Dos Pueblos boys soccer took control early in the first half and never looked back en route to a 5-0 shutout win over Carpinteria High on Tuesday at Scott O’Leary Stadium in Goleta.
The win moves the Chargers to 2-0-0 on the young season, and they have outscored opponents by an impressive margin of 9-1 along the way.
“We’ve been working hard all fall, coming into the season,” Dos Pueblos coach Oscar Garcia said. “We’ve been doing JV and Varsity, working together, scrimmaging at the end of training and getting as many game reps as we can.
“Having some injuries, having to rotate some guys in, everybody stepped up and played their role really well today. Every day we talk about everybody being ready to play their role, and today they did.”
The Warriors were the aggressors early in the opening half, securing three corner kicks in the first five minutes of play. However, all three sets were cleared away by the Chargers to keep the game scoreless.
Dos Pueblos then flipped the script and applied pressure offensively on the other end. The pressure paid off, as Dylan Wooten worked his way into the box and drew a penalty on the Warriors in the 9th minute.
Chris Barreto then stepped up to the ball and calmly deposited his shot into the back of the net to secure the early 1-0 lead.
The Chargers kept their foot on the gas, as they doubled their lead just two minutes later. After Atton Hayes fired a shot that clanked off the left post, Logan Stevens stayed in the play and snuck the ricochet past the goalkeeper to make it 2-0 early in the first.
The offensive barrage continued in the 17th minute when Miles Smith lofted a long pass into Hayes, who corralled the pass in the box and slotted a shot into the back-right corner of the goal to bring the lead to 3-0.
“Carpinteria came out really strong. The first 10 minutes, I’d say they were the better team,” Garcia said. “We stayed patient, we stayed compact, and we were finally able to break through.
“I feel like we have the potential to be a really potent offense, and those 10-15 minutes showed it.”
That score held into halftime as the Dos Pueblos defense continued to stand tall while the rest of the Chargers controlled the time of possession.
The second half got out to a slow start, thanks in part to strong defense from both teams, preserving the Charger shutout.
Dos Pueblos then broke through in the 54th minute when Brandon Stock dribbled his way into the box and dropped off a pass for Owen Ribbens, who delivered a rocket from the top of the box into the back-left corner of the net to grow the lead to 4-0.
The Charger defense continued to make stop after stop down the stretch, including big saves from goalies Kieran Buell and Mateo Sparre, to keep the Carpinteria High offense at bay.
“We had some different guys, senior leader Andrew Gomez was out today, but we had a couple of new seniors that hadn’t really played together in this back line who were able to really step in and communicate and work together really well,” Garcia said.
“Then we had the two goalies that were just an anchor back there, so it was good to see.”
The Chargers put the finishing touches on the win in the final play of stoppage time when Logan Stevens crossed a corner kick that landed on the head of his younger brother, Sawyer Stevens, and was redirected into the net for the 5-0 victory.
Dos Pueblos will look to remain undefeated at the Bearcat Showcase this weekend.