Going from the bottom of the league standings to second place in the competitive DeAnza league, the boys’ varsity soccer team made a lot of progress throughout the season, letting the consistent wins speak for themselves.

Despite finishing the season strong with a record of 10-2 in league and 21-5 overall, the boys’ water polo team fell one win short of qualifying for CCS.

A Los Gatos lacrosse player sprints toward the goal, fakes left, fakes right, then swiftly heaves a 70-mile an hour toss at the net. While most people's reaction would be to duck or run, junior Gavin Peake calmly catches the ball in the mesh of his glove.

As the sole goalie on the varsity lacrosse team, Peake is essential to the Falcons' success, yet most people forget just how much pressure rests on the shoulders of the goalie.

"Sometimes it's all lot of pressure on me if we're in a close game, then the team blames me if I'm supposed to save it, but I understand that," said Peake.

After a slow 1-7 start, the boys' basketball team finished the non-league season strong, posting a 3-1 record over the winter break.

This four-game surge came at a good time for the Falcons, who rolled into their first league game versus Cupertino with some positive momentum.

Saratoga's winning ways continued against the Cupertino Pioneers, as senior shooting guard Daniel Chou exploded for a career-high 27 points on six three-pointers while shooting an astounding 71 percent from the field.

After securing a 5-5-2 record and a seventh place finish in the El Camino league last year, the sophomore-heavy team and a new coach are looking to make improvements and maybe even capture a league title.

In order to combat a lack of upperclassmen this year, new coach Adam Clarke resorted to pulling up many of the sophomores who tried out to compete along with the juniors and seniors at the varsity level.

"The sophomores really work well with the rest of the team," said senior goalie Kevin Benzing. "They compete as well as any other team in the league."

As the boys' soccer team kicks off their 2009-10 season, they seek to build off last year and win with the help of a new coach and young spirit.

"I think we have a pretty good team this year," said sophomore defender Manish Raghavan. " We don't have that many seniors, but I think that we'll be fine."

As the 2009-10 winter sports season kicks off, the boys' basketball team has high aims, despite having only four returning seniors.

The Falcons will look to improve on last season's 11-15 overall record (4-7 league finish) under the direction of second-year varsity coach Trevor Naas. They also have hopes of trumping last year's first-round CCS playoff exit.

To achieve these goals, they will strongly rely on three of their seniors for leadership on the court.

As the season nears its end and CCS looms on the horizon, the Falcons continue to post successful results, but they have also been consistently hampered by setbacks. Lacking any real veteran leadership, the team has had to rely upon its youth to overcome the rigors of a demanding season.

The month of October brought mixed results for boys' water polo players, who started with a disappointing 8-7 loss to Harker on Oct. 1. However, the team rallied to defeat Cupertino 12-9 on Oct. 1.

"The Cupertino game really motivated us because we had lost to them in a tournament so it was big to beat them in league play," said junior set defense, Tim Rollinson.

Strong plays and good goals came from senior co-captains Kevin Rollinson and John Chen.