Lukas Lovgren scored twice and Brandon Garcia De La Fuente added one for good measure as the SBCC men’s soccer team defeated East L.A. at home on Friday 3-0.
The Vaqueros are now 3-1-4 on the year while East LA falls to 5-6-2.
In the final minutes of the opening half, Santa Barbara sharply moved the ball up the field, finding forward Will Demirkol with a lot of space on the right wing. He made a move down to the end line and fired a low cross in front of goal, forcing the goalkeeper off his line to try and punch it out. Luckily for SBCC, the light deflection fell right to Lovgren who was making a run to the near post, and he was able to stop his momentum and knock it with his left foot to open the scoring.
The Vaqueros carried their momentum into the second half, earning a penalty several minutes in. Lovgren would be the one to take it, firing a well-placed shot to the left post and in above the diving goalkeeper.
The home side continued to attack while staying strong on defense the rest of the way. On the break in the 74th, a ball was played across to Garcia De La Fuente as he ran towards the keeper. His first shot attempt was saved up into the air, but as four East LA defenders converged on it, the forward was able to redirect it off a defender from a difficult angle and in to make it 3-0.
Santa Barbara remains unbeaten at home this season, moving to 2-0-3 playing at La Playa Stadium. Dating back to the start of the 2021 season, the Vaqueros have dropped just one of their last 16 home matches, boasting an 11-1-4 record over that span.
SBCC will be home on Tuesday for its next contest against Citrus at 2 p.m.
Michael Jorgenson works in communications/media relations at Santa Barbara City College.
email: sports@newspress.com
