Burbank rebounds to take title

BURBANK HIGH — Just call the Burbank High girls’ soccer team a fast starter.

For the second straight season, the Bulldogs captured a tournament championship to open their season.

Burbank defeated San Jacinto, 3-1, Monday to win the Norte Vista Tournament title in Riverside.

In 2007, the Bulldogs won the championship of the Duarte Tournament.

“Our defense is playing real well right now,” said Burbank Coach Loi Phan, whose squad is 5-0. “We are starting to gel as a team, and that showed in the championship.”

The Bulldogs have surrendered just two goals in five matches and have outscored their opponents, 19-2.

Burbank fell behind San Jacinto, 1-0, when the Tigers scored six minutes into the match.

However, after the initial goal, the Burbank defense clamped down and the offense got rolling. The locals were also helped when the Tigers (4-1) starting sweeper was sidelined with leg cramps.

Twenty minutes into the first half, Anabel Gonzalez gave a nice pass to Alexandra Amela, who scored on a header to even the score at 1.

“That header was just like a play we run in practice,” Phan said.

Gonzalez got a goal of her own in the 27th minute to put her team in front and Kristina Amela scored in the 28th minute for the Bulldogs final goal.

Gonzalez leads the team with five goals.

In goal, sophomore Danielle Reid turned back two shots to earn the win.

“This was a good win for us,” Phan said. “San Jacinto was a good team with some very good players.”

In other tournament matches, Burbank defeated Ramona, 4-1, host Notre Vista, 5-0, and Citrus Hill, 5-0.