Defense drives Hoover boys’ water polo back to finals
ARCADIA – A terrific defensive stand has provided the Hoover High boys’ water polo team with an opportunity to defend its Pacific League crown.
The third-seeded Tornadoes surrendered only two second-half goals versus second-seeded Crescenta Valley and defeated the Falcons for the second time this season, 14-9, in the semifinals of the Pacific League boys’ water polo tournament at Arcadia High on Tuesday afternoon.
With the victory, Division I and II Hoover (13-9, 6-1) will get a chance to repeat if it can get revenge against top-seeded Burroughs, a Division III squad, in Thursday’s league title match back at Arcadia at 5:30 p.m.
Crescenta Valley (18-6, 5-2) will battle for third place against archrival Arcadia (13-9, 3-4) in the undercard at 4:30 p.m. at Arcadia.
“Crescenta Valley brings a really good offense and it took us a little while to get adjusted to it,” said Hoover coach Kevin Witt, whose team lost to Burroughs, 23-12, in Burbank on Oct. 5. “Once we did, the guys made individual adjustments. They made field saves, put balls away from two meters and forced difficult shots.”
The contest was tied at 7 at halftime with Hoover netting the final score on a goal from junior Armando Honarchian off an assist from Robert Akopyan with 38 seconds left.
What was unknown at the time was that Honarchian’s goal kicked off a 5-0 run for the Tornadoes that was eventually capped with 5:20 left in the fourth quarter on a score from David Ashkharian that gave Hoover a 12-7 lead.
In between, the Tornadoes blanked the Falcons in the third quarter, 4-0, which included two stops on six-on-five opportunities.
Hoover forced three turnovers in the frame and limited Crescenta Valley to only six shots, three of which were blocked in the field.
Hoover countered with two goals from Ashkharian, who led all players with six goals, and single scores from Jordan Corpuz and Neky Tsaturyan, who finished with two goals each.
Crescenta Valley ended a drought of more than a quarter with a score from Noah Kim off an assist from David Komjathy with 3:34 left in the contest, which brought the Falcons within 13-8.
Unfortunately for Crescenta Valley, the Falcons only scored one goal the rest of the way.
“Hoover, this season, has shown that when they’re down they’re going to come back,” said Crescenta Valley coach Jan Sakonju, whose squad previously fell to Hoover, 16-9, on Oct. 3 in Glendale. “They certainly did that. It was a repeat of the last game where we had control of the offense and defense and their top guys stepped up.”
Crescenta Valley led, 4-2, after one quarter but the Tornadoes won the second period, 5-3, to tie the match at 7.
Hoover goalie Henry Pruett finished with five saves.
Komjathy led Crescenta Valley with five goals and two steals, while goalie Hakop Artsvelian finished with 13 saves.
