La Cañada boys’ soccer edges past Burbank
BURBANK — William Chant surprised himself.
Looking to make a pass, the La Cañada High boys’ soccer player suddenly found an open lane.
It led to a positive result for Chant, who scored the winning goal in the 28th minute to lift visiting La Cañada to a 1-0 nonleague win against Burbank on Friday.
Chant came down the left side and got past a Burbank defender before launching a shot over the outstretched arms of Burbank goalkeeper Christian Ramos.
“I really thought I would be passing there and then I got some room and had a chance to shoot,” Chant said. “It was a good shot and I thought we played a real good game. Burbank also played well.
“We wanted to come back strong after losing to Mountain View [on Thursday]. We played well on defense, but we know we can still get better.”
La Cañada (1-1), which advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division VI semifinals before appearing in the CIF Southern California Regionals last season, held Burbank to four shots on goal. The Spartans also won the Rio Hondo League championship last season.
Burbank (1-1), which didn’t win a match last season, had a couple of quality scoring opportunities.
Burbank’s Andrew Senane came down the left side and lined a shot off the crossbar in the 15th minute. In the 44th minute, La Cañada goalkeeper Jorge Landa stopped a shot just inside the box by Artyom Ginosyan.
“Jorge made a couple of saves to keep us ahead,” said La Cañada second-year coach Bruno Costa, who was named the All-Area Boys’ Soccer Coach of the Year last season. “I’m satisfied with the way we’ve played our first two games and we’re ahead of where we were last season at this stage.
“We were missing a couple of starters because of injuries. I liked the way we hung in there today. On the goal by William, he really didn’t have an angle and I even thought he’d pass the ball. He found a way to score in the end.”
Dylan Pastor of La Cañada nearly made it 2-0, but his shot bounced off the right post in the 31st minute.
The Bulldogs pressed for the equalizer. However, they couldn’t find any open territory against the Spartans’ stingy defense.
“We have a pretty young team, but we have shown signs of improvement,” said Ramos, who finished with five saves. “I thought we had some good ball movement.
“La Cañada has a real good team and those guys went far in the playoffs last year. I thought we did a pretty good job of hanging in there with them. On the goal, I really thought he’d make a cross to somebody else coming in, but I looked up and lost the ball in the sun a little and couldn’t reach up to get it.”
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
