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Win Some, Lose Some: Willow Glen senior goalkeeper Allison Woodside comes up with a save in last Friday's CCS semifinal game against St. Francis. The Rams ended up losing a 7-3 decision to the Lancers.
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Rams fall in CCS semifinals
But what a year the Willow Glen polo team had
By Dick Sparrer
St. Francis didn't win the Central Coast Section girls water polo championship.
But that was small consolation for the Willow Glen girls polo team. The Rams had been knocked out of the CCS tournament a game earlier by the Lancers.
Willow Glen lost a tough 7-3 decision to the Lancers, who then went on to lose 4-3 in the finals to St. Francis.
Still, it was a great season for the Rams, and a great effort in the semifinals against St. Francis.
The Rams gave up two goals in the first period and three more in the second to trail St. Francis 5-0 at the half. But Willow Glen came fighting back in the third with three goals to cut the lead to 5-3.
The Lancers scored a couple of insurance goals to push their cushion to 7-3, good enough for the win and a trip to the CCS finals.
Senior Whitney Gregg pitched in two goals for the Rams in the game, and junior Kara Buchanan added one.
Willow Glen finished a sensational season with a 19-11 record and a championship in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. The Rams were 6-1 in division play, then won three straight games in the league tournament to clinch the title.
By winning the league crown, Willow Glen advanced to the CCS tournament. The Rams opened with wins over St. Ignatius and Saratoga before losing to St. Francis in the semi's.
Willow Glen will have a solid corps of players returning next season from this year's championship team, but they will also lose a half dozen players to graduation.
Gregg, Kristin Livak, Tracy Harding and goalkeeper Allison Woodside were key players for the Rams this fall, and they will be joined by Quinn Cowsert and Becca Sparling as seniors leaving the program this year.
Sophomore sensation Courtney Livak will top a list of solid returners for the Rams in 2000, though. Livak is joined by Buchanan and sophomore Alicia Barreto as top returning prospects for the Rams.
Juniors Vanessa Butera and Gina Ravo, sophomores Pamela Morrow, Jaime Watts, Audra Travis and Katie Addington and freshmen Allison Rice, Brynne Kaubish and Michelle Borgstrom were other members of Willow Glen's league championship team.
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Drive, She Said: Presentation's Pagie DeSmet drives a kill to the floor against Monta Vista in the CCS playoffs. The Panthers lost in the Northern California semifinals last week.
Panthers fall
The Presentation girls volleyball team cruised to a CCS Division I championship and earned a place in the Northern California tournament. But the Panthers lost in the NorCal semifinals last weekend.
Presentation, 36-4 for the year, continued an amazing season with an easy 15-8, 15-12, 15-3 victory over Analy of Sebastopol in the first round of the NorCal tourney. But the Panthers lost a heartbreaker to Lincoln of Stockton a match later, falling 11-15, 15-13, 10-15, 15-11, 15-7.
Middle blocker Jennifer Joines, who had 12 kills in the first round win, wrapped up an outstanding senior season for the Panthers.
Amie Pfeiffer, Sarah Nadler, Lynzy Caton and Paige DeSmet are key players who will return for the Panthers next season after helping Presentation to a championship year in 1999 in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League and also CCS Division I.
Locals are Lancers
Erin Hannon and Megan Kawahara of Willow Glen were members of the St. Francis girls tennis team that won the championship this fall in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
Kawahara, a freshman, played No. 3 singles for the Lancers and Hannon, a senior, played No. 4 singles.
The two helped the Lancers to the league title and to wins over Homestead and Gunn in the CCS playoffs. St. Francis lost to Santa Catalina in the semifinals.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
