 10-6 overall and 2-3 in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, but coach Crase said after the match that this game could play a key role on how her team finishes the year.

"It's a turning point in league play for us now; we need to play with this type of passion from here on out," Crase said.

Hayes Hyde scored four times for Saratoga, including three goals in the first half, but was one of two key Falcons ejected from the game. If a player is sent out of the pool three times for defensive violations, a player is ejected.

"Losing Hayes Hyde and Kimi Hosseinian really hurt us," Crase said. "We were also were without Megan Nolet."

Nolet couldn't suit up due to an injury. Hosseinian was a key defender in the first half for the Falcons, keeping the high-octane offense of Los Gatos from breaking loose.

Saratoga's gritty defense helped the Falcons stay close in the first half, slowing down the Wildcats to trail just 6-4 at the half. A 10-6 Los Gatos lead with 2:30 left in the third quarter looked like trouble for the Falcons. But Norris scored two times in 36 seconds, and the goals on the back-to-back possessions helped Saratoga cut the lead to 10-8.

Norris fired a deep shot from the top of the offensive zone right past the surprised Los Gatos goalie for her second goal of the game. The next possession Norris parked herself inside and got a nice feed from Kaylee Pettengill to score her third goal with ease. Pettengill scored two goals of her own in the fourth.

"I want the girls to just play the game now, but that's definitely a team we could see again if we can make the playoffs," Crase said.

Fiery boys head coach Mike Dixon pitted his squad against longtime rival Los Gatos. Gatos came out aggressive, while a frustrated Dixon barked changes to his young team for the other end of the pool.

"We can't take that kind of shot," Dixon told of one his forwards.

Los Gatos jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first and held off the upstart Saratoga team to defeat the home Falcons 9-7.

"I knew it was going to be a close game," Los Gatos boys coach Steve Spencer said. "Mike got his team fired up and had us sweating when they closed to within one goal in the fourth quarter."

Dixon, a former Wildcat, was coached by Spencer for four years as a water polo player for Los Gatos during his high school days.

Saratoga got goals from Kevin Rollinson and Arian Mahani in the second quarter.

Saratoga continued to linger in the second half, closing to within one before a goal with under two minutes remaining gave Los Gatos an 8-6 lead, holding off the pesky Falcons.

Rollinson finished with two goals and Mahani, Nick Mortazabi, Guy Quanrud, Michael Huang and Tak Nakata each scored one.