Sacred Heart Prep wins boys water polo match with a penalty shot
Sacred Heart Prep’s Gavin West ended a struggle between two of the top boys’ water polo teams in Northern California by converting a penalty kick halfway through the first sudden death overtime.
It gave the Gators an 8-7 nonleague victory over host Campolindo in Moraga on Tuesday.
West got the chance to write the finish to a dazzling game when Michael Heller was fouled with a scoring opportunity moments before.
West and Jake Tsotadze played tough defense all day, combining to draw seven exclusions and eight steals. Both teams played particularly well with a man down as neither side produced a power-play goal in 14 combined tries.
Campolindo scored the game’s first two goals, but the remaining 28:30 of play neither team led by more than a single goal. There were five lead changes and it was tied on six other occasions.
Tsotadze gave SHP (11-0) a 7-6 advantage with a minute left in the first overtime period, but Campolindo was able to tie it in the second overtime.
Heller put SHP on the board with a goal early in the second quarter. He also followed a goal by Will Swart with a score that gave SHP its first lead midway through the second period.
Griff Price played all 35:31 in the goal, recording 12 saves and a save average of .632. His Campolindo counterpart was nearly as good, stopping 10 shots.
Heller, West and Swart shared the team lead, each with a pair of goals. Luke Weigle also scored for the Gators.
Sacred Heart Prep travels to play at Miramonte, another NorCal powerhouse, on Thursday night before ending its season with a nonleague match against visiting Valley Christian on Friday night.
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
