Flushed from the grassy field of Peabody Stadium, Santa Barbara High’s boys soccer team was forced to play its home opener on the turf of SBCC’s La Playa Stadium on Friday because of the rain.
Slow to adjust, the Dons came to in the second half with three goals to pocket a 4-1 victory over Santa Ynez.
“We’re not used to (turf), we’re used to the grass field,” commented Dons head coach Todd Heil. “But at the same time, it’s a good surface to play on with our style of play.”
Santa Barbara’s Luis Santana attempts a bicycle kick in Friday’s game against Santa Ynez. The shot went wide.
Jesse Gonzales led the Dons to nine first-half shots on goal to Santa Ynez’s zero, but the Dons could only muster a goal on a penalty kick drawn by Christian Pardo. Gonzalez knocked in the PK cleanly to give Santa Barbara a 1-0 halftime lead.
Santa Ynez evened the score at 1-1 in the 60th minute on a goal from Javier Buenrostro, who surprised the Dons’ goalie with a shot-on-goal from 45 yards out.
“Right after they scored, we kind of woke up and decided ‘let’s go,'” said Sanford Spivey, responsible for Santa Barbara’s third goal.
Gonzalez assisted on Santa Barbara’s next two goals, connecting with the heads of both Spivey and Marcos Lopez on free kicks.
“There were a couple of guys in the middle and I just slid across and tried to head it down into the ground so we could have a chance and it bounced in,” Spivey described.
Pardo extended the lead by finishing a nice combination with Luis Santana to give the Dons a 4-1 lead.
Santa Barbara has now won seven straight games to start the season while outscoring its opponents 28-3.
“They’re very talented , they have skills in all positions,” credited Pirates head coach Alex Uribe. “I think at times, because of our inexperience, we got intimidated today. And I think that we need to fix that.”
Santa Ynez falls to 0-5 and hosts San Marcos on Tuesday.
The Dons have a week off before playing again next Friday at home against St. Francis.
“Hopefully home-home,” joked Heil.
