Crescenta Valley water polo’s CIF title hopes once more dashed by Righetti

IRVINE — Entering Saturday’s CIF Southern Section Division IV championship match, the Crescenta Valley High boys’ water polo team was aware of Righetti’s major strength.

Crescenta Valley had seen first-hand earlier in the season how Righetti worked its air-tight defense to lead to counter-attacks and quality scoring chances.

Unfortunately for second-seeded Crescenta Valley, it couldn’t penetrate top-seeded Righetti’s stellar defense and fell, 11-2, on Saturday at William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center.

“There’s no doubt Righetti’s defense is so strong,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Jan Sakonju, whose team finished 26-7 and made its first trip to the finals since winning a Division VI championship in 2008. “We had no illusions about who we were playing and what Righetti does well.

“They have one of the best defenses around and they threw us off our game plan. When we did get off a shot, we either hit the crossbar or their goalie made a good save. I’m happy with the way we played in the first quarter coming out 1-1. Once Righetti got going, it was hard to stop them. We had an exciting team and we made it to the final day.”

Crescenta Valley scored the first and final goals of the match, but couldn’t contain Righetti (28-4) in between. The Warriors, who won their second CIF championship in a row, finished with 12 steals in topping the Falcons for the second straight postseason, as they ended CV’s season in 2014 in the semifinals.

Righetti, which posted an 8-6 nonleague home win against Crescenta Valley on Oct. 23, received three goals from Ryker Dacus and two from Andrew Rivera and Kyle Goodrich.

“They have a great team,” said Crescenta Valley goalkeeper Logan Goddard, who finished with seven saves. “This wasn’t the strongest game we played and things just didn’t work out.

“They go out there and play great defense. When we did get a shot, it didn’t go our way. I would have liked things to have been different, but it’s a great experience just getting here.”

Vasil Halchev gave Crescenta Valley, which won its second straight Pacific League title, a 1-0 lead with 2:46 left in the first quarter. Righetti, which finished first in the Pac-8 League, tied it at 1 on a goal by Robert Yolar-Groppetti with 1:12 left.

Righetti then scored four goals in the second quarter to grab a 5-1 advantage. The Warriors scored all four goals in a little more than five minutes to pull away. Dacus had two goals in that stretch, with his second goal giving the Warriors a 3-1 lead with 4:36 left in the first half.

Righetti scored five goals in the third quarter to extend its advantage to 10-1. Austin Nims capped the third-quarter scoring for the Warriors with one second remaining.

Crescenta Valley’s Reagan Hesse closed out the scoring with 27 seconds left.

“Getting here was one of our top goals,” Halchev said. “We made a great run and we were one of 14 teams [across seven divisions] to get here.

“Righetti had a very disciplined team and a lot of speed off counter-attacking. We have a lot to be proud off.”

Righetti Coach Kyle Shaffer said the Warriors needed to be sharp on defense to prevail.

“It’s what we do best and you have to be good against a team like Crescenta Valley because they have some excellent players,” said Shaffer, who got nine saves from goalkeeper Thomas Lane. “Our defense leads directly to our offense.

“When we needed a stop, we got it. We were able to block some shots.”