Vaqueros tie Clovis 1-1 with early goal

SBCC scored an early goal on a crisp tic-tac-toe passing sequence on Friday afternoon but Clovis rallied for a second-half goal to earn a 1-1 men's soccer tie at La Playa Stadium.

It was the second straight tie for the unbeaten Vaqueros (3-0-2), who are ranked No. 5 in the state and No. 6 in the nation. Clovis, which started its program last year, is 1-2-3.

At the 6:30 mark, Abiodun Akintioye worked a give-and-go with Matthew Wilkinson, then sent a cross from  the right end line to Ameyawu Muntari, who faked out a defender and buried it from five yards for a 1-0 lead.

Muntari leads the Vaqueros with four goals and 13 points.

Santa Barbara outshot the Crush 15-2 in the first half and 22-8 for the game. The second half shots were a lot tighter (SBCC led 7-6). Santa Barbara had eight shots on-goal and gave up three.

In the 53rd minute, the Vaqueros had a defensive mixup and Austin Garton took advantage. He flicked the ball over the head of keeper Shane Pitcock near the top of the box, then chased it down for an uncontested goal.

"We started strong, we were knocking the ball around and getting behind them," said coach John Sisterson. "We went up 1-0, then we seemed to lose our will a little bit and lost our composure. Muntari took a knock and had to come out and that disturbed our rhythm.

"But we have plenty of other players who can score. We created a lot of chances, we just couldn't finish. We're all disappointed but we'll learn from this and get better. We didn't lose the game but we do need to get back to our winning ways."

The Vaqueros had some solid scoring chances in the last 25 minutes. At the 65:40 mark, Wilkinson booted a corner to Mitchell Walker in front of the net but he misfired. Muntari left late in the first half and returned with 20 minutes to play. Walker had a header on a free kick and that narrowly went over the bar. In extra time, Jules Pasco crossed a ball to Muntari about 5 yards out but he couldn't touch the ball with a lunging right leg.

Clovis had a few chances as well, most notably in the 62nd minute when Pitcock stopped a point-blank shot by James Hernandez and in the 81st minute when Osvaldo Torneo dribbled to the left of the goal and fired a shot that rolled past the right goalpost.

The Vaqueros will host Chaffey on Tuesday at 7 p.m.