Tony Casaccia pounded the nets for nine goals in two games for the Los Gatos boys water polo team last week, but even that wasn”t enough to lift the Wildcats to a victory in the first week of the season in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

Casaccia poured in six goals on Sept. 15, but the Cats dropped a tough 12-10 nod to Monta Vista, and the Gatos junior drilled three more goals two days later but the Wildcats lost another close decision, 11-9 to Palo Alto.

Casaccia started the De Anza Division season off right with six goals and four assists (both team highs) to go with five steals and a couple of blocks in the loss to the Matadors.

Jeremy Barnes supported with two goals and Arrod Mohammadian and Amir Moayed added one each for the Cats. Moayed led Los Gatos with six steals and supported with three blocks and an assist, and Barnes had three steals and an assist.

Keith Kulick was tops on the team with six blocks and he chipped in with three steals and two assists, and goalkeeper Joey Panchak had three blocks.

Quinn Cunniff (3 blocks, two steals), Brian Platt (1 block) and Travis Camors (1 steal) also contributed for the Wildcats.

Los Gatos fell behind early, trailing 4-1 after a period and 7-3 at the half, but battled back to outscore the Matadors 4-1 in the third to cut their lead to one at 8-7. But Monta Vista took a 4-3 edge in the fourth to win by a pair of goals.

It was a similar story two days later at Palo Alto. The Vikings led 4-1 after a quarter and 6-3 at intermission, but the Cats fought back to cut the Paly advantage to one after three periods, 6-5. The Vikes outlasted Los Gatos 5-4 in a high-scoring fourth, though, to win by two.

Casaccia topped the Cats with three goals, two assists and five steals, but it wasn”t enough. Barnes supported with two goals, two assists and two steals; Kulick had two goals, two steals and an assist; and Moayed added two goals, an assist and four steals.

Mohammadian chipped in with two assists and two steals and Camors had a steal for the Cats.

Los Gatos was hoping to get onto the winning track with two league games earlier this week against Los Altos and Wilcox. The Cats will head to Mountain View this weekend for the St. Francis Invitational Tournament on Sept. 26-27, then face a league bye on Sept. 29 before hosting Mountain View on Oct. 1, 3:30 p.m.

The Los Gatos boys split in frosh-soph play in the first week of the league season, beating Monta Vista 16-5 before losing a 9-8 heartbreaker to Palo Alto.

Quinn Lewis and Matthew Breen pitched in three goals apiece and Cooper Powell and Josh Greenberg added two each in the win over the Matadors.

Seth Deming, Ian O”Neill, Dyan Condensa, Ittai Shaked, Nick Kain and Rowdy Toledo also scored for the Cats.

Breen drilled a team-high three goals and Greenberg hit two, but the Cats lost by a goal to Paly. Powell, O”Neill and Kain also scored for Los Gatos.