Santa Barbara’s Grace Raisin and Jessie Brummett give Dos Pueblos’ Ryann Nueshul plenty of defensive attention.
With so much going through Jordan Williams’ mind, it’s amazing she was able to make the game-saving play for Dos Pueblos on Tuesday.
The Chargers were clinging to a 6-5 lead in the final seconds when Santa Barbara’s Grace Raisin came up with a steal and had a wide open teammate streaking for the Dos Pueblos goal.
Williams was the only Dos Pueblos field player there to make a play, batting the pass away from danger letting the clock run out.
“In that moment, I saw the person in the middle and I was like, ‘I don’t have time to go swim to the middle,’ and I was like, ‘if I don’t get this then everyone’s going to be like, ‘what did you do?’ And I was like, ‘wait, it’s going to be my fault,’ so I just came up and I was like ‘it’s not happening,’ and I hit it down, and I was like, ‘thank god’.”
Williams and the Chargers preserved their 6-5 Channel League victory despite scoring just one goal in the second half.
“I just think it turned into a defensive game,” Williams said. “After it started slowing down, we were all like, ‘defense, defense, defense’.”
Williams, Olivia Kistler and Thea Nueshul scored two goals each while Petra Huebner blocked seven shots in goal.
Santa Barbara’s Kristina Garcia had a game-high three goals and nearly tied the game with her fourth goal in the final minute. Garcia’s shot beat Huebner but was waived off because the shot clock horn sounded just before the ball was released.
The Dons entered the fourth quarter trailing 6-4. An early 6-on-5 for Santa Barbara was snuffed out by the Chargers but the Dons kept getting stop after stop. With 1:46 remaining in the game, Garcia dished to Brummett who scored from five meters.
Garcia then came up with a steal on Dos Pueblos’ next possession only to have the Dons turn the ball back over to the Chargers without a shot. Siena Goggia blocked a point-blank shot for her 12th save to give Santa Barbara another chance at the game-tying goal in the final minute. That’s when the shot clock ran out on Garcia.
“I thought it was pretty risky for us to try and throw it to (Garcia),” said Dons head coach Mark Walsh. “The shot clock was getting too low to give it to her I thought. I would have preferred someone to take the shot earlier than that.”
The unranked Dons have suffered two straight one-goal losses to No. 6 San Marcos and No. 7 Dos Pueblos. Their league record is 3-3.
Dos Pueblos is 3-1 and 11-6 overall.
Santa Barbara’s Siena Goggia recorded 12 saves on Tuesday.
DOS PUEBLOS 6, SANTA BARBARA 5
Dos Pueblos 2 3 1 0 – 6
Santa Barbara 3 0 1 1 – 5
DP Goals – Kistler 2, Williams 2, T. Neushul 2.
SB Goals – Garcia 3, Brummett, Raisin.
