SHP to Nor Cal Final Four
Sacred Heart Prep 12, Jesuit 4
See Full Story
“I didn’t have any tape, nothing,” said SHP head coach Brian Kreutzkamp.
As a result, the Gators came out and played a cautious first period before turning on the afterburners and flying away with a 12-4 victory in Atherton.
“We had not seen this team,” Kreutzkamp said. “We just wanted to come out and see where we were at.”
A slow-ish start for the Gators is unlike other teams as they still managed to score three time and limited the Marauders to just three first-period shots.
In the second quarter, SHP really got its offense humming, scoring five times to take an 8-1 lead at halftime. The Gators kept up the offensive onslaught in the third, scoring four more goals in the first five-plus minutes before Kreutzkamp ended the night for his starters and let the bench go the final 10 minutes of the match.
“We didn’t get a chance to really recover from an emotional win Saturday (in the CCS Open Division title game). I thought we might be a little flat (against Jesuit),” Kreutzkamp said. “I liked the way we were moving and swimming out there. I thought we looked fast.”
Walker Seymour and Alex Tsotadze led the SHP offense with a hat trick each as six Gators scored goals and eight recorded a point. Michael Sonsini and Andrew Churukian each scored twice, while James Plaschke and Corey Tannis scored a goal apiece.
Goalkeeper Alex Nemeth led SHP with four assists. Sonsini and Seymour added two helpers each.
Making the win even more impressive was the fact the Gators were without one of their leading scorers as Larson Weigle, who missed the game because of illness.
“We have a very deep team,” Kreutzkamp said.
Sonsini set the tone early when he stole the ball and drove half the length of the pool before he easily beat the goalkeeper one-on-one just under two minutes into the match.
SHP then got a pair of goals in the last two minutes of the period to take control. On the Gators’ third power play of the period, Seymour, stationed on the right wing, lobbed a pass into the hole set, where Churukian rose up and batted the ball into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.
Then, with literally a tenth-of-a-second left in the quarter, Seymour converted a Jackson Clevenger lob into a 3-0 advantage.
The goals kept coming in the second period as the Gators scored on five of their eight shots. Tsotadze scored back-to-back goals in the opening four minutes to open up a 4-0 SHP lead. A long outlet pass from Nemeth to a streaking Seymour put the Gators up 6-0. Churukian scored on a power play to make it 7-0 before the Marauders finally got on the board with a goal from Luke Chandler of a quick restart.
SHP got the goal back before halftime, however, with James Plaschke scored from the set off a pass from Sonsini to give the Gators a comfortable 8-1 lead at the break.
Nemeth assisted on three of the four third-period goals for SHP. He dropped a pass right into the path of a driving Sonsini, who finished his second fast break of the evening. Nemeth then found Tsotadze for the Gators’ 10th goal at the 5:07 mark of the third.
Another hole-set strike from the Gators, this time from Tannis, gave SHP a 10-goal lead. On arguably the prettiest goal of the game, Nemeth made a long outlet pass down the left sideline to Tsotadze, who quickly found Seymour on the drive, who finished the scoring for the night for the Gators — and ending the night for the starters as well.
The Gators’ second team struggled on the offensive end, but defensively forced Jesuit to work hard for its final two goals — one each from Spencer Beckwith late in the third and Kyle Webster midway through the fourth.
Up next for the Gators is what they hope is a two-game grind Saturday, as both the Nor Cal semifinals and championship match will be held at Whitney High School in Rocklin, which is about 30 minutes Northeast of Sacramento.
SHP, the No. 2 seed, will face No. 3 Campolindo, which beat No. 6 Bellarmine 12-11. Kreutzkamp said his team lost to Campo 6-5 in the Memorial tournament, which was hosted by the Bells about a month ago.
The other semifinal pits top-seeded Drake, which beat No. 8 Davis 18-10, against No. 5 Buchanan, which topped No. 4 Menlo School in a thrilling 10-9 overtime victory.
As for SHP’s history with top-seeded Drake? The Gators beat them in that same Memorial tournament, 5-4.
“There are four teams left in Nor Cal,” Kreutzkamp said. “We want to make sure we represent our section.”
Back
Of the seven other teams in the inaugural Northern California Division I boys’ water polo tournament, Sacred Heart Prep had played them all — except for Tuesday’s first-round opponent Jesuit-Carmichael, located Northeast of Sacramento.
