Morlock, Burbank girls’ water polo pass first league test
There are a couple of strengths that Michelle Morlock can provide for the Burbank High girls’ water polo team.
The one that’s stood out so far throughout the season is her speed. Burbank will look for the sophomore driver to keep improving in that aspect of the game.
It certainly paid off Tuesday for Burbank, which received four goals from Morlock in a 14-2 victory against visiting Hoover in the Pacific League opener for both teams.
Burbank (3-9) topped shorthanded Hoover (0-6) for the second time in a month.
“She was on the team last year and we could see that she’s a fast swimmer,” Burbank Coach Allyson Young said. “We expect her knowledge of the game to continue to grow and see her speed keep improving.
“When she’s got those two things working, she’s even more confident with her skills. She had a big game today. We have a team that’s got a good mix and we want to get to CIF. So, we’ll work on doing that.”
Burbank, which recorded a 12-1 win against Hoover on Dec. 10 in a Burbank Tournament match, also got three goals apiece from Lexi Lyneis and Cynthia Abramian, two from Sune Aghakian and one from Tara Goodwin and Stephanie O’Brien.
Morlock had three goals in the first half to help the Bulldogs grab a 6-1 halftime lead.
“We had a rough preseason, so we wanted to bounce back and come out strong today,” Morlock said. “It’s the start of league, so you want to find ways to boost your confidence.
“We’ve been practicing counter-attacks a lot lately. We were able to get some goals off counter-attacks.”
Burbank received one goal from Abramian, Morlock, Aghakian and Lyneis in a four-minute span in the first quarter to take a 4-0 lead.
Abramian made it 5-0 midway through the second quarter before the Tornadoes got a man-advantage goal from Anahit Mirzoyan with 3:25 remaining to cut the deficit to 5-1.
Morlock scored two goals less than three minutes apart in the third quarter to give Burbank an 8-1 lead.
“We’ll try to use this game as a platform to get our confidence up,” Young said.
A goal by Lyneis extended Burbank’s lead to 12-1 with 4:38 remaining in the fourth quarter. Rebecca Voskanian of Hoover scored to bring the Tornadoes, who were missing several players because of illness, to within 12-2 with 4:17 left.
“I think we’ve made some improvement since the last time we played against Burbank,” Hoover Coach Brittany Connell said. “Right now, we’re just looking for more communication. Everybody knows what they need to do. It’s just about communicating so they are in good position to create chances.
“We help each other out on defense, so I like that aspect. We want to continue to make that a strength. We also need to limit our turnovers. If we can do that, then we can improve our game leaps and bounds.”
Burbank goalkeeper Clare Griffin finished with 11 saves. Hoover goalkeeper Sona Aghasaryan collected 12 saves.
The Bulldogs and Tornadoes will compete in league matches at 3:30 p.m. Thursday against their cross-town rivals. Burbank will compete at Burroughs and Hoover will play host to Glendale.
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Charles Rich, charles.rich@latimes.com
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
