Sacred Heart Prep boys win, girls lose CCS water polo finals

SHP had already beaten the Bells three times this season, including a pair of one-goal wins during the regular season, 13-12 and 14-13, before posting a 12-9 win in the WCAL tournament final.

Saturday, however, the top-seeded Gators overwhelmed No. 2 Bellarmine, taking a 5-1 lead after the first period and pulling away for a convincing 16-4 victory.

It is the fifth straight Open Division win for SHP (22-7), the Gators’ 11th CCS title in a row and 14th in the last 15 seasons.

Will Swart continued his torrid scoring pace for the Gators, finding the back of the net a game-high five times. But he was hardly a one-man show. Jake Tsotadze and Hassan Hove each notched hat tricks, with Tsotadze adding a pair of assists. Harrison Rohlen and Luke Bachler each scored twice, while Tyler Hogan had a goal and two assists to round out the scoring.

Much like the Gators did in their 15-6 semifinal win over St. Francis, SHP simply overwhelmed Bellarmine to start the game. Hove gave the Gators a 1-0 lead 90 seconds into the game and it started a run of five unanswered goals for SHP, which led 5-1 after the first period, with four different Gators scoring.

Bellarmine (21-9) finally got on the scoreboard in the final minute of the opening period on a goal from Blake Wilson, but SHP answered by scoring the next seven goals to take a commanding 12-1 lead at halftime.

As he is wont to do, SHP head coach Brian Kreutzkamp pulled back the offense in the second half, scoring just four times. But the Gators’ defense remained on point, holding the Bells to just three second-half goals, shutting them out in the fourth.

With the win, SHP received the No. 1 seed in the Nor Cal tournament’s Division I bracket and will host Arroyo Grande in the first round at a time to be determined. Bellarmine is the No. 3 seed and St. Francis No. 5 in Division I.

The Sacred Heart Prep girls’ team, however, was not as fortunate in its CCS championship game. Facing top-seeded Soquel, the Gators scored the first goal of the match — but the Knights scored the next five to lead 5-1 after the first period. Soquel pulled away from there, posting an 18-5 win, the Knights’ second straight CCS Open Division title. They beat SHP 8-7 to capture the 2021 crown.

Lucy Homer paced the SHP attack as she notched her first career hat trick. Natalia Szczerba added two goals and an assist for the Knights.

Despite the loss, the Gators still qualified for the Nor Cal tournament, earning the No. 4 seed and home match against No. 5 Campolindo-Moraga Tuesday at a time to be determined.