Mia Maminski has slapped in seven goals this season for the Leigh girls field hockey team, but none of the first six were as important as the seventh—because lucky No. 7 was all Leigh needed for its sixth straight 1-0 victory … this one over perennial division champion Archbishop Mitty.

Maminski’s goal off of an assist from Cassidy Ballard drove the Longhorns to the win that left them alone in first place in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

Leigh improved to 5-0 in division play to remain a game up on second-place St. Francis. The Lancers won twice last week, beating Prospect 2-0 and Presentation 3-1, to push their league mark to 4-1.

Mitty, meanwhile, slipped into third place after falling 1-0 to St. Ignatius two days after losing to Leigh. The Monarchs are three-time defending champions in the division. Heading into play last week they had lost only two league games over the last five seasons, running up a 58-2-7 record while winning four titles and finishing second once.

Leigh, 8-0-2 for the year, faces another big test next week. The Longhorns, who were to play Prospect earlier this week, will head to Mountain View to visit St. Francis on Oct. 11, 3:30 p.m. Two days later the Longhorns are back home to host St. Ignatius at 3:45 p.m.

In other division games last week, Willow Glen and Prospect each split a pair of decisions. The Rams edged Presentation 2-1, but lost to Prospect 2-0. The Panthers had fallen to St. Francis 2-0 earlier in the week.

Goals by seniors Alex Ingvardsen and Sara Wasielewski drove Prospect to the win over Willow Glen.

Prospect hosts Mitty on Oct. 11 and visits Presentation on Oct. 13 in a couple of 3:30 p.m. starts.

Mt. Hamilton Division standings (as of Oct. 3): Leigh 5-0 (8-0-2), St. Francis 4-1 (8-3-1), Mitty 3-2 (6-3), St. Ignatius 2-2-1 (6-3-2), Willow Glen 1-4-1 (4-7-2), Presentation 1-4 (5-5-1), Prospect 1-4 (3-5)

With a win and a tie last week, Live Oak took over the top spot in the BVAL’s Santa Teresa circuit.

The Acorns stuck Westmont with a 1-1 tie a day before edging Leland 1-0 in overtime. Live Oak improved to 5-0-1 in the division while Leland slipped to 5-1 and Westmont moved to 3-1-1.

The Warriors fought Live Oak to the 1-1 draw last week. It was a second-half goal by Megan Tobias that knotted the score after the Acorns had taken a 1-0 lead by intermission.

Westmont was to face Del Mar earlier this week and will head to University for a 5:30 p.m. game on Friday. The Warriors host Sobrato on Oct. 12, 3:30 p.m., before traveling to Leland for a 7 p.m. game on Oct. 14.

Santa Teresa Division standings (as of Oct. 3): Live Oak 5-0-1 (7-2-1), Leland 5-1 (6-5), Westmont 3-1-1 (5-4-1), Del Mar 1-2 (3-3-1), Sobrato 1-2 (1-5), University 1-3 (1-4), Branham 0-4 (0-7), San Jose 0-4 (0-4)

Volleyball

Melina Mahood, Sarah Hazel and Melanie Broback combined for 31 kills, but it wasn’t enough for the Westmont girls volleyball team in last week’s heartbreaking 25-16, 19-25, 25-19, 15-25, 15-9 loss to Branham.

It was the first loss in Mt. Hamilton Division play for the Warriors, and also their first loss of the week. Westmont dropped a 25-13, 25-14, 25-20 decision to Piedmont Hills two nights later.

Branham now leads the division with a 6-0 record, followed by Piedmont Hills at 5-1 and Westmont at 4-2.

Westmont was hoping to get back on the winning track earlier this week, visiting Del Mar (2-4) on Tuesday and Evergreen Valley (1-5) on Thursday. The Warriors travel to Leigh (3-3) on Oct. 11 before returning home to face Willow Glen (3-3) on Oct. 13. All matches begin at 6 p.m.

Mahood hammered 11 kills and Hazel and Broback added 10 apiece in the tough loss to the Bruins to open play last week. Megan Aronson supported with nine kills for the Warriors.

Samantha Rodgers led the club with four service aces and Melissa Lam added two, and Hazel topped the team with three blocks while Broback chipped in with two.

Hazel and Marlena Zimmerman shared the team lead in digs with 15 apiece and Sophie Phillips and Isabel Connors had 14 each, and Connors was the assist leader with 32.

The numbers weren’t nearly as impressive in the three-game loss to the Pirates. Broback was tops with eight kills and Mahood and Hazel had seven apiece; Zimmerman and Connors had two aces each; Connors topped the team with 14 digs; and Rodgers was the leader with 16 assists.

Cross country

Zach Walker, Marco Dal Canto and Julio Cerda were each top 10 finishers to lead the Willow Glen boys cross country team to a No. 1 team finish at the Westmoor Ram Cross Country Invitational held Sept. 24 in Daly City.

Walker, a junior, was the top finisher overall, stopping the watch at 12:25 to win Race No. 2 and finishing 14 seconds better than the Race No. 1 winner, senior Jonas Enders of Gunn. Westmont senior Julian Adam was a close second, chasing Walker to the finish line as he clocked 12:30 to nail the runner-up spot in Race No. 2.

Westmont junior Jason Gomez supported Adam’s effort by placing 16th in 13:09. Juniors Christian Moreland (14:36), Lance Dagdagan (14:50), Justin MacQuiddy (14:54) and London Pham (15:17) wrapped up the top six for the Warriors.

In BVAL Mt. Hamilton action, Adam was first overall with MacQuiddy third, but Westmont lost 25-35 to Piedmont Hills and 25-33 to Silver Creek.

In the girls race, Anna Kondratyeua was third and Katherine Tanaka eighth, but Westmont lost 21-34 to Piedmont and 27-29 to Silver Creek.