Burroughs girls’ water polo headed to Bonita in opening round

When the Burroughs High girls’ water polo team commences the CIF Southern Section playoffs, there is a hope that the contest will be historic in at least one way.

The Pacific League runner-up Indians will face No. 6-ranked Bonita in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division IV postseason as was announced on Saturday.

Bonita is the Palomares League’s No. 2 team, but shared the league title with Ayala. The Burroughs-Bonita winner will advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal to face third-seeded Mission Viejo or Camarillo.

The game is tentatively scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday and will likely be played at Las Flores Park, the pool adjacent to the La Verne campus.

Burroughs Coach Jacob Cook said that a change may be needed because the start time conflicts with a 6:30 p.m. time slot for the team’s annual banquet at Castaways in Burbank.

“We might play earlier in the afternoon or we might move the banquet,” Cook said. “Right now that’s still up in the air.”

As for playing Bonita, Cook had a more definite reaction.

“I saw our match-up and I think Bonita is a very good team,” Cook said. “What can you do? You can’t really complain because we usually finish third in league and get the No. 3 or No. 4 seed. So, this is an improvement for us.”

The Indians finished this season with a 14-9 record and have won three of their last four contests with their lone defeat during that stretch being an 18-8 loss to No. 4 Crescenta Valley in the Pacific League Tournament championship match on Thursday.

The loss dropped Burroughs’ record to 0-4 this season versus ranked opponents with maybe the best effort being a 14-9 overtime loss to No. 10 Claremont on Jan. 16.

Should Burroughs win, then that would mark the program’s first postseason triumph since 2012 and advance the team to Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Beyond winning, history is also on the line for Burroughs goalie Kate Wilke. The St. Francis University-bound senior enters Thursday’s affair with 308 saves this season, four off the all-time record of 312 saves set by Ahsha Earwood (Pomona-Pitzer) in 2013.

“She’s five saves away and that would be a major accomplishment,” Cook said. “I’m hoping she’s just not going to break it, but smash right through it.”

Wilke will need her ‘A’ game against a talented Bearcats team that finished the regular season with a 20-9 record, which included a 14-4 victory over No. 5 Ayala at Las Flores Park on Wednesday for the Palomares League title.

All but one of the Bearcats’ setbacks this year have come against ranked squads in the CIF Southern Section.