What a huge victory it would have been for the San Marcos boys soccer team.
Their archrivals, the Santa Barbara Dons, were 17-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state in the ESPN Rise polls.
For 12 minutes the Royals were ahead in Thursday’s Channel League matchup at Valley Stadium, but Santa Barbara buried a disputed penalty kick and awoke from its slumber to pick up a 4-1 decision.
“We took it right to ’em. We scored that early goal about eight minutes in on a beautiful cross. Set pieces is what we were aiming for, and that’s how we scored the goal,” said Royals coach Brian Eisen.
Ricky Lopez sent a free kick into the box and Erik Gutierrez put it off the crossbar and in as the Royals took the lead in the eighth minute. The San Marcos sideline erupted while Santa Barbara’s side fell dead silent.
But in the 20th minute, San Marcos was called for a hand ball in their own box and Santa Barbara was awarded a penalty kick. San Marcos goalie Efren Gutierrez tried to rattle Santa Barbara shooter Christian Pardo by saying “I see you, I see you, c’mon!” But Gutierrez guessed wrong and Pardo netted his 14th goal of the season.
“I love Efren, but I love scoring on him more,” said Pardo. “We’re on the same club team and we know each other really well, but when we’re playing against each other it’s different.”
Nine minutes later, Jesse Gonzalez took the ball on the baseline and fired a cross to the back post that ended up in the top corner of the net.
“I’m pretty sure he was crossing it, but we tell them every time that the cross has got to go to the back post and just give it a chance,” said Dons coach Todd Heil. “You can’t ask for a better ball to the back post.”
Said Eisen of Gonzalez: “That goal was first-class, and I tip my hat to Jesse. I just wish he was playing for us today.”
Gonzalez added another goal in the 69th minute to make it 3-1, and Pardo juked two San Marcos defenders out of their shoes before dishing off an easy assist to Justin Jimenez five minutes before the final whistle.
San Marcos was already dealing with an injury in the midfield, and it lost two more in the game as Michael Gallop and Israel Vega went down. Eisen didn’t agree with the penalty kick, saying it caused a huge momentum shift.
“I’m not the referee, but from my angle it looked like their player bumped into our player, who was forced to use his hand. It wasn’t deliberate,” said Eisen. “It’s a clear factor. After that goal went in, that was the momentum shifter right there. They just kept attacking and attacking.”
Heil is aware that at 18-0 with three preseason tournament titles, his team has a giant bull’s-eye on its back.
“I think we live with that bull’s-eye a lot just because of the accomplishments we’ve had with the program throughout the years, but I think the kids are getting better at dealing with it. I think one thing that helps about this year is the number of seniors we have. It helps their maturity level, that they’re able to calm down and understand what it means to have that big bull’s-eye on their back,” he said.
Pardo, who noted that he’s been playing with most of his teammates since first grade, took a mature and cautious approach to discussing a possible undefeated season.
“We haven’t accomplished anything yet. We’re 18-0, but we don’t have a CIF title so we’ve gotta just keep going,” he said.
The Royals fall to 6-4-1 overall and 0-1 in league play.
