City showdown goes to Burroughs High girls’ water polo
BURBANK — A swarming, turnover-creating defense tipped the balance in city dominance for the Burroughs High girls’ water polo team Tuesday afternoon.
The visiting Indians held archrival Burbank scoreless for more than 10 minutes, forced 20 turnovers and only allowed two goals past the first quarter in a 12-5 Pacific League victory.
Burroughs improved to 6-4 and 2-1 in league, while Burbank dropped to 4-7, 0-3.
“We made some mistakes early in the game that allowed them to get some goals and we corrected it after,” Burroughs coach Jacob Cook said. “Some of Burbank’s shots were amazing and hey, they went in. We wanted to put them in a spot where they had to make great shots.”
Senior Gwen Turla led all scorers with five goals and two steals, while senior Bianca Sanchez added four goals and five steals for the Indians. Burbank’s Lexi Lyneis paced her team’s scoring with two goals.
Two defenders may have been most impressive, however, as Burbank goalie Suzie Misiryan finished with 14 saves and Burroughs’ Aleah Orozco tallied six steals, two assists and one goal.
Unbeknownst to Orozco, the junior scored the game-winning goal at the 3:29 mark in the second quarter off an assist from Cameron Flores to put Burroughs up, 6-4.
Two minutes later, Orozco assisted Turla on a goal as the Indians jumped ahead, 7-4.
Orozco had a hand in two goals in an eventual 4-0 run by the Indians, who took an 8-4 lead into halftime.
What was a run for one team became a drought for another, as Burbank’s last goal of the first half came on a long-distance shot from Lyneis off an assist from Sera Shahbazian at 5:40 in the second quarter that momentarily knotted the game at 4.
The Bulldogs went over 10 minutes without a score as Burroughs’ run extended to 6-0 on a goal from Sanchez off an Orozco assist with 1:15 left in the third as the Indians led 10-4.
“Burbank is a tough team; they’re a rival school,” Orozco said. “We can’t be overconfident. …Once we realized that if we just really press on them and don’t allow those really far shots to make it in, we’ll get the game.”
During the third quarter, Burroughs forced six turnovers, while Burbank was held to five shots. Of the Bulldogs’ giveaways, Orozco tallied three steals and forced a ball-under penalty.
Burbank finally broke through with a goal from Sune Aghakian with 61 seconds left in the third quarter to pull within 10-5.
While the goal ended one drought, it also preceded another as the Bulldogs did not score the rest of the contest.
Burroughs won the fourth quarter, 2-0.
If there was a positive for Burbank coach Allyson Young, it’s that her team’s defense played tough throughout the match. Unfortunately for her, there was too much individual play.
“Our goalie did great and I think some of the players who came in did really well, too,” Young said. “We just have too much selfish play. There are too many girls playing individually out there and when you play like that, you lose like that. That’s what I’m trying to get them to realize.”
