Burroughs girls’ water polo rolls past Glendale in league contest
BURBANK — The second quarter of a Pacific League girls’ water polo match was the turning point between Burroughs High and Glendale.
Burroughs struck first in the opening quarter, but conceded two goals as Glendale knotted the score late in the quarter.
But the Indians scored six unanswered goals in the second quarter to separate themselves.
Burroughs rode the second-quarter momentum to its second Pacific League victory in a 16-6 win against visiting Glendale on Tuesday.
“They just need a quarter to get warmed up sometimes and figure out what’s going on,” Burroughs coach Jacob Cook said. “We adjusted on defense a little bit. We put a little bit more pressure on [Glendale senior Jamie Fritz] and double-teamed her when necessary — little things like that. Getting better passes to our set player and basically waking up a little bit because they were kind of asleep in that first quarter.”
Nitros senior Jamie Fritz scored twice in the opening frame, with her second tally tying the match at 2 with 1:17 left.
The Indians took a one-goal lead on a goal from sophomore Clarissa Robles before freshman Nancy Baylor scored three in a row to give the hosts a 6-2 lead with 4:02 until halftime.
“I feel like our first two quarters of the game are slower than our last quarters,” Baylor said. “I feel like we have to get into the groove of things.
“In the beginning, we’re working out who the best players are and what their weaknesses are. When we find that out, that’s when we get rolling and that’s when we can really power through.”
Burroughs junior Angelina Lee added to the host’s lead at 2:17 before Robles closed out the scoring spurt with 57.8 left in the half for an 8-2 Indians advantage.
Glendale junior Marissa Briones pulled one back for the Nitros just before the break to keep it a five-goal halftime margin, 8-3.
“Once they started realizing where the talent was on our team, they started doubling down and shutting us down,” Glendale first-year coach Garrett Fritz said. “In the third quarter, we tried to restructure a bit. They have a very good goalkeeper and it was forcing us to do a lot of outside shooting. She was just phenomenal.”
Baylor led the Indians (14-4, 2-0 in league) with six goals and Robles added five. Indians goalkeeper Emma Nathan saved 16 shots for the hosts.
Glendale (4-11, 0-3) was led by Fritz with three goals.
Baylor opened the second half with a goal, but the Indians would go nearly two minutes without a score before Kelly Long ended the drought to give Burroughs a 10-3 lead with 2:37 left in the quarter.
Nitros junior Demi Brati floated a goal over Nathan to pull Glendale within six, but the Indians closed out the third with five-meter goal from Robles for the 11-4 lead.
The Indians, who are ranked No. 4 in CIF Southern Section Division V, immediately jumped out in the fourth quarter with a pair of goals to push the lead to 13-4 with 5:51 left.
Fritz tacked on her third and final goal with 3:28 left to slice the Burroughs lead to 13-5, but the Indians pulled away with three consecutive goals to grab a double-digit lead.
Glendale pulled one back with a goal from Madeline Lingad for the final score.