San Marcos’ Tasha Wood and Dos Pueblos’ Idalis Rodriguez rub shoulders in Thursday’s Channel League game. (Presidio Sports Photos)
Patience paid off for Dos Pueblos on Thursday as the Chargers defeated San Marcos 2-0 in a Channel League contest.
The Chargers stuck with their game plan well into the second half before sophomore Anya Schmitz gave Dos Pueblos a 1-0 lead in the 53rd minute. In the 68th minute, Dos Pueblos took a 2-0 lead when Idalis Rodriguez finished. Both goals came off of long throw-ins by Malia Morales.
“At halftime that’s what we said, ‘be patient, be patient, be patient’,” said Chargers head coach Hugh Hollis. “And I really felt like if we got one, the game would open up and we would get more because I thought we were in control of the game for long portions of it.”
The Chargers are in first place in the Channel League with a 3-0-1 record. San Marcos falls to 1-2-0.
San Marcos’ Chloe Hamer leaps over Dos Pueblos’ Becca Buratto.
“We knew this was going to be a tough game coming in and we just liked the effort that all the girls put in tonight, they played 110 percent and they really wanted to win,” Hollis said.
Again the throw-in was Dos Pueblos’ best weapon. Anytime the Chargers, who have scored five of their past 10 goals on throw-in plays, were awarded a throw-in in the Royals’ defensive third, Morales gave them an opportunity to score.
“We know it’s one of our strengths. We’ve been practicing it,” Hollis said.
The Royals cleared several of the long throws until Schmitz’s goal. They could not stop them all.
“A lack of communication was our downfall,” said Royals head coach Macie Berlin. “We just didn’t work together and you’re not going to win games if you don’t work together.”
San Marcos’ best stretch came in the first five minutes after halftime coming out of the break with more energy. Chloe Hamer and Olivia Jones combined on a give and go that produced a shot on goal, then a corner kick connected with Tasha Wood but without much force and Dos Pueblos goalie Paige Mathison picked it up.
The Chargers changed the complexion of the game soon after that with its pair of goals.
“I think that’s the most disappointing thing is that we’ve shown the type of team that we can be when everyone plays together. So to come out and play so discombobulated is really disappointing because they haven’t done that,” Berlin said.
The Royals can rebound on Saturday in their game at Santa Barbara at 5 p.m.
Hollis noted that the Chargers were able to go extra strong during the second half knowing they didn’t have to play until next Thursday.
