It’s become a holiday tradition for the Santa Barbara High boys soccer team.
The Dons won a pair of matches and advanced to semifinals of the South Torrance Holiday Soccer Tournament for the seventh straight year on Saturday. They defeated Lawndale, 2-1, and Palos Verdes, 3-1.
They’ll face El Segundo on Monday at 11 a.m.
Celso Lagunas scored two goals, Jorge Garcia Torres had a goal and an assist and Ignacio Rendon dished out a pair of assists for Santa Barbara.
Against Lawndale, Brandon Sanchez headed in a corner kick from Garcia Torres for the first goal. Tanner Mees tallied the second on a put-back shot after Lawndale failed to clear a corner kick.
In the Palos Verdes win, Peter Ruiz hit a ball over the back line and Lagunas ran behind the defense and stunned the goalkeeper with an early shot from 25 yards. Rendon’s pressure on the PV defenders forced a turnover and Garcia Torres jumped on the ball and scored the second goal three minutes into the second half. Lagunas added a third goal.
Santa Barbara improves to 8-1-1.
