La Cañada boys’ water polo powers through division foe Burroughs
LA CAÑADA — A year ago, a meeting between the La Cañada High and Burroughs boys’ water polo programs would have been a match-up between squads from Division III and Division IV, respectively, of the CIF Southern Section.
This summer, though, the Southern Section relocated both teams into Division V.
While both squads are now in the same division, there’s still a sizable gap between them, as the Spartans looked dominant at times in a 17-11 victory in La Cañada.
“Honestly, this year, I think we should have stayed in Division III or at least Division IV,” La Cañada senior attacker Luke Stefan said. “We moved down to Division V, so if there’s a positive, at least we’re going to get a lot more wins.”
Stefan led all players with six goals, three steals and two assists, while freshman George Avakian added three goals and senior Wyatt Lowe tallied two goals and two steals for La Cañada (2-0).
Senior Gevo Hagopian led Burroughs (6-2) with three goals, while Manuel Esparza, Aram Nordanyan and Marko Vucetic all chipped in two goals for the Indians.
The game’s turning point came in the second quarter, as the Spartans turned a 4-2 lead into a six-goal halftime advantage with a 6-2 quarter fueled by two goals and two assists from Stefan.
La Cañada actually started the quarter poorly, committing turnovers on five of six possessions.
Despite the gaffes, the Indians did not take advantage as the squads traded single goals from La Cañada’s Alec Abrahamian and Burroughs’ Vucetic.
La Cañada shook off its stagnant play by closing the quarter on a 5-1 run capped on a goal from Stefan with 1:53 remaining that put the visitors up, 10-4.
Immediately after the score, first-year La Cañada Coach Josh Rodriguez made wholesale changes, taking out six of seven starters, while leaving goalie Reed Fundter (10 saves) in place.
“I love opportunities like those, because it’s super important that everyone develops,” Rodriguez said of the second-quarter swap. “As we have tougher games, we’re ultimately going to go deeper into our bench and so it’s super important that everyone gets experience and time to play.”
Despite being down, 10-4, at the half, Burroughs continued to fight.
The Indians lost the third quarter, 3-2, with Esparza netting both his scores. In the fourth, Burroughs won the period, 5-4, with all three scores from Hagopian coming in the period.
Despite the loss, Burroughs Coach Jacob Cook saw positives, considering he still has about a handful of players set to join the team over the next couple of weeks.
“We learned a lot from today and I’m confident that if we see them again, it will be a lot closer game,” Cook said. “The guys kept playing until the end and didn’t give up, so I’m proud of them for that.
“We’re still missing four guys who are ineligible – two are transfers and two are grades – and we’ll be a different team when they’re back.”
La Cañada opened the game winning the first quarter, 4-2, with the last goal coming via a six-on-five chance.
For the contest, the Spartans finished three for six in such opportunities, while the Indians were four for seven.
“Burroughs started strong defensively with their defense, but we’re so well-conditioned that we were able to swim out of presses,” Lowe said. “Ultimately, their offense crumbled, because our defense was superior just because we were the more conditioned team.”
--
Andrew J. Campa, andrew.campa@latimes.com
Twitter: @campadresports
