San Marcos went on a 8-0 run in the second half to secure a 16-9 Channel League win against Thacher at Warkentin Stadium Monday.
In a good all-around team showing, Royals coach Paul Ramsey praised sophomore Ellie Monson and junior KC Springer for hooking up and finding each other on offense at the right time. Monson finished with five goals and three assists, and Springer with five goals and one assist.
Springer also set a school single game record with 11 draw controls.
With the win, the Royals can lock up a tie for second place in the league with Cate if they beat Santa Barbara at home Wednesday. The match is a Senior Night contest starting at 6 p.m. at Warkentin Stadium.
San Marcos led 8-4 at halftime, before Thacher mounted a comeback to come within one at 8-7 with 21:10 left in the game. The Royals responded with extra effort on draw controls and ground balls for the 8-0 run over 13 minutes.
With San Marcos leading 16-7, the Toads scored two goals during a two-minute power-play situation after a yellow card on the Royals. Once the playing field was evened again, Thacher could score no more.
“Our defense got better last week when we held Dos Pueblos to four second-half goals and we continued to play good defense today,” San Marcos head coach Paul Ramsey said.
“That yellow card was tough since it was incidental contact while we were playing good defense and not often does that get carded,” Ramsey added.
“But we are pretty pleased overall and scoring eight straight on them broke open the game for us.
“KC stepped in to take the draw and had 6 draw controls during that run and we really took advantage of all those possessions and when Ellie kept find her open on cuts that was all she wrote.”
San Marcos improved to 12-6 overall and 6-3 in the Channel League. Their league losses are twice to first-place Dos Pueblos and once to Cate.