The Glendale Vaqueros went up against Santa Barbara’s Vaqueros in a division match in the Western State Conference Friday night at Sartoris Field, and the outcome wasn’t pretty.
Glendale lost 4-0, dropping their record to 0-3-1. Last season they fell to SBCC in the final moments of the match, 2-1. Feelings of revenge before the game might have been on players’ minds, but the match turned out to be a disappointment.
Immediately after kick off, Glendale came out aggressive and intense, hustling towards the ball and challenging every opportunity. Yet 10 minutes into the game, the match turned into a battle of field position. While Santa Barbara’s goalie was mostly busy yelling ball locations for his teammates, Glendale’s goalie Edwin Cabrera was flying left and right and up and down, fighting off shot attempts.
“We have unfortunately suffered some lapse of focus where we have struggled with teams that we really shouldn’t be struggling with,” said assistant Coach Laura Matsumoto.
Glendale struggled with ball movement. Every chance they had on offense they were immediately surrounded by Santa Barbara’s players. Glendale failed to be creative with the attack. They didn’t manage to get any proper crosses and struggled to have successful drives.
Every chance they got, they would would come in from the sides and forcefully attempt to drive it in, forgetting to pass the ball to oncoming teammates. Glendale failed to take any shots on target for the whole game but managed to get one shot way off, high to the right of the goal in the first half.
The four goals scored by SBCC were split. The first two goals were in the 11th minute and another in the seventh minute, concluding the first half. After the halftime break, it was noticeable that Glendale’s attitude to the game didn’t change. While Santa Barbara was moving the ball playing in a paced rhythm, Glendale played as if they were alone on the field.
Sophomore defenders Juan Castro and Efrain Molina were busy fighting off the waves of attacks from Santa Barbara, controlling the whole game. Santa Barbara finished the second half with two more goals within three minutes. The last goal was a free kick directly over three Glendale players.
It seemed as if Glendale left their sportsmanship in the locker room. Receiving two yellow charges in the second half, freshman midfielder Eduardo Quevedo and defender Rudis Lazo were both booked with yellow cards, which were the only bookings for the game.
“We’re suffering from a lot of things. One of the issues we’re facing is being too passive and not playing disciplined soccer,” said Matsumoto.
Facing the defending WSC champions is no easy task, but not committing to performance seemed to be the issue for Glendale. Last season, Glendale finished with a record of 7-6-1 in the WSC, so they know what its like to win; they just have to return to that mentality.
“We have one of the most talented teams individually, now it’s a matter of taking that and making it collectively work,” said Matsumoto.
Glendale plays at Citrus College on Saturday at 4 p.m.
