The Menlo School boys’ water polo team fell to Sacred Heart Prep 9-8 in a hard-fought WCAL Tournament Championship Saturday at Bellarmine.

The Knights (19-8) now return to the CCS Open Championships as the second seed and are set to play seventh seed Santa Cruz in the opener. 

Menlo sophomore Greg Hilderbrand led the Knights with three assists on the night and, a rare statistic: the Knights’ center forward led Menlo both offensively, with three goals, and defensively, with four steals.  

“I’m really happy with the way we played tonight,” Coach Jack Bowen said.  “Tied at half and then, going down but scoring 4 goals in the fourth quarter to bring it back to a one goal game—that shows a lot of character.  Additionally, we improved massively on our previous game earlier in the season with Sacred Heart which, too, is a testament to these guys and how hard they’ve worked.  It was fun to coach them and watch them tonight.”

WCAL Championship
at Bellarmine Prep

Menlo School    2    1   1  4 - 8
Sacred Heart     1    2   3  3 - 9

Menlo goal scorers: Connor Enright, Noah Housenbold 3, Jack King 2, Greg Hilderbrand, Connor MacMitchell

Menlo goalie saves: Zayd Mahmoud 8