The game’s high scorer with four goals, Blake Parrish, receives a pass in transition in front of Gio Goggia and the Santa Barbara cage. (Presidio Sports Photos)
Somebody’s undefeated league season had to come to an end on Tuesday. Santa Barbara High made sure it wasn’t the Dons.
Cristian Bridley and Evan Robertson both recorded hat tricks for Santa Barbara in a 14-8 decision over Dos Pueblos.
The Dons, ranked No. 3 in Division 2, never trailed against the sixth-ranked Chargers.
“I think we definitely played really well as a team, helped back, definitely communicated really well. And we’ve been practicing that so it’s great to see in a game,” said Dons goalkeeper Gio Goggia.
Goggia said the Dons are looking to finish league play undefeated. They are half-way there at 4-0.
After Robertson and Connor McManigal scored early to give the Dons a 2-0 lead, Dos Pueblos’ Blake Parrish tied the game with two of his game-high four goals.
But Santa Barbara tightened its play and shut out the Chargers from there through halftime. The Dons took a 6-2 lead in that time.
“That gave us a lot of momentum. We wanted to keep that lead. We know they can easily come back,” Bridley explained.
In the second half, Dos Pueblos was able to add to the scoreboard again but allowed Santa Barbara to do more of the same.
Cristian Bridley fires a shot towards Emil Huebner and the Dos Pueblos cage.
“The things that we’ve been working on didn’t materialize until later in the game and you can’t spot Santa Barbara a 6-2 lead at halftime,” said Dos Pueblos head coach Chris Parrish.
Bridley scored two of his three goals in the fourth quarter to help put the game away.
“Our whole thing was to just keep going, keep pushing, trying to ramp up the score so we had it secured,” Bridley said.
Robertson added three assists and two steals to his three goals. Preston Schlagel led the Dons with four assists and scored twice.
Grant Schroeder and Quinn Peacock both had two goals for Dos Pueblos, adding to Parrish’s four.
The two teams, which shared the Channel League title last season, play again at Dos Pueblos in the last game of the league season.
Parrish tried to play down any expectations of his team winning a third straight league title.
“Santa Barbara’s a lot better than we are,” Parrish said. “They’re just a lot better than we are. They’re deeper and we can’t play with them. So in the next match, we’ll have to do something miraculous.”
SANTA BARBARA 14, DOS PUEBLOS 8
DP 2 0 3 3 – 8
SB 4 2 4 4 – 14SB Goals: Robertson 3, Bridley 3, Schlagel 2, McManigal 2, Hunter 2, Matthews, Loomis
SB Goalie Saves: Goggia 7, Johnson 3
DP Goals: Parrish 4, Schroeder 2, Peacock 2
DP Goalie Saves: Huebner 4
