Menlo’s water polo team suffered a difficult loss but still had a phenomenal season as a whole. Staff photo by Justin Kasser.

By Eric Chang

On Nov. 12, Menlo boys water polo fell to Sacred Heart Prep 13-9 in the CCS Championship. While this game was disappointing to the program, the Menlo boys water polo season was a huge success. The team had an overall record of 27-3, and was crowned Peninsula Athletic League-Bay (PAL) champions after winning the regular season finals tournament. In addition, Menlo was victorious at both the St. Francis Invitational and Menlo’s Roche Invitational.

Sophomore Sam Untrecht once again was an influential offensive factor, scoring three goals for Menlo. His first goal, which came at the end of the first quarter, put Menlo back into the game at 3-1. Untrecht later assisted senior Scott Little to cut their deficit to one goal and he had a very impressive run when he split two defenders and scored a buzzer beater to tie the game at 5-5 at halftime.

Sacred Heart managed to restrain Menlo’s offense by preventing junior Niko Bhatia to attack and kept him scoreless. Bhatia however still played an important role and earned five ejections for his team (he got five other players ejected). Little also deserves recognition as his efforts put up three goals on the scoreboard and senior Tiago Bonchristiano had a total of eight saves.

After falling short this fall season, Menlo has even higher hopes and ambitions to win the title next year.