Wolverines blank Vaqueros 2-0 in season opener

San Bernardino Valley took advantage of a pair of SBCC mistakes to blank the Vaqueros 2-0 on Friday in the season-opening men's soccer match at La Playa Stadium.

Tony Vallejo scored from 15 yards on an assist from Hector Hernandez at the 15:40 mark and the Wolverines led 1-0 at the half. SBCC outshot the visitors 9-4 in the opening half and 7-3 in shots on goal.

SBCC had a handful of chances to tie it up with Callum Challinor getting stopped from close range in the 13th minute and goalie Sergio Torres making a diving save on a free kick by William Joyce in the 33rd minute.

The visitors made it 2-0 early in the second half when a ball rolled through the legs of an SBCC defender and Fred Zaragoza was all alone, beating the keeper on a 14-yard shot at the 53:10 mark.

"We conceded two goals on two mistakes," said 10th-year coach John Sisterson. "The first one we didn't deal with a ball in the air and the second one went under our defender's feet and that was unfortunate.

"We created good chances but we couldn't convert. We need to play with grit and play hard and that just wasn't there today. I thought the young boys, Jessie Jimenez of Dos Pueblos and Carlos Espinoza, both played well. As a unit, our sophomores need to step up."

The Vaqueros had another solid scoring chance in the 87th minute when Victor Chavez, a freshman forward from Garden Street Academy flicked the ball over the goalie's head but it was cleared away by a defender.

The Vaqueros travel to L.A. Harbor on Tuesday and will play at an off-campus site to be determined. After that, SBCC will play five of its next six at home, starting with a Sept. 6 date vs. Taft at 2 p.m.