San Marcos girls soccer shutdown the Dos Pueblos offense en route to a 2-0 victory on Saturday.
“This was a massive game for our confidence as it was a local rivalry game and anything could’ve happened,” Royals coach Brian Ziegenhagen said. “The girls showed some great composure to win their first away match of the season.”
The Royals got out to a fast start, controlling possession of the ball and finding early scoring opportunities in the first 15 minutes.
In the 27th minute, San Marcos’ Paige Galkin received the ball down the sideline and played it into Nicolly Oh, who had a one-on-one situation with a Dos Pueblos defender.
Oh took the ball and drove it into the back of the net from outside the box to give the Royals a 1-0 lead.
Just 10 minutes later, San Marcos was awarded a penalty kick after a Charger hand ball in the box.
Leilani Venegas stepped up to the ball and slotted it into the net for her first goal of the season and the Royals’ second, bringing the lead to 2-0.
Both defenses then hunkered down for the second half, battling and preserving the 2-0 score until the final whistle sounded.
“We are starting to find our form and different players are stepping up to score in big moments, as well as defending as a whole,” Ziegenhagen said. “We are excited to keep growing and hopefully we can keep this forward momentum.”
For the Chargers, forward Maleka Wilcox and midfielder Alma Basave turned in solid efforts despite the loss.
“We will continue to improve on building from the back and hope to have a full, healthy squad for our Tuesday road game vs Oxnard,” Dos Pueblos coach Marco Medina said.
While the Chargers will be taking on Oxnard, San Marcos is set to face off against Buena on Tuesday.
