Losing five games at the prominent Villa Park Tournament last week
might have been the best thing to happen to the Glendale High boys'
water polo team.
In the process of losing to powerhouse teams like La Jolla Bishop,
the Nitros got a chance to take a page or two out of the other teams'
playbooks. Junior driver Aram Pogosian took note.
Pogosian scored a career-high seven goals to power the visiting
Nitros to a 12-11 Pacific League victory against Muir on Wednesday.
It marked the first win for Glendale (1-12, 1-1 in league), and it
couldn't have come at a better time with the league finals nearly a
month away at Arcadia High.
Pogosian scored the match-winning goal with 4:57 remaining, and
the Nitros turned to reserve goalkeeper Andrew Hunter to make five
saves in the waning moments.
"I felt off at the start of the match," Pogosian said. "Then I got
set and a fire started to build inside of me, because I started to
get more scoring chances.
"We played some good teams in the [Villa Park Tournament], and we
learned from them about how to pass, drive and counter-attack
quicker. We took it from there to here and that made a difference."
So did Hunter, who was called up from the junior varsity squad to
replace starting goalkeeper Jack Chaldranyan. Glendale Co-coach Pat
Lancaster said Chaldranyan didn't compete because he missed several
recent practices.
Hunter struggled at times during his first varsity start, but held
his own in the cage. He finished with 11 saves, including five in the
final five minutes.
"He held his own," said Lancaster, who shares the coaching
responsibilities with Bobby Zirovich. "It got exciting at the end,
but nothing comes easy for us.
"We finally saw a team that wasn't faster or stronger than us."
Glendale got four goals from Avo Serafino and one from Hayberd
Minas-Masihi. Serafino's goals all came in the first half.
The Nitros held an 11-7 lead with 2:16 left in the third quarter
before Muir (4-3, 0-2) mounted its comeback. Arttaveo Burnett scored
two goals in 58 seconds early in the fourth quarter to knot the
contest at 11.
"We hadn't had a four-goal lead all year," Lancaster said. "We
sure didn't have it for very long."
* CHARLES RICH covers sports. He can be reached at (818) 637-3228
or by e-mail at o7charles.rich@latimes.com.
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