Late Goal Sinks Bulldogs

GIRLS’ WATER POLO: Glendale scores in finals seconds to earn 11-10 win against Burbank.
By Gabriel Rizk, Burbank Leader

Published: January 29, 2010

BURBANK HIGH — The Burbank High girls’ water polo team didn’t leave a whole lot of time for Glendale to answer its game-tying tally late in the fourth quarter on Wednesday, but the Bulldogs left just enough for the Nitros to pull out a big win that figures to complicate the Pacific League playoff picture heading into the upcoming league tournament.

Burbank’s Nichole Valencia scored on a deep lob with 20 seconds left to pull even with Glendale, only to see the Nitros’ Desiree Solano Garcia wrest the lead back with three seconds remaining to seal an 11-10 victory.“I had been messing up the whole game and I was frustrated, so I was like, ‘I have to make this last shot with all my force,’” said Solano Garcia, who appeared to have no good angle for a shot with four defenders converging around her in front of the goal, but managed to flip a sidearm shot into the goal anyway. “We were gonna cry if we didn’t win, so we’re really happy. It was a team effort.”

It was a frustrating end for a Bulldogs team (7-11, 1-3 in league) that battled its way back from a three-goal deficit over the final five minutes and came close to taking that momentum into overtime.“We were a little concerned when we scored with 20 seconds to go because we had given them a lot of time,” said Burbank Coach Carlos Pelayo, whose team has league matches left against Burroughs and Hoover. “But give them credit, they ran their play and scored with three seconds left.”

Glendale improved to 2-3 in league with its only remaining regular-season league match set for Wednesday against Hoover.“If we’re gonna make CIF, we had to beat this team — right now, it looks like we’re fighting for that third spot,” Glendale Coach Forest Holbrook said. “This was a back-and-forth game and it’s awesome to see our girls play together and finish the game off with three seconds left.”Kristina Terzyan, who led the Nitros with five goals, scored to give Glendale a 5-1 lead with 1:25 remaining in the first half.

Danielle Reed scored a goal for Burbank on a 6-5 advantage just before the end of the half and the Bulldogs picked up the second half right were they left off. Jordan Card, who scored four goals and had five steals for Burbank, scored on a pass from Natalie Pentkowski to tie the game at 5 with four minutes to go in the third period.Glendale would get the lead back up to 9-6 on a goal by Katren Ter-Oganesyan with four seconds left in the third and led, 10-7, with 5:18 left to play.But the Nitros, already without co-captain Anabel Beiki, lost Ter-Oganesyan to ejection with 4:30 to go and soon saw their lead dwindle to one goal on a Card five-meter shot inside the final minute.Valencia took a pass on the left side from goalkeeper Sarah Tubert (nine saves) and connected on a high lob from long range for the tie.