Win No. 1 for Glendale boys’ soccer comes at Hoover’s expense
GLENDALE — A Glendale High boys’ soccer team struggling through a difficult season found its silver lining on a cloudy and overcast Friday afternoon at archrival Hoover.
The Nitros picked up their first victory of the Pacific League season thanks to an opportunistic offense and steely defense to defeat the Tornadoes, 2-0.
Glendale improved to 4-5-3, 1-4-3 in league and delivered Hoover a damaging loss to its playoff ambitions as the fifth-place Tornadoes dropped to 3-8-3, 2-4-2 at the league’s halfway point.
“This is a big win not just because we beat Hoover, but because we’ve come from so far,” Glendale coach Artur Aghasyan said. “I was talking with the boys before that it’s hard to put a team together in a month or two especially with the tactics we play.
“We’ve now played together a lot, have seen some stuff that we needed to fix and this was the point that we had to get a result. Now we just have to continue getting more.”
Though Glendale and Hoover finished with 20 combined shots, the match’s three biggest plays came via penalty kicks or a set piece.
Despite a one-on-three disadvantage, Glendale junior Robert Muradyan was taken down in the box in the 63rd minute and awarded a penalty kick with the Nitros already leading, 1-0.
After a four-minute delay to attend to an injured Hoover player along the sideline, Glendale senior Arsen Markarian drilled the penalty-kick goal to put the Nitros ahead, 2-0.
Though Hoover pushed and just missed scoring on a couple of attempts, the team’s best look came in the 78th minute when the Tornadoes were awarded their own penalty kick.
A shot from Hoover’s Kevin Mirzakhanian was stopped, however, due to great anticipation and a sliding save from goalie Hrachya Harutyunyan.
The match’s other score took place in the ninth minute thanks to a spectacular strike.
Junior Droe Gharibian converted an angled 30-yard free kick into the top-left corner of the goal to give Glendale a 1-0 advantage it eventually took into the break.
“If you look at the game, maybe we controlled the game, but if you’re not clinical and if you’re not putting in your opportunities and if you’re not putting in your shots on goal, it doesn’t matter,” Hoover coach Anastasios “Ace” Metallinos said. “Glendale didn’t create much, but when they needed them, they put them in.”
