Burroughs boys’ water polo stifles La Cañada en route to final

For all the talk about the Burroughs High boys’ water polo team’s offense and the defense of La Cañada, it was each team’s other half that proved decisive.

The third-seeded Indians held the No. 2 Spartans to one shot and three turnovers on their final four possessions in a 9-7 victory in Wednesday afternoon’s semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division V playoffs at Pasadena City College.

With the victory, Pacific League runner-up Burroughs (24-8) punched its ticket to its first-ever CIF Southern Section championship match this weekend at Irvine William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center.

Burroughs will face San Juan Hills, which defeated top-ranked Corona, 8-6.

“I’m unbelievably proud and it’s surreal,” Burroughs Coach Jacob Cook said. “It’s honestly, I don’t know. The last time we got to the semifinals was 1998 and I was in fourth grade. So, obviously, we’re super excited and we’re proud to represent the school.”

The Indians will look to add the school’s second-ever CIF Southern Section championship two years after the boys’ cross-country team won a plaque.

Heading into Wednesday’s contest, Burroughs had averaged almost 18 goals in three playoff games, while La Cañada’s defense held three postseason foes to roughly five goals a contest.

On the flip side, the Indians defense had allowed at least eight goals in each of its playoff wins, while the Spartans’ offense had had its share of lulls though it averaged 11 goals a game.

La Cañada (20-9) never tied or led in the second half, but was in the contest thanks to its stellar defense and junior goalie Reed Fundter, who finished with 17 saves.

Fundter’s counterpart, Burroughs goalie Andre Abramyan, also came up with some clutch stops and tallied 11 saves.

Burroughs tightened the screws after a goal from junior JJ Ambartsumyan (three goals and one assist) with 4:16 left put the visitors up, 9-7. Ambartsumyan’s shot bounced off the hand of Fundter, who guessed correctly on the save attempt, but was unable to corral the shot.

La Cañada pushed offensively, but had two turnovers on its first two possessions within two minutes.

Indians junior David Arakelyan, who scored a game-high four goals to go with one assist, then tracked down La Cañada freshman George Avakian and stole possession with 40 seconds left to virtually steal the game.

It appeared the Indians had wrapped up the victory with 1:53 left on a goal from Ambartsumyan, but that score was wiped off after the officials said the shot took place within five meters.

Wednesday’s meeting was a rematch of a contest that La Cañada won, 17-11 , on Sept. 13.

“This team has been playing together for a longtime back in club and they’ve put in a lot of work together,” Cook said. “They practice every situation and they came out fired up. They wanted this game.”

A La Cañada defense that had held three opponents to two or less goals in 11 of 12 quarters this postseason surrendered a playoff-high four scores in the third quarter as Burroughs led, 8-4, with 3:27 left.

The Spartans rallied, however, with goals from Avakian and Vincent Wardle to end the third down, 8-6.

La Cañada then capped a 3-0 spurt with a goal from Alec Abrahamian with 6:33 left that brought the Spartans within, 8-7.

Early on, it was hard for either team to enjoy any space.

The contest was tied at 2 after one quarter and looked like it would be tied at 4 going into halftime after La Cañada’s Wyatt Lowe scored off an assist from Luke Stefan with nine seconds left on a six-on-five chance.

After some discussion, the goal was taken away due to an error at the scorer’s table and La Cañada was given back possession with 17 seconds left. The Spartans did not score and went into the half down, 4-3.

Burroughs opened the second half with two goals from Arakelyan and a score from Ambartsumyan to go up, 7-3, before the Spartans answered with a goal from Tyler Chung (one goal and three assists) with 3:36 left in the third to pull within three scores.

Avakian led La Cañada with three goals.

Despite the loss, La Cañada enjoyed a tremendous bounce-back season after a 2015 campaign in which the team didn’t make the postseason. La Cañada advanced to its first semifinal since 2012.

“It came down to execution on both ends,” La Cañada Coach Josh Rodriguez said. “I thought we stopped enough shots to win, but obviously our offense didn’t do enough and we weren’t as patient as we should have been.

“Saying that, even with this loss, I’m extremely happy with this season. I cannot tell you the personal and athletic growth of our kids in general and I’m proud. They’re hurting right now, but they’ll be proud of this season for sure.”