Santa Barbara High girls soccer coach Silas Fallstitch has been removed from the position, school Athletic Director Joe Chenoweth said Friday.
The Dons played host to Camarillo on Friday evening at San Marcos and were coached by varsity assistant Bridget Thomson.
Santa Barbara was 3-3-3 going in the Camarillo match.
“Unfortunately I am not able to comment on his release,” Chenoweth told Noozhawk. “We are, however, pleased the assistant varsity coach, Bridget Thomson, has stepped in as the interim head coach.”
Fallstich, a walk-on coach, was in his second year running the program. Last season, the Dons went 4-1-1 in their last six matches to finish third in the Channel League and qualify for the CIF-SS playoffs for the first time in three years.
They won a Division 4 wild-card game 6-0 and gave top-seeded Cerritos a battle before falling 1-0 in the first round.
“I want to commend this amazing group of young ladies on an incredible season and for achieving their team goal of qualifying for CIF,” said Fallstitch after the loss to Cerritos.
Fallstitch told Noozhawk on Friday that Santa Barbara High did not tell him why he was being dismissed.
“The school is not giving me any information,” he said in an email to Noozhawk. “The only description of why I was let go was ‘Administrative Decision.’ The school is refusing to give me more information.”
Santa Barbara started the season at 0-2-1 but started putting things together. They posted five straight shutouts.
“Things were coming together very nicely,” said Fallstitch.