Crescenta Valley High girls’ water polo proves dominant versus La Cañada

LA CANADA — Whether it was on offense or defense, the Crescenta Valley High girls’ water polo team was downright dominant versus La Cañada in nonleague play Wednesday afternoon.

The Falcons held the host Spartans more than 14 minutes without a goal, while at times Crescenta Valley seemed to score at will in a 19-4 victory.

PHOTOS: Crescenta Valley girls’ water polo trounces La Cañada, 19-4

“I don’t think we expected the score to be like this,” said Falcons junior Audrey Taylor, who led her team with five goals, two assists and two steals. “We graduated a lot of great players from last year and we haven’t had a chance to play La Cañada, so we weren’t exactly sure what to expect.

“They had a pretty good record, but we played pretty well.”

What neither team realized at the time was the significance of a goal from Spartans senior two-meter attacker Paige Rivett, who was assisted by teammate Heather Connolly, at 1:28 in the second quarter.

Rivett’s goal brought the CIF Southern Section Division V fifth-ranked Spartans (8-5) within 9-3, but nearly ended up being La Cañada’s final score of the entire contest.

Crescenta Valley’s Katy Sayre scored on the Falcons’ next possession off a pass from Kay Kingsbury to cement a 10-3 halftime advantage for her side.

Yet, Sayre’s goal didn’t just mark the end of first-half scoring, but was a springboard for a 9-0 run for Division IV third-ranked Crescenta Valley (10-2) that culminated on a score from senior Samantha Berthold (Yoselin Galdamez assist) with 1:54 remaining in the contest, which put the Falcons ahead, 18-3.

During the Falcons’ scoring spree, La Cañada attempted nine shots over 14-plus minutes, while committing nine of its 24 turnovers on the afternoon.

“The girls were aware of just how good Crescenta Valley is,” La Cañada second-year Coach Davey Brown said. “They’re a champion, they’re big and they intimidated my girls.

“But we’ll learn from this. We like to counter teams and we don’t really run a set offense. Against teams like Crescenta Valley, we’re going to obviously have to find another way to play.”

La Cañada finally broke its scoring drought when sophomore Camila Grases found the back of the net with 1:18 left to conclude the Spartans’ scoring.

At times, the Spartans appeared to have troubling simply moving the ball into their attacking side thanks to a stifling Falcons defense.

“We’re big on team defense and on pressuring the ball,” Falcons first-year coach Ricky Mulcahey said. “If we can prevent them from even bringing the ball up pool, then we can really limit shots.”

Early on, though, it was the Spartans who frustrated the Falcons, due largely to the efforts of La Cañada goalie Charlotte Leis.

The Falcons were turned away by Leis six times, with four attempts at point-blank range through the first five minutes as Crescenta Valley held a 2-1 advantage.

Shortly after Leis (eight total saves) denied Crescenta Valley on consecutive tries during the same offensive series, Mulcahey called a timeout with 1:56 remaining in the first.

“I just told the girls to settle down and take good shots,” Mulcahey said. “We were rushing shots and throwing things right at their keeper.”

The Falcons responded to their coach with goals from Esma Dollaku (four goals), Ani Aghakhanian and Taylor to take a 5-1 lead after one quarter.

While the Spartans closed to within three goals on a score from Miranda Mora on a six-on-five opportunity with 5:41 remaining, La Cañada never again pulled any closer than 5-2.

Kaitlyn Moguel added three goals and seven steals for Crescenta Valley, while Falcons goalie Tiffany Duarte tallied eight saves in the first half and Makenzie Drewe tallied five saves in the second half while allowing only one goal.