BOYS WATER POLO: Paly Advances to Meet Bells

The Score: Palo Alto 17, Wilcox 8.

The Star: Senior captain Ken Wattana, playing to extend his Palo Alto High career for another game, picked up four goals, including two first-period scores, to deflate visiting Wilcox's hopes early in a Central Coast Section Division I opener.

The Turning Point: Ken Wattana's two goals, coming almost 35 seconds apart in the early moments of the game, sparked Palo Alto to a five-goal run that gave the Vikings a comfortable lead that went largely unchallenged the whole match.

The Quote: "We came out pumped. They came out really wanting to beat us, so we had to come back and want to beat them more." – Palo Alto's Ken Wattana, a veteran player who understood the merit of staking his team to an early lead.

What's Next? For the second time in three years, Palo Alto faces a West Catholic Athletic League foe in the CCS quarterfinals. The Vikings meet Bellarmine, the Division I defending champion, on Saturday. In 2008 Palo Alto lost to current WCAL champion St. Francis 13-6.

The Bottom Line: If Palo Alto can replicate Tuesday's clean, strong play in the quarterfinals, its solid passing may help combat Bellarmine's powerful swimming game.

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With a convincing victory, the Palo Alto High boys water polo team advances to the Central Coast Section Division I quarterfinals for the second time in three years.

Seventh-seeded Palo Alto defeated visiting Wilcox 17-8 on Tuesday night. The win sends the Vikings (13-15) to a Saturday date with No. 2 seed Bellarmine (14-11), the defending champion.

Tenth-seeded Wilcox (18-5) was making its first CCS appearance since 2003.

Palo Alto seized the momentum early with a five-goal barrage to open the first quarter, led by senior captain Ken Wattana's game-opening goal past Wilcox keeper Randy Simonia. 

"I tried to make a move on my defender," Wattana said of the first of his four goals. "I got the foul -- that got me one on one with the goalie. I took the shot to get the team motivated right off the bat."

In total, seven different Vikings scored in a balanced attack that produced a lead of at least four goals most of the night, including a game-high 10-goal advantage in the fourth quarter. Palo Alto also led 12-3 heading into halftime.

Palo Alto's Bret Pinsker paced the scoring with five goals, followed by Wattana and Wilcox's Lee McBride with four apiece. Palo Alto's Jack Smale, Marcos Motta and Will Conner all added a pair of goals, as did Wilcox's Rob Rebholtz and Tyler Meeken. Michael Kori and Aaron Zelinger added single tallies for the host Vikings.

The key to Palo Alto's offense was its ability to work in transition on the counterattack. Goalkeepers Daniel Armitano, a junior, and backup Brent Schroder, who entered the game to start the fourth quarter, made multiple outlet passes from their own two-meter mark to open teammates past the middle of the pool.

"That was the most important key," said Palo Alto coach Giovanni Napolitano. "If they can pass, then we can counterattack."

Palo Alto's ability to counterattack should be credited to the stifling play of its defense as well. The Vikings limited Wilcox to only seven shots on goal in the first half, resulting in three scores, including McBride's goal with the man-advantage to halt the 5-0 Palo Alto assault with :25 left in the first period.

"We have a great hole-set defense," Napolitano said after watching his team rarely allow the ball in front of its own net while surrendering the majority of goals from outside the five-meter mark. "We pressed a lot and tonight it worked."

Wilcox picked up its effort to start the second half, matching Palo Alto with five second-half goals while forcing goalies Armitano and Schroder to make 14 saves -- 11 for Armitano and three for Schroder.

Palo Alto's second-half scoring included penalty-shot goals from Wattana and Zelinger, who nearly had a highlight-reel goal in deking his defender with a self-pass before being brought down illegally. Overall, the Vikings looked strong when rewarded with penalties and exclusions, going two-for-two on penalty shots and converting 5-of-5 chances on the man-advantage.

"We have a good left end and a good right end," said Napolitano. "It's really hard to see where the shots are going to be coming from."

The Palo Alto offense converted on the man-advantage mainly due to crisp passes. While keeping the ball dry, the strong passes also allowed for good ball movement that resulted in an unpredictable attack, as is evidenced by the team's seven different goal scorers. That is a good sign for the Vikings heading into their tangle with Bellarmine on Saturday.

"They have good speed," said Napolitano of the reigning CCS champs. "We've got to try to keep the ball away from them."

"They're a straight-up swimming team for sure," added Wattana. "We need good passing so we don't have offensive turnovers there. We also need to be aware of where the ball is so we don't get beat down the pool, and we need to be efficient."

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Palo Alto 17, Wilcox 8

W -- 1 2 1 4 -- 8

PA -- 5 4 4 4 -- 17

Scoring:  Wilcox: L. McBride 4, T. Meeken 2, R Rebholtz 2.  PA: B. Pinsker 5, K. Wattana 4, W. Conner 2, M. Motta 2, J. Smale 2, M. Kori 1, A. Zelinger 2.

Saves:  Wilcox: R. Simonia 5.  PA: D. Armitano  11, B. Schroder 3.

Records: Palo Alto 13-15.  Wilcox 18-5.