There was plenty of local soccer action to go around on Tuesday, with boys and girls teams competing both at home and on the road.
Here is a look at all the games from around town today.
Boys Soccer
San Marcos 2, Rio Mesa 0
The Royals earned a shutout victory for their first Channel League win over the Spartans.
In the first half, Cash Evers shook off a Rio Mesa defender and crossed the ball into Favi Rosales, who powered the ball into the back of the net from outside the 18-yard box for the first goal of the night.
The second and final goal also came off of an assist from Evers. In the second half, Evers found Sergio Ramirez, who took one touch and lofted the ball into the top right corner of the goal for the 2-0 lead.
From there, the Royals defense dominated their way to the shutout win.
“Cash, Ryder Hazard and Kevin Sanchez had a great impact on the game tonight with creative runs, good possession and solid hold up play,” San Marcos coach Paul McLean said. “Our backline with goalkeeper Rudolfo Ramirez, Stevie Bradley, Wes Monroy, Armando Alaniz and Yael Garay did a great job staying organized and distributing the ball.”
San Marcos (2-1-1, 1-1) will play Ventura on the road on Thursday.
Santa Barbara 3, Pacifica 2
Jesus Miranda led a 3-2 comeback victory for the Dons on Tuesday.
The Tritons jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half, scoring off of a pair of set pieces.
“The ball just didn’t bounce our way on those two set pieces,” Santa Barbara coach Ricardo Alcaraz said. “We made some tactical adjustments at halftime that paid off. We were able to get more opportunities and possession in their half.”
In the first 10 minutes of the second half, Damian Dorado was fouled in the box and Eli Myers buried the penalty kick, cutting the lead in half.
The Dons felt the momentum swinging and took advantage, as Myers passed a through ball to Miranda, who finished it off to knot the game up at 2-2.
In the 72nd minute, Santa Barbara got a counterattack going. Yahri Heras moved the ball through the middle of the field and played the ball to Luis Barron.
From there, Barron took a dribble and found Miranda, who beat two defenders and ripped a shot past the Pacifica goalkeeper for the game-winning goal.
“The kids showed character tonight,” Alcaraz said. “I’m so proud of these guys. We got contributions from a lot of guys off the bench. It was a great team effort.”
Buena 4, Dos Pueblos 2
The Chargers struggled a bit defensively in a 4-2 loss to Buena.
The Bulldogs got into the scoring column first in the eighth minute, finishing off a nice sequence for the 1-0 lead.
Dos Pueblos scored the equalizer in the 19th minute when Tiago Rodriguez played a through ball to JP Garcia, who finished it off for the score.
In the 26th minute, Buena jumped back out to a lead with a score off a throw-in play.
The Chargers netted their second equalizer of the night in the 45th minute as Chris Barreto lofted a cross into the box, where Miguel Greenberg was waiting. Greenberg made a couple of defenders miss and scored to make it a 2-2 contest.
It was Greenberg’s first match of the season after battling some injuries, and he made the most of his limited minutes in the loss.
From there it was all Bulldogs, as they scored a penalty kick goal and added in one more for good measure in the 75th minute.
Cate 3, Thacher 1
The Rams came away with a two-goal victory over rival Thacher.
Cate took control early, creating multiple opportunities for the first half but none of them found the back of the net. At the end of the first half, the match remained scoreless.
In the 50th minute, Max DeVore got the Rams on the scoreboard after coming away with a steal and slotting the ball into the bottom corner of the goal for a 1-0 lead.
With Thacher attacking in the 60th minute, Cate gained possession and ripped off a counterattack. Samuel Anum took the ball up from his defensive post and found TJ Weir, who beat the goalkeeper to put his squad up 2-0.
Just 10 minutes later, the Rams’ offensive onslaught continued as Uriel Beltran Campuzano passed the ball off to Dimash Anuarbek and Anuarbek finished it off for the 3-0 advantage.
Thacher managed one goal before the final whistle, but it was too little, too late.
“We are proud of the effort our entire squad put out today and more importantly, the on-field adjustments our team made to regain control of the game in the second half and put the game away,” Cate coach Jorge Reynoso said. “We got some quality minutes off the bench today.”
The Rams will be off for winter break and will resume play against Grace Brethren at home on Jan. 11 at 3 p.m.
“As we head into the winter break, we look forward to getting our injured players healthy and having a full squad as we prepare to go head in with league play,” Reynoso said.
Laguna Blanca 1, Orcutt 1
The Owls battled to a 1-1 draw with Orcutt on Tuesday.
The two teams were tied at 0-0 for the majority of the match, with the first goal coming with just two minutes left in the game.
Laguna Blanca got on the board first when Baylor Wilson crossed in a corner kick and Beckett Smythe rose up and completed the header goal.
Orcutt managed to respond with the equalizer with just 30 seconds left on the clock, ending the match with a 1-1 draw.
Girls Soccer
Santa Barbara 2, Pacifica 1
The Dons used a pair of second-half goals to power themselves to a victory over the Tritons.
The first half was a defensive battle, with both teams creating opportunities offensively and continuously being turned away. At the break, the score stood still at 0-0.
Pacifica came out of half on fire, opening up the scoring off a Santa Barbara turnover to take a 1-0 lead.
However, the Dons answered with a free kick goal by Carolina Esparza from 35 yards out, as Esparza lofted the ball just over the reach of the goalkeeper.
With 15 minutes left in the match, Ianaya Solis dribbled the ball through a number of Pacifica defenders and was fouled just outside the box, earning another free kick.
Esparza once again stepped up to the mark and buried the go-ahead goal, once again beating the Triton goalkeeper.
That score held for the final 15 minutes as the Dons defense tightened up and rejected any Pacifica attack.
The freshman pairing of Solis and Madeleine Savellano turned in solid performances for the Dons. To go along with Esparza’s brace performance, Tania Vallecillo and Sofia Lopez also had great nights.
Buena 2, Dos Pueblos 1
The Chargers couldn’t overcome an early deficit en route to a 2-1 loss on the road against the Bulldogs.
In fact, Buena scored both of its goals in the first 10 minutes of the match. From there, it was a back-and-forth battle.
The lone goal of the night for Dos Pueblos came in the second half when Maddy Jones found Maleka Wilcox to cut the lead to 2-1.
The goal was Wilcox’s third of the season and made it two games in a row with a score.
While the Chargers defense settled in and dominated the second half, the offensive attack couldn’t finish off their chances.
“We had some key players missing today, yet other players stepped up and were ready to compete,” Dos Pueblos coach Marco Medina said. “Stephanie Carranza paired up with Katie Peterson in the midfield and Hazel Burgess was in the back row with Anastasia Brunner. All were composed and made good decisions on the ball.”
Dos Pueblos (1-2, 1-1) will now look ahead to a matchup against Rio Mesa on Thursday.
