May 11, 2008

PAL crown eludes Knights

Menlo loses to Bellarmine Prep in league title game

By Vytas Mazeika / Daily News Staff Writer

A day that started with lacrosse uniforms ended with tuxedos and a prom. Hopefully, for members of the Menlo School boys lacrosse team, the night brought about better memories than the afternoon.

Bellarmine Prep captured its second consecutive Peninsula Athletic League championship with a 14-3 win over Menlo, which won the three previous titles.

"I probably won't get over this one for a while," said Menlo's Travis Boyce, a senior captain. "It's kind of tough to go out on that. But hopefully the prom will lessen it a little bit. Some guys may get over it quicker than others. I know it's going to hurt me for a little while, at least a few weeks to get over it."

Boyce assisted on the first two goals scored from the Knights, the first one coming with 3:43 left in the second quarter courtesy of fellow senior Kevin Kihira. By then, the Bells had already scored seven times.

It certainly didn't look like the same Menlo team that just days earlier defeated rival Menlo-Atherton 8-6 in the PAL semis.

"This team learned how to get the result in the end and figured it out right when it counted in the first game of the playoffs," said Boyce, who played with a finger he fractured last week. "But coming here, obviously it's not how we wanted to play at all. We've had issues starting slow all year and guys were just drained after playing a team like M-A."

Menlo coach Todd Blumbergs offered no excuses, only praise for his opponent.

"I think the M-A game, if anything, in my opinion, got us ready to play this game," Blumbergs said. "But at this point, Bellarmine, they're just a better team. We needed to take advantage of all their mistakes and play our best lacrosse."

A pair of two-man advantages were squandered by the Knights at the end of each the first and second quarters. Nick Maruyama finally made good on a power play chance with a minute left in the third quarter, by that only helped cut the growing deficit to 9-2.

Maruyama added a second tally 59 seconds into the fourth quarter, making it 10-3, before Bellarmine-San Jose scored four unanswered goals prior to the final horn.

"It's my third time playing against Menlo in a championship game, and I'm really proud of our team right now," said Bellarmine senior defender Santos Olmos, who scored on a fastbreak in the first half.

The Bells, who went undefeated in league during the regular season, got five goals from Matt Weigand and led 7-1 at halftime. Zac Mitchel scored his second goal eight seconds into the second half on a power play, as Bellarmine never took the foot off the pedal.

Menlo, which loses 10 seniors, never backed down during the physical affair. It just wasn't their afternoon, so they went home, showered and changed into their tuxedos.

"They're a bunch of fighters," Blumbergs said of his seniors. "Through the tough games, they've been the ones to step up and get guys mentally into the game and be loud. Just because of their seasoning, they were great this year."

Menlo's seniors: Boyce, Kihira, R.J. Carver, Daniel Creagan, Michael Kvamme, Bobby Mora, Dean Raab, George Still, Grant Strachan and Steve Urban.



E-mail Vytas Mazeika at

vmazeika@dailynewsgroup.com.