By Rick Assad
For one half, the Burbank High girls’ water polo team put up a really good fight against visiting Mayfield High in a nonleague match at the Burroughs pool on Thursday evening with rain pouring down.
From the intermission until the end of the match, the Cubs outscored the Bulldogs 11-3 and prevailed 17-7.
Senior Melia Whalen was sensational for Mayfield (3-2) as she found the back of the net 11 times and delivered six goals in the second half.
Freshman Jordan Ellis chipped in with three goals for the Cubs, who outshot the Bulldogs 33-22.
Leading the offensive attack for Burbank (0-3), which went scoreless in the fourth quarter, was senior Melanie Hayrapetian with five tallies.
Hayrapetian had a goal with 5:49 remaining in the first period that evened it at 1-1 and tossed in a goal with twenty-two seconds left in the same frame that tied it at 3-3.
Hayrapetian’s goal with 5:04 left in the second period gave the Bulldogs a 4-3 lead.
Hayrapetian had back-to-back tallies in the third quarter that came with 5:40 left that evened it at 6-6 and at 4:55 for a 7-6 lead.
Lina Tahmasian scored for the Bulldogs with 1:55 left in the first period that evened it at 2-2.
Ellen Ghukasyan added a goal with 6:03 on the clock in the third frame that trimmed Mayfield’s lead to 6-5.
Mariano Galvez is Burbank’s head coach and despite the loss, is hopeful for the future.
“We made little mistakes, but they are easily fixable,” he said. “I think we may have been fatigued in the second half because they [Mayfield] were scoring so quickly.”
Whalen came out and scored three goals in the opening period as she drilled a shot with 6:08 for a 1-0 lead.
With 5:41 on the clock, Whalen made it 2-1 and with 1:27 on the timer, Whalen found the back of the net for a 3-2 advantage.
In the second period, Whalen added two more goals and they came with 4:50 left that tied it at 4-4 and her goal with fifty-seven seconds left made it 6-4 in favor of the Cubs.
The third period saw Whalen tally two goals, and they were made with 4:44 left that tied it at 7-7 and 3:49 for an 8-7 lead.
To begin the fourth period, Whalen struck for four straight goals and came with 6:43 remaining for a 10-7 lead, and with 6:13 left that made it 11-7, and at 5:35 for a 12-7 cushion and at 5:04 for a 13-7 advantage.
A goal from Ellis with 4:26 left on the clock made it 14-7 and a tally from Ellis with 4:00 remaining left made it 15-7. Ellis found the back of the net with 1:00 on the ticker for a 17-7 lead.
Senior Sofia Hesling, senior Camila De Cardenas and senior Gabby De Filippo each scored one goal for the Cubs.
