Burroughs girls’ soccer starts postseason on right foot
BURBANK — Having won its first league title since 1993, the Burroughs High girls’ soccer team would like to prove its now a worthy opponent in the postseason.
Burroughs made its point Wednesday, when it met Artesia in a CIF Southern Section Division IV first-round home match.
Burroughs controlled the pace throughout, getting two goals in each half to post a convincing 4-1 win at chilly Memorial Field.
Burroughs (16-3-2) will take on visiting Hemet (20-2-5) in a second-round match likely at 5 p.m. Friday at the same venue. Hemet, which won the Mountain Pass League, earned a 2-1 home win against Estancia on Wednesday.
The Indians, who captured the Pacific League championship by two points over Crescenta Valley, made plenty of noise Wednesday. They received one goal apiece from Samantha Valencia, Olivia Cashman, Megan Schmidt and Lauryn Bailey to oust Artesia (11-6-5).
Valencia opened the scoring in the fifth minute when she converted on a 32-yard free kick that eluded Artesia goalkeeper Jizelle Velazquez
“I think we did a really good job and we want to go far in the playoffs,” said Valencia, a freshman defender. “[Burroughs coach Brady Riggs] signaled for me to take the shot .
“It’s something I’ve been working on at practice. It felt pretty good.”
Burroughs caught a break in making it 2-0 in the 28th minute. Cashman, a junior midfielder, rolled a soft shot that eluded Velazquez.
“I tried to blast it, but I didn’t get much of it and it went in,” Cashman said. “I thought we played pretty strong defense.
“When we played Arcadia and CV in league, we had to play strong defense. We had that today.”
Burroughs extended the lead to 3-0 in the 50th minute on a goal by Schmidt, a freshman forward, off a partial breakaway.
Bailey, a sophomore forward, made it 4-0 off an assist from senior midfielder Abbie Riggs about five minutes later.
“When we have the ball a lot, the other team will either press or park the bus,” said Brady Riggs, whose team registered 12 shots on goal. “It’s hard to break down teams.
“We got a lot of shots. We got the 2-0 lead and we had a lot of good movement with the ball.”
Artesia, which finished second in the 605 League behind Cerritos, received a goal from Michelle Abarca in the 58th minute to complete the scoring.
The Indians, whose previous league championship came in the Foothill League, limited the Pioneers to two shots on goal against Burroughs freshman goalkeeper Kaylin Casper.
The victory came at a cost to Burroughs, however, as talented sophomore midfielder Lily Gonzalez suffered a right-ankle injury in the first half.
Gonzalez didn’t return and had an ice pack applied to the ankle for the rest of the contest. It wasn’t known if Gonzalez would be available against Hemet.
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