“I didn’t have any tape, nothing,” said SHP head coach Brian Kreutzkamp.
As a result, the Gators came out and played a cautious first period before turning on the afterburners and flying away with a 12-4 victory in Atherton.
“We had not seen this team,” Kreutzkamp said. “We just wanted to come out and see where we were at.”
A slow-ish start for the Gators is unlike other teams as they still managed to score three time and limited the Marauders to just three first-period shots.
In the second quarter, SHP really got its offense humming, scoring five times to take an 8-1 lead at halftime. The Gators kept up the offensive onslaught in the third, scoring four more goals in the first five-plus minutes before Kreutzkamp ended the night for his starters and let the bench go the final 10 minutes of the match.
“We didn’t get a chance to really recover from an emotional win Saturday (in the CCS Open Division title game). I thought we might be a little flat (against Jesuit),” Kreutzkamp said. “I liked the way we were moving and swimming out there. I thought we looked fast.”
Walker Seymour and Alex Tsotadze led the SHP offense with a hat trick each as six Gators scored goals and eight recorded a point. Michael Sonsini and Andrew Churukian each scored twice, while James Plaschke and Corey Tannis scored a goal apiece.
Goalkeeper Alex Nemeth led SHP with four assists. Sonsini and Seymour added two helpers each.
Making the win even more impressive was the fact the Gators were without one of their leading scorers as Larson Weigle, who missed the game because of illness.
“We have a very deep team,” Kreutzkamp said.
Sonsini set the tone early when he stole the ball and drove half the length of the pool before he easily beat the goalkeeper one-on-one just under two minutes into the match.
SHP then got a pair of goals in the last two minutes of the period to take control. On the Gators’ third power play of the period, Seymour, stationed on the right wing, lobbed a pass into the hole set, where Churukian rose up and batted the ball into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.
Then, with literally a tenth-of-a-second left in the quarter, Seymour converted a Jackson Clevenger lob into a 3-0 advantage.
The goals kept coming in the second period as the Gators scored on five of their eight shots. Tsotadze scored back-to-back goals in the opening four minutes to open up a 4-0 SHP lead. A long outlet pass from Nemeth to a streaking Seymour put the Gators up 6-0. Churukian scored on a power play to make it 7-0 before the Marauders finally got on the board with a goal from Luke Chandler of a quick restart.
SHP got the goal back before halftime, however, with James Plaschke scored from the set off a pass from Sonsini to give the Gators a comfortable 8-1 lead at the break.
Nemeth assisted on three of the four third-period goals for SHP. He dropped a pass right into the path of a driving Sonsini, who finished his second fast break of the evening. Nemeth then found Tsotadze for the Gators’ 10th goal at the 5:07 mark of the third.
Another hole-set strike from the Gators, this time from Tannis, gave SHP a 10-goal lead. On arguably the prettiest goal of the game, Nemeth made a long outlet pass down the left sideline to Tsotadze, who quickly found Seymour on the drive, who finished the scoring for the night for the Gators — and ending the night for the starters as well.
The Gators’ second team struggled on the offensive end, but defensively forced Jesuit to work hard for its final two goals — one each from Spencer Beckwith late in the third and Kyle Webster midway through the fourth.
Up next for the Gators is what they hope is a two-game grind Saturday, as both the Nor Cal semifinals and championship match will be held at Whitney High School in Rocklin, which is about 30 minutes Northeast of Sacramento.
SHP, the No. 2 seed, will face No. 3 Campolindo, which beat No. 6 Bellarmine 12-11. Kreutzkamp said his team lost to Campo 6-5 in the Memorial tournament, which was hosted by the Bells about a month ago.
The other semifinal pits top-seeded Drake, which beat No. 8 Davis 18-10, against No. 5 Buchanan, which topped No. 4 Menlo School in a thrilling 10-9 overtime victory.
As for SHP’s history with top-seeded Drake? The Gators beat them in that same Memorial tournament, 5-4.
“There are four teams left in Nor Cal,” Kreutzkamp said. “We want to make sure we represent our section.”
Sacred Heart Schools Atherton
Founded by the Society of the Sacred Heart, SHS is a Catholic, independent, co-ed day school for students in preschool through grade 12
