Miguel Diaz had a busy second half on Thursday at Peabody Stadium.
The Dinuba goalie was caught in the middle of Santa Barbara High’s version of the O.K. Corral, facing 14 shots — most from point-blank range — after halftime. While the Dons converted only one of those 14, it was good enough to keep their unbeaten boys soccer season alive heading into what will be the final game of the season.
Santa Barbara dominated the afternoon and won 3-0, advancing to Saturday’s SoCal Regional Championship Game at Moore High School in Downey. They’ll face Corona del Mar, which beat JSerra 3-2 on Thursday, with kickoff set for 1 p.m.
Christian Pardo scored twice in the first 10 minutes to give the Dons a nice cushion, and Justin Jimenez used his head to bury a corner kick from Jesse Gonzalez in the 42nd to cap it off. Dinuba, the CIF Central Section Division III champion, mustered only two shots on the day while Santa Barbara finished with 19.
“That really hurt us — two goals right in the beginning,” said Emperors coach Francisco Echeverria. “They’re a lot more physical than us. They’re stronger and they’re taller than us… I mean, that’s fine. It was a good experience for us.”
Santa Barbara forward Edgar Ruiz battles for the ball with a Dinuba defender.
Just like Tuesday’s 4-0 win over Arleta, the Dons scored more goals before halftime than after it — and just like Tuesday, they ended up more pleased with their performance in the second half.
“We didn’t play so well in the first half,” said Pardo. “We weren’t playing our style. We were kind of playing more individually, which isn’t our style. I mean, we have ‘nosotros’ on the back of our jerseys and we weren’t playing like it.”
Coach Todd Heil, who wasn’t particularly pleased with Tuesday’s first half despite his team taking a 3-0 lead into the intermission, agreed with Pardo.
“We kind of got the two goals and then we stopped,” he said. “I think in the first 10 minutes we played great. We were getting behind them, we were getting crosses and everything was combination and build-up, but as soon as we got the second goal everything became individual.”
When you’re 31-0-1, there’s room to be nit-picky with a 2-0 lead.
Pardo’s first goal came in the fifth minute when Fernando Alvarado took a pass just past midfield and broke down the left side, crossing one in front of the goalmouth. Pardo came streaking in from the right and put it away easily. Dinuba thought that Alvarado was offsides as the initial pass came his way, but the whistle stayed quiet.
Five minutes later, Brian Joseff juked a Dinuba defender out of his shoes and dished the ball off to Gonzalez, who was in a full sprint down the left sideline. Gonzalez had a one-on-one with Diaz but dished it across the box to Pardo, who got another easy one.
Gonzalez had five solid scoring looks in the opening 15 minutes of the second half but ended up either barely missing or being stopped by Diaz on each one. Pardo suffered the same fate on at least two attempts.
“It was fun, but really frustrating at the same time. Jesse and I both could have had some goals there,” said Pardo. “I give their goalie props. Usually they’ll bounce back off and we can finish them then, but he had good hands.”
While Diaz was seeing all the action, Dons goalie Justo Alvarado had another quiet day behind a brick-wall defense. Santa Barbara has 21 shutouts on the year.
“I can’t really tell if their goalie’s good, because their defense is good,” said Echeverria, adding that he feels Diaz is one of the best goalies in the Central Section.
“I understand that statement,” said Heil. “But when Justo’s needed to make a save he’s come up big and he’s made some very nice saves this year.”
Win or lose, Santa Barbara’s season, which began all the way back on December 1st in a 3-1 win at Oaks Christian, will end on Saturday afternoon. Pardo said that nothing will ever top the thrill of winning the CIF title in front of 8,000 people at Harder Stadium last week, but that doesn’t mean the Dons lack motivation.
“That’s in the past now. We’ll be pumped, and we’ll be ready,” he said.
