Burroughs teams get ready for first round

BURBANK — Four area soccer teams — three girls and one boys — qualified for the CIF Southern Section playoffs this season.

While the Burbank High and Providence girls’ squads had to play wild-card matches Tuesday, both teams from Burroughs are preparing for first-round contests.

While both the Indians teams placing second in their respective Pacific League competitions, just one team earned a home match.

That team is the Burroughs boys’ squad, which will open Division IV play at 3 p.m. Friday at home. The girls’ group will hit the road for a 3 p.m. Division II opener Thursday.

Here is a look at the first-round pairings.

Burroughs girls at Peninsula: The Indians (10-5-4) will travel to Palos Verdes to take on a Panthers (14-4-3) team that placed second in the Bay League behind Palos Verdes.

Burroughs Coach Louie Binda said he isn’t bothered by the fact that his team didn’t get a first-round home game, despite a second-place league finish.

“We’ll just go out there and play. That’s about all you can do,” he said. “We will just go out there and give it our best.”

The Indians lost the services of senior Hallie White, who broke her wrist Thursday in the regular-season finale against Burbank.

Burroughs defeated the Bulldogs, 2-0, in that match, earning the program’s first cross-town rivalry win in more than a decade.

“Our girls just played so well in that win last week,” Binda said. “They just really wanted to win that game.

“We are hoping that we are going to continue to play like that in the playoffs.”

Amy Lopez scored the only two goals against Burbank.

La Puente at Burroughs boys: The Indians (9-2-3) will open playoffs against the Warriors (11-7-3), which placed second in the Mountview League behind Ganesha.

“We’re excited about being in the playoffs,” Burroughs Coach Allen Machuca said. “The great thing is because we don’t play until Friday, we have four days to work on things. That should give us enough time to get prepared for Friday.”

The Indians have been led in scoring this season by Joan Alvarez.

“I really don’t know anything about La Puente, or the league that they come from,” Machuca said. “But hopefully we’ll get some info about them this week.”