Sports Roundup: Crescenta Valley boys’ soccer rides hot streak into postseason

BOYS’ SOCCER

Crescenta Valley 6, Arcadia 0: Entering the final game of Pacific League play in fifth place and a spot removed from an automatic bid into the CIF postseason, Crescenta Valley took care of its own destiny with a resounding win, backed by a hat trick and an assist from Henry Barkhordarian, as the Falcons won Thursday on the road to finish third in the league.

Coupled with losses by Muir and Burbank, Crescenta Valley (9-8-7, 6-5-3 in league) vaulted into a third-place tie with Muir and will enter the playoffs as the league’s No. 3 seed based on a goals-allowed tiebreaker with the Mustangs.

The Falcons ended the season on a 6-0-3 run.

“Wow. The boys played a great game today,” Falcons Coach Grant Clark said. “I’m so glad to be a part of this team.”

Kyle Quesada had two assists for the Falcons, who also got goals from Joshua Moran, Jonathan Tsarofski and Jonny Han and assists from Zander Bakunowski and Augi Ahn.

Crescenta Valley began the league season at 0-5 before coming back to clinch a return to the playoffs after falling short of the postseason a season ago.

“It would have been easy at 0-5 and a tough loss at Hoover to give half an effort every game. I give a lot of credit to the boys for playing hard and climbing back into a playoff position,” Clark said. “I think if anyone told me that we would be in this position after that start and the way we played some of those games, I would have thought they were crazy.

“I’m not sure there is a coach in CIF that has as much reason to be as proud of his or her team as I am of mine. They showed great heart and maturity. I’m amazed.”

GIRLS’ SOCCER

Hoover 2, Glendale 1: On the strength of two goals from Remi Miller, the Tornadoes went out on a winning note with Thursday’s Pacific League rivalry win at Hoover High.

“This season we have been plagued with injuries, today we had almost all starters healthy and playing. I’ve been saying all along that we are a strong team when we are healthy. I’m glad that we got to prove that today,” said Hoover Coach Sarah Strange, whose team ended its season at 4-15-3, 3-11 in league. “With only one senior graduating, my team is looking at this win as a precursor of what’s to come next season.”

Ninette Simonian had an assist for Hoover.

Glendale finished at 7-13-1, 5-9 in league.

BOYS’ BASKETBALL

Crescenta Valley 61, Arcadia 48: The Falcons thrived on defense in the second half to pick up a Pacific League road victory Thursday.

Crescenta Valley (19-8, 9-5 in league) allowed just 14 second-half points and finished tied with Burroughs for third place.

Crescenta Valley got 13 points and six rebounds from Arin Ovanessian, 11 points and seven rebounds from Gabe Ajemian and 11 points from Trey Ballard.

“It’s always a great rivalry,” said Crescenta Valley assistant DoVall Boykins, who filled in for coach Shawn Zargarian after Zargarian was ejected from Tuesday’s league game against Muir for arguing with an official. “We were up, 37-34, at halftime and then we played some great defense. That’s pretty good when you can hold a team to 14 points in the second half.”

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Crescenta Valley 49, Arcadia 38: Backed by another strong effort from Alisa Shinn, the Falcons appear poised to make a deep postseason run beginning next week.

Shinn finished with 23 points, 16 rebounds, six blocks, four steals and three assists to help the visiting Falcons pick up a Pacific League win Thursday.

“She had a very impressive effort,” Crescenta Valley Coach Jason Perez said. “She was scoring inside and grabbing just about every rebound.

“We got a great overall effort on defense and we were able to do well with our ball movement and passing.”

Crescenta Valley improved to 19-9, 12-2 in league to finish in second place.

Glendale 46, Hoover 33: It’s on to the postseason for the Nitros, who concluded a strong regular season with a Pacific League rivalry victory Thursday afternoon.

With the win, Glendale finished third in league with a 15-13 record and a 9-5 mark in league.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been to the playoffs and finished this high in the standings, so that’s special,” first-year Glendale Coach Tadeh Mardirosian said. “Give credit to [Hoover Coach] Stan Watson. His girls came out and battled and gave us a great fight.”

Sylvia Vartazarian led the Nitros with 17 points and 13 rebounds, while Jillian Yanai added 14 points, seven rebounds, seven steals and four assists.

Nanor Sevajin paced Hoover (5-20, 2-12) with 12 points, while Mikaela Mauricio added 10 points.

St. Monica Academy 47, Le Lycee 25: The visiting Crusaders picked up an International League win Thursday.

League champion St. Monica (13-5, 6-0 in league) got 14 points from Kayla Grimm and 10 each from Therese Boles and Molly Hagan.

GIRLS’ WATER POLO

Glendale 11, Arcadia 7: Glendale picked up a win Thursday in the third-place match of the Pacific League Tournament at Burbank High.

The Nitros (12-15, 4-4 in league) received five goals from Stephanie Carrillo and four from Lori Berberian.

Alemany 6, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy 4: The Tologs fell in the third-place game of the Mission League tournament on Thursday at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High.

With the defeat, Flintridge Sacred Heart capped the regular season with an 18-10 record and 4-5 mark in league.

Burbank 4, Hoover 3: The Tornadoes wrapped up their season Thursday with a loss in a consolation game of the Pacific League Tournament at Burbank.

Sona Aghasaryan had two goals for the Tornadoes (2-6 in league).

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

Glendale Community College 12, East L.A. College 11: Glendale earned a nonconference road win Thursday. The Vaqueros are 3-3-1.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Glendale Community College 5, Riverside College 4: Glendale (4-3) posted a nonconference road win Thursday.

The Vaqueros received singles victories from Viktoriya Shumakova (4-6, 6-1, 6-2), Tsukimi Ono (6-2, 6-1) and Meredy Gharabegi (6-4, 6-4).

Glendale got doubles win from Shumakova and Meredy Gharabegi (8-3) and Veronika Galstyan and Ono (8-5).

MEN’S TENNIS

Riverside Community College 8, Glendale Community College 1: The Vaqueros (2-2) dropped a nonconference home match Thursday.

Glendale received a 6-6, 6-2 win in singles from Arin Meserkhani.