Casti still the class of PAL

There was only one problem for the Bay Division — Castilleja-Palo Alto is still a member of the league and the defending champion.

And after opening league play by outscoring their first two opponents 30-2, they continued their dominance Tuesday with an 16-7 win over Menlo-Atherton.

“[Being a league champ] always means something,” said Castilleja head coach Brenda Villa. “We’re a small school, but then we get bumped up to the Open Division (of CCS). We’re in a unique situation where (winning) league means a lot.”

M-A, which was a CCS power during a five-year stretch from 2006 to 2010 but had fallen on hard times over the last several years, looked to have turned a corner last season.

And the Bears got off to a solid start to 2019, handling Carlmont 11-5 to open Bay play last week.

But they saw the gap between Carlmont and Castilleja.

“We were pumped to play Castilleja,” said M-A head coach Lauren Lesyna. “We had some things we did really well and there are other things we have to work on.”

Castilleja (3-0 PAL Bay) was led by Anjail Kambham and Minhee Chung, who each scored four goals. Gabby Lewis and Lexi Triantis each netted a hat trick.

M-A (1-1) got three goals from Ella Nelson and one each from Natalie Knox, Eleanor Fisher, Amelia Peyton and Kate Aguilar.

The Bears had a hard time keeping up with the Gators, who pushed the tempo every chance they got, which translated into a number of 1-on-1 opportunities with M-A goaltender Eva Brouwer, who finished with five saves.

M-A (1-1) looked up to the challenge early on. Brouwer came up with a pair of big, point-blank saves early and the Bears actually took a 1-0 lead when Cox beat the shot clock on a restart at the 4:37 mark of the opening quarter.

It was a short-lived lead, however. Castilleja tied the match 13 seconds later when Chung slammed home a penalty shot.

The Bears hung with the Gators for a few more minutes, but when Lewis scored on a fast break at the 2:42 mark of the first quarter, Castilleja had the lead for good.

Seconds later, Triantis scored on the fast break and Kambham knocked home a one-timer for a 4-1 lead.

M-A got one of the goals back when Nelson scored off a Knox assist, but Castilleja led 5-2 at the quarter break.

Like the first quarter, the Bears struck first in the second, with Callie Muhlner feeding Nelson for her second goal of the game, cutting the Gators’ lead to 5-3.

The Bears would get no closer. Castilleja scored four goals in little more than two minutes to take a 9-3 advantage at halftime.

The Bears came out with a little more fire in the third period, outscoring the Gators 3-2. M-A struck first again, with Eleanor Fisher driving to the goal, taking a pass from Anna Younes and scoring. A minute later, M-A cut its deficit to 9-5 when Nelson got a couple of deflections to score on a power play with 4:26 left in the third.

Defensively, the Bears did a better job of slowing up the Gators’ drives and then collapsing two and three defenders into the hole set when required.

Castilleja managed only three shots in the quarter —but converted two of them for an 11-6 lead going into the fourth period.

“We talked (at halftime) about releasing more on offense and stepping up and communicating on defense,” Lesyna said.

Over the final seven minutes, the Gators simply swam away from the Bears.

“We were excited for this match, but we were a little nervous,” Lesyna said. “I think, maybe, we held back in the beginning.”