An early 1-1 tie stuck through a hard-fought second half Thursday as the San Marcos and Dos Pueblos boys soccer teams each walked off the Chargers’ field with a point in the Channel League standings.
Dos Pueblos coach Tovi Eliasen also walked off with a bruise after being taken down by a pair of scrambling players on the sideline late in the game.
“I think any time you have a result like this, the home team is bound to be a bit more disappointed. I think if we were the away side tonight we’d be a bit happier,” he said.
Apparently the fall had no effect on his sense, because he was right on. The Royals were much more lively in the post-game huddle than the Chargers, who seemed downtrodden.
“We got the point. So I’m happy, we’ll move on,” said Royals coach Brian Eisen.
Another factor might have been that the Chargers were coming off of the most disheartening of ties, losing a 3-1 lead in the second half on the road to Buena earlier in the week to finish with a 3-3 tie.
Both squads go up against mighty Santa Barbara next.
DP’s Rodrigo Perez opened the scoring in the 20th minute, when the ball got jammed between himself and the Royals’ keeper, spitting out to the side. He chased it down and rolled it in for the score. About 15 minutes later, San Marcos’ Alvaro Garcia sent a looping free kick from 35-yards out right into the middle, and Mike Gallop came in like a torpedo and headed it into the back of the net.
The second half was physical and high-octane, but neither team could convert. DP had two great chances late on balls played up from Luis Mendoza to Eduardo Cortez, but it was not to be.
Dos Pueblos (6-11-2, 0-1-2) suffered a big loss when standout junior midfielder Branden Tangle went down with a torn gluteal muscle, an injury which also kept him out for most of the football season.
San Marcos is now 5-8-2, 0-1-1.
