Water Polo

The following are previews of today's playoff contests featuring local teams. GIRLS' WATER POLO Fontana vs. Crescenta Valley, 3 p.m. at South Pasadena High: After winning the Pacific League championship for the third straight season, the unbeaten and third-seeded Falcons (29-0) will begin the CIF Southern Section Division V playoffs with a first-round match against Fontana. Fontana is 15-11 and placed third in the Citrus Valley League. The Falcons, who reached the semifinals last season, are coming off an 8-6 win against Burroughs in the league's tournament championship on Thursday.

GLENDALE — Trying to repeat as CIF Southern Section Division VI champion will be a later priority. For the Crescenta Valley High boys’ water polo squad to have any shot at winning a second CIF crown in a row, the Falcons must first navigate their way through the Pacific League. The Falcons have won more than 25 league championships in their history, their latest coming last season. To possibly add to that total, Crescenta Valley will be up against league teams looking to dethrone it while playing at their best.

LA CRESCENTA — It was an opportunity of a lifetime and a day they will likely not soon forget. For the roughly 25 girls in attendance at Saturday's National Ranked Girl Water Polo clinic at Crescenta Valley High, spending three hours in the pool getting one-on-one tutelage from two of the sport's most recognizable faces proved to be an invaluable learning experience. "I told the girls it's probably the equivalent of Michael Phelps coming to your school to work with swimmers," Crescenta Valley Coach Pete Loporchio said.

GLENDALE ? Want to know how good the La Cañada High boys' water polo team might be? Other than the fact it returns 2-meter defender Devon Borisoff, the reigning Glendale News-Press Male Athlete of the Year, La Cañada's back-up goalkeeper, Taylor Roszkos, was selected to the United States National Futures Team. The Spartans' starting goalkeeper, John Rowe, starred in the cage in 2005, as La Cañada won the CIF Southern Section Division III championship. La Cañada Coach Larry Naeve ?

Throughout the 2008 season, Tristan Winterhalter was the Crescenta Valley High boys’ water polo team’s most valuable player. Since the end of the campaign, which saw the Falcons garner a Pacific League title en route to the CIF Southern Section Division VI crown, the senior driver’s MVP status has been proven to extend well beyond his own team. First came the honor of being selected MVP of the Pacific League, followed by the news that Winterhalter would share Player of the Year Honors for all of Division VI along with Rio Mesa’s Danny White.

Several area water polo leagues are keeping high school-age athletes busy this summer with training and cross-town competition. Crescenta Valley's varsity-level boys' team climbed to 4-0 in summer league water polo last Thursday, June 5, when the Falcons defeated host Flintridge Prep, 13-7. The Falcons came out early, scoring three goals in the first period and another three in the second, leading the Rebels by two going into the second half. Mason Holland dominated on offense with four goals in the fourth quarter for Crescenta Valley, while Flintridge Prep's Jordan Randall led the Rebel's effort with three.

Hamlet Nalbandyan Editor's note: Taking a look at today's CIF Southern Section boys' water polo playoff matchups featuring local teams. GLENDALE -- Flintridge Prep vs. Los Altos at Pasadena City College, 3 p.m.: The Rebels are making their first CIF semifinal appearance in today's Division VI contest. Sam Vierra's squad (22-6) has been an offensive juggernaut in the postseason, thanks to hole/set Nick Seaver. The senior has 24 of Flintridge Prep's 41 goals in the playoffs, giving him 175 on the season.

The Huntington Beach High boys' water polo team came up with a big rally Monday and pulled out a 12-11 overtime victory over host Tesoro in nonleague play. The Oilers trailed throughout the match and were down by two at the half, but they rallied in the second of two overtime periods. They outscored the Titans, 3-0, in the second overtime. "This was a great win for us," Huntington coach Eugene Char said. "We were down 5-3 at the half and shut them out in the second overtime.

Crescenta Valley High’s boys’ water polo team has finally reached the point of the season it’s been building toward. On Tuesday, however, it took a bit longer than expected to get there. Already en route via bus for its Pacific League match against host Hoover, the Falcons turned around and headed back to Crescenta Valley. Boxes of soap, due to apparent vandalism, found in the Hoover pool forced a change in sites as a safety precaution. Reportedly, Crescenta Valley tried to pick the Hoover team up in its bus, but there wasn’t enough room, so there was even further delay as the Tornadoes waited for another bus. The Tornadoes eventually arrived and the Falcons promptly went about their business, cruising to a 15-6 victory.

