Crescenta Valley water polo cruises past rival Arcadia
Crescenta Valley High water polo player Julian Bartolone takes a shot on goal in a Pacific League game versus visiting Arcadia High on Wednesday. Crescenta Valley won the game, 14-3.
Heading into the homestretch of the regular season, which will include the Pacific League Tournament, the Crescenta Valley High boys’ water polo team is hitting on all cylinders.
Backed by a balanced scoring attack and a swarming defense, Crescenta Valley earned a 14-3 league home victory against rival Arcadia on Wednesday.
PHOTOS: Crescenta Valley tops Arcadia, 14-3
Crescenta Valley (20-6, 6-0 in league) earned the top seed in the league tournament, which will be played Tuesday and Nov. 5 at Burbank High. The Falcons, ranked second in Division IV behind Righetti, will face fourth-seeded Arcadia (13-10, 3-3) in a tournament semifinal match Tuesday. The other semifinal matchup will be second-seeded Hoover against third-seeded Burroughs.
“We’re excited to be the No. 1 seed in the tournament,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Jan Sakonju, whose team split the league championship with Glendale before advancing to the Division IV playoffs last season. “We hadn’t done that in a few years.
“The great thing with our tournament is that you get a lot of CIF-level playoff intensity. That can help you going forward into the playoffs. It’s never easy and it’s tough when you have to play a team for the second time like we will with Arcadia.”
Crescenta Valley, which will meet Cerritos in a nonleague road match Friday, received a team-high four goals from Reagan Hesse on Wednesday. The Falcons also got two goals each from Jesse Sullivan and Wesley Hovanesian.
Crescenta Valley built a 4-0 lead after the first quarter and mostly limited Arcadia to shots from the perimeter while also picking up some turnovers off counter-attacks.
Hovanesian scored to give the Falcons a 4-0 lead with 2:49 left in the first quarter and followed up to extend the lead to 7-2 with 1:10 remaining in the first half.
“We’ve been doing pretty well,” said Hovanesian, who scored both of his goals in the first half to help Crescenta Valley take an 8-2 halftime advantage. “We’re finding each other and we know whose open by making the smart plays.
“We were able to get up early and then we settled down and played well on defense. It helped being able to build a cushion.”
Hesse scored his first goal with 3:40 to go in the third quarter to make it 9-3. Hesse then scored three goals in less than two minutes early in the fourth quarter to raise the lead to 12-3.
The Falcons got one goal apiece from Vasil Halchev, Julian Bartolone, Tae Hoon Kim, Cameron Kober, Brandon Fernandez and Bradford Hales. Royal Gong scored two goals for the Apaches, who got one from Thomas Gao.
--
Charles Rich, charles.rich@latimes.com
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
