Nitros notch league victory

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — Looking to bounce back from a rough week which included league losses against Burroughs and Crescenta Valley, the Glendale High girls’ water polo team didn’t have time to feel sorry for itself.

Aware that the Nitros are still very much a part of the playoff picture, Desiree Ivett Garcia-Solano looked to get them back on track with a flurry of goals.

Garcia-Solano scored the match’s first four goals and finished with six overall Tuesday afternoon to lead host Glendale to an easy 16-3 Pacific League win against Arcadia.

“I had to get my possessions and just shoot the ball,” said Garcia-Solano, who helped Glendale improve to 11-8, 3-2 in league with another key league game against host Pasadena at 3:30 p.m. Thursday with third place at stake. “If you get the shot, take it.

“That’s what we needed to do, along with focusing on defense and not worrying about the score.”

Garcia-Solano wasted little time getting started, recording a first-quarter hat trick. She gave Glendale a 1-0 lead with 4:08 left before making it 2-0 with 3:26 remaining. After Arcadia (5-16, 0-4) cut the lead to 2-1 on a goal by Sabrina Rademaker with 3:13 left, Garcia-Solano completed her hat trick 56 seconds later to make it 3-1.

“We needed that from Desiree,” Glendale Coach Forest Holbrook said. “We were on a bit of a skid and we definitely wanted to come back with a win and move closer to the league tournament and CIF [playoffs].

“Arcadia has a fast team and we had to try to work on our counter-attacks.”

Garcia-Solano scored on a five-meter shot to give the Nitros a 4-1 lead with 6:36 left in the second quarter. That paved the way for Glendale to pull away from Arcadia, as it then scored the last six goals of the first half to take a 10-1 advantage. Glendale’s Biyouregh Boghozian capped the string of goals with a buzzer-beating shot as time expired.

Garcia-Solano earlier scored two goals in a row in that stretch to make it 8-1.

The Nitros received four goals apiece from Claudia Somma and Jacqueline Jones and one from Venus Payandeh. Somma wrapped up her hat trick with a goal at the 6:21 mark of the fourth quarter to make it 13-3. Jones completed her hat trick when she scored with 5:49 left in the fourth quarter to make it 14-3.

“We tried to get everybody involved and not just one player,” said Holbrook, whose team held the Apaches scoreless in the second and fourth quarters.

Arcadia got one goal each in the third quarter from Kimberly Torres and Madison Dresher.

Holbrook said the Nitros will next focus on Pasadena.

“If we can bring our best game, then we can do well,” he said. “It’s a much smaller pool then we are used to, so they will have that home-pool advantage.

“It’s going to be difficult, but we have to have everybody involved.”