Santa Barbara High’s Brandon Garcia takes a shot in Friday’s game. (John Dvorak/Presidio Sports Photos)
Starting in the third minute of Friday’s non-league clash with Santa Ynez, the goals flowed liberally for Santa Barbara High in a 6-0 victory.
Jorge Garcia Torres put the Dons on the scoreboard before the players had broken a sweat by converting a penalty kick less than three minutes from the opening kickoff. Torres drew the penalty kick himself and added two assists on later Santa Barbara goals.
“I love how we started the game,” said Santa Barbara High head coach Todd Heil. “I loved Jorge getting behind the defense and creating the PK, that he did was excellent on his part.”
Alejandro Munoz-Briones made it 2-0 in the 11th minute when he used his hip to redirect a centering pass from Torres. Munoz-Briones was left unmarked and skillfully aimed the shot past Santa Ynez’s diving keeper.
Santa Ynez evened play for most of the rest of the half but the Dons gained a three-goal lead in the 39th minute as Abraham Sierra outhustled a defender to a long pass and blasted a powerful shot into the upper right corner of the net.
The second half started similar to the first in that the Dons wasted no time getting the ball into the net. Luis Alfaro made it 4-0 in the 42nd minute.
From there it was the Owen Lambe show. The sophomore center midfielder scored twice on well-taken shots from outside the 18-yard box in the 64th and 69th minutes. The first was set up by a backwards pass from Sierra and the second came when a Dons corner kick was partially cleared to Lambe 40 yards from the goal. He took a few dribbles before uncorking a ferocious riser that proved to be on target.
“Owen had a great weekend up at the Cats and Hounds Tournament,” Heil said. “He’s just picked it up right where he left off. He had a great game against Arroyo Grande and he had a great game tonight.”
Despite being without senior leaders Brandon Sanchez and Juan Zarate, the Dons managed to score a season high.
“We’re trying to get a lot of these young guys a lot of minutes and to get a win like this is really important,” Heil said.
Daniel Pacheco recorded the shutout in goal for Santa Barbara, the Dons’ fifth of the year.
Santa Barbara improves to 5-1-1 plays again on Monday versus Lompoc.
