The crosstown rivalry between Santa Barbara and Dos Pueblos High was renewed on Thursday, with the Chargers’ girls soccer team playing spoiler at the Dons’ Peabody Stadium and knocking off their rival 3-1.
It was an offensive onslaught that helped propel Dos Pueblos to the road victory, with three different goal scorers getting on the board for the Chargers, as they outshot the Dons 22-3 and dominated time of possession.
“We just wanted to bring pressure, continue to bring some energy to the offense, and see if we could get one in early because we knew if we could get one in, that would give us a little breathing room,” Dos Pueblos Head Coach George Hedricks told Noozhawk.
“After leading at halftime, we knew getting one more after that would allow us to control the tempo the rest of the game.”
With the victory, Dos Pueblos improves to 6-1 overall with a 2-0 start to league play, while the young Dons fall to 1-2-3 overall and are still in search of their first conference victory with a 0-1-1 mark.
Dons’ Head Coach Willie Sims told Noozhawk after the game that the offense was unable to connect passes and really settle into their game plan all night.
“Dos Pueblos played with pace. They have athletic players who beat us to every 50/50 ball, every loose ball, so we know what we have to do to improve. We have to make sure we keep our lines tighter and hopefully we get a different result,” he said.
The Charger offense was aggressive from the start, as within the first 25 minutes of the game, the team had taken at least six shots, with at least half of them on goal.
A big moment came in the 19th minute, as DP’s Alma Basave was left one-on-one with the Santa Barbara keeper Alice Sweeney, who proceeded to block the first shot and the ensuing follow-up to keep the match level.
The Dos Pueblos offense broke through in the 29th minute, however, as sophomore Alina Seidel ran through a perfectly placed cross and found the right corner of the net, putting her team up 1-0 — a lead the Chargers would take into the break.
“Any kind of sport you’re playing, when you feel like you’re right there, you’re right there, right there, to get that first score, to get that first run, to get that first goal, it immediately just kind of changes things,” Hedricks said.
“Getting that first one before half really allowed us to execute better in the second.”
After nearly 30 minutes of no goals in the first half, the Chargers decided to spice things up in the second, scoring two goals within the first seven minutes of the final 40.
The goal scorers were sophomore Paige Ferro and junior Hazel Burgess, who scored within three minutes of each other to give their team the dominant 3-0 lead.
“We work really hard. We’ve been working a lot on scoring and just trying our best to get the ball in that more than we did last year, and anytime we score, we’re just super happy for each other because that’s all we want to do. All we want to do is keep scoring and keep winning,” senior defender and captain Anastasia Brunner told Noozhawk.
The Chargers kept the aggressive pace throughout, but could not find the back of the net the rest of the way.
In the 58th minute, the Dons got on the board as a free kick from about 20 yards out was deflected by the Chargers keeper, and a mad scramble from a slew of Santa Barbara players ended with a tap into the net by Paloma Valenzuela to put the home team on the board.
“That’s what we want to see from our players: play with a little freedom. But, we’ve got to get on the ball because if we don’t, it’s going to be very challenging against a good DP team, so hopefully the girls learn and we move on,” Sims said.
Dos Pueblos will host Ventura in a Channel League match on Dec. 16, while Santa Barbara will travel to Oxnard on Dec. 16 for its next match.