The Santa Barbara Soccer Club’s boys under-17 team suffered a 2-1 defeat to the Arlington, Va. Impact in the semifinals of the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships on Saturday in Tulsa, Okla.
Arlington scored late in the first half off a corner kick and picked up its second goal in the 63rd minute.
Santa Barbara SC missed a good scoring chance just before halftime.
In the second half, SBSC pushed forward to find the equalizer, but Arlington’s defense came up up big and closed down the attacks.
Arlington’s second goal came after a SBSC turnover.
Tim Heiduk scored for Santa Barbara in the 83rd minute.
In the final minutes, SBSC had two good looks at goal on corner kicks that were served by Giovanny Acosta. On the first corner kick, Acosta found Peter Kargbo, whose header went wide of the far post. On the another corner kick to the far post, SBSC was unable to get anyone to the ball as it sailed across the goal.
“Today, we did not have a good day in the attacking third of the field we did not connect and get numbers forward as well as we could have and this cost big time,” coach Rudy Ybarra said.
He added: “The team has been to the Final Four four times running, which is a great accomplishment. We are proud of these boys. With good work and commitment, I am sure they can return to nationals in 2016.”
