The Burbank High girls’ soccer team did not make it easy for visiting Burroughs Tuesday when the two sides hooked up in the regular season finale.
Just a goal separated the two after one half of play. But the Bears got rolling in the second half and ended up with a 5-0 victory.
“It was a little slow start. I asked them to settle down a bit and they started controlling the ball a little better,” Burroughs coach Robert Sanchez said.
Burroughs (9-8-5 overall, 7-4-3 in league) didn’t get on the board until the 21st minute when Samantha Sizemore was able to slip past the Burbank defense and put the ball past goalie Karine Gadyan.
“In the first half we held them down. We focused on controlling the middle and playing out of the middle and holding them and disrupting their rhythm,” Burbank midfielder Jocelyn Morinaga said.
Burbank (11-9-1 overall, 6-8 in league) remained tough and nearly drew level in the 27th minute as a header by Emily Taghon off a corner kick went just over the crossbar.
The Bulldogs had another solid opportunity in the 45th minute as Sofia Martinez got in behind the Bears defense and had a fine scoring chance only to see her shot blocked by a diving save from Sydney Evans.
Burroughs seemed to get the momentum back in the 49th minute when Geneva Kiefer scored directly off a corner kick from Isabella Estrada to make it 2-0.
The Bears scored once again from a corner kick in the 59th minute. This time it was Estrada finding Sizemore.
Two minutes later Sizemore recorded a hat trick as she picked up a loose ball that deflected off of Gadyan from a shot by Estrada.
Estrada scored a goal of her own in the 66th minute as she fired a long shot into the right corner of the Burbank goal.
Burroughs finishes the season in fourth place in the Pacific League and is expected to be selected for the CIF Southern Section playoffs. The pairings will be released Saturday.
