The final score in soccer is not always indicative of how a match went.
That could be said of the match the Burroughs High boys’ soccer team played Tuesday at Memorial Field.
Both the Indians and visiting Crescenta Valley were ready, came prepared and fought hard for an entire 80 minutes of an entertaining match.
In the end, a 1-1 draw that seemed fitting for the two sides that have captured the last two Pacific League titles.
“It is always a battle and a fun and exciting game with these guys,” Burroughs central defender Carter Wells said. “Both teams don’t stop trying.”
Burroughs (4-2-1 overall, 2-0-1 in the league) got on the board in the 10th minute when David Gerlach put home a loose ball that was deflected after a corner kick.
The Indians took the 1-0 lead into the halftime break.
Crescenta Valley (3-2-2, 1-0-2) came out motivated in the second half and forced Burroughs goalie Alfredo Tejada to make 10 saves.
The Falcons, who won the league title last year, notched things up in the 49th minute when Caleb Abad was off to the races on a counter attack. The senior went down the right sideline and was able to tuck the ball into the left corner of Tejada’s goal.
“It’s always disappointing not to get three (points), but in the end we tried our hardest and they played a great game,” Wells added. “I didn’t drop the defense back far enough. We can hopefully learn from our mistakes and prevent it next time.”
Tejada credited the visiting Falcons for making it difficult to operate.
“We were trying to play through our middle,” Tejada said. “We kind of struggled with it but it will get there.”
Burroughs had a chance to break the deadlock in the 61st minute when Manny Gonzalez snuck through the Falcon defense and the linesman’s flag stayed down. But CV goalie Nick Shahbandarian came out to make a nice save.
CV’s Jesus Pena gave Burroughs difficulty and almost scored a number of times. Tejada denied him with a diving save in the 79th minute.
Burroughs coach Mike Kodama assessed the match.
“We expected a battle and it was a 1-1 battle. You have to make sure your shape is good defensively and when the opportunity arises to take advantage of it,” Kodama said. “We had our chances, we couldn’t put it away today. That’s part of the game.”
