Saratoga News

Sports

Saratoga girls rally from behind twice to stick Leland with a loss

By Dick Sparrer

The fight for the top spots on the leader board and automatic berths in the Central Coast Section field hockey playoffs continues in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, and Saratoga and Los Gatos each took steps in the right direction last week with league wins.

Saratoga broke a 1-1 halftime tie with three second half goals to turn back Leland 4-2 last week, and while Los Gatos dropped a tough 2-0 decision to Archbishop Mitty, the Wildcats blanked Los Altos 4-0 to add another notch in the win column.

The league races remains tight. St. Francis is comfortably at the top of the pack with a 7-0-2 record, but Los Gatos (5-2-2), Mitty (4-1-3) and Saratoga (4-2-1) continue to wage a battle for second place. Leland (2-5-1) holds fifth place followed by Los Altos (2-7-1) and St. Ignatius (0-9).

The Falcons, 8-2-1 for the year, had to battle from behind to beat Leland last week under the lights at Saratoga.

Leland scored first, but the Falcons tied it when senior mid Julie Seago scored off an assist by senior forward Nicole Sabes. The Chargers broke the tie with a goal to open the second half, but Saratoga rallied for three goals to claim the 4-2 win.

N. Sabes scored off an assist from junior forward Claire Marsh before junior forward Katie Marsh knocked one in off an assist from junior forward Kelly Darchuk. An unassisted goal by Darchuk provided a little insurance for the Falcons as they went on to secure the victory.

Junior goalkeeper Stephanie Douglas held the Chargers to just a single goal in the first half and sophomore goalie Madeline Rothenberg matched that effort in the second half for the Falcons.

Saratoga was to face first-place St. Francis on Monday and will visit Los Altos on Oct. 24, 2:45 p.m.

The Wildcats finished play last week with a 2-0 loss to Mitty, but they had opened the week with a solid 4-0 victory over Los Altos. The Cats filled the net with three goals in the first half on the road to the victory.

Girls water polo

Alison Norris pitched in four goals, but the Saratoga girls water polo team lost a 12-5 decision to Palo Alto last week in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. The Falcons lost 13-3 later in the week to Mountain View.

The Falcons came back over the weekend to finish fifth in Group B at the Monta Vista Invitational tournament. Norris tossed in two goals and Hayes Hyde and Lauren Opatrny added one apiece in a 4-3 win over the Presentation in the fifth-place game.

Los Altos beat Los Gatos 12-10 to claim the Group B title with Live Oak taking Mountain View 13-12 in overtime in the third-place game.

Norris and Opatrny had two goals apiece and Hyde and Kaylee Pettengill had one each for the Falcons in a 14-6 loss to Los Altos earlier in the tournament.

Girls tennis

Catherine Nguyen won 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) at No. 1 singles and Lindsey Marsh and Kara Wang breezed 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1 doubles as the Saratoga girls tennis team blanked Los Gatos 7-0 last week. The Falcons improved to 8-2 in the De Anza Division and to 11-4 for the year with the win.

Girls volleyball

Sophomore outside hitter Nicole Gragnola hammered down 10 kills, but the Saratoga girls volleyball team dropped a tough 23-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-14 four-game decision to Palo Alto last week. The loss left the Falcons 3-6 in the De Anza Division and 13-12 for the year.

Earlier in the week Saratoga had dropped a 25-17, 25-23, 25-23 decision to Los Gatos despite getting six kills from junior Kiersten Dolbec.

The Falcons will try to get back on the winning track this week. They were to face Valley Christian in a non-league match Monday and will host Homestead on Oct. 25, 6:45 p.m.