The ball stayed on the ground for most of the match between SBCC and visiting San Bernardino Valley College. The Vaqueros, however, didn’t handle it for much of Tuesday night in a 1-1 draw at La Playa Stadium.
Santa Barbara struggled to sustain possession and found itself racing back to thwart speedy counterattacks by the Wolverines for most of the second half. Thanks to some solid play from centerback Roberto Santana and a couple of big saves by goalkeeper Yonha Adrabi, the Vaqueros (2-0-2) avoided their first loss of the season.
“I thought we were always chasing the game … we were chasing shadows, We just couldn’t pass the ball tonight,” a disappointed SBCC coach John Sisterson said. “That’s one game I am pleased the 90 minutes are over and look forward to a training session and put things right.”
The Vaqueros took 1-0 lead near the end of the first half when Peter Aguilar took a short pass from Jordan Tabor and ripped a left-footed shot from 21 yards that hit the underside of the crossbar and ricocheted over the goal-line.
SBCC couldn’t carry the momentum from the goal into the second half.
“It was a very frustrating game,” Santana said. “The guys didn’t come out mentally prepared.”
San Bernardino equalized in the 54th minute. Santana headed a corner kick out of the box, but the ball landed at the feet of Wolverine midfielder Kevin Real and he beat SBCC goalkeeper Yonha Adrabi with a left-footed blast to the far post from 20 yards.
The Wolverines almost took the lead five minutes later when Mario Villafana broke through the middle of the defense and into the SBCC box. Fortunately for the Vaqueros, Villafana hit his shot over the crossbar.
The hard work of Santa Barbara’s Davies Kabogoza generated a good scoring chance in the 90th minute. He got the ball to John-Joe Slater, but Slater hit his shot wide.
San Bernardino (4-0-2) almost won it in the final seconds, but Juan Nuno just missed his header off a beautiful cross from Marco Moreno.
“The pleasing thing was we didn’t lose and four good players had good games and carried the rest of the team,” Sisterson said. “There are 11 players out there that have to perform as a team.”
