The San Marcos and Santa Barbara boys soccer teams battled to an 80 minute 1-1 draw on a cold Saturday night at SBCC’s La Playa Stadium in an intense Channel League showdown.
Both teams saw solid defensive and keeper play in the low-scoring affair.
“You saw the ill effects of us not having the opportunity to train,” explained Santa Barbara head coach Todd Heil after the match. The Dons have been limited in practice opportunities due to rain soaking the field at Peabody Stadium. San Marcos practices and plays on a turf field.
Despite some rustiness, Santa Barbara (14-1-5, 2-0-1), which hasn’t lost since December 21, jumped out of the gates red hot, scoring in the second minute as Celso Lagunas played a beautiful cross to Heymar Hernandez, who slotted the ball into the goal from five yards out.
San Marcos coach Daniel Torres received a red card in the 13th minute for arguing with the referee, and things looked bleak for the Royals, who had gone 1-2-5 in their previous eight games.
But San Marcos stepped up in the absence of their coach, and the match became a defensive battle.
Both teams had multiple scoring opportunities but failed to finish. Santa Barbara keeper Juan Santana made some athletic saves to keep the Royals off the board, while San Marcos keeper Bryce Tomlinson was perfect after the Dons’ early goal.
San Marcos’ Tony Garcia played a ball that ricocheted off the right post in the 25th minute, and the Royals went into halftime down 1-0.
Momentum shifted in the second half as Rosalio Manzo found the goal for the Royals to tie the match. The Royals had shots on goal in the 62nd and 75th minute that were both saved by Santana.
“In the first half, we were out of sorts,” said Heil. “We played a lot better in the second half, created a lot more chances, and the unfortunate part is we gave up a goal when I thought we were playing better.”
Santa Barbara unleashed their offense in the final 10 minutes of the match, with the Dons seeing multiple looks at the goal. Freshman forward Juan Carlos Torres nearly found the net in the closing minutes of the match only to see the ball saved by Tomlinson.
“You’ve got to keep after them,” insisted Heil. “I don’t think we did that. I think we stopped.”
Santa Barbara and San Marcos each host Channel League games on Wednesday, with the Royals facing off against Dos Pueblos and the Dons taking on Ventura. The two teams will meet again at San Marcos on February 4.
Heil maintained,”We need to get fit again, we need to get back to playing together, and we need to get in front of the net.”
— Noozhawk sports reporter Christian Eckert can be reached at ceckert@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports and @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.