Sports Briefs: TL boys stun AW, Tam girls earn upset to advance to NCS water polo semis

Terra Linda High’s breakthrough victory over Archie Williams upset the tournament bracket in the North Coast Section Division I boys water polo playoffs. The eighth-seeded Trojans edged the top-seeded Peregrine Falcons, 13-10, in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

The Falcons won the two earlier meetings this season, 13-10 in the regular season, and 9-8 in the MCAL playoffs.

The Trojans move on to Wednesday’s semifinals for a date with No. 5 Las Lomas, which defeated No. 4 Tam, 8-6.

• No. 3 seed Redwood held off a furious challenge from No. 6 Northgate for a 15-14 quarterfinal victory in the NCS D-I bracket. The Giants (16-11) are scheduled to play No. 7 College Park (22-6) in Wednesday’s semifinals, with the possibility of an all-MCAL final against Terra Linda hanging in the balance.

• Marin Academy and Novato, the top two seeds in their tournament bracket, took another step toward an all-Marin showdown for the NCS Division-II title.

Top-seeded Marin Academy (13-9) rolled past No. 9 Clayton Valley Charter, 11-4, in Saturday’s quarterfinals at the Wildcats’ home pool in San Rafael. Schuyler Rewick, Justin Tachiki and Zach Schuman were among those who scored for the Wildcats.

Marin Academy is set for a semifinal matchup Wednesday against either No. 4 Piedmont or No. 5 Newark Memorial.

Meanwhile, No. 2 Novato held off crosstown rival San Marin, the seventh seed, 13-9, at Novato High. The teams were equal at 4-4 after the first period, but the Hornets (13-9) took the lead with a three-goal second period then made that stand up as the teams were nearly even through the second half.

San Marin (13-11) finishes the season as the seventh-ranked team in NCS D-II. Novato will face No. 3 Alameda, a 12-11 winner over No. 6 Cardinal Newman in Wednesday’s semifinals.

Girls water polo

Tam High rocked the North Coast Section Division II tournament bracket as the seventh-seeded Red-Tailed Hawks upset No. 2 Alameda, 15-7, in Saturday’s quarterfinals at Campolindo High.

Reese Arwin and Sophia Uhlhorn-Thornton each scored four goals for the Hawks, while Elle Philip netted three goals. The Hawks got two goals from Julia Elvestad and one each from Peyton Eberhardt and Layney Octavio.

Tam goalkeeper Nola Palestrant came up with 15 saves.

Tam (13-14), entered the tournament ranked 115 nationally among Division II teams, while Alameda (21-5) was ranked 59th.

The Hawks advance to Wednesday’s semifinals for a matchup withNo. 6 Encinal (18-11), which upset No. 3 Bishop O’Dowd, 7-6, in the quarterfinals.

• The top seed in the NCS D-II bracket, Marin Academy, kept its title hopes alive with Saturday’s 14-1 quarterfinal victory over MCAL rival Terra Linda, seeded eighth. In three decisive wins over the Trojans (13-11) this season, the Wildcats (24-3) have allowed just three goals.

Marin Academy advances to Wednesday’s semifinals against another MCAL foe, fifth-seeded Marin Catholic (14-10-1), which downed No. 4 Mission San Jose, 15-6, in the quarterfinals. Marin Academy won the two earlier meetings with Marin Catholic.

• Top-seeded Archie Williams rolled past No. 8 James Logan, 16-7, in Wednesday’s quarterfinals of the NCS-D-I tournament bracket. The MCAL champion Peregrine Falcons (18-7) are scheduled to face No. 4 Northgate (20-4) in Wednesday’s semifinals.

• No. 10 seed Redwood (12-16) was ousted from the NCS D-I tournament in a 15-2 loss to No. 2 seed San Ramon Valley during Saturday’s quarterfinals at Miramonte High. The Giants (12-16), ranked 21st in the NCS, lost to the fifth-ranked Wolves (20-8) in a regular season game in October.

Prep football

Archie Williams rallied past Novato in the second half for a 36-21 victory over the Hornets in Saturday’s regular-season finale. The Hornets led 14-13 at halftime, but the Peregrine Falcons defense stepped up for a series of interceptions that turned the tide. Novato quarterback Dominic Scafani was 15-for-25 for 197 passing yards, with two touchdowns and three interceptions. He also carried the ball nine times for 103 yards. The Hornets’ Tyler Smith caught seven passes for 94 yards and a touchdown, and scored on a 2-point conversion. Archie Williams stats were not available at press time.

• The Branson School lost a hard-fought season finale to South Fork, 66-44, on Saturday. The Bulls (5-4, 3-2) came into the contest with a chance to secure second place in the North Central II and shore up their playoff position before Sunday’s North Coast Section seeding. South Fork (4-6, 4-10 finishes second behind Stuart Hall (7-1, 5-0), with Branson third.

Men’s water polo

Archie Williams High grads Quinn and Dylan Woodhead celebrated with the USA Men’s National Team as they secured their spot at the Paris Olympic Games with a 17-7 victory over Brazil to win gold at the Pan American Games on Saturday. It’s the eighth straight Pan Am title for Team USA. Quinn Woodhead scored a goal in the gold medal game.

• San Anselmo’s Logan Anderson scored three goals for No. 6 UC Davis in a back-and-forth 11-10 loss to No. 12 UC San Diego on Saturday. The Aggies (15-9, 3-2 conference) have a break before the start of the Big West Conference tournament on Nov. 17.

Women’s water polo

College of Marin fell to West Valley, 22-8, in Saturday’s Coast Conference Championships.

Women’s soccer

Former Branson School standouts Patricia DePalma and Eliana Prosnitz helped lead Pomona Pitzer to its fourth consecutive Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title following a 1-0 victory against Cal Lutheran on Saturday.

DePalma, a freshman, picked up the clean sheet after playing all 90 minutes in goal for the Sagehens (15-0-3). DePalma was credited with four saves and picked up her seventh shutout of the season.

The victory automatically qualifies the Sagehens for the NCAA Division III tournament.

Prosnitz, who like DePalma is a former MCAL player of the year, leads the team in goals (six) and is tied for the team lead in points (13).

College volleyball

Former Marin Catholic and San Marin standout Isabella Bergmark has started all 21 games for defending national champion Texas this season. The Longhorns are ranked No. 4 in the country and have won 13 consecutive games since starting conference play.

Bergmark has 99 kills on the season and ranks second on the team with 85 blocks.

Several other former MC standouts are having strong seasons for their respective teams.

Kari Geissberger has a team-high 231 kills while starting all 23 games for Loyola Marymount this season. Geissberger also ranks second with 63 blocks for LMU (17-6).
Setter Leah Wilton-LaBoy has a team-high 508 assists while starting 24 of 25 games for Utah State (20-5) this season.

Libero Bella McGirr ranks third on the team in digs with 218 for Santa Clara (11-13) this season.

Setter Leah Pease still ranks as the team leader in assists for Cal Baptist this season with 467. Pease, a senior, started the first 20 games for the Lancers before being shut down for the season due to a pair of stress fracture injuries. Pease piled up 1,805 assists and 681 digs while playing for Cal Baptist.

• Former Tam High standout Wesley Slavin has compiled a team-high 552 assists so far during her freshman season at Ithaca. Slavin had back-to-back games with more than 40 assists earlier in the year against Kean and MIT.