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When Sacred Heart Prep boys’ soccer coach Matt Dodge was asked his team’s identity, the second-year coach had to pause for a moment. Then he paused some more.
As the defending Central Coast Section Division III champion, Sacred Heart Prep is a young team loaded with talent and has the potential to repeat as section champs. The only identity the Gators need is one that knows how to win soccer matches.
Sacred Heart Prep (9-1, 11-3) won its second straight critical match of the season on Wednesday by edging rival Woodside Priory, 2-1 in a Private Schools Athletic League matchup in Atherton.
Last Friday, the Gators upended league-leading and previously unbeaten King’s Academy, 1-0, to virtually deadlock the race. King’s was 10-1 after Wednesday (30 points) while the Gators had 27.
King’s Academy has five matches to play, including a season finale against Woodside Priory, while Sacred Heart Prep has six. If Priory can’t pull the upset, King’s and SHP likely will finish as regular-season co-champs.
The top two schools from the PSAL will advance to the CCS playoffs, which begin Nov. 1. Sacred Heart was seeded fourth in the four-team playoffs last season, but played its best soccer when it had to in capturing the section crown. This year’s SHP squad, however, is a bit different.
“We’re a quiet team, not as vocal as last season,” Dodge finally said regarding his team’s identity. “Every team wants to beat us and everyone on our team does their part and plays
with a lot of heart.”
The loss was difficult for Woodside Priory (6-3-2, 6-5-2), which needed to win Wednesday’s match to inch closer to second place in the PSAL. The youthful Panthers will need to play their best soccer for the next two weeks and receive some much-needed help to have any hope for the postseason.
“Our goal is to win out and see what happens” said Woodside Priory coach Armando Del Rio, a former Sacred Heart Prep. “We’re a pretty young team that starts three freshmen. We have a good program here.”
Woodside Priory was looking for redemption on Wednesday after dropping a 2-0 decision to the Gators on Sept. 21.
Sacred Heart Prep dominated possession in the first half and got out of the gate quickly
by taking a 1-0 lead on a goal from sophomore Reid Gaa off an assist from senior Justin
Vertongen six minutes into the match. Despite playing defense most of the first 40 minutes, the Panthers tied the match, 1-1, at the 16th minute when freshman Brandon Willhite scored on a breakaway goal from five yards out.
Sacred Heart Prep outshot Woodside Priory, 6-3 in the first half as Panthers’ senior goalie Tynan McCauley recorded four saves.
After both schools traded punches and played evenly in the second half, the match eventually was decided in the 67th minute on an impressive dribble drive and goal from 15 yards out by Sacred Heart Prep’ Ben Taylor, who played football a year ago.
Woodside Priory only got off one shot on goal in the second half as Sacred Heart outshot the visitors, 11-4 for the match.
“We played nervous in our first match versus Sacred Heart,” said Del Rio after the match. “We played well today.”
Woodside Priory gave Sacred Heart Prep everything it had on Wednesday in a rivalry that will get more intense as both schools continue to improve.
“Woodside Priory has some good talent,” said Dodge, who then looked to the immediate future. “We need to keep healthy, focus on our possessions and improve the rest of the way.”
Speaking of health, SHP lost a valuable offensive weapon when Vertongen suffered a shin injury in the first half and sat out the rest of the match. He left the field wearing a walking boot and on crutches.
Boys cross country
Gunn sophomores Paul Summers (16:12) and Robert Chen (16:14) finished fourth and fifth to lead the Titans to first place at the SCVAL Center Meet on Tuesday over the rolling 2.95-mile layout at Crystal Springs in Belmont.
Charlie Avis led Palo Alto with a ninth-place finish in 16:37. Paly sophomore Philip MacQuitty did not race, taking the day off after tying for second (15:32) at the Clovis Invitational last weekend. MacQuitty trailed the overall champion by just three seconds over the 3.1-mile course.
Boys water polo
Palo Alto coach Reid Particelli likes to think of the pool as a classroom, where his athletes can learn and be successful. And like with any school work, what you put into it is what you get out of it.
That’s why Particelli wasn’t all that thrilled with the Vikings after their 12-8 victory over visiting Mountain View on Tuesday in an SCVAL De Anza Division match, which left Paly atop the standings at 4-0 (12-4 overall).
Palo Alto jumped to a 4-0 lead after one quarter and stretched it to 7-1 into the second. Despite Particelli urging his players not to let up, the Vikings nonetheless put it on cruise control. The result was four unanswered goals by the Spartans, who pulled to within 8-6 in the third quarter.
“They obviously kind of let up a bit,” Particelli said of his players. “It’s one of our dangers; we get up by a lot and then we get complacent.”
Particelli was forced to call numerous time outs in order to get his point across.
“Teachable moments,” Particelli said with a sigh, perhaps somewhat resigned to the mindset of high school athletes. “We just need to keep our play level and consistent, and don’t let up.”
Senior Michael Fortune and junior Tim Wenzlau finally scored with under three minutes left in the third quarter as Paly regained control at 10-6. In the fourth quarter, senior Geng Wang took over and scored both his goals as Paly made it 12-7 before Mountain View closed the scoring.
Fortune was a perfect example of what Particelli was talking about. Fortune scored the first three goals of the game, rather effortlessly, in under three minutes of play. He didn’t score again until the 2:51 mark of the third quarter.
“He gets three goals in the first three minutes . . . he could have had a lot more but he finished with four,” Particelli said. “Still, he had a great game.”
As did Wenzlau, Wang, Neal Ketchum, Sung Kim, Scott Mielke and goalie Will Simon, who finished with 14 saves but wasn’t happy with allowing eight goals — four of them on five-meter penalty shots.
In another De Anza Division contest, Gunn (1-3 in league) dropped a 15-6 decision to second-place Los Altos despite three goals from Michael Cooke and two from Alex Berenfeld.
In the PAL Bay Division, Menlo-Atherton (3-1, 11-5) got six goals from Matt Bogott and three from Scott Swartz in a 17-5 romp over visiting Aragon as the Bears’ capitalized on their counterattack.
