It’s a complete effort in Gunn girls soccer league win

The Gunn girls soccer team had a full squad on hand when Los Altos came calling for a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division match on Wednesday night.

That put Titans coach Leonardo Barcellos in a much better mood.

“It was nice to have the entire team back,” he said following Gunn’s 3-1 victory over the Eagles. “We got our goalie back. That was big.”

Senior Julia Dellenbach came up with several key saves to keep Los Altos (4-4-2, 0-2-1) off the scoreboard following an Eagles goal three minutes into the contest.

Gunn was without seven starters in its last game, a 2-0 loss to Mountain View.

Senior Esha Gupta scored on a free kick to give Los Altos the early edge but Gunn (6-3-3, 1-1-2) responded two minutes later when Emersen Sweeney scored the first of her two goals, with an assist from Alina Saab-Sunden.

Los Altos continued to pressure the Gunn defense and created a few more scoring opportunities. Freshman Aoife Turner and sophomore Jessica Anderson, in particular, were effective in the middle and along the sidelines.

“They had very good players,” Barcellos said. “But I trust my team. I feel we can compete with anybody.”

It’s still early in the season and there are some things that are becoming clear. It’s going to be hard to stop Mountain View, which beat host Homestead 4-1 Wednesday behind a hat trick from Stanford-bound Allie Montoya.

The Spartans (10-0-1, 4-0) are threatening to run away from the rest of the league. Homestead became the first SCVAL team to score against them and they’ve allowed four goals in 11 matches overall.

Los Gatos hasn’t had the best of starts and has already been outscored 36-8. The Wildcats lost to Santa Clara, 3-2, Wednesday.

The middle five teams will be competing for spots in the Central Coast Section playoffs and each has been competitive in most games.

Mountain View hosts Palo Alto (3-4-2, 1-0-1) at 6 p.m. Friday while Los Altos hosts Los Gatos, also at 6 p.m. Gunn has a bye.

Gunn took the lead against Los Altos on a heads-up play by Natalie Smith, who stole the ball on a goal kick and had an easy shot into the net in the 42nd minute.

Sweeney added an insurance goal in the 60th minute, getting the bounce off a hard shot by Ana Schremp and driving it along the ground into an open net.

Karena Shah also scored for Mountain View. Isabella Walker had two assists and Laila Edris also recorded an assist.

Sophia Sasaki needed to make on save, getting defensive help from Elechi Iroaga and Charis Toney.

Charlotte Kohler scored twice to help Saint Francis open West Catholic Athletic League play with a 4-0 victory over visiting Presentation on Wednesday.

MJ Osborne and Kamryn Rosa also scored for the Lancers (7-0-1, 1-0), who host St. Ignatius (5-2-1, 2-0) at 11 a.m. Saturday.

St. Francis beat the Wildcats for the Firebird Classic title on Dec. 18, the last match played by the Lancers.

Boys soccer

Jonathan Fuentes Lopez and Matt Johnson each scored to help Woodside down San Mateo 2-0 in a PAL Bay Division contest Wednesday.

Nick Hart and Benny Bogyo each had an assist for the Wildcats (7-2, 1-0), who play at Burlingame on Friday.

Freshman Diego Comfort got the call as goalkeeper and recorded five saves in pitching the shutout.

In another match, Menlo-Atherton fell to Carlmont 1-0. The Bears (1-4-2, 0-1) travel to Aragon for a match Friday.

In the PAL Ocean Division, Sequoia fell to host South San Francisco 2-1. Benjamin Schwartz scored with an assist from Jose Sanchez.

Billy Thompson scored twice and recorded an assist as Sacred Heart Prep beat Eastside Prep 6-0 in a WBAL soccer match on Wednesday.

Thomas Sullivan added a goal and two assists for the Gators (4-3-1, 2-0), who host Menlo at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Luke Maxwell, assisted by Will Maxwell, Carlos Deras and Beau Dunlevie also scored. Nathaniel Pi-Sunyer had two assists.

St. Francis dropped a 3-0 road match at Bellarmine in a WCAL match. The Lancers (6-3, 2-1) travel to play St. Ignatius at 1 p.m. Saturday.

In the SCVAL, Mountain View topped Homestead 3-0. The Spartans (7-1-1, 2-0-1) play at Palo Alto at 7 p.m. Friday.

Gunn’s game at Los Altos was postponed due to COVID-19 Protocols.

Boys basketball

Allen Chang scored all 11 of his points in the first quarter, helping Menlo-Atherton run away from host Capuchino 56-39 in the PAL Bay Division opener Wednesday.

Ryan Anderson added 12 points for the Bears (5-4, 1-0), who play at Palo Alto on Saturday night. Connor Cadigan and Johno Price each added nine points. Ben Eisner made M-A’s lone 3-pointer.

In other PAL games, Sequoia beat San Mateo 66-55 and Woodside edged Mills 41-40.

In the WCAL, St. Francis lost to visiting St. Ignatius 62-51 on Wednesday. The Lancers (9-3, 1-1) host Sacred Heart Cathedral at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Girls basketball

Nohe’alani Stores scored 16 points in helping Sequoia opened PAL play with a 52-30 win over San Mateo on Wednesday.

Aniyah Hall added 13 points and Mary Jane Hartman had 10 for the Ravens.

Angie Sugar and Sierra Pestoni each scored 11 points but Woodside lost to Mills, 77-42.

In SCVAL El Camino Division play, Mountain View fell to Monta Vista 54-42 and Palo Alto’s game at Wilcox was postponed.