Santa Barbara High’s Pepe Barron takes on three San Marcos defenders in Saturday’s game. (Presidio Sports Photos)
Santa Barbara High and San Marcos each took home prizes from the first-ever Super Saturday Showdown, a full-day soccer showcase held at Peabody Stadium that featured six rivalry games between the two schools.
At the varsity level, Santa Barbara’s boys blanked San Marcos 2-0 before San Marcos’ girls returned the favor with a 3-1 victory.
The boys result keeps Santa Barbara in first place in the Channel League standings at 4-0, while injury-plagued San Marcos falls to 0-4.
Royals players congratulate teammate Kaitlyn Saperstein following her first-half goal.
“I don’t think it’s about who’s in first and who’s in second,” said Dons head coach Todd Heil about the matchup with the Royals. “It’s about pride. The talk for us this week was never about standings, it was about pride.”
Pepe Barron broke the ice less than a minute into the game by finishing a rebound in the box that gave Santa Barbara a 1-0 lead.
“To score in the first 30 seconds is just devastating to them. It crushes their mindset,” Barron said. “They start getting worried and defending more.”
It’s the second 2-0 shutout of the week for Santa Barbara (15-4-1) and ninth total for the season. The Dons are currently ranked No. 7 in Division 1.
The Royals had their hands full with the first-place Dons but did a better job at limiting Santa Barbara threats in the second half by being physical and keeping the Dons off balance.
“I wouldn’t say that’s our identity but I would say that we came out and played very physical today,” said Royals head coach Rob Lauderdale. “Not dirty. But I think we played very physical and to be honest I think that worked in our favor.”
Playing with less than half of their original starters from the start of the season, Lauderdale liked how his team competed with one of the best teams in Division 1.
“I told my guys today was a win,” Lauderdale said.
The Royals rebounded in the girls varsity game.
Erin Riley, Kaitlyn Saperstein, and Danielle Anderson scored for San Marcos. Riley’s lob-shot goal gave San Marcos a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute that was erased when Santa Barbara’s Erin Graf scored on a cross from Jackie Lopez in the 22nd minute.
Saperstein gave the Royals the lead for good on a free kick 22 yards straight out from the goal.
Hannah Harrah kept the Royals in front with a deflection on a hard shot from Santa Barbara’s Maisie Zimmerman. Defender Ashley Carney cleared another dangerous scoring opportunity on a corner kick that Santa Barbara’s Bailey Wolf flipped on towards the goal line.
The Royals added their insurance goal in the 72nd minute when a corner kick slipped through the box to Anderson, who, after a bounce, slammed it into the upper net with her left foot. For Anderson, it was the freshman’s first high school goal.
The result – San Marcos’ first league win – lifts the Royals (1-1-2) to one point above Santa Barbara (1-2-1) in the league standings.
“We definitely needed a confidence booster. We weren’t playing up to our full potential in our previous games and we just needed this,” said San Marcos’ Libby Brymer.
The lower-level games saw both schools fare well in the earlier games. Each went 1-1-2 in the frosh/soph and junior varsity matchups.
The two schools split the JV games, with Santa Barbara’s girls scoring a 1-0 win and San Marcos’ boys getting it back with a 1-0 result of their own.
San Marcos’ boys JV upped its record to 3-1 in league play as Neema Nabidavoodi’s first goal of the season proved to be the game-winner. Julio Flores and the Royals defense did well to keep Santa Barbara off the scoreboard. San Marcos head coach Miles Maassen singled out defenders Diego Pacheco and Alfonso Carrachure for anchoring the central defense.
San Marcos freshman Emily Pearlman races upfield for the Royals’ Frosh/Soph team on Saturday.
In the girls JV game, Chiara Bernardi provided the game-winner for the Dons in the 30th minute.
Both frosh/soph games ended in draws as the Royals were able to come from behind in both matches to earn a point.
The Royals girls team earned a 1-1 tie after freshman Emily Pearlman took a pass from Kiana Izadpahan and blasted a strong shot past the Santa Barbara keeper late in the first half.
The Dons had taken an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Mary Williams. In the second half, Dons head coach Ryan Throop credited his defensive back line of Jade Almon, Alexa Zambezi, Nina Enholm and Aylin Roman for keeping the Royals from scoring again.
In the boys game, San Marcos salvaged a draw after falling behind 3-1. Eric Gutierriez and Christian Ramirez scored in the second half to catch Santa Barbara at 3-3. Rafa Reyes scored the Royals’ first goal.
For Santa Barbara, goal scorers were Connor Egan, Leo Soltello and Alex Rodriguez.
