Dos Pueblos and Santa Barbara met at the Buena Tournament for the second year in a row on Friday, with the Dons getting the better go of it with a 1-0 result.
Both teams won games earlier in the day to advance to the 5th place game. Last year, Santa Barbara triumphed in a shootout to take home the tournament title.
Alfredo Ibarra’s second goal of the day and sixth on the season ended up the game winner. Jelan Hutton assisted on the score, which came 10 minutes into the second half.
“It was a pretty even game,” said Dons head coach Todd Heil.
Ibarra recorded his fifth goal of the season earlier in the day in another 1-0 win for the Dons. Ibarra’s goal in the 7th minute stood up against Rio Mesa.
Dos Pueblos came from two goals down to win in their first game of the day. The Chargers avenged an earlier loss to Oxnard by getting back at the Yelllowjackets with a 3-2 decision.
Oxnard scored the game’s first two goals but Dos Pueblos found a way to fight back with three goals in the second half. Omar Montalvo, Lalo Arce and Tim Heiduk found the back of the net for DP. Senior Henry Wakamya assisted on Montalvo’s goal in his first game of the season.
Heiduk’s goal was not only the game-winner but it was also the freshman’s first high-school goal. Michael Sazani took a corner kick that connected with Heiduk for the header.
“We knew it was an elimination-type game for us so we had to creat some offense, so we ended up changing shape a little bit,” said Chargers head coach Matt York.
After the tournament, Dos Pueblos and Santa Barbara can look to next week’s start of Channel League play.
The Chargers meet San Marcos on Tuesday while the Dons (10-4-3) take on Buena on Thursday.
