Glendale soccer locals reap reward on Pacific League
From top to bottom, plenty of local boys’ soccer players stood out across the Pacific League.
The Crescenta Valley High and Glendale teams qualified for the CIF Southern Section Division III playoffs. Though Hoover finished last in league, it had its share of talented athletes.
In all, 11 local players received All-Pacific League accolades after posting superb seasons.
Crescenta Valley, which finished second in league behind Burroughs after winning the league championship the previous three seasons, had six selections. Glendale, which placed fourth in league, had three picks. Two members from Hoover, which finished eighth in the eight-team league, had a pair of players selected.
Those named to the first team were senior defender Rani Dimashki, senior forward Pablo Sotillo and senior defender Matthew Bracht of Crescenta Valley and Glendale senior forward Albert Chamagua.
Dimashki recorded two goals and one assist. Sotillo finished with 17 goals and three assists for 37 points. Bracht, the catalyst of Crescenta Valley’s defensive unit, had one goal and one assist before suffering a season-ending knee injury in the final week of the regular season.
Crescenta Valley Coach Grant Clark, whose team finished 19-4-7, 8-2-4 in league for 28 points, said the Falcons trio stood out in a variety of ways.
“If you saw Rani play one time, you wouldn’t probably notice him,” Clark said. “If you saw him play regularly, you’d see a lot of the different things he could do stopping the other team.
“Pablo took a while to get back into form, but then he finished and made a big difference with a lot of clutch goals by making runs to the post. Matt had a huge influence with his presence on the field and provided a lot of experience. It was unlucky with what happened to his knee.”
Chamagua took on the responsibility of being Glendale’s top playmaker and helping the Nitros make a late-season charge that saw them grab the fourth and final automatic playoff berth in the
league.
Chamagua finished with a team-best 17 goals, including a two-goal performance in a league finale 5-0 win against crosstown rival Hoover.
“He scored so many big goals for us,” said Glendale first-year Coach Artur Aghasyan, whose team went 7-11-1, 6-7-1 in league for 19 points. “During the second round of league, he scored even more bigger goals and was one of the reasons we were able to get to the playoffs.”
Earning spots on the second team were Brian Ju and Erick Trejo of Crescenta Valley, Andre Andreasian of Glendale and Hoover’s Argin Haghoubian.
Ju, a junior defender, turned out to be one of the Falcons’ elite defenders alongside Bracht. Trejo, a senior midfielder, finished with eight goals and 13 assists for 29 points. Andreasian, a senior midfielder/defender, collected three goals. Haghoubian, a junior midfielder, notched six goals.
Receiving honorable mention were Justin Wright Crescenta Valley, Glendale’s Berj Ghazarian and Artin Almary of Hoover (2-10-5, 1-10-3 in league for six points).
Wright, a sophomore midfielder/forward, collected nine goals and eight assists for 26 points. Ghazarian, a sophomore midfielder, finished with three goals. Almary, a junior forward, registered six
goals.
Brian Arzate of Burroughs, which won the league championship for the first time since 2009 and advanced to the quarterfinals, was named the league’s most valuable player.
