Sacred Heart Prep rules CCS water polo

“I never bring a change of clothes. It’s bad luck,” Kreutzkamp said. “It’s cocky. … I’m happy to drive home wet.”

It was another soggy, post-game drive home for Kreutzkamp and as far as the superstitious thing goes, why change what works? Kreutzkamp and the Gators, appearing in their 20th straight title game, took their 14th consecutive dive into the pool after defeating rival Menlo School 16-11 in the Central Coast Section Open Division final Saturday night at Sacred Heart Prep.

And for SHP interim girls’ coach, Adriana Reed, she took her first celebratory leap as the Lady Gators rallied for 13-10 overtime win over rival Soquel.

It was the third time this season that the SHP boys and Menlo met and this one was the closest of the three. The Knights matched the Gators, goal-wise, for three quarters, but ran out of game in the fourth.

Top-seeded SHP (20-6) led 5-3 after the first period, but second-seeded Menlo (21-8) came out swinging in the second, outscoring the Gators 4-2 to tie the match at 7-all at halftime. When Avery Kuziemko struck for Menlo to open the third, the Knight took an 8-7 lead. When Hunter Coleman notched his third goal of the game, Menlo was tied at 9-all.

But then SHP asserted its authority. The Gators scored seven of the next eight goals to build a 16-10 lead with under a minute to play.

“I thought Menlo played outstanding,” Kreutzkamp said. “But our game plan is swim (and get out in transition). We knew eventually ... we would wear them down.”

Menlo head coach Jack Bowen knew he team was a bit compromised. The Knights had been without Alex Stoffel for the postseason, who essentially served as a team’s point guard, and with a sick Adam Afar, who was far from 100% and ended up ejected from the game with three exclusions, shortening the Knights’ bench to virtually nothing.

“We only sub two-deep,” Bowen said, meaning the starters had to play a bulk of the match.

“Sacred Heart swims hard. They counter teams into the ground. We could match that for three quarters.”

Which is how the Gators pulled away as SHP converted three straight 5-meter penalty shots in a row in the third. SHP’s counter started to beat the Knights down the pool and in a pick-your-poison decision, Menlo had to decide whether to foul or give up a point-blank shot.

The Knights chose the former and the Gators made them pay. Clay Carrington, who scored a game-high five goals, gave SHP a 9-8 lead with just under three minutes left in the third quarter.

After Coleman tied the game for Menlo, the Gators got a 5-meter conversions from Oliver Marcin and Carrington. Ario Hamrah’s goal late in the third gave SHP a 12-10 lead going into the fourth, when the Gators scored three straight to take a 15-10 lead with 2:42 left.

Despite the loss, there was a lot of positives for the Knights. Saturday represented their first Open Division finals appearance since the first one in 2017.

“To be in the Open Division championship game is just a tremendous accomplishment,” Bowen said. “Our goal is to be our best. We accomplished that today.”

Lady Gators repeat

Despite an early-season coaching change, the SHP girls’ water polo team did not skip a beat, advancing to the CCS Open Division title game for the fifth straight season.

Taking on CCS rival Soquel in the title game for the fifth time in a row, the Gators had to rally from a 6-4 halftime deficit to beat the Knights in overtime, 13-10.

SHP has now won three straight Open Division titles.

The Gators took a 9-8 lead with five minutes to play on a Casey Coleman strike, but Soquel tied it with under two minutes to play to send the game to overtime, tied at 9-all.

SHP then took control in the first of two, mandatory overtime periods. Naia O’Hanlon’s goal from the left post gave the Gators a 10-9 advantage and it was a two-goal lead when Lauren Rossi scored from the point. O’Hanlon pushed the Gators’ lead to 12-9 when she flipped a shot over the goalkeeper to complete a fastbreak counterattack.

The teams then exchanged goals, with Keirnan Hogan icing the game by converting a 5-meter penalty shot with 33 seconds to play.

Top-seeded SHP (25-2) got off to a slow start offensively and it was the Gators’ defense that kept them in the game early.

After third-seeded Soquel (20-9) converted a 5-meter penalty shot 13 seconds into the match, the Gators came up empty on back-to-back power plays, turning the ball over each time.

Rossi finally got SHP on the board, converting an assist from Sophia Toyos for a power-play goal. But Soquel answered with a man-advantage goal of its own to lead 3-1 after the first period.

The Gators offense starte to pick up in the second, with Hogan scoring twice, Toyos added a third goal to match the Knights and enter halftime down 6-4.

SHP opened the third period by scoring the first two goals. Coleman got the Gators within a goal and O’Hanlon tied it. Hogan’s 5-meter conversion with 1:29 left in the third gave SHP its first lead of the match, 7-6.

The Gators twice took a one-goal lead in the fourth, but Soquel forced overtime when Charlee Rose Beck scored from the right point to tie the game at 9-all with under two minutes left in regulation.

Hogan led the SHP offense, scoring five times. O’Hanlon, a freshman, netted a hat trick, while Rossi and Coleman each had two goals. Toyos led the way with three assists.

Soquel got three goals from Kiki Burke, while Liz Penny had three assists and a goal.