Brittany Prentice had four goals and Riley Heiduk five steals in San Marcos’ 10-6 Channel League victory over Dos Pueblos on Wednesday.
In a battle of top-10 teams in CIF, the Royals never trailed while improving their unbeaten league record to 2-0. San Marcos (10-1, 2-0) holds the No. 6 ranking in Division 1 and Dos Pueblos (8-2, 1-1) is No. 8.
San Marcos’ defense limited the Chargers to three goals through the first three quarters.
“Our press was pretty good. I thought Paige Hauschild was phenomenal defensively on Ryann (Nueshul),” said Royals head coach Chuckie Roth, who credited goalie Jenna Phreaner with covering up many of the defensive lapses that did occur.
After Dos Pueblos’ Grace Heck scored the first goal of the second period, tying the game at 2-2, San Marcos converted three-straight goals to close out the first half.
San Marcos continued pressing in the third quarter, successfully getting Dos Pueblos into foul trouble, and pushed the lead to 7-2. Prentice netted the third quarter’s first goal at the 4:30 mark off an assist from Paige Hauschild. Heiduk made it 7-2 with 1:53 on the clock.
“I was really frightened to come in here and play in their pool and have them pop in a couple three-goals runs on us without any comeback, and that happened I think almost twice in the game,” said Dos Pueblos head coach Chris Parrish. “We were able to steal two back at the end, but it was kinda garbage time.”
From that point on, Dos Pueblos outscored the Royals 4-3. Ryann Neushul and Toni Shackelford scored two goals each for the Chargers, who lost for just the second time this season in 10 games. Thea Neushul and Heck rounded out DP’s scoring column. Ryann Neushul also drew four ejections and a penalty shot.
The foul trouble took its toll on the Chargers. Brittany Tisdale was tagged with two quick ejections in the first quarter and sat until the second half. Jordan Williams fouled out in the third quarter and Whitney Steidl did the same in the fourth quarter.
“It’s kind of hard to recover from those losses,” Parrish said.
Petra Huebner stopped nine shots defending the cage for Dos Pueblos.
San Marcos’ Phreaner made 12 saves in the first three quarters. Sophie Trumbull saved four shots playing the fourth quarter.
“She doesn’t think she’s as good as I think she is,” Phreaner said. “It’s good when she gets some time and it was good to get some separation in the score so that we could play her and give her some experience.”
Both teams play next on Friday at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions. The Royals face Santa Margarita first while Dos Pueblos takes on Los Alamitos.
San Marcos goalie Jenne Phreaner prepares for a shot from Dos Pueblos’ Ryann Neushul. (Presidio Sports Photos)
SAN MARCOS 10, DOS PUEBLOS 6
Dos Pueblos 1 1 1 3 — 6
San Marcos 2 3 2 3 — 10
DP Goals – R. Neushul 2, Shackelford 2, Heck 1, T. Neushul 1
SM Goals – Prentice 4, Heiduk 2, Coski 1, Hauschild 1, Gellert 1, Bergthold 1.
DP Goalie Saves – Huebner 9
SM Goalie Saves – Phreaner 12, Trumbull 4
