No. 2 Crescenta Valley boys’ water polo edged by No. 1 Righetti, 8-6
After earning a split of a tough two-match road trip, the Crescenta Valley High boys’ water polo team came away pleased.
The Falcons made the long journey north to face Arroyo Grande and Rightetti — both teams the Falcons might face in the CIF Southern Section Division IV playoffs in November.
Second-ranked Crescenta Valley saw its bid to complete the sweep fall short after it dropped an 8-6 nonleague contest against top-ranked Righetti on Friday.
“The trip up here was well worth it,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Jan Sakonju, whose team fell, 14-4, to eventual champion Righetti in a semifinal matchup last season. “That’s the idea in playing great teams like Righetti and Arroyo Grande.
“It’s a step in the right direction because we were able to grow more and you have a better idea of what you might see in the playoffs.”
Crescenta Valley (19-6) began the trip Thursday with an 8-7 win against Arroyo Grande, ranked sixth in the division. Less than 24 hours later, Crescenta Valley, which shared the Pacific League championship last season with Glendale, held it own throughout its contest against Righetti (17-3).
The team were deadlocked, 1-1, after the first quarter and 2-2 at halftime before the Warriors scored four goals in the third quarter to take a 6-2 lead. The Falcons pulled to within 7-5 on a goal by Jessie Sullivan with 3:15 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“In a way, it was like a victory being tied with them at halftime,” said Sakonju, who received three goals from David Konjathy. “In the third quarter, they went to their bread and butter and that’s counter-attacking and they do it like crazy.
“We started to rush our shots and we got impatient at times. We outscored them in the fourth quarter. I’m happy with the way we played and the result.”
Sullivan finished with two goals for the Falcons, who got one goal from Brandon Fernandez and 12 saves from Logan Goddard. Crescenta Valley will next meet rival Arcadia in a league home match at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
