Wildcats defense makes key defensive stops to escape with one goal win over the Bears 

The John Burroughs Bears suffer a heartbreaking 7-6 loss to the Paloma Valley Wildcats in the opening round of the CIF Southern Section Division Three playoffs. The Wildcats defense came through with multiple key stops following Derika Berenguer’s goal in the fourth quarter to give Burroughs a chance to force overtime. 

In their recent contests, Burroughs suffered a 7-10 loss to Arcadia in the Pacific League Tournament Championship game and Paloma Valley came off a 4-3 win over Arlington in the third place game of the Sun Belt League Tournament contest. 

Maya Lawrence began the first quarter with the game’s first goal before Berenguer tied the score at one. Danica Munoz scored a goal for the Wildcats to retake the lead. Paloma Valley ended the low scoring first quarter with a one goal advantage heading into the second quarter. 

Maya Lawrence, Kaylee Gutierrez and Charlotte Stewart scored three straight goals to increase the Wildcat lead to 5-1 but Berenguer scored back-to-back goals to make it a two goal game. Paloma Valley still held on to a 5-3 lead at intermission. 

Following halftime, Leah Hess got the Bears to within one goal with a clutch score before Charlotte Stewart and Sienna Pospisil added two more goals to increase the Paloma Valley lead to three. Bella Matossian scored a clutch goal to cut the Wildcat lead to two. The Wildcats held on to a 7-5 lead over the Bears entering the final quarter of play. 

Burroughs was still within striking distance in the fourth quarter, looking for two goals to force overtime. Berenguer scored a huge goal to start the fourth quarter to give the Bears hope of forcing an extra period. Unfortunately for the Bears, Berenguer’s fourth the game was the only score of the quarter. The Wildcats defense made key stops to help them escape with a one-goal win to move on to round two of the CIF Southern Section Division three playoffs. 

“It was disappointing to lose the way we did,” said Martin Ortega, “the girls worked so hard all year long but throughout the game we never gave up in any shape or form.” Ortega added that he was insanely proud of how this team played all year as they came off an incredible season where they shared the Pacific League title with Arcadia. 

Paloma Valley will host Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) in round two of the CIF Southern Section playoffs on Tuesday, February 10 at 5:00 p.m. and Burrough’s season has officially come to a close.