Prep water polo: Menlo-Atherton wins first PAL title in seven years

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Arianna Gerola recorded nine steals and scored a goal for Woodside. Photo taken Sept. 21, 2021 by Rick Eymer.

The Menlo-Atherton boys water polo team clinched its first Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division title since 2014 with an emphatic 22-6 victory over Burlingame on Wednesday.

The Bears (17-3, 9-0) have a match remaining at home against Aragon on Tuesday but they can start looking ahead a little bit to the Central Coast Section playoffs seeding meeting on Sunday, Oct. 31.

Woodside’s Elodie Serres. Photo taken on Sept. 21, 2021 by Rick Eymer.

The CCS tournament begins for both boys and girls on Nov. 6.

The defending PAL girls champion Menlo-Atherton were not as fortunate, losing to Burlingame 9-8 in double overtime. The Panthers are 10-1 with a match to play. M-A has two losses with a match to play.

Woodside beat Aragon 5-2 and will likely finish third with an 8-3 mark. The Wildcats host Sequoia on Tuesday in the regular season finale.

Sequoia beat Carlmont 9-8 for its second league win of the season.

Woodside was led by Arianna Gerola, who recorded nine steals and two assists in addition to scoring a goal.

The Woodside boys, who won the PAL the past two years, beat Aragon 11-7 to improve to 11-4 overall, 6-2 in league play.

Both the Sacred Heart Prep boys and girls teams finished their West Catholic Athletic league seasons undefeated while the Menlo School and St. Francis girls each finished with a victory.

St. Francis boys lost to Bellarmine 14-4 and Menlo School beat St. Ignatius 19-5 as Tommy Kiesling scored four goals and Greg Hilderbrand added three. Jackson Kay and Jack Murad each scored twice.

Menlo sophomore goalie Cormac Mulloy, playing just the second half, recorded eight saves and a team-high five assists as the Knights (14-9, 5-1) finish second behind SHP.

Menlo meets Orange Lutheran in a non-league match Thursday.

There are a pair of tournaments this weekend before the WCAL tournament commences next week. Bellarmine hosts a tournament and Sacred Heart Prep (and Gunn) host the Nor Cal Invitational, a girls tournament.

Sacred Heart Prep (19-1, 6-0) opens the tournament against San Ramon Valley at 1 p.m. Friday. St. Francis meets Campolindo at noon. At Gunn, the host Titans play top-seeded Miramonte at 11 a.m. and Castilleja plays Leland at 2 p.m.

Ashley Penner and Brienz Lang each scored four goals in SHP’s 14-2 win over Valley Christian. Margaret Brandin and Riley Hocker each added a pair.

SHP also used a different goalie in each quarter, beginning with starter Paedrin Gillett. Ella Woodhead, Lang and Penner also spent a quarter in goal.

St. Francis beat Presentation 19-6 and Menlo topped St. Ignatius 16-10.

On the boys side, Sacred Heart Prep beat Valley Christian 16-8, with Will Swart leading the way with three goals. Luke Johnston, Hassan Hove and Jack Vort each added two goals.

SHP (20-2. 6-0) meets Newport Harbor in a non-league match Thursday.

By Rick Eymer