|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Menlo boys’ water polo team rallied from a goal down with 4:40 left to play and pulled out an exciting 8-7 victory over rival Menlo-Atherton in a PAL Bay Division showdown on Wednesday at Menlo College.
The Bears (6-2, 12-5) had gone ahead for the first time in the match at 7-6 on a goal by 6-foot-9 Jed Springer. It was his fourth goal of the game and put the Bears in position to win and tie the Knights for the regular-season title.
However, it wasn’t to be. Menlo (7-0, 12-4) took advantage of the first of two 6-on-5 situations with senior Jack Foley scoring with 3:42 left to tie the match at 7.
With just 58 seconds to play, Springer was called for a second personal foul and Menlo had another man advantage. Senior Luke Carrino, playing a position in the 6-on-5 offense for the first time this season, took a pass from sophomore Nick Hale and found the back of the net with 38.9 seconds to play for an 8-7 Menlo lead.
Menlo’s swarming defense clamped down after that to secure the victory. Carrino finished with three goals to pace Menlo, which wrapped up the No. 1 seed for the postseason PAL Tournament.
“For the guys to be able to play like that when they were tired is great to see,” said Menlo coach Jack Bowen, who lost senior Chris Akin to fouls in the second quarter and was without another key reserve, Jack Lucas, who was out sick.
“They were understandably tired and under pressure,” Bowen said. “To learn that about themselves, is probably more important than the X’s and O’s.”
Menlo junior goalie Keegan Williams had a sensational game with 14 blocks, one a point-blank attempt by Springer in the second quarter. Had Springer made it, the game would have been tied at 3. Instead, Menlo came down and scored when Akin tipped in a pass for a 4-2 lead.
Williams then came up with two more blocks to end the first half. Springer scored three times in the third quarter to make it a 6-5 game and then got his final goal to put his team ahead in the fourth.
Other than getting bombarded by Springer, Williams was solid in the cage.
“He blocked every shot he was suppose to block and he made two really outstanding saves,” Bowen said of Williams. “It’s really nice to have a goalie behind our defense like that.”
More photos to come on Thursday morning.
-
Menlo senior Luke Carrino celebrates his winning goal with 38.9 seconds to play that lifted the Knights to an 8-7 victory over visiting Menlo-Atherton on Wednesday, virtually clinching Menlo’s 14th straight. -
With goalie Keegan Williams looking on, Menlo’s Jack Foley reaches to block a shot attempt by Menlo-Atherton in the waning seconds of the Knights’ 8-7 victory in a big PAL Bay Division water polo showdown Wednesday. Photo by Keith Peters/Palo Alto Online.
Redwood City attorney sues ‘First Amendment auditors’ after Menlo Park disputeApril 2, 2026 11:31 am
