SANTA BARBARA, CA – Hosting Citrus on Tuesday, the SBCC men's soccer team more than doubled its season-high in goals in the first half alone, dominating from start-to-finish in an 8-0 win.
Unbeaten in six straight contests, the Vaqueros improve to 4-1-4 on the year while Citrus falls to 2-4-3.
HOW IT HAPPENED
1st HALF – SBCC 7, Citrus 0
Lukas Lovgren 12', 26', 35', 45'
Will Demirkol 17', 22'
Bart Muns 38'
Santa Barbara's defense continually dispossessed the Owls all over the field, leading to a constant flurry of opportunities on offense. Whether they timed their runs in central positions or out wide, the Vaqueros cut through the Citrus back line with ease, forcing goalkeeper Alberto Orozco off his line on numerous occasions.
Forward Lukas Lovgren got his first goal of the day around the 12-minute mark. Orozco had made two great saves, but there was no one to clear the ball out and Lovgren scored on SBCC's third attempt in under five seconds. Five minutes later, Citrus earned a free kick on the attacking front, but it quickly turned to disaster for the Owls as the Vaqueros found themselves quickly on the break. Joep Wouters Van den Oudenweijer sent a good ball forward to forward Will Demirkol, who fired in a low shot to the far post.
Several minutes later, the Owls were dispossessed in midfield and it quickly turned into a 2-on-1 breakaway, with Muns forcing the goalkeeper to commit before dropping it off to Demirkol on his right side for an easy goal to make it 3-0.
Lovgren would score two more goals in the span of about eight minutes, both of which required just one touch. Demirkol assisted Lovgren's 26th minute goal with a pass from the right wing, as Lovgren blasted a shot high and hard inside the far post from about six yards out.
On the next one, Demirkol sent a beauty through to Timo Jansen with the outside of his foot. The defense fell behind hoping for an offside call, but the flag was never raised and Jansen beat the keeper to find Lovgren for a tap it in, securing his first half hat trick.
Forward Bart Muns got in on the action a few minutes later. Wouters connected with Jansen on a sharp 1-2 before finding Muns with a well-timed run, and he slotted it inside the near post with a left-footed strike putting the Vaqueros up 6-0.
Not long before halftime, SBCC scored once again, with a long ball from Sasha Halibi finding Lovgren who overpowered a Citrus center back before lofting a cheeky chip over and in for his fourth goal of the opening 45 minutes.
2nd HALF – SBCC 8, Citrus 0
Gino Contreras 67'
SBCC's lineup was almost entirely swapped out for the second half, providing some valuable playing time for the bench. Goalkeeper Daniel Baradaran was called upon to make one big save to maintain the Vaqueros' clean sheet and Gino Contreras scored his first goal as a Vaquero on a penalty in the 67th minute.
⚽️ SBCC Men's Soccer simply couldn't be stopped on Tuesday, scoring its most goals in years in an 8-0 home win over Citrus!
— SBCCVaqueros (@SBCCVaqs) October 4, 2022
Lukas Lovgren led the team with 4 goals, all of which were scored in the 1st half ��
✍️RECAP: https://t.co/aaVae45vui pic.twitter.com/6UaJlEI9dp
NOTABLE
- Santa Barbara has now shutout back-to-back opponents for the first time this year.
- The eight goals were the most the Vaqueros have scored since at least the 2013 season.
- Lukas Lovgren doubled his goal total for the season today, now with eight on the year. He now trails Bart Muns (9) by just one goal for the team-lead and is tied with Joep Wouters with an SBCC-high four assists.
NEXT UP
The Vaqs will now begin a run of four straight games on the road, starting with Friday, October 7's non-conference finale at Glendale beginning at 7:30 p.m.
