By Rick Assad
Too many turnovers were committed by the Burroughs High girls’ water polo team on Tuesday versus visiting Notre Dame.
The miscues began in the first quarter and continued during the rest of the match and it was one reason why the Bears lost 16-5 in a nonleague season opening match for both schools.
Paola Brizuela scored four goals, and senior Jocelyn Rios added one goal for the Bears, but it wasn’t nearly enough to beat the Knights who had six players scoring including junior utility Brinley Bowen’s match-best six goals, and who had three tallies at the half as Notre Dame led 10-2.
The Bears (0-1) were shut out in the first quarter and fell behind 6-0, but Brizuela found the back of the net with 3:34 left that trimmed the lead to 8-2.
Brizuela also scored with one second remaining on the clock before the intermission.
Brizuela was at it again as she drilled a winner with 6:23 left on the ticker in the third period that sliced Notre Dame’s advantage to 10-3.
A tally by Rios with 5:48 made it 14-4 and Brizuela’s winner with 3:34 on the clock reduced the deficit to 14-6.
Bowen’s initial tally with 6:47 remaining in the first period saw the Knights (1-0) dash ahead 1-0 and Bowen’s five-meter penalty toss with 3:48 remaining in the same stanza made it 8-0.
When Bowen drilled in a goal with 1:41 left in the second quarter it increased the lead to 9-1.
Bowen continued her offensive assault with a tally with 1:50 left on the clock left in the third quarter for a 13-3 edge.
Bowen capped off her afternoon with a score with 2:46 remaining in the fourth period for a 15-6 lead.
When Bowen nailed the back of the net with five seconds on the ticker that made it a 10-point deficit for the Bears.
Pete Loporchio is the Notre Dame assistant coach and is also the Los Angeles Valley College women’s water polo head coach.
“What we like to see with the Notre Dame team is the distribution of the ball,” he said. “We have a young team with only one senior starter, so it was an acclimatation game for a new group playing together but we played really well defensively, and we shared the ball offensively.”
Notre Dame sophomore attacker Leyla Balaban accounted for four tallies and they occurred with 5:03 left in the first period for a 2-0 lead.
With 2:50 showing in the first period, Balaban’s tally made it 5-0. Balabyan’s goal with 4:29 left in the second frame made it 7-0 and with 5:14 left in the third period the lead became 11-3.
Sophomore Alexis Cornejo scored two goals in the first quarter for the Knights and they came with 4:23 left in the opening frame that made it 3-0 and 6-0 from a tally at eight seconds in the same period.
Freshman utility Hannah Wadleigh added a goal for the Knights with 3:13 left in the first frame for a 4-0 edge.
Junior driver Isabelle Malki tallied a goal with 11 seconds left in the second period for a 10-2 cushion for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame senior driver Genova Parker scored with 4:32 left in the third frame for a 12-3 advantage.
