Burroughs soccer, Hoover play to 1-1 deadlock
GLENDALE — Burroughs High and Hoover’s boys’ soccer teams were supposed to open Pacific League play against each other, but the poor air quality from nearby wildfires postponed that. A week later, the Indians and the Tornadoes got a chance to square off.
In a rough and tumble affair, Burroughs and host Hoover scratched out goals in the second half and the Pacific League game ended in a 1-1 draw Tuesday afternoon.
“In Pacific League, every game is a grind and if you get a point on the road that’s good,” Burroughs coach Michael Kodama said. “However, we had a lead late in the game [but Hoover] capitalized on an opportunity.”
Going into stoppage time at the end of the contest, Hoover (1-2-2, 0-0-1) was on the brink of losing to Pacific League defending champion Burroughs, which had a 1-0 lead. However, in the first minute of the extra three, Hoover’s Serop Jejeian jumped on an Indians error to come through with a header for the equalizer.
“We didn’t give up. We got a lucky bounce on Vladimir [Centro]’s throw-in and I luckily went in hard and got the head on it,” Jejeian said. “Throughout the preseason, we have been getting scored on because of small mistakes, and we try to keep away from that, but sadly another one happened. So we tried to capitalize [on an Indians miscue] and luckily we did.”
After a scoreless first half, Burroughs (4-3, 1-0-1) got on the board first to break the stalemate. In the 58th minute, Indian David Gerlach cashed in on an error by the Tornadoes back line for a 1-0 advantage when the sophomore raced in between a group of three Tornadoes to play a loose ball coming down into the box. It happened on the Indians’ first shot of the second half.
“On the play, I was behind the defense and Olin [Bernal Villalpando] raised his head. I think both me and Manny [Gonzalez] recognized he was going to play it. I just noticed when the center back misplayed the ball, I had the opportunity to get between the goalie and the center back. All I had to do was get a head on it,” Gerlach said
Both of the goals were opportunistic ones rather than coming of an organized attack, but they counted nonetheless.
“We conceded what I would call a soft goal,” Hoover coach Ace Metallinos said. “So I guess karma is fair. They concede what I would kind of call a soft goal. There was no build up. There was a throw-in, they made a mistake and we scored. They canceled each other out.”
It was Hoover which was the aggressor in the second half, despite trailing for 26 minutes of it. In total, the hosts tallied 10 more shots than the Indians after the break.
Despite the small mistake that cost the win, the Indians back line did admirably, especially in the second half when they were under seemingly constant attack.
“The boys played well. We got a really great performance out of center back Jake Von today. I thought he was outstanding,” Kodama said. “[The back line] had a lot of pressure they had to play through.”
After the delay last week of the would-be season opener at Hoover, Burroughs started league play with a win over Pasadena on Friday. That, combined with Tuesday’s result, gives the Indians four points after two games.
“Its hard to get a win on the road. Its enemy territory,” Gerlach said. “We just have to do a better job on staying tight as a team. We need to be on the same page. Unfortunately, we didn’t get that tonight. A point is better than no point. The boys worked hard.”
For the host Tornadoes the match-up against Burroughs was their Pacific league opener in spite of the delay. A scheduled Pacific League tussle hosting Muir on Thursday was put off due to transportation issues.