BURBANK — The CIF Southern Section playoffs will be a new experience for players from three local teams.
None of the members of the Burroughs High boys' team have ever competed in the postseason because the program has not qualified for CIF in four years.
The same goes for the athletes on the Burbank and Bellarmine-Jefferson girls' squads. However, they haven't had the experience because this is the first time in program history the Bulldogs and Guards have made it to CIF.
The players will get the opportunity to bask in the postseason spotlight when matches begin today.
Burroughs opens play at 3 p.m. today at Memorial Field in a Division III wild-card match against Lompoc.
Bell-Jeff opens Division VI play at 3 p.m. today with a wild-card contest at Baldwin Park Sierra Vista.
Burbank is the only squad not to be relegated to the wild-card round. The Bulldogs will begin Division II competition at 3 p.m. Friday at host Walnut.
"I'm surprised that we didn't have to play a wild-card game," said Burbank Coach Loi Phan, whose team finished 13-1-5, 8-1-5 (third place) in the Pacific League. "When you play in the wild-card round, you get fed to the wolves the next round and you usually have to play a very good team.
"But I think that maybe our record helped us avoid the wild card."
The Bulldogs are led by sophomore Kristina Amela, who has scored a school-record 31 goals.
The team also has a fine goalkeeper in junior Jenna Todd. In her first season in the net, she has 11 shutouts.
The Bulldogs will be taking on a Walnut (18-5-1) team that shared the San Antonio League title.
Burroughs Coach Mike Kodama said he likes his team's playoff paring.
"This is probably the first time in six or seven years that I think we have good chance at winning a few games in the playoffs," Kodama said.
"We just have to finish our scoring chances, because in the playoffs you get a lot fewer chances than in other games during the season."
The Indians (12-6-5, 7-3-4) tied for second in the Pacific League, but lost a coin flip and are the No. 3 team from the league.
Burroughs possesses a stingy defense that surrendered less than a goal a match in league. The offense is paced by Michael Alvarado, who has seven goals.
Lompoc (11-8-3, 8-4) finished third in the Los Padres League.
Making their first playoff appearance, the Guards had some bad luck when it came to their seeding. Bell-Jeff (8-4-1, 6-2) shared the Santa Cruz League championship with St. Genevieve and St. Matthias. However, the Guards lost coin flips and go in as the No. 3 team from the league.
The Guards have been paced by Kelsey Carapia.
Sierra Vista (11-10-3, 9-1-2) is the second-place team from the Mountainview League.
