Defeat not hard to take

Jeff Tully

Burbank High girls’ water polo coach John Abdou was a man in a

pretty good mood despite his team suffering a 13-goal loss.

Against visiting Montebello Thursday in an Almont League match at

Burroughs High, the coach said he was proud of the way his team

played in a 21-8 defeat.

“Montebello is a very good team, one of the better teams in the

CIF division,” Abdou said. “They are also one of the best teams in

our league.

“So I’m not disappointed with the way that we played. I think we

matched up with them in toughness and polo wise. The only thing is

that they wore us down and that hurt us late in the match.”

The Oilers (8-2, 2-0 in league) used an effective counterattack

and a stingy defense to frustrate the Bulldogs and keep them off the

ball.

After a first quarter in which Burbank (6-3, 2-0) played well,

Montebello jumped to a 4-3 lead, behind three goals from Oiler Sharon

Diaz.

However, in the second quarter, the Montebello offense began to

dominate.

“They are a very good counterattack team,” Abdou said. “We knew

that coming in and I told my girls what to expect. But they were too

tough and we didn’t have an answer for their counterattack.”

In the second quarter, the Oilers outscored the Bulldogs, 6-1.

Along with outshooting Burbank, 9-3, in the quarter, the Bulldogs

weren’t even able to get a shot off until the 2:36 mark.

Burbank finally found the net in the second quarter when Jessica

Ullo scored a goal with 1:08 remaining.

The second-quarter push seemed to kick-start Montebello. It also

forced Burbank to play catch up and forced the Bulldogs into some

desperation shots in the second half.

“When we fell behind by a few goals, he had to take some wild

shots to hopefully get back into it,” Abdou said.

“But after that second quarter, I thought we played a lot better

in the third quarter. I’m very proud of the way my girls played.”

Burbank was led by Ullo and Naeri Brakaordarian, who had two goals

each. The Bulldogs also received goals from Catalina Casas, Brisa

Sandoval, Megan Wilson and Evelyn Setaghian.

Montebello’s Daisy Carrillo tallied seven goals and Diaz added

six.