Glendale girls’ soccer’s seminal season continues with Grigorian garnering league POY
Likely the program’s finest year – at least this century – played out for the Glendale High girls’ soccer team this past season.
For the first time since 2004, the Nitros made the playoffs and they added a 2-0 CIF Southern Section Division V wild-card win over Summit as a capper.
For all that to be possible, Glendale registered a fourth-place finish in the Pacific League to notch an automatic postseason berth and senior Rita Grigorian was a monumental part of that.
Hence, the keystone campaign continued for Glendale as Grigorian was voted the Pacific League Player of the Year.
Arcadia won the league title for a seventh straight season with Burroughs’ second-place finish tying its best in league history while a young Crescenta Valley took third. Hence, the fourth-place Nitros housing the player of the year might be a surprise to some, but not to Glendale coach Victor Aquino
“She’s been good for us since her freshman year,” Aquino said. “She really didn’t get other people’s notice until last year, but they started to notice her.
“I’m not surprised she won it.”
Grigorian was the first Nitro to win the Pacific League’s top honor since 2008 when Sarah Mizuki shared it with Ann Marie Tangorra of Arcadia, which also won league that season.
“Receiving player of the year was very exciting for me because I know that I am competing against a lot of other great players,” Grigorian said. “It proves to me that all my hard work actually paid off.”
Glendale posted a 9-9-3 record that included a 4-6-2 showing in league and the aforementioned wild-card win before a 2-0 loss to South Pasadena, the eventual Division V champion.
“This season was by far the best season I’ve been a part of in all my years of high school because my team was very close and we worked very hard and we finally made CIF,” Grigorian said.
Grigorian led the Nitros with nine goals.
“Rita did everything,” Aquino said. “She’s just one of those people that you know would do something if she had the ball.”
In addition to Grigorian, 10 locals garnered spots on the All-Pacific League team, led by first-teamers Nicole Yim and Gracie Zaragoza of Crescenta Valley and Pearl Navarro of Glendale.
Yim (one goal, one assist) played forward and defender for Crescenta Valley (10-8-5, 8-2-2 in league) and the senior was the Falcons captain.
“You could literally put her at any position and she would perform,” Falcons coach Tyrashya Peterson said. “Dare I say, she never had an off-day.
“Versatility was key there.”
Zaragoza, a sophomore goalie, had a breakout season for a Falcons squad that tallied seven shutouts. In a 1-1 tie against champion Arcadia in the teams’ first meeting that was perhaps Crescenta Valley’s most notable showing of the season, Zaragoza led the way with eight saves in a brilliant performance.
“I think she stepped up and made her presence felt,” Peterson said. “She had great leadership from the backfield.”
For Glendale, just as Grigorian led the way on offense, Navarro, a senior center back who also scored three goals, was the Nitros’ anchor on defense.
“She was the most vocal one on the field,” Aquino said. “We needed her back there to guide everyone.”
Sophomore defender Sarah Gabon (one goal and one assist) turned in a terrific season for the Falcons on the backline and earned second-team honors, as did Glendale senior Sophia Noriega (two goals) and freshman Jazzmin Simmons (three goals, assist) of Hoover, which went 2-17-1, 1-10-1 in league.
Tabbed with honorable mention were Crescenta Valley freshman forward Chloe Ataya, who had an outstanding season with 17 goals and three assists, Glendale sophomore forward Ella Wasson, who also had a breakout campaign with eight goals, and Hoover junior Lena Valenzuela (three goals, one assist).
The All-Pacific League team is broken down in an allotment with the teams’ final league standing dictating how many spots (excluding player of the year) it gets on the first and second teams with every team getting an honorable mention.
Twitter: @TCNGrantGordon
