On Sophomore Night, a pair of sophomores combined for both goals as SBCC upset No. 6 San Bernardino Valley 2-0 on Friday in its women's soccer regular-season finale at La Playa Stadium.
It was the first loss of the year for San Bernardino Valley (14-1-6), which has 15 shutouts and had blanked its last eight opponents. SBVC outscored its first 20 opponents 69-6.
The Wolverines are co-champions of the Foothill League while the Vaqueros captured the WSC North title on Tuesday.
Midfielder Hannah Martin scored on a pair of left-footed blasts in the 59th and 71st minutes with Jackie Hollmer assisting on both goals. The Vaqueros (14-3-4) won their eighth straight game and kept their home record perfect (9-0).
"Hannah passed it to me, I passed it through two defenders and she ran onto the ball," said Hollmer, recounting the first goal. "It feels really good to win this game. It was a fun game to play."
Both goals deflected in off the keeper from about 25 yards out.
"We played really well, we came out super strong," said Martin, a 5-10 sophomore from Newburyport, MA. "We were expecting a lot from this team, we knew they were good."
SBCC outshot the visitors 9-4 in the first half, including 5-1 in shots on goal, but the game was scoreless after 45 minutes. Vaquero sophomore Madison Shaw was tripped in the box in the 39th minute, leading to a penalty kick by Laura Romero. She fired the ball to the top middle but Gonzales jumped up and knocked it over the crossbar.
In the 45th minute, SBCC goalie Karin Nordin made a leaping save on a shot by Jenny Guyet. It was the fourth shutout in the last five games for the Vaqueros. Nordin has nine of her team's 10 shutouts.
For the game, Santa Barbara won the shot battle 20-11 and dominated in shots on goal, 13-2. The Wolverines didn't get a shot on goal until the closing minutes of each half.
"It was a very competitive game, it was unfortunate that we didn't lead at halftime," said SBCC coach John Sisterson. "We created lots of chances but I was disappointed that the forwards hadn't put us ahead. I told them to be brave and go and score some goals.
"We'd heard in the warm-ups that they were having problems with the turf playing so fast. We told our players to hit the target and keep the ball on the floor. That's just what we did on the two goals. We moved the ball around very well in the second half."
The Vaqueros moved up to No. 5 in the state and No. 3 in Southern Cal in the CC Soccer News power rankings. They're expected to get a home game in the first round of the Southern Cal Regional on Saturday, Nov. 22. The pairings will be announced on Tuesday.
SBCC is making its fifth straight trip to the Regional and eighth in nine years.
