Glendale boys’ water polo turns back Burroughs in league opener
It’s perfectly normal for the Glendale High boys’ water polo team to be right at home on the road.
The Nitros will spend the majority of the season — including competing in all of their Pacific League matches — on the road because the school will soon raze its pool for a modern facility scheduled to be completed in the next year or so.
Glendale got off to an excellent start in league Tuesday, as it received four goals from Gevork Karapetyan and 11 saves from goalkeeper Ronald George to earn an 8-6 victory against Burroughs.
Glendale (7-7) played its 13th road match Tuesday, never trailing against Burroughs (7-5).
“We’re used to being on the road, but we will have a nice new pool soon,” Glendale coach Narek Vardanian said. “We’ve played 13 games on he road and it hasn’t affected us. We came out ready to play and we have a lot of respect for Burroughs.
“it’s going to be tough again in league because there are a lot of good teams. Anybody can make it in the top four and go to the playoffs from there.”
The Nitros scored two goals late in the first quarter to make it 2-0. Hagop Duvenjian scored with 2:10 left to make it 1-0 before Karapetyan closed out the first quarter with a goal with three seconds to go.
Karapetyan made it 3-0 with 4:30 left in the second quarter.
The Indians closed to within 3-2 on goals from Vahagan Sahakyan and Xavier Turla (match-high five goals) midway through the second quarter.
Katapetyan scored with 1:32 to go in the first half to give Glendale a 4-2 advantage.
“Gevork is out go-to guy on offense,” Vardanian said. “He’s now a shooter and a facilitator.”
Karapetyan scored with 5:58 left in the third quarter to make it 5-2 and Stephan Karapetyan tallied a goal about 90 seconds later to give the Nitros a 6-2 advantage.
“I think we came out and we were ready for Burroughs,” Gevork Karapetyan said. “We wanted to start league with a win and it gives us high hopes that we can continue to do well in league.”
the Indians closed to within 6-3 on a man-advantage goal by Turla with 3:10 left in the third quarter.
Glendale received one goal apiece from Stephan Karapetyan and Duvenjian late in the third quarter to build an 8-3 lead.
Burroughs played its best in the fourth quarter, getting two goals from Turla.
George finished with five saves in the second half.
Burroughs coach Jacob Cook said the Indians couldn’t get on track.
“We just came out a little slow and we have a hard time being focused,” said Cook, who guided Burroughs to a CIF Southern Section Division V championship in 2016. “We need to be more pumped up in our next game.
“We knew what we were up against and we beat ourselves at times. We also know that league will be very strong again.”
Burroughs goalkeeper Arthur Eldridge made eight saves in the first half and reserve goalkeeper David Karagesyan made four stops in the second half.
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