SBCC captured its second straight WSC men’s soccer title last Friday but that didn’t guarantee the Vaqueros a home game in the first round of the Southern Cal Regional. Ironically, they have to travel to second-place Canyons on Saturday for a 7 p.m. game.
Canyons (12-6-2) was seeded eighth, one spot in front of the Vaqueros (9-6-5). Santa Barbara went 1-0-1 against the Cougars this year. The pairings are based on a power-point system that takes into account the opponent’s strength of schedule, the records and if you won at home or on the road.
“That’s the power-point system,” said coach John Sisterson. “The guys are looking forward to playing Canyons again. We haven’t lost to them this year and we had players injured when we tied them at their place. Those players are healthy now.”
SBCC beat Canyons 3-1 on Oct. 16 thanks to a hat trick by Danny Molineaux (7 goals, 5 assists) and tied them 1-1 on Nov. 10 in Santa Clarita.
The winner of Saturday’s match will travel to top-seeded Rio Hondo on (17-1-3) on Nov. 24.
SBCC’s women’s soccer team (10-4-6) was ranked 17th and missed the final playoff berth by five-thousandths of a point.
