Alea Hyatt scored on a brilliant individual effort and had game-tying chance bang off the cross bar, and Santa Barbara High fell short of a CIF playoff berth as it lost at league-champion Buena, 2-1, in the Channel League girls soccer finale on Thursday.
Down 2-1 with less than 10 minutes to play, Santa Barbara pushed forward and create a couple of great scoring opportunities. Hyatt ripped a shot off the cross bar and the ball came straight down, but the referee ruled it didn’t cross the goal line.
“It was impossible to see from our angle whether it was in or not, and with the two man referring system that our league uses, it is hard for them to make those calls as well,” said Santa Barbara coach Jill Wolf. ” The girls continued to battle all the way to the final whistle. They played an amazing game and some wonderful soccer this season.”
Hyatt gave the Dons a 1-0 lead five minutes into the game. She beat three defenders on the dribble before smashing a shot into the far corner of the goal.
Buena came out strong the second half and found the equalizer on a rocket of a shot in the first 10 minutes of the half. The Bulldogs scored the eventual game-winner in the 70th minute.
Wolf said her team played a lot of close games this season.
“We didn’t win as many games as we would have liked, each loss was by one goal,” she said. “But they played great and should be very proud of the way they performed and conducted themselves on the field this year. I know (assistant coach) Mark (Hyatt) and I are.”
