SHP Girls Lacrosse WBAL Foothill Division Regular-Season Champs

The upcoming West Bay Athletic League lacrosse playoffs have just taken on a more dramatic look and the Menlo School girls are to be thanked for that.

Sacred Heart Prep appeared headed into the playoffs with an undefeated league record and plenty of momentum, including an overtime victory over Menlo on April 6.

The Knights, however, put a stop to the perfect season and the Gators' momentum with a stunning 11-7 triumph on Tuesday on the final day of the WBAL Foothill Division regular season.

Sacred Heart Prep (9-1, 14-5) is still the regular-season champ and will be the top seed for the playoffs, which start this weekend. Menlo, the defending league and playoff champ, is the No. 2 seed.

Both teams will have byes into Saturday's semifinals, with both squads hosting. The rivals are favored to advance to next Tuesday's playoff finale at Palo Alto High at 7 p.m.

Menlo's victory on Tuesday perhaps sent a message that the Knights are never to be counted out. Menlo scored the first three goals of the match and grabbed a 5-2 halftime lead.

The Knights came out of intermission and scored two unanswered goals -- by Allison Liddle and Indira Varma -- for a 7-2 lead.

SHP senior Libby Muir, who is headed to Stanford next season, scored her first goal of the game, but Menlo senior Nikky Price answered and it was 8-3. Muir got one back with her final tally with 14:30 remaining, but Price once again scored (her fourth goal) on a free-position shot to keep it at 9-4.

Juliana Clark tallied her second goal for a 9-5 match, but Menlo answered with freshman Charlotte Swisher's goal for a 10-5 match. After Menlo called time, SHP responded with back-to-back goals to narrow its deficit to just 10-7. With just three seconds remaining, Price scored her fifth goal to put the finishing touches on the big victory.

"The whole team contributed today to earn a significant win for the season," said Menlo coach Jen Lee. "The defense was dialed in, led by senior captain Chelsea Sahami, and they locked on as SHP fired exactly the same number of shots as Menlo (14)."

Menlo goalie Alena Stern had six saves while seven different Knights combined to help win 13 total draws. Five different players helped cause seven turnovers and seven others worked to pick up 12 different contested ground balls.

Along with Price's five goals, Menlo got three goals plus two assists from Varma and two goals from Liddle. Muir, Clark and Cameron Gordon all had two goals for the Gators, who won back-to-back league titles in 2013 and '14 but had that streak snapped by Menlo last season.