By Rick Assad
Special to MyBurbank
Time apparently stood still for the Burroughs High boys’ soccer team, while the Burbank girls’ didn’t need a clock miracle in Pacific League matches on Thursday at the Bulldogs’ brand new turf field.
With time nearly expired, the Indians earned a thrilling 1-1 tie in the waning moments on a score from Angel Gonzalez, and the Burbank girls’ scored single goals in each half and waltzed to a 2-0 thumping.
The game-tying, close-range goal came out of the blue, and set in motion a wild celebration on the Burroughs’ sideline.
Meanwhile the opposite feeling draped the Burbank squad, which outplayed Burroughs for nearly the entire match, and seemed on its way to the victory, offsetting a 4-1 Indians’ triumph in the first meeting.
“That was unbelievable,” said Gonzalez, a senior goalie who was in the cage in the opening half, while sophomore Jordan Morgan replaced him in the second half. “I couldn’t have done it without that beautiful cross from Hunter [Guerin]. It was a perfect bullet. I then rose up and knocked it in. I prayed to God I would do something like that.”
Burbank’s win seemed assured after junior midfielder Serozh Kirakosyan’s goal from 10 yards and six minutes left, but rivalry games can be unpredictable.
“There are certain things you can’t control,” Burbank coach Loi Phan said. “I thought there was no time left. But I guess there was. To me it seemed like there was a lot of time added on. Some of their guys went down late [with injuries], but I didn’t think there was that much time left.”
Burbank (3-13-2 and 2-10-2 in league) could have led 2-0 on sophomore midfielder Omar Ibnoujala’s score from 10 yards and 16 minutes left in the opening half.
But the tally was wiped away when the referee ruled that Ibnoujala grabbed Burroughs junior defender Alberto Rodriguez around the chest before heading the ball into the net.
“From where I was standing, and that was a little distance away, the goal should have counted,” Phan explained. “But what can you do? He [the referee] said he fouled him and I can’t change that.”
Burroughs outshot Burbank, 5-4, in the first half with Indians junior defender Cade Borland and senior midfielder Andres Aguilar each getting 10-yard kicks within the first 10 minutes, before Burbank senior forward Ryan Boyd drilled a 30-yard penalty shot 12 minutes in.
Kirakosyan nailed an attempt from 20 yards a minute later, followed by Boyd’s 35-yard penalty boot six minutes later, before Borland’s 25-yarder broke the spell at the midway point, and Ibnoujala’s disallowed goal.
The Indians (8-8-6 and 5-5-4 in league) had two of the next three kicks including senior midfielder Kevin Moreira’s 10-yarderwith 11 minutes left and senior midfielder V.J. Salazar’s 20-yard header with one minute showing.
Squeezed in between was a 20-yard rocket from Burbank senior defender Felipe Oliveira with three minutes left.
The Indians outshot the Bulldogs, 10-4, in the second half with junior forward Guerin getting off a five-yarder one minute in, a 10-yarder three minutes later, but was interrupted by Ibnoujali’s five-yard kick five minutes from that point.
Borland added a 20-yarder with 25 minutes left on the clock, however Kirakosyan countered with a 20-yarder a minute later.
Over the next 13 minutes senior forward David Campos had a 10-yarder for Burroughs, Salazar a 12-yarder, junior midfielder Emil Khanlarian had his 10-yarder blocked, but then unloaded a 20-yard rocket three minutes later.
Campos’ 20-yard free kick failed to locate the net, Kirakosyan drilled a pair of 20-yarders before Campos responded with a 10-yarder and 10 minutes left.
Burbank Girls Prevail
It was smooth sailing for the Burbank girls’ from the outset as the hosts took a 1-0 lead in the opening half on a winner from junior fullback Samantha Gonzalez five minutes into the fray.
“It feels actually pretty good,” said Gonzalez of the initial goal. “I started in the preseason, then I didn’t start a few games, but once league came around I was back starting. I wanted to prove to myself that I was good enough to start and play well.”
Mere seconds before the goal, Burbank freshman midfielder Adrianne Sarukhanyan rifled an attempt from 10 yards that missed, which Gonzalez gathered and slammed home from the same distance.
The Bulldogs, which took the first encounter against the Indians, 3-1, pulled ahead 2-0 on a score from sophomore forward Kira Bochard from 15 yards and six minutes left in the second half, and was assisted by sophomore fullback Melanie Tirado.
“It made me feel great,” said Bochard of her late insurance tally. “I don’t feel additional pressure because it’s Burroughs. I just try to focus on my game.”
Burbank outshot Burroughs, 6-2, in the second half, and opened the stanza by unleashing four shots including sophomore forward Hailey Heath’s from 35 yards in the opening minute, followed by Bochard’s from 25 yards and 12 minutes in, Sarukhanyan’s 40-yard bomb four minutes later, and Bochard’s 10-yard blast on a backward kick with 18 minutes left on the clock.
Sophomore midfielder Callie Suppa broke through for the Indians from 20 yards and 16 minutes left, but Burbank responded with a 15-yard boot from freshman midfielder Ryan Verhoeven and seven minutes remaining.
Burroughs sophomore defender Graison Anderson had a 35-yarder with three minutes on the clock.
The Bulldogs (11-6-1 and 11-3 in league) outshot the Indians, 14-3, in the first half, and had three attempts to open the match, including the go-ahead score from Gonzalez.
“Our positioning on the field was terrible,” Burbank coach Eric Montoya said. “We have to be more precise. But that’s lack of practice time because they were working on the field. That’s going to come and we’re going to need it when we get to the [CIF] playoffs.”
The other two shots were Bochard’s 15-yard header with three minutes in followed by a 15-yard smash from Sarukhanyan two minutes later.
Burroughs sophomore midfielder Mo Riggs had a 25-yard attempt blocked with 29 minutes left, but Burbank ran off three straight kicks that included Bochard’s 20-yarder, Gonzalez’s 35-yarder, and senior midfielder Katherine Pimentel’s 30-yarder, before Riggs’ 25-yarder was off target and 21 minutes left.
It was strictly target practice for the Bulldogs, who had six shots on goal in the second half compared to two for the Indians (7-13-2 and 7-6-1).
