Prep water polo: Redwood boys surge into NCS semis against Terra Linda

Sophomore Maddox McLellan led Redwood High with four goals as the top-seeded Giants rallied past No. 8 Terra Linda in Saturday’s North Coast Section boys Division I quarterfinal showdown.

Terra Linda’s Cam Hellar scored two of his team-high four goals in the second period to power the Trojans to a 5-3 lead by halftime.

Redwood’s Sawyer Goldberg, who had been held scoreless in the first half, netted two goals in the third period, as did McLellan, to spark the Giants’ rally. Goldberg, Storm Jackson, Ossie Joplin and Jakob Engberg each scored twice for the Giants. Jackson and Joplin had three assists each.

Soren Jessen netted two Terra Linda goals, and Harley Havemann and Patrick Knopf also scored.

The defending D-I champion Giants (25-3) will face No. 4 San Ramon Valley (16-10) in Wednesday’s semifinals.

• Senior Bern Kent scored six goals and freshman Jasper Feldman added four goals to lead No. 3 seed Tam past No. 6 Liberty of Brentwood, 14-8, in an NCS Division 1 quarterfinal. Feldman added three assist and two steals for Tam (16-11), which advances to Wednesday’s semifinal versus No. 2 College Park. Senior Andrew Sternfels notched three steals and freshman goalie Ethan Wallace made seven saves for the Red-tailed Hawks.

Boys Division II

No. 3 Marin Academy held tough in overtime against No. 6 Heritage, 9-7, to advance to the semifinals for the fourth year in a row. Jack Buchanan scored to give the Wildcats an 8-7 lead in the extra period before Justin Tachiki clinched the win with a goal in the second OT period. Matthieu Giauque got Marin Academy on the board in the first period. Tachiki finished with four goals, while Giauque had three goals and Buchanan had two.

The Wildcats were eliminated by eventual champion Piedmont last season after back-to-back trips to the NCS finals. Marin Academy will face No. 2 Foothill, a 13-7 quarterfinal winner against No. 7 Marin Catholic.

• No. 9 Novato fell to top-seeded Cardinal Newman, 13-7, on Saturday in Larkspur.

Open Division

No. 3 Archie Williams lost a triple-overtime match, 11-10, with No. 2 Miramonte in Saturday’s semifinals. Vincent Krilanovich scored four goals and Jake Carrera had three for the Peregrine Falcons. No. 4 De La Salle upset No. 1 Campolindo in the other half of the four-team bracket. The Falcons (22-4) now await the CIF NorCal seeding.

Girls

Division I

Local water polo fans missed out on the opportunity for an all-Marin NCS semifinal, but Tam and Archie Williams are still in the title hunt.

Julia Ulvestead led Tam with four goals as the second-seeded Red-tailed Hawks beat No. 10 Northgate, 13-8, on Saturday to inch closer to a title shot. Catherine Philp and Sabine Barringer each scored three goals for the Hawks, who will face Las Lomas in the semifinals. The Knights were a 10-9 quarterfinal winner in overtime against Marin Academy on Saturday, upsetting the chance for a repeat of the MCAL semifinals between Tam and Marin Academy.

• No. 6 Marin Academy, the 2023 NCS D-II champion, struck first against third-seeded Las Lomas to begin a nail-biting battle. The teams headed to overtime tied 8-8 but Las Lomas got the overtime winner.

• On the other half of the bracket, No. 4 Archie Williams advanced to the semifinals with Saturday’s 11-10 victory over No. 5 Monte Vista. Taylor Fahy led the Peregrine Falcons with five goals and Holly Hovey had four. The Falcons (21-5) will face No. 1 San Ramon Valley (18-8) on Wednesday. The Wolves eliminated No. 9 Redwood (16-12) with a 13-5 victory on Saturday.

Division II

Second-seeded Marin Catholic advanced to the semifinals with a 12-4 victory over No. 10 Heritage on Saturday. Senior Emma Slaught led the Wildcats with eight goals, with additional scoring from Malia Slaught, Katie Lyons, Anya Jaroszewski and Lucia Lind. Marin Catholic will face No. 3 Moreau Catholic in Wednesday’s semifinals.

• No. 9 San Marin fell to top-seeded James Logan, 10-8, in Saturday’s quarterfinals. James Logan will face the fifth-seeded Terra Linda Trojans, who won a 7-4 thriller over No. 4 Livermore.