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Santa Ana Valley and Katy Salgado, right, used their defense to spark a 17-7 victory at Garden Grove on Thursday.
Santa Ana Valley and Katy Salgado, right, used their defense to spark a 17-7 victory at Garden Grove on Thursday.
Dan Albano. Sports HS Reporter.

// MORE INFORMATION: Staff Mug Shot taken August 26, 2010 : by KATE LUCAS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER.

Santa Ana Valley’s best offense Thursday was its defense.

The Falcons’ girls water polo team used a tight press to spark a potent counterattack that charted the course for a 17-7 victory at Garden Grove in a duel of CIF-SS Division 7 contenders.

Santa Ana Valley (6-2) forced at least five turnovers in each period, racking up steals on the perimeter to spark a counterattack that netted eight goals.

Left-hander Emy Castaneda scored two of her game-high six goals on the counterattack, and Ale Barajas scored three of her four goals on the counter. Katy Salgado collected a team-high five steals and scored two of her four goals on the counterattack against the Argonauts (1-7), ranked seventh in Division 7.

“We’re just trying to get into a rhythm and just trying to stress that good defense leads to offense,” Santa Ana Valley assistant coach Peter Sophabmixay said.

“We’ve got some work to do. (But) especially going into the (winter) break … Christmas food (will) taste a lot better after (this) win.”

Garden Grove trimmed the Falcons’ lead to 6-4 early in the second period, but a steal near mid-pool by Salgado led to a power-play strike by Castaneda with 4:56 left in the opening half. Barajas then scored consecutive counterattacks in a span of about 45 seconds.

In the third, Valley goalie Connie Perez blocked a penalty shot, sparking a 3-0 run that opened a 12-5 lead for the Falcons.

Dallie Weaver scored three goals to pace Garden Grove, which defeated Valley in the summer.

“Valley is much improved since then,” Garden Grove coach Eric Henninger said.

In other nonleague games:

No. 10 Huntington Beach 19, Ocean View 11: Julia Rozolis-Hill scored five goals and Kalista Hyham added four for the Oilers (10-4).

El Toro 11, Rosary 8: Cami Martinez scored five goals and Madison Parenteau added five steals to lead the Chargers (5-3).

Laguna Hills 14, Aliso Niguel 13 (OT): Reserve Mika Honda scored from the perimeter on the first possession of sudden-death overtime to lift the host Hawks (4-0) past the Wolverines (8-3).

Yorba Linda 10, Trabuco Hills 7: Amy Castellano scored five goals and goalie Candice Eunice made 11 saves to lead the visiting Mustangs.

Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com