The 2009-2010 scholastic sports year arrived on Wednesday night as Santa Barbara City College and Westmont played a hard-fought and surprisingly well-attended men’s soccer scrimmage under the lights at La Playa Stadium.
No official score was kept and the scoreboard wasn’t even on, but the Vaqueros pulled out a 4-1 victory nonetheless and controlled the pace of play for most of the match.
Both programs set the bar high last season, as SBCC won the Western State Conference title with a 20-5-0 record thanks to prolific scorer Mark Knight, who scored 31 goals with 19 assists. He is now at Louisville on scholarship.
“You’re not gonna make over Mark Knight. He’s an unusual sort of player — not one of the best players in practice, but he knew how to find the back of the net,” said head coach John Sisterson. “But I would think this year, technically, the individuals we have might be a little better than last year’s squad. We’re looking for the goals to be spread around a little bit more.”
CLICK HERE TO VISIT WESTMONT’S TEAM PAGE
CLICK HERE TO VISIT SBCC’S TEAM PAGE
Westmont had a remarkable 2008 campaign, at least down the stretch. The Warriors finished sixth in the Golden State Athletic Conference but inspirationally surged all the way to the national quarterfinals after the Tea Fire ravaged the campus and destroyed coach Dave Wolf’s house.
“We finished sixth in our conference but made it to the national quarterfinals. I think the truth of who we are is somewhere right in the middle of that,” said Wolf. “I think momentum and confidence are part of the make-up of this team, but I also think there also has to be a real sense of reality. I think we got that tonight.”
The scrimmage was divided into three 30-minute thirds, and SBCC got on the non-existent scoreboard first when former Santa Barbara High star Peter Aguilar sent a cross in to Guillermo Gonzales, who headed it in for the first goal.
Westmont responded about 10 minutes into the second period when Hugo Pizano blasted a beautiful free kick from about 20 yards out into the top corner of the net.
The Vaqueros took the lead soon after when Gonzales assisted Daniel Rodriguez to make it 2-1. Sam Nicholson then dribbled by as the Westmont goalkeeper made a diving stop attempt in the box and scored SBCC’s third goal. Kalun Horne tallied the final goal of the night close to the final whistle.
Although it was a scrimmage, things got physical and chippy at the end as two players had to be separated by teammates at midfield.
“We’ve got to remember it’s a scrimmage. We don’t want anything silly to happen,” said Sisterson. “We respect Westmont and they respect us. It’s a physical and competitive game, but it doesn’t need to get out of hand.”
Wolf agreed, but also noted that there is something to take from seeing the early emotion.
“I think it shows players fighting until the end of the game… It shows that they’re going to play and compete the full 90 minutes no matter what,” he said.
The Warriors return a host of players, and also have an interesting addition in Daniel Torres. The former Santa Barbara High and SBCC standout is married with two children and was the coach of Carpinteria High’s boys team last year, but enrolled at Westmont and joined the team just about a month ago.
“It’s kind of interesting because I ran into him at a t-ball game where our sons were both playing. That’s a little bit unconventional in the recruiting world,” said Wolf. “It’s a really neat story and we’re excited that he’s gonna get a chance to play and more excited that he’s gonna get a chance to get a degree from Westmont.”
The Warrior women play UCSB in a scrimmage at Harder Stadium on Thursday at 7 p.m.
do you guys have any more pictures from this game?
do you guys have any more pictures from this game?
do you guys have any more pictures from this game?