Sacred Heart Prepâs Andrew Churukian and the rest of his Gators teammates take the traditional championship-winning plunge after knocking off Menlo School 8-5 in the CCS Open Division title game at Independence High School Saturday.
SAN JOSE â If the Sacred Heart Prep boysâ water polo team â winners of six straight Central Coast Section championships â needed any more motivation, the Gators got it as they watched their female counterpart see their 10-year title winning streak come to an end in a match right before the boysâ title game.
Not that the Gators needed much more motivation. Waiting on the other end was their long-time rival Menlo School and there was also the fact the Gators wanted to become the first CCS Open Division champions.
The Gators then went out and did what theyâve done the last seven years: win the CCS title, 8-5, over the Knights at Independence High School.
âThese guys wanted to make their mark and be the first-ever Open champion,â said SHP coach Brian Kreutzkamp.
SHP (24-4), the top seed, put the pressure on No. 3-seeded Menlo (20-7) right away, scoring less than two minutes into the match. The Gators led 3-1 after the first period and 6-2 at halftime. They led 8-3 after three before Menlo shut them out in the fourth as the Knights outscored them 2-0.
The Knights were at a definite disadvantage as they lost one of their best players, Niko Bhatia, to injury in the semifinals, forcing Menlo coach Jack Bowen to tweak his teamâs play.
âTo go out against that (SHP) team without Niko was a tremendous success,â Bowen said. âTo make those changes was an immense challenge.â
The score could have been a lot more lopsided if not for the play of Menlo goalkeeper Josh Poulos. To use a hockey phrase, Poulos âstood on his headâ between the pipes, finishing with 18 saves, several of the spectacular variety, including a block of a 5-meter penalty shot.
But the Gators offense is so varied and so precise, Poulos needed to be perfect for Menlo to have a chance.
âWe came out and played the way we wanted to play,â Kreutzkamp said. âWe have such a balanced team.â
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And deep. Kreutzkamp rolled fresh players into the lineup throughout the match, trying to tire out the Knights with their breakneck style of offense.
âWeâre tying to keep a fast pace going,â Kreutzkamp said. âThis is the deepest team Iâve had here (at SHP). Iâm playing 10, 11 guys per game.â
The pace of play was evident early on. Walker Seymour, who really came into his during the playoffs, opened the scoring when Poulos was left in a 1-on-1 against Walker, who buried his shot less than two minutes into the match. Michael Sonsini converted a pass from Alex Tsotadze into a 2-0 lead, as his shot, somehow, slipped through Poulosâ hands. An Andrew Churukian goal off a rebound gave the Gators a 3-0 lead with just over a minute left in the first period.
Churukian and Sonsini each scored twice to lead the Gators.
A Maxwell Patterson goal, off an assist from Sam Untrecht, got Menlo on the board late in the quarter as the Knights trailed 3-1 after one period of play.
The Knights closed to 3-2 with a Miller Geschke strike from the set at the 5:39 mark of the second quarter, but the Gators closed the period with three unanswered goals. Sonsini and Churukian each scored from the set and Tsotadze added a goal on a 5-meter penalty shot to lead 6-2 at halftime.
âIf you make a mistake (against SHP), youâre going to pay for it,â Bowen said. âI donât even want to call them mistakes. You have to be on top of your game all game long. Sacred Heart Prep causes those mistakes. Itâs a result of Sacred Heartâs system. Theyâll make you pay for it.â
When Tsotadzeâs non-nonchalant floater from the point found the back of the net less than two minutes into the third period for a 7-2 lead, it was obvious it was the Gatorsâ day. Geschke, who led Menlo with a hat trick, scored his second goal of the game to close to 7-3, but a bang-bang play, Sonsini-to-Chris Rowland goal put the Gators up 8-3.
Poulos blocked a penalty shot from Larson Weigle, but the Knights could not parlay that into any more momentum in the fourth period. They Knights did score twice over the final seven minutes â one each from Geschke and Noah Housenbold â but at that point, SHP was just trying to keep the Knights in front of them.
âWe were up 6-2 at halftime. We knew we couldnât do anything stupid (in the second half),â Kreutzkamp said. âWe didnât slow down, we just protected ourselves.â
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