Sports

Sticking it out through a difficult season, the Lady Falcons concluded their season with a 2-12 league record; however, they had a winning record including the pre-season, with a 19-16 record.

The girls’ water polo team ended its season with a 6-5 double overtime loss to Gunn during the first round of league finals on Nov. 5. Two consecutive victories against Mountain View and Homestead to finish league play had left the girls feeling optimistic going into the tournament even though Gunn had defeated them twice before.

You can’t always win them all, but you can definitely give them a run for their money.
That’s exactly what the second-seeded Saratoga field hockey team accomplished against its rival No. 1 Los Gatos at the CCS finals on Nov. 22 at Willow Glen High School. Saratoga managed to keep the score close, but in the end the Wildcats won 2-1 to secure first place and hand the Falcons just their second loss of the year.

The Falcons headed into the final league playoffs confidently and in first place. But nothing, not even a 11-1 season and comfortable first-round bye could prepare the boys’ water polo team for the biggest shock of the season.

They were so close.

After their fifth-place finish in the Division 3 race at the Nov. 15 CCS finals at Toro Park in Salinas, the boys’ cross-country team missed its season goal of qualifying for the state meet by just one spot. The team fell short to Monterey High by only 26 points, 149 to 123.

The team was led by senior Alan Menezes, who finished 13th in the 3-mile race with a time of 16:50. Senior Kian Banks followed, finishing 25th in 17:22.

With Santa Clara Valley Athletic League finals beginning on Nov. 4, the varsity water polo girls feel they couldn’t be more prepared for the games to come. Senior co-captain Alison Norris said the team has drastically advanced in its play this season, and she hopes that even against tough competitors such as Los Gatos and Los Altos, it will be able to play its best.

This year the girls’ volleyball team is looking forward to a strong season with a new coach guiding their young, talented roster. Brad Frederickson, who has been coaching the boys’ varsity volleyball team since 2005, will replace Lori Gragnola as coach.

Gragnola coached the girls’ JV team for 11 years and was an assistant coach for the varsity team for nine years before being promoted to head coach in 2006. She left Saratoga High after the 2007 season and will continue coaching the Monta Vista boys’ varsity team in the spring.

Saratoga High has finally added lacrosse to its spring sports roster, five years after the creation of the highly successful West Valley Redhawks Lacrosse club.

The process started around this time last year when several members of the Redhawks management, as well as Wes Koenig, a lacrosse supporter responsible for the lacrosse programs in Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz, approached former athletic director Ian McKenzie and assistant prinicipal Joe Bosco.

He owns 13 different colored tuxedoes, 12 pairs of running shoes and is nicknamed the “Rocketman.” He was running sub-5 minute miles a decade before any of us were born. And he just happens to be the new girls’ cross country coach.

Besides the fact that Danny Moon could probably—scratch that—can run faster than 75 percent of the school’s athletes, his quirky personality and lovable spirit have helped the girls’ team this season. Previous coach Peter Jordan moved on to take the position of athletic director.

While most sports teams are caught up in the frenzy of end-of-season games, boys’ cross country is taking a different approach. Instead of racing at a slew of meets for league finals, they are racing less to ensure that their bodies are in optimal condition for the races that count.