Story from the Glendale News-Press
Thursday, October 25, 2001

Falcons work overtime
CV boys' water polo team defeats Arcadia, 11-9, to create
three-way tie for Pacific League regular-season title.
By ERIK BOAL

ARCADIA -- The Crescenta Valley High boys' water polo team proved Wednesday that it wasn't ready to relinquish its Pacific League legacy just yet.
Facing a must-win situation against Arcadia in order to capture a share of the league's regular-season title and gain some much-needed momentum entering next week's league tournament, the Falcons demonstrated some of the resolve that has won them nine straight league championships.
Seniors Eric Chramosta, Daniel Day, David Mulcahey and Ben Tickner accounted for all but one of CV's goals, including all three in the two three-minute extra periods, as the Falcons held on to defeat the host Apaches, 11-9, in overtime. "The burden of carrying on a legacy weighs heavy on all of us, especially these shoulders," CV Coach Jan Sakonju said.
"But how we deal with that burden will define the character of this team."
Despite playing with a great deal of character and intensity in the final four minutes of regulation and during overtime, the Falcons (11-10, 4-1 in league) will still be seeded third in Tuesday's tournament semifinals, also held at Arcadia High.
A coin flip before Wednesday's matches pre-determined the seeds for the league tournament, in the event that CV, Glendale (8-6, 4-1 in league) and Arcadia (12-10, 4-1 in league) all tied for first place.
Arcadia -- which earned the top seed -- will face either Hoover or Pasadena, and CV will meet Glendale, the No. 2 seed, in a rematch of an Oct. 10 showdown in which the Nitros won, 22-14.
"We've got Glendale on Tuesday and we have to play with a sense of desperation," Sakonju said.
"We have to win every game from here on out or else that's it. These seniors are beginning to realize that there's only a few more weeks left in their careers and they're focused on what they have to do, so that makes me feel good."
Sakonju also felt pretty good after his team opened up a 5-1 halftime lead, before Arcadia driver Scott Langendoen got warmed up in the second half.
Langendoen tallied three second-half goals and added the Apaches' lone score in overtime to tie Tickner for match-high honors with five. The junior now has a school-record 126 goals entering Tuesday's preliminaries.
Arcadia took its first lead at 7-6 with 3:52 left in regulation on Josh Rangel's second of three goals, but Chramosta tied it 14 seconds later by beating Apache goalkeeper Anthony Leung -- who tallied 21 saves -- in the left corner of the cage on a cross-pool pass by Cameron Brown.
Brown and Mulcahey both had three assists for the Falcons, who rebounded from a 9-8 deficit in overtime to score three goals in the final 4:48, including a backhand shot by Mulcahey with 2:05 remaining in the second overtime period.
Brown, Tickner and Shane Besedick all had six steals and Day added five for CV, which forced 34 Arcadia turnovers.

BOX SCORE CV*1*4*1*2*2*1*--*11 Arcadia*1*0*3*4*1*0*--*9 CV -- Tickner 5 goals and 6 steals, Day 2 and 5 steals, Mulcahey 2, 3 assists, 2 steals, Besedick 1, 1 assist, 6 steals, Chramosta 1 and 1 steal. *Saves: Craney 9 Arcadia -- S. Langendoen 5 goals, 1 assist, 2 steals, Rangel 3, 2 assists, 4 steals, Leung 1, 1 assist, 5 steals. *Saves: Leung 21