Vikings cruise to 34th straight Coast Conference tourney title behind MVP Portisch
Its something difficult to wrap one's mind around: 34 consecutive Coast Conference championships. That's what the West Valley men's water polo team accomplished last week at the Coast Conference Championships at Las Positas College. The six-time state champion Vikings (26-5) advance to the NorCal Regional Championships, also at LPC, Nov. 15-16. Phil Portisch was named the 2024 Coast Conference MVP by the league's coaches after the tournament.
West Valley was never threatened in any of the three tournament contests. In Friday's opener against Merced (4-29), the Vikings were up 10-1 after the 1st quarter, thanks to three goals from Portisch, two from Zalan Hegedus and Liam Rogers and single scores from Lucas Castro, Tristan Grimett and Will Sidford. WVC outscored the Blue Devils 7-3 the rest of the way for a 17-4 win.
Portisch's four goals led the Viking side of the scoresheet, followed by two from Rogers and two each from Castro, Hegedus, Taine Pickering and Sidford. Rogers and Sidford each had four of WVC's 23 steals. William McKeon and Ethan Ivey split time in the cage. McKeon picked up the win with five saves, and Ivey recorded eight saves.
The Vikings extended an 8-3 1st-quarter lead to a 13-7 halftime advantage in Saturday's 23-12 semifinal win over Las Positas (10-16), but it was a 7-1 WVC 3rd that put the game away. Hegedus, Ethan MacLeod and Portisch all had a hat-trick in the quarter. Sidford's four goals led the final scoresheet, followed by three each from Grimett, Hegedus, MacLeod and Portisch. McKeon was credited with five of WVC's 20 steals, and Grimmett and MacLeod each took away three.
The championship game against Ohlone (10-8) was never in doubt. The Vikings were up 10-2 after one and 16-4 at the break. WVC outscored the Renegades 8-2 in the 2nd half for a convincing 24-6 win. Michael Rohlfing paced the Vikings with a career-high five goals on five shots. Hegedus and Rogers added four each, Grimett added three and Castro, Danny Rendon and Portisch finished with two apiece. The Vikings came away with 22 steals, paced by Sidford's four, three each from Hegedus and Rendon and two apiece from Bronson Chungson and Berkecan Yalcin. McKeon made nine saves on his way to the win in goal.
West Valley enters regionals as the top NorCal seed and awaits the winner of Friday's opener between #4 Diablo Valley (14-16) and #5 Modesto (12-12). View the entire NorCal bracket.
In addition to Coast MVP Portisch, eight Vikings earned All-Coast honors. Mateja Cetkovic, Sy Lazzaroni and MacLeod were 1st-team selections. Hegedus, McKeon and Taine Pickering were named to the 2nd-team, while Chungson and Rogers earned Honorable Mention recognition.
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