Dos Pueblos’ boys soccer team kept its slim Channel League title chances alive on Tuesday with a 1-0 victory at Buena.
The Chargers, 4-1-2 in league, need to beat San Marcos on Thursday before praying that Buena could pull off a huge upset – not once, but twice – against league-leading Santa Barbara.
In any case, DP clinched a CIF playoff berth with Tuesday’s victory.
“We haven’t been to playoffs in at least five years,” said Chargers head coach Tovi Eliasen, happy with his team’s achievements this season.
Eduardo Cortez gave Dos Pueblos a much-needed goal in the 77th minute to avoid the scoreless draw. Branden Tangel set up Cortez, feeding him a soft through ball that Cortez ran up on and poked by Buena’s keeper.
“It felt good when it finally went in but it took a lot of work,” Eliasen said.
The game could have gone either way up until that point as Buena had a better first half while DP came on in the second.
“Give a lot of credit to Buena, they were the better team in the first half,” Eliasen recalled. “In the second half, we came out much better.”
The Chargers produced 15 shots in the second half compared to three in the first 40 minutes of play.
“They thwarted a lot of our chances,” Eliasen said, complimenting Buena’s keeper for a couple of great saves.
DP’s Chris Castillo was the goalkeeper that recorded the shutout however.
“Will Buratto had great game on defense. He helped us keep that shutout.” noted Eliasen.
The Chargers are 10-5-6 overall.
