By Rick Assad
Having to wait seven years for the Burbank High pool to be ready for use is a long time.
On Thursday, the long-awaited moment was finally here but the end result was somewhat short of expectations as Burbank lost 22-14 to visiting San Marino in an Arroyo League match.
The Bulldogs (2-1 and 1-1 in league) trailed 5-4 after the first quarter and 11-6 at halftime but the Titans used a 9-1 third period to propel themselves into a 20-7 advantage going into the fourth period.
Across the second and third quarters, the Titans outscored the Bulldogs 15-3.
Senior center AvVo Ilangesyan tallied a game-best nine goals for Burbank, but three others combined for five goals.
The Titans (3-0 and 1-0 in league) on the other hand were paced by Jerry Wang and Anson Loo with five goals each.
Seven other players scored including Nathan Chan who added four goals for San Marino and Lucas Li and Clive Gutierrez each found the back of the net twice.
Ilangesyan scored three times in the first period and they came with 4:07 left that tied it at 1-1.
Ilangesyan then added a five-meter penalty toss with 3:20 left that knotted it at 2-2 and Ilangesyan contributed a goal with 2:05 remaining that gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 advantage.
Ilangesyan scored with eleven seconds left before halftime as Burbank came within 11-6.
Ilangesyan found his range with 6:39 on the clock in the third period as the Bulldogs drew within 11-7.
In the fourth period, Ilangesyan tallied four goals and they were registered with 5:26 left that trimmed the lead to 20-9. Ilangesyan drilled a goal with 4:32 on the clock that sliced the cushion to 20-11. Ilangesyan wasn’t quite finished as he nailed the net with 3:15 on the timer that cut the lead to 21-12 and Ilangesyan capped the match off with a tally and 1:57 left that made it 21-13.
Junior right wing Narek Sahakyan and junior driver Daniel Gemdzhyan each scored a pair of goals for the Bulldogs.
Sahakyan’s tally with 1:15 remaining in the opening frame saw Burbank take its biggest lead at 4-2.
Sahakyan’s goal with eighteen seconds on the clock in the fourth period made it an eight-point deficit.
Gemdzhyan’s goals came in the final frame and were scored with 6:34 left as Burbank trailed by 20-9 and Gemdzhyan added a five-meter penalty throw that cut the San Marino advantage to 20-10.
Robert Zirovich is San Marino’s head coach and saw several things that he liked.
“I liked our speed and quickness, but I’d like to see us develop better vision, decision-making skills, and pinpoint passes over the course of the next two months,” he said.
Wang’s tally with 4:28 remaining in the opening frame gave the Titans a 1-0 advantage and Wang’s goal with eight seconds on the clock in the same period saw San Marino march ahead 5-4.
With 5:15 left in the third period the Titans were in command 13-7 on a goal from Wang and in the same quarter Wang tallied back-to-back goals that made it 14-7 with 4:28 on the timer and 15-7 with 4:00 on the clock.
Loo accounted for two goals in the first period and they came on a five-meter penalty toss with fifty-eight seconds left as the Titans came within 4-3 and Loo then added a goal twenty-two second later that evened it at 4-4.
Loo found the range with 6:23 left in the second frame as the Titans led 6-4 and Loo chimed in with consecutive tallies at 3:39 and 2:57 that made it 16-7 and 17-7.
Chan accounted for three goals in the second quarter when he scored with 5:50 left for a 7-4 cushion and with 3:41 left that made it 9-4 and with 1:43 on the clock as San Marino led 11-5. Chan’s goal with 2:41 remaining in the third period made it 18-7.
Zirovich knows that his team can be even better despite its youth.
“We are a young team with only one returning senior from last year’s varsity,” he said. “We do have sophomores and juniors that played varsity last year, but because we’re young, very little will surprise me in the next month.”
Zirovich added: “We hope to develop and maintain an even emotional attitude,” he offered. “If we can, we will have more games like this … If we don’t, the score of this game could be reversed.”
