Late surge propels Crescenta Valley boys’ water polo to victory

ARCADIA — With his team scuffling as of late, Crescenta Valley High boys’ water polo Coach Jan Sakonju was looking for a way to lift his squad’s spirits and bust a slump.

Fortunately for the Falcons, Pacific League archrival Arcadia provided Crescenta Valley with an opportunity to do both.

Thanks to a stellar fourth-quarter defensive effort, visiting Crescenta Valley finished off regular season Pacific League play with a 10-6 victory Wednesday afternoon at Arcadia.

The Falcons (11-11, 4-2 in league), who sit in third place in the Pacific League, will finish off the regular season Thursday hosting Cerritos at Pasadena City College before beginning the Pacific League Tournament on Tuesday.

“Ever since that loss to Burroughs, we had been in a rut and our confidence was down,” Sakonju said. “So, it’s nice to come out here, really play great defense in the fourth quarter and come out with a quality win. Hopefully, this is just what we needed.”

Heading into Wednesday’s contest, the Falcons had dropped three of four games, including a stunning 5-4 setback to Burroughs at PCC on Oct. 18.

Since then, Crescenta Valley had rebounded with a 13-11 win over Burbank on Oct. 20.

On Wednesday, the Falcons held a slim 6-5 advantage going into the fourth quarter, but won the frame decisively, 4-1.

That somewhat low scoring total through three quarters was due in part to outstanding goaltending efforts on both sides. Crescenta Valley’s Hakop Artsvelian finished with 20 saves and Arcadia’s Sebastian Petcu tallied 11 blocks.

“I don’t try to do anything special,” Artsvelian said. “When the ball is shot at me, I just try my best to stop it. The team believes in me and I just try to stop as much as I can.”

Petcu had snuffed out a pair of Falcons’ opportunities before Brandon Fernandez scored off an assist from David Komjathy with 4:44 remaining to give the Falcons a 7-5 lead.

On Arcadia’s following possession, Komjathy stole a pass and fed Fernandez again for a score with 4:19 left that gave Crescenta Valley some breathing room at 8-5.

“I felt like the offense really started to pick it up in the fourth quarter,” said Fernandez, who finished with a game-high six goals. “It was a close game and we finally started to get it going.”

The lead ballooned to 9-5 on the final of Fernandez’ goals for the day before Arcadia (13-5, 3-3) finally broke through when Crescenta Valley’s Reagan Hesse was called for a five-meter foul.

Arcadia’s Matthew Garcia scored the subsequent penalty shot with 3:46 left to give the home team some life.

However, less than 20 seconds later, Komjathy scored to put Crescenta Valley ahead, 10-6, with 3:01 left.

The fourth quarter action broke what was a close contest throughout, as the game was tied at 3 after one quarter and knotted at 4 at halftime, while Crescenta Valley took a 6-5 advantage after three.

“To hold a good Arcadia team to one goal in the final quarter is fantastic,” Sakonju said. “Remember, this is a team that took Burroughs to overtime, so they’re good and that makes this a very good win for us.”