Erik Winnberg snapped a 1-1 tie with a rebound goal in the 50th minute Tuesday night and SBCC went on to post its first men’s soccer victory with a 2-1 win over Pasadena at La Playa Stadium.
Kebba Nyang, a freshman from Sweden, scored in the 9th minute after dribbling around a defender and the Vaqueros (1-4) led 1-0 at intermission.
Santa Barbara dominted the first half, outshooting the visitors 15-3, including 8-0 in shots on goal. For the game, SBCC won the shot battle 22-9 with a 10-3 advantage in shots on goal.
The Lancers (1-3) evened things up in the 48th minute when Luis Ramirez crossed a ball from the right and Briley Venti brought it down in the box, spun around and scored to make it 1-1.
Two minutes later, Callum Challinor did a give-and-go with Omar Montalvo and got the ball back on the left side. Challinor fired a shot that bounced off the right post and right to Winnberg, who slammed it in from 10 yards out.
“Callum hit the post and I was in the right place,” said Winnberg, a freshman from Sweden. “It feels great to get our first win … finally. Everyone worked hard and we kept moving the ball.”
SBCC got a free kick from 23 yards out in the 65th minute and Aaron Aaberg drilled a shot off the crossbar.
Pasadena’s Diego Gonzalez got a red card in the 75th minute and the Lancers played the final 15 minutes a man down. They were still able to generate chances but the Vaquero defense was up to the task.
“It was nice to get a goal ahead at halftime and then we had a quick answer when they tied it up,” said Vaquero coach John Sisterson. “We’ve been competing well in all the games we’ve played, we just sort of fell apart after making some unfortunate mistakes. But we didn’t do that today.
“We told the guys before the game, ‘We want five shots from you and five shots from you …’ We want them to go forward and be brave. I felt we were the better team tonight.”
The Vaqueros open their 16-game WSC schedule on Friday with a 4 p.m. game at Hancock.
