Chloe Montano scored a first-half penalty kick on Tuesday and Isabella Viana added an insurance goal in the 67th minute as No. 1 SBCC downed No. 11 Canyons 2-0 in a women's soccer match at La Playa Stadium.
The Vaqueros, ranked No. 1 in California and No. 4 in the nation, won their eighth straight to improve to 8-0-1 and 4-0 at home. Canyons fell to 6-2.
Katherine Sheehy got knocked down in the box at 36:02 and Montano drilled the PK into the left side at 36:28. She's 4-4 on PKs this year and leads the team with three game-winning goals.
The Vaqueros led 1-0 at the half and the shots were 7-7. The second half was a different story as Santa Barbara was up 12-0 in shots with 12 minutes to play and finished the half with a 13-3 advantage. The Vaqueros outshot the Cougars 20-10 for the game, including 10-2 in shots on-goal.
Amber Mulligan delivered a long free kick and Riley Moore settled the ball, then passed to Viana, who scored between the keeper's legs at 66:31 for a 2-0 lead.
"Riley chested it down and I ran past the defender to create a 1-on-1 with the goalie," said Viana, a freshman forward from Quartz Hill High in Antelope Valley. "We really dominated the second half. We work really hard to play our game and when we do that, the goals will come."
Montano hit the crossbar in the 52nd minute and banged one off the left post in the 54th.
"We played well in the first half and even better in the second," said coach John Sisterson. "At halftime, we reinforced to the girls to keep doing the things they do well and to keep going forward. We hit the bar, we hit the post and we finally got another goal from Bella."
Viana has a team-leading six goals and she's tied for the scoring lead with Montano at 13 points.
It was the sixth shutout for GK Holly Telliard and the defense. The Vaqueros have posted shutouts in five of the last six games and have outscored their opponents 22-3 for the season.
"This was a good win against a good Canyons team," Sisterson noted. "We've beaten some highly ranked teams in Chaffey and Canyons and we didn't concede a goal to either one."
SBCC travels to Santa Monica for its final nonconference game on Tuesday, Oct. 3 at 2 p.m.
