By Justin HAGER

The Falcons girls’ water polo team is headed to the second round of the CIF Southern Section championship tournament after an impressive victory Tuesday night over the Diamond Bar Brahmas. The game was on upset alert as the heavily favored Falcons led just 6-4 nearly halfway through the third period. Fortunately, the end of the third period saw a tidal wave of goals for CVHS as they netted four goals in under three minutes, including two from senior Makayla Graham. The Brahmas tried to respond but could only get one past the stellar defensive wall created by juniors Sydney and Albany Lansang and sophomore goalie Miranda Graham.

Despite being up 10-6 entering the final period, the Falcons refused to relent. Junior Albany Lansang scored just 25 seconds into the fourth giving the Falcons a five-point lead that seemed to break the spirits of the Diamond Bar squad. The Falcons netted three more in less than 90 seconds as the Brahmas went on a four-minute scoring drought. The drought continued until the three-minute mark by which point CVHS was already ahead 14-7. The final nail in the coffin landed with just one-minute remaining as junior Mayda Hartounian netted a shot from the right side.

After the match, Head Coach Amber Dien said that she was “very excited” to be advancing.

“This will be my first time as a coach competing in a CIF second round game and we only have two days to prepare,” she said. “Our pool at CVHS is much smaller than this one and it is always a challenge to make the adjustment from small water for practices to big water for games,” she continued. “I’m just really excited to see how we do.”

There was plenty of action around the region as other schools hosted or traveled for CIF girls’ water polo competition.

John Burroughs High School in Burbank fell to Esperanza High School in a shocking 15-13 upset. Esperanza, a CIF at-large, traveled from Anaheim to face the heavily favored Burroughs Bears, whose team was the stand-alone champion of the Pacific League. Esperanza took an early lead and, despite a storybook comeback, the Bears simply ran out of time.

The Glendale High School Nitros also found themselves on the losing side of an equally disappointing, though far less shocking, loss. The Nitros traveled to Corona to face the heavily favored Centennial High School Huskies, the number one seed in CIF-SS Division 5 girls’ water polo. Despite a valiant effort, Glendale fell 22-6. The Pasadena Bulldogs also fell in the opening round, losing 22-5 to Oxnard.

Luckily, CVHS was not alone in its victory as the Flintridge Sacred Heart Tologs, whose team was granted an at-large bid for the CIF and were the lowest seeded team in Division 5, pulled off an upset of Almont League runner-up Bell Gardens High School. Flintridge Sacred Heart will face another David vs. Goliath battle today, Thursday, when they host the JW North Huskies, which dominated the Mountain West Conference Champion West Valley High School.

Results of CIF-SS girls’ water polo matchups involving Flintridge Prep and La Cañada High School were not available as of press time.

The Falcons’ next match is scheduled today, Thursday, Feb. 10 at 5 p.m. at the Glendale High School Aquatic Center. For more information on local teams in the CIF-SS Championships, including schedules, results, photos, and more, follow the CV Weekly Sports team on Twitter @CVWSports or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CrescentaValleyWeekly.