Ashley Penner scored her third goal of the contest with 1:25 remaining to play but the Sacred Heart Prep girls water polo team could not complete the comeback and fell to nationally top-ranked Acalanes 11-10 in the championship game of the NorCal Invitational, hosted by the Gators, on Saturday evening.
Ella Woodhead and Eleanor Facey each added three goals for SHP (20-3), which participates in the West Catholic Athletic League tournament this week as the No. 1 seed. Menlo School hosts a quarterfinal contest against either Mitty or Presentation on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
Saturday's game was on the verge of becoming another easy victory for Acalanes when the Gators began whittling away at a six-goal deficit.
Acalanes took an 8-2 lead with 4:22 remaining to play. Woodhead scored on a power play, assisted by Annabel Facey, less than a minute later to spark a 5-0 run that also included shutting down the Dons' offense for just over nine minutes.
"They could have jumped on us and made things unpleasant," SHP coach James Frank said. "I'm proud of how we fought after that first quarter and really played solid defense."
Acalanes eventually rebuilt its lead to 11-8 with 3:09 remaining to play. Alexandra Szczerba scored an even strength goal 21 seconds later. After Penner scored, there were chances for both teams before time ran out.
"We showed a lot of character," Frank said. "It's hard to be happy with a loss but that's a great team we faced and we have a lot of talented girls who love water polo. It's a testament to all the hard work they put in and the time commitment to get where they are. We're still progressing."
Annabel Facey didn't score but contributed four assists and Eleanor Facey drew four exclusions.
Sacred Heart Prep beat Campolindo 11-6 in the semifinal round, getting four goals and three assists from Isabella Bachler.
Campolindo held a 2-1 edge before the Gators scored six of the next seven goals to pull away.
Woodhead added three goals and a pair of assists. Brienz Lang added two assists and Megan Norris made eight saves for a .571 save percentage.
Davis beat Campolindo 10-7 to place third. Gunn (16-5) downed Castilleja (16-9) 9-7 in the 15th place game despite four goals from Gabby Lewis and two from Lexi Triantis. Elsa McElhinney added two assists and a steal and Sutchie Ofori-Nyako had 13 saves.
The Titans turn their attention back to the SCVAL league tournament, which opens Tuesday. Gunn and Los Gatos each finished 11-1, with each beating the other on the road.
Castilleja is off until the Central Coast Section tournament begins Saturday, November 9 in three divisions: Open, I, II. The seeding meeting will be held Sunday, November 3. Leland is the defending Open Division champion, Los Altos took Division I and Menlo was Division II champs.
Boys water polo
Luke Johnston was involved in another crazy ending for Sacred Heart Prep, which finished ninth at the Bellarmine Memorial Cup with a 10-9 victory in double overtime over Corona del Mar at Valley Christian.
Johnston scored with four seconds left in regulation to force the extra sessions and then scored again at the buzzer of the second overtime to clinch the victory.
Johnston also sent the Gators' game against Long Beach Wilson into overtime with a late goal but SHP eventually lost in sudden death.
Sacred Heart Prep also beat Buchanan 14-7 on Saturday, with Luke Weigle scoring four goals and Jake Tsotadze and Isaac Rotenberg each adding three goals.
