Indians climb back into playoff race, 2-1

Jim Riggio

It isn’t clicking on all cylinders yet, but the Burroughs High

boys’ soccer team is continuing to make the strides necessary to get

into the CIF Southern Section playoffs.

Friday afternoon, the Indians scored two impressive goals in a 2-1

Foothill League victory against visiting Saugus at Luther Burbank

Middle School.

“Right now, we’re worried about results,” Burroughs Coach Mike

Kodama said. “The last three games have been the results we’ve

needed.”

The Burroughs (10-7-2, 3-2-1 in league) win moves it ahead of

Saugus into third place in league. The top three teams in league earn

automatic playoff berths.

It was the third straight league victory for the Indians, who

began league play 0-2-1.

Both teams got stuck in a physical battle that saw a number of

mistakes -- mostly in the first half.

Instead of organizing an attack from the back with passes through

the midfield, both teams appeared to roll the dice in attempt to

score on the long ball.

“When you get into a physical battle, it’s tough to keep your

composure,” Kodama said. “You try to do too much. Every game in this

league is a battle.”

Burroughs finally broke the deadlock in the 55th minute. Marco

Gomez’s free-kick cross from the left side went low into the box,

where Sean Lowe was able to connect on a header that stunned Saugus

goalkeeper Lucas Pepi.

For Lowe, it was his 11th goal of the season. The senior Indian

leader came close to scoring on two occasions in the first half.

Saugus (4-6-6, 2-1-3) received a big break in the 65th minute when

Grant Bruemmer took a long shot from more than 50 yards away, and

watched as it made its way through the legs of Burroughs’ freshman

goalkeeper Kevin Cadenas.

But Burroughs fought its way back.

In the 75th minute, Chris Leiva found Raul Medina at the front

post on a corner kick. Medina was able to put a quick touch on the

ball, stunning the entire Saugus team.

Lowe said he was happy with the play of his team.

“We played with a lot of heart,” he said. “We kept our composure

when the ref was being weird for both teams.”