La Cañada falls in overtime against frontrunner South Pasadena

SOUTH PASADENA — Leading up to La Cañada High’s second dip into the pool to face rival South Pasadena in Rio Hondo League boys’ water polo, the Spartans made official a coaching change, welcoming new head coach and Tigers alum Josh Rodriguez, who replaced Christian Flores.

“Monday, I was officially hired. Wednesday I officially started, so yesterday was my first day of practice,” Rodriguez, who graduated South Pasadena High in 2008, said.

On Thursday afternoon, La Cañada went on the road and the Spartans found themselves seconds away from handing the Tigers their first league defeat before South Pasadena forced overtime and then took the win, 12-11, to remain unblemished in league play.

“It was a great game, probably the best game they have played all year. They played tough and they played down to the very end,” Rodriguez said. “Win with humility, we say, and lose with dignity, we kept our heads up high. It was a great win for South Pas. [The Tigers] played great.”

The loss to South Pasadena (17-4, 6-0) on Thursday ends La Cañada’s quest to win a sixth straight Rio Hondo League title, but with two games to go, the Spartans are still in the mix for one of the league’s two guaranteed playoff spots.

“It is nice to be back [at South Pasadena]. It is a little weird to be on the other side, but I’m happy to be a Spartan and happy to be part of this program,” Rodriguez said.

In the fourth quarter with 2:20 left to play, La Cañada (5-14, 3-3) extended its advantage to 9-7 when Luke Stefan took a pass from Wyatt Lowe and scored on a no-look, behind-the-back shot. However, the Tigers answered right back 11 seconds later, when DJ Myer scored his third goal of the period on a skip shot.

After that, both teams hits the crossbar and the Spartans still led by one when Tigers Coach Michael Gonzales, who was a teammate of Rodriguez’ at South Pasadena, called a timeout with 28 seconds to go.

“I told them it is the first time you guys have been in this situation where you’re trailing in league and to have enough grit, have enough perseverance, to have enough compassion to be able to see it out to the end,” Gonzales said.

Following the stoppage, South Pasadena’s Leo Sonner received a pass from up top and blasted a powerful shot into the right corner of the net to tie the contest at 9 with 24 seconds left. Following a Spartans timeout, Stefan got off a final shot to the upper right corner of the goal but it was saved, sending the game into overtime.

Both teams scored on their first possessions of the first three-minute overtime half. South Pasadena won the opening sprint, leading to Myer’s game-high fifth goal just 14 seconds in. La Cañada answered immediately, knotting the score at 10 on a long shot by Alec Abrahamian at the 2:23 mark. South Pasadena took the lead for good when Tigers goalkeeper Matt Wright threw a long outlet pass to Vaughn Huelsman on a breakaway behind the final Spartans defender. Huelsman then skipped in a shot to the right side of the net with 1:13 to go.

In the second half of overtime, Cameron Benitez converted a five-meter goal with 29 seconds to go, making the score 12-10. The Tigers had the ball with 17 seconds to go, but took an ill-advised shot that hit the bar, giving La Cañada one last chance that Stefan used to score his team-high fourth goal with three seconds left before the final horn.

“Even though we were down two with 17 seconds left, they came and played hard and scored a goal. That shows a lot about their character,” Rodriguez said.

In their first meeting of the season against the Tigers on Oct. 13, La Cañada never led. At halftime of the second meeting, with the score deadlocked at 3, the Spartans still had never led. That changed with 3:45 left in the third quarter when Abrahamian took a pass from Stefan, paused a beat, then fired a shot into the back of the net to take the lead. The freshman extended it less than a minute later when he put in another goal, this time with his back to the net off an assist by Tyler Chung.

The Spartans outscored the Tigers, 4-2, in the third period to forge a 7-5 advantage going into the fourth. The Tigers flipped the script in the fourth, outscoring La Cañada, 4-2, to force the extra time.

“We knew this was going to be a dogfight going in,” Gonzales said. “More than anything, we try to tell our kids to focus on the game itself and not be so consumed with the rivalry.”

Stefan led the Spartans with four goals, including two in the second period. Abrahamian and Jake Stolmack each had three.

“I think it is great,” Stefan said of the new coach coming in. “We are definitely a much more structured program now and these games are a lot closer with him as our coach.”