Burroughs girls’ water polo falls in overtime to Arcadia in league championship match
The Burroughs High girls’ water polo team looked to write a new chapter in the program’s history.
In search of the team’s first league championship, Burroughs had a golden opportunity to accomplish the feat Thursday.
After rallying late twice, third-seeded Burroughs saw its bid fall short with an 8-7 overtime loss to No. 1 Arcadia in the championship match of the Pacific League Tournament at Arcadia.
Arcadia (15-12, 7-1 in league) had clinched a share of the league crown entering action Thursday. Burroughs (17-7, 3-5) needed a victory Thursday to gain a split of the league title.
Arcadia’s Alie Cicero scored the winning goal with 16 seconds left in the second of two three-minute overtime sessions to secure the win.
“We played hard and we just missed winning league,” said Burroughs coach Jacob Cook, whose team is ranked No. 4 in CIF Southern Section V. “It’s a tough loss and we wanted to win league so badly, but we’ll now get ready for the playoffs and I think we’ll do well.”
The Apaches and Indians exchanged a goal each in the first overtime session.
Christine Chua scored to give Arcadia a 7-6 lead with 1:50 to go.
Burroughs’ Nancy Baylor tied the score at 7 with a man-advantage goal with 1:24 remaining.
Arcadia, which won its first league title since 1998, held a 6-4 lead entering the fourth quarter.
The Indians received one goal apiece from Clarissa Robles and Angelina Lee to tie it at 6.
Robles, who finished with three goals, pulled Burroughs to within 6-5 on a five-meter goal with 4:04 left in the fourth quarter. Lee knotted it at 6 with 2:59 remaining in regulation.
“We felt good about ourselves when we tied it up in the fourth quarter,” said Robles, who helped Burroughs register a 10-5 win against Arcadia on Jan. 7. “We gave it our all in coming back.
“Some of our shots just didn’t go in today. We had to find a way just to keep battling. It was a crazy game. We’ll learn from it going into CIF.”
Burroughs, which began the tournament Tuesday with a 10-3 semifinal victory versus No. 2 Crescenta Valley, took a 3-2 lead on a goal by Robles with 50 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Delaney Prater of Arcadia tied it at 3 with 1:34 left in the second quarter.
A goal by Robles gave the Indians a 4-3 advantage with 6:16 to go in the third quarter.
Arcadia, which started the tournament with a 9-7 win against No. 4 Pasadena, scored three unanswered goal to take a 6-4 lead after three quarters.
Prater tied it at 4 with 5:55 left in the quarter. Katherine Kelkelian made it 5-4 at the 4:43 mark before Cassandra O’Connor gave the Apaches a 6-4 lead with 12 seconds left in the quarter.
“There were some shots throughout the game that we couldn’t put away,” Cook said. “There were some things on defense that we didn’t adjust to.
“We were ready for the overtime and we did everything we could.”
Burroughs goalkeeper Ema Nathan finished with 12 saves after stopping 26 shots against Crescenta Valley. Arcadia goalkeeper Liv Hernandez registered nine saves.