“This game was everything, we had to fight to win league and we gave it everything we got,” said Cardenas, whose shot gave the Falcons a 1-0 advantage just five minutes before Dani Busta scored on an improbable 51-yard attempt. “It wasn’t a perfect shot, but I just really wanted it. I wanted it bad. I just wanted to hit it as hard as I could.”
With the win, Crescenta Valley (15-1-3, 12-1-1 in league), the fourth-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division II, finished with 37 points in league, one more than Burbank (15-4-1, 12-2) to win its fourth league crown in the last six seasons — the last two coming under Rivas and the previous two coming under Cesar Hidalgo.
“We wanted it really bad,” said Busta of winning the league title. “We made it happen.”
Burbank will enter next week’s CIF Southern Section Division II playoffs as the league’s second place squad, with its dozen league wins setting a new program standard.
“The better team won, they outplayed us,” said Burbank Coach Loi Phan, a former Glendale High boys’ soccer and football coach. “CV played very well. They deserve to be league champs.”
Cardenas’ shot was a line drive let loose on the right side of the field. It screamed over a four-player Burbank wall and inside the near post just above the midway point of the net, leaving Burbank keeper Katie Hooper no shot to save it.
“Perfect,” said Rivas of the shot. “There was only one spot that was open, that was near post, upper 90. That was an amazing, amazing shot.
“We were all pretty excited about that.”
Rivas was sprinting down the sideline in front of an overjoyed Falcons bench, pumping his fist, screaming aloud, “That a baby!”
