The Sunnyvale Sun

Sports

Homestead water polo teams are making big waves

By Mike Barnhart

After earning a hard-fought, semi-final victory at last Saturday's Wilcox Tournament, the Homestead girls water polo team struggled in the championship game against Saratoga.

The effort and energy expended during the 7-3 triumph over Notre Dame of Belmont seemed to take a toll on the Mustangs, especially in the first half of the title game against the Falcons.

"They scored first and we had to struggle our way," Homestead coach Larry Coryell said after the Mustangs' 7-5 loss in the tourney finale. "The Belmont game took a lot out of us."

Saratoga jumped out to a 4-1 halftime lead, but sophomore Jesse Bergman--one of the fastest swimmers around--scored for the Mustangs nine seconds into the third quarter. However, Homestead did not score again in the period and trailed 5-2 heading into the fourth.

Homestead outscored Saratoga 3-2 in the final six minutes, but ran out of time.

"Seemed we needed one more quarter," noted Coryell, whose team won three games at Wilcox and improved its record to 9-3. "We had some good chances to score, but it wasn't to be."

Homestead reached the finals because of tremendous defensive efforts by senior Justine Darmanian and junior Melissa Sullivan and perimeter scoring by senior Jenny Coryell. Darmanian and Sullivan were able to shut down the inside attack of the big, strong Tigers, while Coryell was able to pop in a team high four goals from the outside. Sullivan scored two and Lisa Yao one.

Homestead reached the semi-final round with a pair of wins on Friday, 10-6 over Pioneer and 14-4 over Robert L. Stevenson of Pebble Beach.

Darmanian's three goals paced the scoring against Pioneer. Sullivan and Yao tallied two, and Audrey Chu, Bergman and Coryell added one each.

Against Stevenson, the Mustangs jumped out in front 5-1 in the first quarter and never looked back. Homestead's defense sparkled as Kendall Buhk, Taryn Mitchell, Chu, Yao, Veronica Bucher, Sarah Hoffman, Anesa Tokomo, Bergman, Coral Best, Christine Orlowski and Danielle Quist all contributed in the field.

It was a busy week for the Mustangs, who split a pair of games in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, including a 12-3 victory over Harker last Thursday.

Bergman's four goals and Sullivan's three provided more than enough offense for the Mustangs, who bounced back nicely from a 6-2 loss at Lynbrook and improved to 3-1 in division play.

Meanwhile, Fremont has found the going rough in the De Anza Division. One season removed from winning the El Camino Division's regular season championship, the Firebirds are 0-2 in the stronger De Anza circuit.

Senior Julia Sterling scored five times for the Firebirds in their opener at Los Gatos on Sept. 12, but the Wildcats gradually pulled away to a 22-9 victory. Fremont found rough waters at Mountain View last week, as the Spartans rolled 20-5. Sterling scored two goals for the Firebirds, while seniors Nicole Sutherlin and Abby McNeil and sophomore Jillian Weir added one each.

Boys water polo

With a little luck, Fremont could be unbeaten in El Camino Division play. Instead, though, the Firebirds are 1-2, and they just barely got by visiting Wilcox 7-6 on Sept. 18.

After losing close games to Lynbrook and Homestead, contests that could have gone either way, Fremont finally broke into the division win column against the Chargers.

Senior Danny Moctezuma's five goals paced the Firebirds, who are coached by former girls coach Steve Puccinelli. Junior Nathan Raff and freshman Andrew Amm also scored for Fremont.

The previous week Fremont held slim leads against both Lynbrook and Homestead before losing. In the opener at Lynbrook, the Firebirds led 7-6 at halftime, but the Vikings won 12-11 in three overtimes. Two days later, Fremont led 2-1 after the first quarter and was tied at halftime, but lost 8-6.

Moctezuma and senior Tony Rhodes pumped in four goals apiece at Lynbrook, while sophomore Matthew Amm added two and A. Amm one.

Against Homestead's stingy defense, Moctezuma's two goals led Fremont. A. Amm, Raff, Rhodes and senior Faycal Belhocine added one each.

Four seniors, led by Geovid Kali (three goals), accounted for all of Homestead's scoring. Justin Aflatooni and Collin Russum fired in two goals apiece and Jeff Meadows pumped in one.

The Mustangs, who opened the season 4-0 in El Camino play, improved to 9-2 overall by winning three of four games last weekend at the Sixer Invitational at Independence High.

After losing 9-8 to Carmel in their first game on Friday, the Mustangs regrouped to beat Palma of Salinas, then returned Saturday to score victories over Stevenson and San Lorenzo.

Division III boys soccer

With senior striker Malcolm Alugas (11 goals, five assists) leading the way, The King's Academy rolled over their first eight opponents to start the 2007 season.

The Knights have won eight games in a row, all but one in Private Schools Athletic league play. In six of the eight victories, the Knights have not allowed a goal. Such was the case in last week's two wins, 4-0 over Harker and 5-0 over Redwood Christian of Castro Valley.

Senior Jeremiah Auer scored a goal and an assist against Harker, and junior Josh Tatsuno tallied a pair of goals and an assist against Redwood Christian.

Field hockey

Junior Peri Smith scored one goal and assisted on another, helping Homestead get off to a good start in the West Valley Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

Smith's pass set up senior Nicole Cefalu for the first of two first-half goals in a 3-0 win at Branham. Later in the period, senior Alyssa Singh banged in a shot after taking a pass from senior Katelyn Dedrick. Smith tallied her goal after the intermission, as Dedrick notched her second assist of the game.

Leigh spoiled Homestead's first home match 1-0 last Thursday and dropped the Mustangs to 1-1 in division play.

Volleyball

Three nights after beating the defending Central Coast Section Division I champion in the finals of the Westmont Tournament, Homestead took care of business in its De Anza Division opener.

Led by junior outside Katherine Fischer's 11 kills, the Mustangs took care of visiting Mountain View 25-21, 25-19, 25-17 on Sept. 18.

The Mustangs, who have won two of three tournaments in the early season, will host Los Gatos in their next division outing, Sept. 27, 6:45 p.m.

In the Westmont event, Homestead swept 2-0 matches from Notre Dame of San Jose, Aragon of San Mateo and Valley Christian to win its pool and qualify for the featured Gold bracket.