CV polo notches third in a row

Glendale-CV girls' water polo.Water polo: Falcon girls top Glendale, 11-4, to win third consecutive Pacific League championship.ARCADIA -- A check of the final statistics revealed that the Crescenta Valley High girls' water polo team recorded 31 steals.

That didn't surprise senior driver Kristin McLaughlin, who had nine to carry the Falcons in an 11-4 victory against Glendale in the championship match of the Pacific League Tournament at Arcadia High on Thursday.

"We are our own support system," said McLaughlin, who also finished with five goals to help Crescenta Valley win its third consecutive league crown and seventh since the program formed in 1997. "With our defense, we know exactly when to crash and get steals off counter-attacks.

"It's a big deal to win league because it's our No. 1 goal. Now we are the first team [in league] to win three in a row."

Crescenta Valley (23-6, 7-0 in league) built a 5-2 advantage at halftime before turning to its experience and depth to dispatch Glendale (14-10, 5-2).

McLaughlin, who finished the tournament with 12 goals, teamed with Lybov Tchougounova to deny the Nitros their first league crown since 2003.

Tchougounova had three goals with a powerful right shot for the Falcons -- ranked No. 6 in CIF Southern Section Division III.

McLaughlin said the Nitros spent the match focusing on her and Tchougounova.

"We were walking by and we heard their coaches talking about planning to focus on me and Lybov," McLaughlin said. "But our other players stepped it up."

Minah Kim had two goals and six steals for the Falcons, who got one goal and five steals from Ashley Masters.

Glendale got one goal each from Sara Wolff, Shaghik Abolian, Lily Broussard and Vanuhi Ovasapyan.

Glendale Co-coach Robert Zirovich said the Nitros became fatigued as the match progressed.

"We got tired by the time the third and fourth quarters came around," Zirovich said. "Crescenta Valley's got some good athletes."

* CHARLES RICH covers sports. He can be reached at (818) 637-3228 or by e-mail at charles.rich@latimes.com.