Cleveland wins fourth straight City Section boys’ water polo title
Despite being the defending champion, Cleveland was not the No. 1 seed in the City Section Open Division boys’ water polo playoffs.
When the final game was over, however, the Cavaliers proved they are still the best, beating host Palisades 9-7 in a defensive struggle Thursday night to capture their fourth section title in a row and third straight in the Open Division.
Arthur Petrosian scored six goals, including the winner on a shot from the hole with 1:30 left to break a 7-7 tie.
“I’m used to scoring this many goals in a game,” said Petrosian, who netted his team’s first five goals, two of them on five-meter shots, but had to be careful after getting two ejections in the first half. “This title means the most because we had to beat them in their own pool.”
Charlie Rinsky added an insurance goal 40 seconds later, and after the top-seeded Dolphins were thwarted on their next possession, Cleveland played keep-away to run all but three seconds off the clock.
“We came into the game thinking we’d run them over, but after the first three quarters it was tied and we just kept thinking next play and reset on defense,” added Petrosian, who scored twice on five-meter shots in last year’s 9-4 championship victory over Eagle Rock.
Daris Fathali Nejad scored in the second quarter and again in the fourth and goalie Matthew Prontenko made 10 saves for the second-seeded Cavaliers (21-8), who have won five section titles — the first coming in 2010.
Jake Gallagher, Max Szymanski and Reed Winters each scored twice for Palisades (19-11), which holds the City record with 18 crowns, including the Division I title last year. Kai Gundershaug also scored and Aidan Moriarty had nine saves for the Dolphins.
Cleveland started its Open Division trifecta two years ago by snapping Palisades’ streak of 11 consecutive titles with a 15-4 finals victory at Valley College.
Earlier, Granada Hills beat Eagle Rock 10-8 for the Division I title.