Steven Kryger, Menlo-Atherton head boys’ lacrosse coach, delineated in email the accomplishments the Bears achieved this season, with one caveat: “with one more game to go.”
Kryger, who is also M-A co-athletic director, admitted that the end of the line is likely nigh as the Bears, the No. 3 seed, will take on second-seeded Sacred Heart Prep in a Central Coast Section Division I semifinal matchup Wednesday on the back field at SHP.
The breakdown in CCS is pretty simple: M-A is the best public-school team in the CCS this year, but SHP (16-6) is head and shoulders better than the Bears. St. Ignatius (19-2), the No. 1 seed in the bracket and the top-ranked team in the state by MaxPreps.com, is head and shoulders better than the Gators. The Wildcats face No. 4 St. Francis in the other semifinal.
Despite the odds being stacked against his team, Kryger said his Bears won’t back down from the challenge.
“[SHP has] so many high-level lacrosse players. Five, six guys who are DI commits. Almost all their guys play club year-round. They’re well experienced. They have a ton of guys who are DI guys and the other guys have played lacrosse for a long time,” Kryger said. “[My] kids are excited for the opportunity. I don’t think we’ll be intimidated. (our mentality is), ‘Let’s give it everything we have. Let’s go shock the world.’”
If both SHP and SI win, they’ll face each other in the Division I championship game at 5 p.m. Friday at Carlmont High School. The Wildcats have beaten the Gators both times they played each other this season by a combined score of 27-14. Their first meeting was close, a 13-10 SI decision. But the Wildcats rolled in the WCAL tournament final, beating SHP 14-4.
While M-A is mostly likely facing the end to their season, Kryger wants to make sure his team knows it can be successful without winning a CCS championship. M-A, which is 21-1 after a 12-6 win over Stevenson-Pebble Beach in the first round last Friday, won its second straight Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division title with a perfect 10-0 record this season, running roughshod through the competition. The Bears outscored their PAL opponents 166-22 this season.
Additionally, Kryger set up as tough a schedule as he could — including West Catholic League teams Bellarmine, Menlo School, St. Francis and Serra, all M-A victories. They beat a strong East Bay squad in San Ramon Valley, and even beat nemesis Los Gatos, which beat M-A five straight times in 2021 and 2022.
The Bears have now beaten the Wildcats three straight times.
M-A’s only loss so far this season came to JSerra Catholic-San Juan Capistrano during a spring break trip to Southern California.
“We had a lot of kids coming back, so we had a sense we could be better than last year,” Coach Kryger said. “My offensive coordinator Matt Bond deserves so much credit. We started this year so far ahead. Our offensive kids have a really high (lacrosse) IQ and that really allowed (Bond) to keep adding layers (to the offense).
“We have more offensive options than we’ve ever had.”
Along the way, the Bears set a slew of new individual records. Junior attacker Colin Kryger, one of two of the coach’s sons on the roster, is the all-time goal-scoring leader with 174. His 76 career assists are fourth all-time at the school and his total points of 250 are also a school record.
Peter Koren, a senior middie, is second all-time in scoring and points. Goalie Olivier Yuk set the new career saves record with 457 and counting. Eric Torre, a junior middie, set a single-season record for most faceoffs won with 257 faceoff winning percentage of 76.3.
Colin Kryger’s older brother, senior Jack Kryger, set a new record for career ground balls won with 376 and with five more against SHP Wednesday, he will set the single-season ground balls record. He also owns the career record for most forced turnovers with 133.
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Not bad for a team that features at least half a roster that didn’t start playing the sport until they got to high school.
“One of the things I’m probably the most proud of, and it’s been our MO for a long time, is how many kids, great athletes, who came out for lacrosse in high school. … In general, public schools on the Peninsula and in CCS, are facing an uphill battle. The high-level club players and their families gravitate to private schools and then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Coach Kryger said. “There is a little chip on our shoulder. Our kids have a public-school chip and they wear that like a badge of honor. … They’re proud of being the only public school in (CCS) DI.”
M-A’s self-fulfilling prophecy is having current players constantly scouring the school’s hallways to recruit athletes who can help the team, even if they have no lacrosse experience.
“There has just been a history of kids recruiting their friends who are great athletes and good kids. … When they recruit their friends, they only recruit high-level kids,” Coach Kryger said. “And then they work with them in the offseason.”
Coach Kryger said the skills used in other sports can make the transition to lacrosse a lot easier. He said most players new to the game play defense, where they can use their athleticism more so than worry about their stick work.
“(One of) three of the biggest sports that transfer really well is basketball. How we run an offense is much like basketball, especially if you have a kid who can play team defense,” Coach Kryger said. “The conditioning of soccer (is important), the way you move the ball, and then football, just because of the physicality of the game (of lacrosse).”
Girls’ lacrosse
The Division I semifinals are an all-West Bay Athletic League affair, with the top four seeds in the final four. No. 3 Menlo School (13-5) faces off with rival Sacred Heart Prep (17-2), the No. 2 seed, at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Gators swept both games the teams played this season.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 4 St. Francis (8-7) face top-seeded St. Ignatius (15-5).
SHP and SI split their two games this season, with the Gators pulling out a 10-9 overtime win in March, while the Wildcats returned the favor in April, posting a 9-8 overtime win.
In Division II, San Mateo County is represented by three of the four teams in the semifinals. Burlingame (9-7) and Woodside (13-3), seeded No. 6 and No. 2 respectively, will meet in one semifinal game in Woodside at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Burlingame knocked off third-seeded Scotts Valley 13-10 in the first round last Saturday, while Woodside cruised past No. 7 Live Oak, 16-6.
Woodside, which won the WBAL Skyline Division title, split a pair of league matches with Burlingame, which finished fifth in the Skyline Division standings.
Meanwhile, No. 5 Sequoia (12-6) takes on top-seeded Gunn (15-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Ravens finished third in the WBAL Skyline Division standings, squared off with Gunn during non-league play this season. The Titans, which finished second in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, took apart the Ravens, 20-7.
The Division II championship is game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Carlmont High School.
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