MOORPARK, Calif. – The No. 11 Santa Barbara City College Women’s Soccer team (11-4, 6-0) stayed perfect in conference play with a 3-0 win at Moorpark (8-4-2, 4-3) on Tuesday afternoon.
The Vaqueros scored on their first real chance of the game, just eight minutes in. Leilani Sanchez‘s shot from close range was blocked, but the ball fell perfectly to Fiona Bulmer who easily found the back of the net.
But the freshman had an even easier chance around the half-hour mark. As Elle Eichenberger chased after a Moorpark backpass, the goalkeeper hurriedly tried to pass it off to her center-back. Bulmer was pressing hard toward her, though. Not only did she easily intercept the pass, her first-time finish into the essentially open goal gave the Vaqueros a 2-0 lead. It was her eighth goal involvement in the past four games.
About 15 minutes after halftime, Ruby Kruse won a penalty—and took it. Her first effort was saved, but the Moorpark goalie came off her line too soon. On the retake, Kruse went to the same side—the goalie’s right—but hammered just past her outstretched arm. The score was 3-0 Vaqueros with 30 minutes to play.
Moorpark had a few half-chances in the second half, but ultimately could not score on the stalwart Santa Barbara defense. The Vaqueros did not score after the third goal, either, but came close twice. Eichenberger rattled the crossbar on a shot from outside the box in the 75th minute that would have been a banger of a goal. Morgan Retterer forced a great save shortly after when she was one-on-one with the goalie.
Santa Barbara’s goalie, Samantha Maytanes, made eight saves to keep the clean sheet. Moorpark actually outshot the Vaqueros 14-13.
The Vaqueros, now surely the Western State Conference (WSC) North favorites, could help reach that goal with a win over second-place LA Pierce (8-5-2, 5-2) on Friday at 1 p.m. at La Playa Stadium.