By Pete Borello
Fall Sports Roundup
The Pinewood School girls tennis team claimed the Private Schools Athletic League title last Thursday with a 6-1 home win over Notre Dame-Belmont.
The Panthers lone loss of the match came at No. 1 singles, a spot the team defaulted due to injury. Star player Lejla Hodzic was held out of the match due to a sore back, according to Pinewood athletic director Melissa Buecher.
Pinewood enters this final week of the regular season undefeated at 14-0 in the division and 16-0 overall.
Two days before beating Notre Dame, the Panthers whipped second-place Castilleja 7-0. Pinewood recorded five straight-set wins in the match. Paula Lea, playing at No. 1, won a hard-fought, three-set decision.
“We’re competing really well right now, which is a good sign before CCS (playoffs),” coach Corinne Mansourian said. “We’re handling the responsibility and pressure well.”
Another local tennis team playing well is St. Francis, which maintained its undefeated record with a SCVAL De Anza Division win over host Lynbrook last Thursday.
The Lancers (10-0, 13-0) prevailed 7-0, winning in straight sets at every position.
Top player Stephanie Schnitter cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory and Laura Boskovich won by the same score at No. 3 singles.
Boys water polo
After allowing only 13 goals over its initial four games of last weekend’s Palo Alto Tournament, St. Francis gave up 11 in a championship loss to rival Bellarmine.
The Lancers on Saturday fell 11-2 to the Bells, a team that recently beat St. Francis in West Catholic Athletic League play as well.
For the tournament, Jeff Lipinski tallied six goals to lead St. Francis (16-7).
After losing its opening game of the Paly tourney, Los Altos rallied to win its final four matches. The Eagles outscored their opponents 41-8 in the victories, capping it off with a 10-0 win over Sacred Heart.
Palo Alto defeated district rival Gunn 5-1 Oct. 17 in a De Anza Division match.
The visiting Titans scored their lone goal on a shot by senior Yuri Bukhan in the fourth quarter. Goalie Paul Esber of Los Altos Hills had two saves and four steals for Gunn (3-2, 11-11).
Girls water polo
Los Altos fell 7-5 to visiting Los Gatos Oct. 16 in a game that could prove detrimental to the Eagles’ chances of winning the SCVAL El Camino Division title.
The loss dropped Los Altos to 4-3 in the division, while Los Gatos went to 8-1.
Tricia Clark led Los Altos with two goals.
Stellar play by Palo Alto freshman Remy Champion was the difference as Gunn lost to its rival 6-3 in a SCVAL De Anza Division contest Oct. 17.
The first half was a tough defensive struggle with the only goals coming on shots by Paly seniors Laurel Champion and Erin McFall.
Gunn senior Ninji Martin finally scored early in the third period, but Remy Champion answered with two goals and McFall scored again as Paly opened a 5-1 lead. Gunn finally capitalized on its 6-on-5 opportunity as junior Shelly Barnea-Smith scored on an outside shot.
Gunn sophomore Lainey Eaton scored from the hole position to close to 5-3, but Remy Champion completed the scoring with an impressive backhand, beating double coverage.
Cross country
The Los Altos boys finished seventh out of 15 schools in Division III of the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational last weekend in Walnut.
The 3.1-mile event attracted more than 13,000 runners from some 450 schools and featured more than 90 races.
Leading the Los Altos boys in the 106-competitor Division III race were Taff Dirks (19th, 17:12), Jeremy Taylor (39th, 18:05), and Miles Prowse (41st, 18:09).
For the girls, who also ran in Division III, the top finishers included Lindsey Fish (31st, 22:48), Amanda Keller (32nd, 22:55) and Laura Perry (38th, 23:19).
Mountain View took part in the St. Francis/Foothill Invitational last Thursday, a grade-division race held on a 3-mile course around the Foothill College campus.
The Spartans top finishers included boys Chris Blood (13th in the sophomore division, 18:49), Matt Ronconi (17th junior division, 19:00) and Cesar Molina (19th senior division, 18:53).
The Mountain View girls were paced by Kathryn Ledoux (19th frosh-soph division, 22:54) and Emilie Doolittle (20th junior-senior division, 22:41).
“Many of our veterans put up some personal bests and we had quite a few nice surprises by some of our underclassmen,” Mountain View coach Samantha Read said.
