Burbank High boys’ water polo defense comes up big in wild-card win versus Culver City
With the Burbank High boys’ water polo team clinging to a one-goal lead with less than a minute remaining Tuesday in its wild-card playoff contest against Culver City, the team turned to its defense.
The Centaurs had two opportunities to tie the score early in the final minute, but the Bulldogs defense held firm and throated the attempts. Even after the two chances, Culver City got the ball back with 22 seconds left, but Burbank withheld the charge and came away with an 11-10 CIF Southern Division IV victory on the road.
“They did have the ball and had one last shot with only a few seconds left,” said Burbank Coach Gilbert Raposa about the Centaurs’ final attempt. “But the shot missed. We were able to get possession; we called a timeout and then let the clock run out.
“We were doing some good things on defense and our goalkeeper [Peter Youssef] made some big saves, especially down the stretch.”
Burbank received six goals from Artur Mheryan and two from Alex Airapetyan.
The win puts the Bulldogs (9-16), who finished fourth in the Pacific League, into a first-round contest on the road at 5 p.m. Thursday against No. 2 Cerritos (18-10), the San Gabriel Valley League champion.
Against Culver City (15-7) — the third-place team from the Ocean League — the Bulldogs were able to take a 9-8 lead with just over four minutes remaining. They increased their advantage to two, 10-8, with 3:04 left.
However, Culver City came back to score two unanswered goals and knotted the score at 10 with 1:47 remaining. But Burbank answered the threat and scored what would turn out to be the winning goal with just more than a minute left.
The Centaurs took an early 2-1 lead in the first quarter before the Bulldogs came back to tie it at 2 after one quarter.
Burbank made a push in the second quarter, heading into halftime with a 6-4 lead.
“We have been working on a bunch of different things in preparation for this game,” Raposa said. “A lot of that came up today and they were able to use what they learned. They gave us a lot of different looks and we were able to respond to them.”
It would be Culver City that would turn up the heat in the third, tying the score at 8 with one quarter remaining.
“This was probably the only time all season that we were able to come back after losing our lead,” Raposa said. “But we were able to do it.”
Raposa said he expects Cerritos to prove a tough test for his squad.
“We know they’re good,” he said. “But we’ve seen some of the best teams in the division and we know what to expect. It should be a good experience for the boys.”