Burroughs boys’ soccer powers past Muir for Pacific League victory
With Manny Gonzalez and Elias Galaviz providing a steady 1-2 punch, the Burroughs High boys’ soccer team remains in the hunt for another Pacific League championship.
Gonzalez and Galaviz helped the Indians win the league title last season, yet the Indians have a little bit of ground to make up with two teams ahead of them at the halfway point in league action.
Gonzalez and Galaviz did their part Tuesday, as Gonzalez finished with a season-high four goals and Galaviz added one goal and four assists to ignite visiting Burroughs to an 8-0 league win against inexperienced Muir.
Burroughs improved to 7-6-2, 5-1-1 in league for 16 points. Pasadena and Crescenta Valley are in first and second place, respectively. Pasadena defeated Glendale, 5-0, on Tuesday and Crescenta Valley registered a 3-0 victory against Hoover. Pasadena (6-1 in league) has 18 points and Crescenta Valley (5-0-2) has 17.
“We want to win league again and we have that chance,” said Gonzalez, who has recorded at least three goals in a match three times this season. “We feel pretty good about the way we are playing right now and we just have to be a bit more unified.
“We have to keep playing the way we are supposed to. I got a lot of open spaces today and I went with it to score.”
Gonzalez gave the Indians a 1-0 lead when he took a pass from Galaviz and curled a shot from the left side just inside the right post in the eighth minute.
Juan Carlos Rosales made it 2-0 off a pass from Galaviz in the 19th minute.
“A lot of things went right for the team and myself today,” Galaviz said. “I liked the way the team came together.
“I was waiting to make a run and get the ball upfield. I found a lot of gaps and I got the ball where it needed to be.”
Burroughs extended the lead to 3-0 on a penalty shot by David Gerlach in the 39th minute after Gerlach was upended inside the box by a Muir defender.
Galaviz then made a nice pass to Gonzalez, who scored to put the Indians up, 4-0, in the 34th minute.
Galaviz closed out the first-half scoring in the 37th minute when his corner kick went in off a Muir (1-2, 0-7) defender to extend the advantage to 5-0.
Gonzalez made it 6-0 in the 44th minute off a pass from Galaviz.
Gonzalez tallied his final goal in the 42nd minute to extend the lead to 7-0.
Ricky Lopez wrapped up the scoring in the 65th minute.
Burroughs goalkeeper Hyatt Entz finished with six saves.
“I feel good about the way we played, though we have some things to work on,” Burroughs first-year coach Mitchell Kodama said. “I do like the way we’ve started out last two games by coming out strong.
“Manny is an excellent goalscorer and Elias is good at setting up goals. We have a lot of guys who can do different things.”
Burroughs and Muir will meet again Feb. 4 at Memorial Field.
Burroughs will take on visiting Crescenta Valley at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
