Girls’ soccer: Burbank running strong despite injuries

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Burbank picked up its second consecutive Pacific League victory Thursday afternoon and that’s pretty impressive considering the Bulldogs are missing their two most talented players.

Junior forward Kristina Amela, who scored 31 goals in 2006, is out for the season because of a torn ACL she suffered in the Duarte tournament on Dec. 4. And Drake-bound senior defender Melanie Fielder is out indefinitely with an injured ankle.

Nevertheless, the Bulldogs aren’t bummin’ -- they’re off to a 7-1 start and a lot of that has to do with the play of Marlene Mejia, Coco Austin (gotta love that name) and Ashley Ortiz.

Mejia leads the team with four goals and 11 points and Ortiz also has four goals. Austin is third in team scoring with three back-of-the net tallies. Also playing a huge role in the Bulldogs’ fast start is goalie Jenna Todd, who has five shutouts.

I’m not sure if the Bulldogs can pull the Pacific League title rug out from under the feet of defending champion Crescenta Valley, but they’re proven adversity killers and that’s got to be worth something, right? I guess we’ll find out once league play heats up in the new year.

-- Austin Knoblauch