It was a tale of two halves when the Burroughs High girls’ water polo team opened the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs Tuesday against visiting Santa Ana Valley.
The Indians had a tough time getting things started.
But once they did, they did so in a big way by earning a 7-3 victory.
The Indians (19-7) will host Diamond Bar Thursday at 5 p.m. in a second-round contest. Diamond Bar defeated Upland 7-5.
“It took us a while. We are either on or off. Luckily we were only off for the first half,” Burroughs coach Jacob Cook said. “We got it together (in the second half). We made the adjustments we were attacking a lot more. We were a little timid in the first quarter.”
Burroughs did not score in the first quarter, as Santa Ana Valley (17-11) scored the only goal of the quarter as Sindy Gomez scored with 1:41 left in the period.
After Santa Ana Valley went up 2-0 after a goal from Monique Caridad, Burroughs got on the board at the 3:05 mark of the second quarter.
Chrissy Vlick found an opening in the right corner of the goal and was able to sneak it past Santa Ana Valley goalie Isabela Zavala.
The visiting Falcons fought back with a goal from Denise Iniguez at the 2:33 mark of the quarter.
But Lottie Jennings scored with 1:30 left in the first half to get Burroughs back within a goal.
In the second half, Burroughs took over.
Clarissa Robles scored with 6:35 left in the third quarter to tie things at 3.
Vlick gave Burroughs a 4-3 lead with 4:02 left in the third quarter by tipping the ball over the head of Zavala.
Angie Lee gave Burroughs a 5-3 lead with 2:00 left in the third quarter.
Lee scored once again, this time with 1:25 left to play, making it 6-3 and virtually putting the contest out of reach.
Robles added another goal in the final minute.
Santa Ana Valley coach Peter Sophabmixay praised Burroughs for overcoming his team.
“We tried running a couple of zones at them, we tried double-teaming them and get some other players to shoot and get them out of their rhythm,” Sophabmixay said. “Their goalie kept them in the game the whole time. We had our opportunities to shoot the ball.”
Emanuella Nathan, who will play at the University of the Pacific next year, had 14 saves for Burroughs.
“The second half was a little nerve-wracking, but we managed to pull through and that’s what is most important,” Nathan said.
