By Rick Assad
While their records weren’t identical, they were close enough that upon further inspection one could surmise that Thursday afternoon’s Pacific League girls’ water polo match would be close.
And it was just that when Burroughs High hosted Crescenta Valley and despite the Bears falling behind, found the fortitude and skill to rally in the third quarter and even the score, only to fall short, 9-7.
Ava Tomlinson tried her best to keep Burroughs, which outshot Crescenta Valley 33-32, in contention as she poured in a match-best three goals, but four other players all scored solo goals.
The Falcons had three players score two goals and they were Avalon Burzynski, Cara Donohue and Gianna Double.
Equally critical to the Crescenta Valley victory was the outstanding play of goalie Miranda Graham who swatted at least a half-dozen shot attempts.
The Bears (4-8 and 2-2 in league) fell behind by two goals at 4-2 after the first period and trailed 5-3 at the intermission.
With 5:09 remaining in the third period, Tomlinson’s 10-yard toss evened the score at 5-5.
Audrey Willett’s tally from 12 yards saw the Bears draw within 5-4.
Double took over as she found the back of the net from 14 yards and 6:53 left in the same period for a 6-5 lead and then Double unloaded a five-yard blast with just two seconds to make it 7-5 heading to the fourth quarter.
The Falcons (6-3 and 2-2 in league) added another goal when Donohue scored on a 14-yard laser with 5:31 left to make it a three-goal advantage.
Morgan Wright’s 12-yard rocket found the net as the Bears came within 8-6 with 5:01 on the ticker and Ana Zubkoff’s seven-yard throw and 4:33 left on the clock saw Burroughs get within 8-7.
There was still time to tie or bolt ahead but Burroughs didn’t and when Ani Thomas located the back of the net and 1:28 on the timer it became 9-7, and from there the Falcons played terrific defense and didn’t allow any scores.
Crescenta Valley came out and scored the first three points as Burzynski tossed in a 25-yard balloon with 5:45 left that made it 1-0 and Donohue added a 20-yarder and 3:12 remaining for a 2-0 cushion.
When Falcon Michelle Khachatryan added a 5-yarder with 2:13 left the lead became 3-0.
Tomlinson found her range and tossed in a 12-yarder with 1:53 left that shaved the advantage to 3-1 and Tomlinson’s seven-yarder with two seconds left cut the lead to 4-2.
Twenty-one seconds earlier Burzynski’s 14-yarder extended the Falcons’ lead to 4-1.
The second period saw two goals scored and they came from Crescenta Valley’s Alex Lawrence with 4:35 left on a 12-yarder for a 5-2 lead for the Falcons and Burroughs’ Olivia Dominguez with eighteen seconds left as the Bears trailed at halftime by two goals.
