The Burbank High boys’ soccer team knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but it never seemed to bother the Bulldogs Friday evening when defending CIF Southern Section Division 1 champion Harvard-Westlake came to visit in a nonleague match.
Burbank hung tough throughout and was actually playing its best soccer towards the end in a 3-1 loss to the Wolverines.
“I think they are a great team. They (Harvard-Westlake) are very organized and very disciplined, but I think out of all of our games this is one of our better games,” Burbank Erik Gharibian said. “Overall, I’m happy with how my team played today.”
Harvard Westlake (2-0-2) got a pair of first half goals from the run of play, but neither was a result of any Burbank error.
In the 7th minute, Burbank goalie Ryan Mendoza came off his line to punch the ball out. However, it went right to Harvard-Westlake’s Jack Lee, who promptly put the ball into the upper left corner of the goal.
The Wolverines doubled their lead just six minutes later when Lee struck once again from outside the goal box. In this scenario, Burbank’s defense had cleared the ball following a Harvard-Westlake throw in. But Lee picked up the loose ball and found an open target and was able to give his team a two-goal advantage.
Burbank (2-4) had a few opportunities in the first half, but were not able to force Wolverines goalie Jackson Friedman to make any saves. Both sides kept the pitch compact, not allowing for any counter attacks.
Defender Victor Chtryan saw an opening and tried a long-distance shot in the 19th minute, but his shot was far from the mark.
Grigor Parian had a shot over the goal in the 29th minute.
Davit Tadevosyan had an opportunity in the final minute of the first half as he crossed the ball across the goal from the left side, only to be cleared by the Harvard-Westlake defense.
In the 55th minute, Burbank nearly scored directly off of a corner kick as Raymond Soukiazian’s cross had a bend that forced Friedman to punch it out.
In the 63rd minute, the Bulldogs were unable to pounce on ball that Friedman was unable to hang on to after a strong corner kick cross from Soukiazian.
Harvard-Westlake added a third goal in the 67th minute on a counter attack as Jayson Thomas Chen crossed the ball to an open Landon Marks, who put home the goal.
Burbank seemed to come alive after going by three goals. Chtryan moved forward and in the 76th minute was able to intercept a pass back to Friedman and promptly put it in the back of the net.
“As a captain I never lose hope in this team. Regardless of what the scoreline is, I feel like I always have to be the one to bring my team up,” Chtryan said. “I’m more satisfied with this performance because of how we continued to fight until the end.”
Soukiazian nearly gave Burbank a second goal in the final minute, but his attempt went wide left.
