A milestone victory for Menlo's Jack Bowen

After the postmatch handshake, Menlo School athletic director Earl Koberlein, after announcing Bowen’s accomplishment, said, “OK boys. You know what to do.”

The team surrounded Bowen and amid pops of confetti, Bowen and the boys took a celebratory plunge — reserved for championships and milestone victories.

“What it really captures is the culture of this program,” Bowen said. “It’s not like I’m not going to be here next year.”

Michael Fang gave Menlo a quick 2-0 lead on a pair of counters. After a Patrick Galligan penalty-shot conversion, Tommy Kiesling tallied twice to give Menlo a 5-0 lead with 3:30 left in the opening period.

“We’re super young,” said Skyline head coach Brett Luch. “I thought we were timid and scared (to start the game).”

Skyline finally settled down and matched Menlo’s scoring output over the final few minutes of the first period, scoring twice to trail 7-2 after the first period.

Skyline managed to hang with Menlo the rest of the way, but could never quite close the gap.

“I thought we settled in beginning the second period,” Luch said. “We created a lot of offense. … In the half-court setting, we had just as many chances as they did.

“But we need to be better defensively.”

Menlo pushed its offense throughout the game and Skyline hung with the Knights. It wasn’t until the fourth period that Bowen emptied his bench.

Bowen was pleased to see his team maintain the momentum from Tuesday’s 14-13 loss to Miramonte, a game the Knights trailed 10-2 in the second quarter.

“Our goal was to pick up where we left off from the second half of the Miramonte game,” Bowen said.

Kiesling had a strong effort for the Knights, finishing with a match-high eight goals. The goalkeeping combination of starter Cormac Mulloy and Finn Byrne teamed up to for four assists to go along with 10 saves. Jackson Coleman added four goals, while Fang chipped in with three tallies.

Dillan Shaw led Skyline with four goals, while Richard Heckmann and Tom Diaz each scored twice.

The game also was another milestone for Menlo as Skyline represented the first non-California team Bowen has faced in his time with the Knights. Water polo in the state of California is the best in the country, which means the top teams don’t need to go outside the state to find quality competition.

Conversely, not many out-of-state teams are willing to go up against a program like Menlo, which is consistently a top-20 team in the country.

But Skyline’s Luch wants to get his Eagles to the level of the Knights. He said the team was familiar with the caliber of play, having played club and Junior Olympic tournaments in California over years, but Luch is just looking to keep pushing his team. The Eagles will play three more matches on this long Labor Day weekend trip. They’ll also take on Harker, Valley Christian and Carmichael’s Jesuit.

“We’re looking for better competition,” said Luch, whose team finished runner-up in the Utah Division I playoffs in 2021. “We want to be challenged and pushed.”

Bowen said Luch contacted him in March, looking to either play in Menlo’s annual Roche Invitational Tournament, or just a non-league match.

Bowen didn’t jump at the offer initially. He contacted his myriad water polo connections to vet the Skyline program. When Bowen was satisfied the Eagles were legitimate, he put them on the schedule.

“They’re the No. 1 team in Utah,” Bowen said. “Is water polo good outside California? Well, it is. Eight goals against [our starting] defense? We did not pull back. Everything they got, they earned.”