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Crescenta Valley girls’ water polo wraps up seventh straight league title

Crescenta Valley's Alexandra Garas shoots against Burroughs' Cameron Flores in the Pacific League girls' water polo championship at Burbank High on Thursday. Crescenta Valley won the game, 18-8.

Crescenta Valley’s Alexandra Garas shoots against Burroughs’ Cameron Flores in the Pacific League girls’ water polo championship at Burbank High on Thursday. Crescenta Valley won the game, 18-8.

(Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Plenty of teams have taken their best shot at knocking the Crescenta Valley High girls’ water polo team from its throne atop the Pacific League.

Top-seeded Crescent Valley’s latest challenge came Thursday when it met second-seeded Burroughs in the league tournament’s championship match.

Crescent Valley extended its impressive run to seven consecutive league championships following an 18-8 win at Burbank High

“It’s impressive to put together a streak like that,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Ricky Mulcahey, the reigning All-Area Girls’ Water Polo Coach of the Year, who received six goals from freshman Alexandra Garas and five from senior Audrey Taylor. “It’s an awesome feeling.

“You try to find ways to keep building the program and it starts with the younger players. They see what happens and they learn from the players who have been here for a couple of years. “

Crescenta Valley (25-4, 8-0) had clinched a share of the league championship Tuesday with a 23-6 semifinal victory against fourth-seeded Glendale. The Falcons were in no mood to share with Burroughs (14-9, 6-2).

Crescenta Valley raced to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter. Garas and Esma Dollaku had two goals apiece and the UC Davis-bound Taylor, the reigning All-Area Girls’ Water Polo Player of the Year, had one in the first quarter.

“Our offense clicked right away in the first quarter and we got some goals,” said Garas, who finished with 15 goals in two tournament matches. “We were determined to come out strong and we really wanted to win league.

“Ricky talked before the season began about the team goals and the tradition in the program. You have to put in the effort in practices and games if you want to be successful.”

The Falcons built an 8-0 lead before Burroughs’ Bianca Sanchez scored a man-advantage goal to make it 8-1 with 3:15 remaining in the first half. The score ignited the Indians’ offense for the remainder of the quarter.

Burroughs sliced the deficit to 11-6 on a goal by Gwen Turla as time expired in the first half

Crescenta Valley’s defense clamped back down, though, and outscored Burroughs, 5-0, in the third period to extend the lead to 16-6.

The Falcons received four goals from Dollaku and one each from Brynn Fernandez, Kaitlyn Moguel and Katy Sayre.

Burroughs Coach Jake Cook said the Indians had a superb regular season.

“It’s the best finish we’ve had here in a long time,” Cook said. “We want to continue that going into the playoffs and win some games.

“There’s nothing bad about finishing behind a team like CV in our league. They are a dynasty in this league and they have a lot of talented players. We can learn from this because we gave them a battle.”

Burroughs got four goals from Turla, three from Sanchez and one from Dominique Silva.

The CIF Southern Section office will unveil its playoff pairings for all seven divisions Saturday.

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