Crescenta Valley boys’ water polo downs Arcadia, stays in Pacific League hunt
LA CRESCENTA – Perhaps the most wide-open Pacific League boys’ water polo championship race this century will include a stalwart in Crescenta Valley High.
The Falcons remained in a three-way tie atop the league standings heading into the league with an 8-4 victory over visiting archrival Arcadia on Wednesday afternoon.
CIF Southern Section Division IV No. 5-ranked Crescenta Valley improved its record to 18-5 and 5-1 in league. The 5-1 mark ties Crescenta Valley with Burroughs, which it defeated, and with Hoover, which topped it.
Due to league bylaws, three-way ties are broken on goals allowed between the three contestants versus each other.
That means Burroughs will be top-seeded (24 goals), Crescenta Valley is second (25) and reigning champion Hoover (32) is third.
Falcons coach Jan Sakonju can only hope his squad keeps the defensive intensity up heading into Tuesday when his team will face Hoover in the semifinals at Burbank High.
Crescenta Valley outshot Arcadia (13-8, 3-3) by a 35-20 margin, while also winning the turnover battle, 23-10. The Falcons also kept the Apaches 0 for three on six-on-five chances.
“Part of our defensive success is just being in this pool,” said Sakonju, who got a match-high four goals from David Komathjy. “This pool is so narrow that there’s really no room to operate and it throws us off even. It helps us play a tight defense and double team when you have this type of space.”
Yet, for all those lopsided numbers, the Falcons never really put away the Apaches.
A main part of the Falcons’ scoring struggles were due to the adroit goaltending of Arcadia’s Sebastian Petcu, who finished with 14 saves.
Crescenta Valley saw its 5-2 halftime advantage sliced to 5-3 on a goal from Blake Jauregui off an assist from Matthew Goa with 6:08 left in the third quarter.
Hustle helped the Falcons take a 6-3 advantage after a shot from Komjathy bounced off the arms of Petcu right to Joe Langley, who one-timed a point-blank rebound goal at 5:23 in the third.
Crescenta Valley added to its advantage when it converted the final of three man-advantage opportunities on a score from Kurtis McNevin off an assist from Alec Abrahamian. The goal took place with three seconds left in the third and gave Crescenta Valley a 7-3 lead going into the fourth.
In the fourth quarter, Arcadia made its best push and actually outshot the Falcons, 9-7.
One of the shots resulted in a goal from Arcadia’s Christian Lowe with 5:38 left that brought the visitors within 7-4.
That deficit was as close as Arcadia pushed as Crescenta Valley countered with a score from Komjathy a minute later to cement the 8-4 advantage.
Perhaps Crescenta Valley’s defensive prowess was best on display at the five-minute mark in the fourth quarter when the Apaches were awarded a man-advantage opportunity. Arcadia attempted two shots, both resulting in field blocks.
“The strategy against Arcadia was the same strategy against every team, which is to play defense,” said Falcons goalie Hakop Artsvelian, who finished with eight saves. “If they can’t score, they can’t win. We tried to keep them at zero, but they got a couple.”
Crescenta Valley had its chances to blow away Arcadia early.
The Falcons outshot the Apaches, 11-2, in the first quarter but only took a 2-1 advantage after seven minutes thanks in part to six saves from Petcu.
In the second, the Falcons netted three goals and took a 5-2 lead going into the break.
