Dos Pueblos' Blake Parrish gets up to take a shot against Dana Hills. (Vince Agapito Photos)
A long bus ride for visiting Dana Hills seemed to have no effect as the Dolphins jumped on Dos Pueblos and scored in the first minute of the first and second quarters en route to a 7-5 victory.
Dos Pueblos never led, but was never far behind and found ways to score despite being pushed out of its comfort zone by Dana Hills.
During the regular season, the Chargers went 7-1 in the Channel League, and earned a share of the title with Santa Barbara. The top seed from the league was given to Santa Barbara by way of a coin flip. Dana Hills finished second in the South Coast league.
After trailing 2-0 in the second quarter, Nic Lum scored on a counter attack set up by goalie Philip Bates. The Dolphins responded and regained a two-goal lead, but Bates set up another counter attack and Lum scored his second goal of the quarter with just 46 seconds left in the half.
“Overall we’re not a spectacular counter attack team, we don’t really punish people when they make mistakes on offense,” head coach Chris Parrish said about his team’s unexpected success in transition.
After a back-and-forth start to the third quarter, Dos Pueblos’ Graham Young was ejected, and Dana Hills took immediate advantage of the 6-on-5 and scored just seconds after play resumed.
DP Goalie Phillip Bates with a save against Dana Hills.
Young would atone for his mistake just 30 seconds later with a scrappy play in which he fought off a Dolphin defender in front of the goal, and scored on a backhand sweep shot.
Dana Hills responded just a minute later as hole set Sam Pfeil overpowered the Charger defense a scored to push the lead to 5-3. Dos Pueblos continued to make use of the counter attack as Blake Parrish received another long pass from Bates to bring his team within one goal with 21 seconds left in the third period.
Lum had easily won the first three swim-offs, and Dana Hills did not even attempt to beat him at the start of the fourth quarter. The Chargers took advantage of the lack of agreession for the Dolphins and Grant Schroeder scored just 22 seconds into the final period to tie the game at 5-5.
Dos Pueblos was poised to take its first lead of the night, but the Dolphins settled down and set up their offense, opening up a shot for Cade Montgomery who put his team ahead for good.
Shortly after, Spencer Likins converted on a five meter penalty shot to push the score to 7-5, where it would stay.
“We weren’t able to score. We don’t have a whole lot of outside shooters, and the guys they left open, it was smart on their part, were reluctant to shoot and when they did shoot they were wide of the cage,” Parrish said. “They just did a great job defensively against us.”
Dana Hills will continue its run in the CIF Divison I playoffs.
Dos Pueblos was eliminated and ends its season with the home loss. After a slow start to the year, the Chargers came together and had an excellent Channel League campaign, with its only loss coming against co-league champion Santa Barbara. Dos Pueblos finished the season with a 15-12 overall record.
