BOYS WATER POLO: Lancers Blitz Serra in Semis

The Score: St. Francis 18, Serra 10

The Star: St. Francis High's Patrick Goodenough scored four goals at the outset to spark a balanced attack that let the Lancers dominate from the beginning. In all, 10 St. Francis players scored goals in its Central Coast Section Division I semifinal victory at Menlo-Atherton High.

The Turning Point: Sr. Francis' Patrick Goodenough scored all four of his goals in the first quarter as the Lancers raced to a 6-2 lead. Goodenough scored his goals within a 2:05 span as St. Francis downed its West Catholic Athletic League rival.

The Quote: "Those two juniors have been playing together for a long time, and they have a real nice chemistry. They help each other out a lot." —St. Francis coach Terry O'Donnell, on how Patrick Goodenough and Peter Simon get his team going. Simon had the other two goals in the first quarter and assisted on two of Goodenough's scores.

What's Next? Top-seeded St. Francis advances to the Central Coast Division I championship against No. 2 seed Bellarmine on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Independence High.

The Bottom Line: St. Francis quickly took control of its semifinal against Serra to ensure its spot in the title match. Saturday's championship is a rematch of last year's Division I final, which Bellarmine won 9-4. The Bells have won a CCS-high 22 championships. St. Francis has won three.

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For just a moment, it looked like it might be a match. Serra High's Paul Jordan scored on the first possession on Tuesday night, finding the back of the net just 24 seconds into a Central Coast Section Division I semifinal match with St. Francis at Menlo-Atherton.

But St. Francis scored 23 seconds later – and then answered again and again and again. The Lancers were off and running to an 18-10 victory, which put top-seeded St. Francis in Saturday's championship match against No. 2 seed Bellarmine at Independence High at 2:30 p.m.

The semifinal wasn't as close as the final score—St. Francis led 8-2 early in the second quarter and 15-5 late in the third quarter, and the Lancers' substitutes played most of the second half.

Tuesday's result was no surprise—St. Francis beat Serra 11-4 during West Catholic Athletic League round-robin play, then 8-5 in the WCAL tournament.

"We pretty much focus on ourselves," Lancers coach Terry O'Donnell said when asked if he changed anything for the teams' third meeting. "It's all about how we play and how we execute."

Juniors Peter Simon and Patrick Goodenough got St. Francis (19-6) going. Simon scored the Lancers' first two goals, the second on a nice pass from Goodenough. Simon returned the favor twice over, setting up Goodenough for the game's next two goals. With 3:36 to go in the first quarter, St. Francis had a 4-1 lead it would not relinquish.

"Good passing between each other, that's key," Goodenough said. "You can't do it by yourself. It just so happened that we were open the first quarter. Usually it's on the other side, but tonight, it opened up on my side."

Goodenough scored twice more in the quarter, both off passes from Mark Garner. Garner later scored two goals himself. Thomas Agramonte added three goals for St. Francis. In all, 10 Lancers scored.

"This team is so unselfish, they do a great job of finding each other," O'Donnell said.

Serra got five goals from Max Murphy and four from Jake Folan but the Padres (15-12) couldn't muster much offense until the issue had been decided. Serra coach Bob Greene said he's proud of his team's progress and that there's no shame in losing to a team as good as St. Francis.

"Besides Miramonte and Acalanes, I think this is the best team up here," Greene said. "I think they're very, very good. I was happy we scored 10. It's a great honor to be in semifinals. We've been in semifinals four of the last six years. Before that, Serra hadn't been in CCS for seven years. The program's headed in the right direction. Now, we're ready to dial this thing up to another level."

The Lancers now face Bellarmine in a rematch of last year's Division final, won by the Bells, 9-4. Bellarmine has won a section-high 22 titles, while St. Francis has won three. The Lancers are the higher seed this year, but that won't matter when the teams take to the pool.

"It should be a good game," Goodenough said. "We're planning on getting a little revenge for last year. They're a quick team, but I feel that we can beat them up and down the pool."

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St. Francis 18, Serra 10

Ser. 2 2 4 2 -- 10

SF 6 5 5 2 – 18

Goals: SER – Murphy 5, Folan 4, Jordan. SF – Goodenough 4, Agramonte 3, Simon 2, Garner 2, Gunsalus 2, Divita, Golan, Vitakis, Cope, Telfer.

Saves: SER – Jaeb 6. SF – Broom 8.

Records: St. Francis 19-6, Serra 15-12.

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