Saratoga News
Sports
Wildcats, Falcons collide with winner going to hockey finals
By Dick Sparrer
Los Gatos and Saratoga are no strangers to each other in the high school sports arena--they've been rivals ever since Saratoga students left Los Gatos to attend their own high school in 1959.
And that longstanding rivalry will be renewed this week when the two schools meet again with a very important prize on the line--a trip to the Central Coast Section field hockey championship game set for Nov. 17, 11 a.m., at Willow Glen High School.
Los Gatos, the No. 2 seed in the CCS tournament and boasting a 13-2-3 season record, edged No. 7-seeded Monta Vista (11-7-1) 2-1 on Saturday to earn its place in the semifinals on Nov. 13, 5:30 p.m., at Gilroy.
Saratoga, the No. 6 seed, had a tougher road. Unlike the Wildcats, the Falcons did not receive a first-round bye, so had to play two games last week. Saratoga pounded No. 11 Monterey (8-5) 8-2 before upsetting No. 3 Lynbrook (14-4-1) 1-0 on penalty strokes on Saturday to improve to 13-5-1 for the year.
On the other end of the bracket, No. 1 St. Francis (17-0-2) blanked No. 8 Leigh (14-3) and No. 4 Archbishop Mitty (12-4-3) topped No. 5 Gilroy (13-4-1) to advance to the semi's. The two West Catholic Athletic League rivals will collide at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday at Gilroy.
In other first-round game, Gilroy defeated No. 12 Del Mar (10-6) 2-1, Monta Vista beat No. 10 Los Altos (4-9-1) 3-2 and Leigh shut out No. 9 Presentation (9-7-2) 2-0.
Saratoga is off to an impressive start in the CCS tournament. The Falcons made short work of Monterey in their opener, then came back to win a thriller against Lynbrook on Saturday.
The Falcons and Vikings fought to a scoreless tie in regulation and remained scoreless through two overtime periods. Saratoga ended up winning in double strokes when junior Kelly Darchuk knocked in the winning goal to push the Falcons to the CCS semifinals.
Senior goalkeeper Stephanie Douglass was impressive in the cage, blanking Lynbrook the entire day. The Vikings had won the championship in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League to earn their place in the playoffs and a first-round bye.
The Falcons weren't as lucky. They had to play a game in the first round, but the local girls made the most of it, blasting home eight goals in a lopsided win over Monterey.
Saratoga took an early lead 3:15 into the game on a goal by senior Kelly Seago off assists from Darchuk and senior Rachel Sabes, but it remained 1-0 through intermission.
In the second half, the Falcons started to pull away. Darchuk scored to make it 2-0 before freshman forward Vanessa Block knocked in a goal off an assist from senior Nicole Sabes.
Monterey slapped in a goal to cut the lead to 3-1, but then Saratoga put the game away. N. Sabes scored twice, once off an assists from K. Seago and then off a pass from junior Katie Marsh.
K. Seago got in on the scoring with a goal off assists from Darchuk and Marsh, then Marsh scored unassisted to make it 7-1. Junior Claire Marsh put on the finishing touches with a goal off of a K. Seago assist, and the Falcons.
Rounding out the squad that will head to Gilroy to face the Wildcats on Tuesday are seniors Julie Seago, Chelsea Farmer and Ava Amundsen; juniors Megan Mandell, Jennifer Hansen, Ashley Charette and Laura Ruddy; and sophomores Diana Douglass, Paxton Barco, Anna Schroeder, Rachel Doty, Madeline Rothenberg and Samantha Li.
