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Owen Taylor found himself in foul trouble and had to sit out a good portion of the third quarter. He took the opportunity to readjust.
Taylor scored three of his team-high five goals in the fourth period, turning a one-point game into a dominant performance as the Menlo-Atherton boys water polo team beat Mitty 9-4 in the championship game of the Spartan Invitational at Mountain View High on Saturday.
“I was ready,” Taylor said. “My mindset was that I was going to score. I was just feeling it. After that lob shot it all clicked.”
Taylor had noticed the Mitty goalie getting a little more aggressive coming out of the net to challenge shooters and he took advantage.
It was a rematch of the Central Coast Section Division I championship match from 2019, in which the Bears scored a miracle goal to tie it as time expired in regulation and then won it in overtime.
“Guys were talking about that game on the bench,” M-A coach Tim Kates said. “But these are two totally different teams now.”
Woodside finished third, beating host Mountain View 13-3. M-A beat Woodside 11-8 and the Spartans fell to Mitty in Saturday morning’s semifinals.
“Woodside is always tough,” Kates said. “They have amazing athletes and they made it close. The guys were saying if we could play Woodside every day for the rest of the season, they would be happy.”
Julian Montoya, who scored the winning goal against Mitty in overtime two years ago, added three goals and Miles Scherer also scored.
Until Taylor opened things up in the final period, it was a close contest. The game was tied at 3-3 late in the third period and the Bears (11-3) took a 4-3 edge into the fourth.
“Mitty played well and gave us problems,” Kates said. “That’s something to learn from and work on. Still, I’m happy with how the guys pushed through.”
Jake Taylor recorded 17 saves against the Monarchs, including stopping a penalty shot.
Against Woodside, Owen Taylor and Montoya combined to score seven goals while Karim Nasr scored twice and Memo Portugal and Ofir Podoly also scored.
Andrew Mills scored four goals for the Wildcats (6-2), while Jake Anderson scored twice.
Dylan Leahy scored twice for Mountain View against Mitty and also twice against Woodside. Quinlan Corsiglia and Suhrith Bellamkonda each scored a goal on the day.
“We’re off to a rocky start and we’re still finding our way,” Leahy said. “The guys are super talented and starting to find a groove and play as a team. We haven’t been able to play much with each other.”
