Glendale girls’ water polo ices Hoover
NORTHWEST GLENDALE — Maddie Corpuz is ready to provide a physical element for the Glendale High girls’ water polo team.
It’s been a work in progress for Corpuz, but she doesn’t mind the grind.
“You have to be able to play physical and that’s my style,” said Corpuz, who finished with three goals and played stellar defense to help visiting Glendale post a 16-2 Pacific League win against cross-town rival Hoover on Thursday afternoon. “Since the summer, I’ve been learning how to guard the other team’s hole/set and it helps with my physical game and even on offense.”
The Nitros also got another big performance from Biyouregh Boghozian, who finished with a team-high five goals to help Glendale improve to 7-7, 2-0 in league. Hoover fell to 0-8, 0-2.
The Nitros have had little difficulty scoring goals in their first two league contests. They are averaging 14.5 goals per game in their first two league contests.
“I couldn’t be happier than where we are in league,” Glendale Coach Forest Holbrook said. “We’ve been able to jump out early in both games and it’s a lot easier to play with the lead.
“Maddie has been able to bring a lot of things to the table for us. She’s been super valuable. She’s by far our strongest player physically and is a fast swimmer.”
Like they did in Glendale’s 13-6 league-opening win against Pasadena on Tuesday, Boghozian and Corpuz provided the scoring punch early against the Tornadoes. Boghozian scored three goals in less than three minutes late in the first quarter to give Glendale a 3-0 lead.
Corpuz and Boghozian then combined to score the next five goals in the second quarter to give Glendale a comfortable 8-0 halftime advantage.
Naira Sarkian scored a pair of goals early in the third quarter to extend Glendale’s lead to 10-0 before Hoover’s Palie Karamanougian scored to cut the deficit to 10-1 with 4:24 left.
Hoover Coach Kevin Witt said the Tornadoes started strong before struggling against the Nitros.
“I thought we came out well, but we couldn’t sustain that energy after the first quarter,” said Witt, a former Glendale High boys’ water polo player. “Right now, they are learning a lot and it’s going to take some time to put everything together.
“We have a very good group of freshmen and sophomores and some juniors. They love to play the sport.”
Melanie Aghazarian, Lisa Mekhitarian, Rima Gasparian and Vehik Golabi scored one goal each for Glendale. Maggie Amirian had one goal for the Tornadoes.
