Ann Sobrato High School

MORGAN HILL -- The Lady Bulldogs are running away with the Santa Teresa Division girls water polo title, so fast that their scoreboard can't keep up with them.

Sobrato improved to 8-0 in league play Thursday against Evergreen Valley, but the final tally is open to debate. The Bulldogs were leading 10-3 when the scoreboard at Sobrato's pool went out.

"It was a good win, I guess," Bulldogs coach Paul Harris said Friday.

If he sounded modest, it's not because of the technical difficulties. Harris' team is thinking beyond its remaining three division matches; the Bulldogs want to go to the Central Coast Section playoffs. To do so, they will have to sack the Santa Teresa outright and win their first game against the third-place team from the Mount Hamilton Division in the Blossom Valley Athletic League Tournament, which begins Nov. 5.

Should they do so, the Sobrato girls will advance farther than any water polo team in school history.

"That's been our goal," Harris said. "They're happy to be in first and on pace to win this thing, but I've drilled CCS into them. They're not satisfied. They want to keep getting better."

Nika Burnett scored four goals, Melanie Jasper had three and Eve Okamura netted two for the Bulldogs, who will host Silver Creek at 3 p.m. Thursday. Their final league game is against Willow Glen, the only team that has challenged Sobrato this year, Harris said.

"They stifled our counter attack -- our best offensive quality," Harris said of their first meeting. "It was 3-0 after the first period and 3-1 midway through the second. We ended up winning 11-5 or 11-6."