Most of the highlights of Pete Loporchio's distinguished water polo coaching experience have occurred at the high school level. Now the veteran Crescenta Valley High aquatics coach has decided the time is right to resume plying his trade at the college level. Los Angeles Valley College shared that feeling, as Monarchs Athletic Director Diedra Stark said she recently reached out to Loporchio about their women's water polo head coaching vacancy, a position which Loporchio officially accepted on March 23. "I had some connections there, but more or less they kind of had contacted me," said Loporchio, who was previously an assistant and co-head coach for women's water polo at L.A. Valley from 2001-02.

When it came to the Pacific League, the Crescenta Valley High girls' water polo team was peerless to the point of perfection. While they were tested, the Falcons were never toppled, en route to finishing 8-0 in league and capturing their third straight outright title. The Falcons' overwhelming success in league led to a slew of all-league awards, as voted on by the league's coaches, including Pacific League Player of the Year honors for senior driver Sabrina Hatzer and a coach of the year nod for Pete Loporchio.

Whether in the cage or in the field, the Crescenta Valley High girls' water polo team found strength at just about every position, with its balanced talent delivering the Falcons plenty of victories and a trip to the CIF Southern Section Division V semifinals for the second season in a row. With senior attacker Sabrina Hatzer scoring goals and junior goalkeeper Gabriel Isacson blocking shots, the Falcons went 31-1. Their work didn't go undetected throughout the season and playoffs, as Hatzer and Isacson were bestowed with All-CIF Division V first-team honors Monday after the CIF Southern Section office unveiled the first teams for all seven divisions.

With four All-CIF honorees at the core of a large group of players returning this season, the defending champion Temescal Canyon High girls' water polo team likely didn't shock anyone by once again making it to the final four of the CIF Southern Section Division V finals. What may be slightly more surprising is that for the second year in a row, the second-seeded Titans will be matched up against Crescenta Valley in the semifinals at 6 p.m. tonight at Mount San Antonio College. The Falcons lost their CIF first-team tandem of Kim Fraisse and Adrienne Ingalla, as well as second-teamer Christine Cho, to graduation and yet have arrived at tonight's rematch as the No. 3 seed sporting a perfect 31-0 record.

HACIENDA HEIGHTS - After all the instances in which it seemed the Crescenta Valley High girls' water polo team had victory in its grasp only to see it slip away, it appeared that host Los Altos was the one that had finally closed a firm grip upon triumph. But it was the shot clock that sounded rather than the final horn when Conqueror Kimberly Conde put a shot past Crescenta Valley goalie Gabriel Isacson. Seconds later, amid the chaos and bedlam of a celebratory and confused home crowd, Falcons sophomore Shannon Hovanesian quickly drew an ejection in front of the Los Altos goal and passed back to teammate Nayiri Kechichian, who immediately fed it back to Hovanesian.

SOUTH PASADENA - All the Crescenta Valley High girls' water polo team did during the regular season was win. It seemed to come second nature to the Falcons on Wednesday in the first game of their second season - the CIF Southern Section Division V playoffs. An unstoppable array of scorers and an unrelenting defense carried third-seeded Crescenta Valley to a 19-6 win over Fontana in the first round at South Pasadena High, where the Falcons (30-0) got all they needed to hear from Coach Pete Loporchio in an early first-quarter timeout.

Playing under an unrelenting rain and against a physically dominant opponent, the Glendale High's girls' water polo team saw an already arduous task grow even tougher. Facing the No. 2 seed in the CIF Southern Section Division V first round, the Nitros fell behind quickly and never recovered against host and favorite Temescal Canyon, 17-3, on Wednesday evening. "They just got a really quick lead," said Glendale Coach Forest Holbrook, "and made it tough on us by playing a really strong and physical game.

The following are previews of today's playoff contests featuring local teams. GIRLS' WATER POLO Fontana vs. Crescenta Valley, 3 p.m. at South Pasadena High: After winning the Pacific League championship for the third straight season, the unbeaten and third-seeded Falcons (29-0) will begin the CIF Southern Section Division V playoffs with a first-round match against Fontana. Fontana is 15-11 and placed third in the Citrus Valley League. The Falcons, who reached the semifinals last season, are coming off an 8-6 win against Burroughs in the league's tournament championship on Thursday.

BURBANK - If the members of the Crescenta Valley High girls' water polo team expected the Pacific League tournament championship game on Thursday to be another easy win over Burroughs, they were dead wrong. That much was evident by the end of the first quarter, which Burroughs dominated, and by the time the fourth quarter rolled around with Crescenta Valley still trailing by a goal, the Falcons were very much in a fight to keep the Indians' hands off of their league title. "Certainly, being in that position, they came out very inspired to play," Falcons Coach Pete Loporchio said.