With the state’s No. 1 scorer in the lineup, goals don’t figure to be a problem for the SBCC men’s soccer team this season. Staying disciplined is another story.
“I think we can do something this year,” said coach John Sisterson. “I thought we should have been able to win something last year but we let it slip and the discipline went a little bit on the field.”
Seven starters return from last year’s squad that went 12-7-3 and placed second in the Western State Conference with a 9-3-2 mark. Forward Mark Knight, of Woking, England, leads a foreign contingent that includes 12 players from six countries.
Knight was the top scorer among California JC players last year with 28 goals and 61 points. He’s off to a fast start this season with three goals in two games for the Vaqueros (2-0), who will take on Riverside City College on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in La Playa Stadium. The women’s team, also 2-0, will play host to L.A. Mission at 1 p.m.
“We’ve had two good wins and what pleased me the most was the way we played in the first half at Santa Ana,” said Sisterson, whose team built a 4-0 lead last Monday en route to a 4-2 triumph.
There are five English players on the SBCC roster, including Danny Molineaux, who scored twice against Santa Ana. Waid Ibrahim, a speedster from Ghana who earned all-CIF honors at Dunn School in Los Olivos, will also cause problems for opponents.
“We have a lot of speed up top and we’ve got a lot of flair,” Sisterson noted. “We just have to be a little more disciplined. One of the difficulties is we have players from all over the world and sometimes, it’s tough to get them to play together as a unit. They have different ideas about the game.”
Sisterson describes Knight as a poacher.
“He’s there around the goal and he finds the back of the net,” said Sisterson, who also coaches the SBCC women’s team. “He’s a handful for defenses. He’s always working. … Good teams have players like that.”
According to Sisterson, many NCAA Div. 1 schools are interested in Knight, including Portland, UC Riverside, UC Irvine, Cal St. Northridge and San Diego State.
SBCC is also strong defensively. Ricky Placencia, who played at Santa Barbara High two years ago, is the starting goalkeeper. He blocked a penalty kick early in the Santa Ana match.
“We’re sound in the back,” said Sisterson. “Kasper Dyg (of Denmark) is returning and we’ve got Luke (Chambers) back after he was injured midway through last season. We’ve also got Jordan (Leeming), a tall kid who understands the game, and Beville Rose, from Kingston Jamaica, who is a very, very good athlete.”
The key to success will be how the Vaqueros handle the D-word.
“Discipline,” said Sisterson, succinctly. “We have to keep disciplined and keep the shape that we know we can play and not try to do things as individuals.”
