It was just a few days ago that Burroughs High girls’ soccer coach Brady Riggs said he felt his team was ready for the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
True to his words, his team was just that Monday evening as the Bears defeated visiting Thacher School of Ojai 4-1 in Division 5 wild-card match at Memorial Field.
Burroughs advanced to play St. Genevieve of Panorama City in the first round on Wednesday at El Cariso Park Stadium in Sylmar at 7 p.m.
The Bears, who rely heavily on their 11 seniors, got some big performances from some of the younger players.
Sophomore Quiana Laughlin, who has 22 goals on the season, had three assists.
“She was dominant. They had no answer for her. I haven’t seen a player dominate a game that much maybe since I’ve been in this program as a coach and she didn’t score. That’s how impactful she was,” Riggs said.
Laughlin said she was glad to contribute as she did.
“I was trying to play a more unselfish game today. It could have been our seniors’ last game,” she said. “I’m a sophomore. I have two more seasons after this.”
Laughlin, who operates on the left wing, got good service from her midfielders, namely seniors Julia Narmore and Kelani Roy and freshman Samantha Sizemore, who alternated between the midfield and back line with Narmore.
Burroughs (13-6-1) got on the board in the 11th minute as Laughlin had a left-sided cross into the center of the box that Nicole Jimenez knocked home.
Just a minute later in a similar fashion, Laughlin had yet another left-sided cross into the goal box. This time it is was junior Graciela Gomez who knocked the ball in.
The Bears added their third goal in the 35th minute as Narmore gently lifted the ball over the head over of Thacher goalie Lily King who had come off of her line.
Thacher (9-6) did get a goal in the 54th minute that came off a throw in and was finished by Julie Bressie.
Burroughs responded three minutes later as Laughlin was able to get the ball past King, who had come out for a save. For insurance, Nadia Aguilar put the final touch on the ball from Laughlin that was on its way to the back of the net.
The Bears are not concerned at all playing at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and are actually looking forward to it.
“That’s actually going to help us because we need a long warmup. The boys’ soccer team has the field from 3:30 until 6 p.m.,” Narmore said.
Roy agreed with Narmore.
“We tend to play better at night. I think that helped us tonight too,” she said.
Yet another article that doesn’t even mention the defense. You can’t win games without both offensive and defense. Who do you think keeps the other team from scoring? It would be nice if the writer would give credit to the back line just once.
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