The Sunnyvale Sun

Sports

Homestead polo teams lose in section playoffs

By Mike Barnhart

First-round defeats in the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs were not a fitting end to the fantastic season for Homestead's outstanding water polo teams.

Although both the boys and girls teams lost playoff openers to Mountain View, the Mustangs made a huge splash this fall by winning a pair of Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division championships.

Both teams won 11 of 12 games during the division's double round-robin schedule, before capturing hard-fought victories in the El Camino finals at Lynbrook on Nov. 3.

Homestead's boys earned its CCS appointment by rallying in the fourth quarter for a 12-10 win over Fremont in the championship game of the El Camino tourney. Meanwhile, the girls scored a 9-8 win over Lynbrook to secure the division title.

Then, on consecutive days in the Mustangs' pool, the curtain dropped on Homestead's water polo season.

The boys, seeded No. 10, dropped a 13-8 decision to the No. 7 Spartans on Nov. 6, and finished the season with an 18-7 record. The next day the No. 8 seed Homestead girls lost 8-5 to the No. 9 Spartans, ending at 20-8.

Homestead's boys got off to a fast start in their CCS playoff game, building a 3-1 lead early in the first quarter, but Mountain View scored four straight goals to close out the period. The Spartans increased the margin slightly in the second quarter for an 8-5 halftime lead.

Senior Taylor Stanton scored consecutive goals for the Mustangs in the third quarter, pulling his team within one goal, but the Spartans re-established their three-goal lead by the end of the period.

Stanton finished as the team leader with three goals. Senior Justin Aflatooni scored two, and seniors Mitch Horrillo, Collin Russum and Geovid Kali tallied one each.

In the girls' game, senior Jennifer Coryell and junior Lisa Yao both scored two goals for the Mustangs, and junior Melissa Sullivan added one.