Crescenta Valley Pushes Agoura Off Deep End in 9-7 Victory

The Crescenta Valley High boys’ water polo team has had to go out of its league to find suitable competition this season. Thursday’s nonleague game suited the Falcons just fine as they defeated Agoura, 9-7, in a battle of ranked teams at Agoura.

David Mulcahey scored four goals for Crescenta Valley (19-4), ranked third in The Times’ regional poll and fifth in Southern Section Division III. Two of Mulcahey’s goals came on breakaways, the second giving the Falcons an 8-7 lead with one second left in the third quarter.

“Their defense was a lot better this time and they threw a few new offenses at us,” Mulcahey said of Agoura. “I just anticipated when we would get a turnover and broke out on the wing.”

Jeff Little added two goals for the Falcons, who led, 3-0, after one quarter. He scored his second goal on a redirection of David Besedick’s pass to tie the score, 6-6, with 2:33 left in the third quarter.

Raymond Shing tied the score, 7-7, with 27 seconds left in the third quarter and added two assists for Crescenta Valley, which routed Agoura at the Harvard-Westlake tournament earlier this season.

“We like to play teams in other divisions because it helps our ranking,” Shing said. “It also gives us practice and experience against better teams.”

Matt Monaco scored three goals from the two-meter position for the Chargers (15-7), ranked fifth in the region by The Times and fifth in Division IV.

Driver Sean Ptacek added two goals and utility player Paul Stuart had three assists for Agoura, which scored five times in the second quarter to pull even, 5-5.

Ben Tickner of Crescenta Valley scored the only goal of the fourth quarter with 6:01 remaining.

Moments later, Donovan Tatum of Agoura hit the goal post on a partial breakaway. The Chargers were awarded a power play with 1:46 left but failed to score.