SHP Open champs after wild win

The two met for the Central Coast Section Open Division title Saturday night and at the end of a wild, contentious, controversial 28 minutes, the top-seeded Gators escaped with a 10-9 win over the second-seeded Lancers in Atherton.

So, is this now an official rivalry?

“Yes,” said SHP head coach Brian Kreutzkamp succinctly. “It wasn’t pretty, but I’m so proud of our defensive stops down the stretch.”

The groundwork for the rivalry was set during the regular season, when the Gators rallied from a second-half deficit and held on for a 9-8 win. It was further enhanced in the West Catholic Athletic League tournament championship game, when SHP posted a 13-10 victory over the Lancers.

Saturday solidified the two as legitimate rivals.

This game had a little big of everything: huge emotion on both sides; a number of discussions between the officials, and the officials and coaches; three student fans ejected; a yellow card for Kreutzkamp and two apparent St. Francis goals wiped off the scoreboard.

Those two nullified goals in the fourth period were the difference in the match. With SHP (19-10) clinging to a 9-8 lead, St. Francis (22-8) earned a power play and after an initial shot was saved, the Lancers grabbed the rebound and appeared to tie the game.

But the game was stopped and after a lengthy discussion, the goal was wiped off. After the first shot was saved, the officials failed to wave back in the ejected Gator, which kept the Lancers on the man advantage.

The game was reset back to the start of the power play and the ensuing Lancers shot caromed off the crossbar, maintaining the Gators’ one-goal lead.

Then, with a little over minute to play in regulation, St. Francis’ Chase Krupitzer appeared to tie the goal on a Hail Mary shot near the sideline as the shot clock expired.

Again, confusion reigned. One official signaled goal, but the other denied it. After another discussion, it was determined Krupitzer didn’t get the shot off before the shot clock buzzer sounded.

“I’ve seen it (happen) a couple times,” Kreutzkamp said of the disallowed goals. “It was the correct interpretation of the rules.”

But the biggest play that actually counted was a save from SHP goalkeeper Murdoch Baker-Matsuoka late in the third quarter with the Gators leading 8-7. The Lancers earned a 5-meter penalty shot, but Krupitzer’s shot was stopped, setting off a roar of celebration from the junior netminder.

Baker-Matsuoka finished with eight saves.

“The turning point was Murdoch blocking that 5-meter,” Kreutzkamp said.

While the finish was as wild as it could get, early on it looked as if the Gators were going to run away with the game. With the game tied at 2-all, SHP scored five unanswered goals — all on 5-meter penalty shots — as the Gators opened up a 6-2 advantage with 4:11 left in the second period.

But St. Francis answered by scoring three of the next four goals and when Dmitri Verstak scored from the right wing off an assist from Finn Swanson with just over a minute left in the half, the Lancers were down just two at the break, 7-5.

Goals from Krupitzer and Mathias Viollier to open the third period gave the Lancers three unasnswered as they tied the score at 7-all with 2:47 left in the period.

The SHP offense, on the other hand, was starting to stagnate. The St. Francis defense got a lot more disciplined in the third quarter and those SHP penalty shots dried up.

“We didn’t have a great shooting night from the perimeter,” Kreutzkamp said. “[St. Francis] starting taking [our inside game] away.”

Clay Carrington, who finished with a game-high four goals, gave SHP the lead again, 8-7, with a goal from the right point off an assist from Gates Gamble. Baker-Matsuoka came up with his penalty-shot save, but the Lancers managed to tie the score at 8-all with 47 left in the third on a Krupitzer strike.

But Luke Kirincich’s goal from the left post gave the Gators a 9-8 lead going into fourth.

After St. Francis had its first disallowed goal less than two minutes into the fourth, the Gators gave themselves a little breathing room when Carrington buried his fourth goal from the left point for a 10-8 lead.

“Clay made a couple of crucial shots down the stretch,” Kreutzkamp said.

It was a massive goal as the Lancers closed to 10-9 with just under two minutes to play on a Williams power-play goal before the Lancers had their second disallowed goal with under a minute to play.

With 32 seconds left, the Gators all but ran out the clock to escape with the win.

“I felt there were four or five times when we could have folded,” Kreutzkamp said. “When you’re a heavy favorite (like we have been in previous years) it’s harder to get the kids motivated. … That makes [this title] so much more satisfying.”

Both teams, along with the other two Open Division semifinalists — Harker and Menlo — qualified for the Northern California regional tournament. Sacred Heart Prep, the No. 2 seed in Division I, will host No. 7 Rio Americano-Sacramento (27-4) Tuesday at a time to be determined.