Ventura holds off hard-charging Vaqueros for 3-2 win

Ventura scored three goals in a 17-minute span of the first half on Friday night and then held off  a furious second-half onslaught to edge SBCC 3-2 in a WSC North women's soccer match at La Playa Stadium.

Jannelle Garcia headed in a corner kick by Sarah Garcia for the first goal in the 23rd minute. Melissa Cardenas drilled a 19-yard free kick into the upper left in the 29th minute and Jannelle Garcia scored again in the 39th minute, kicking the ball to herself off her knee, then lobbing it over the on-rushing goalie from 20 yards for a 3-0 lead.

Garcia is No. 2 in the state in goals (28) and points (65).

Ventura, the WSC co-leader with Moorpark, won its fifth straight game and improved to 14-4-1 and 7-0-1 in conference. The Vaqueros suffered their first home loss in seven games and fell to 10-6-1 and 4-3-0.

In the 44th minute, one minute before halftime, Josefine Von Der Burg delivered a through ball to Fee Van Deelan, who eluded goalie Marissa Dominguez and rolled the ball to the right post. It bounced straight back to Van Deelan and she scored from a yard out to make it 3-1 at the half.

Ventura outshot the home team 9-4 in the first half with seven shots on-goal. The second half was a different story as Santa Barbara peppered the goal with 14 shots (6 on goal) and held the Pirates to two shots.

Chloe Montaño had several close calls, missing a 17-yard shot to the left in the 63rd minute and missing left again on a wide-open net in the 83rd minute.

Montano made a slick kick back over her head toward the left post in the 64th minute. Katherine Sheehy headed it in to cut the deficit to 3-2. Sheehy had multiple good looks at the goal in the first 34 minutes of the second half as the Vaqueros outshot the Pirates 9-2.

"I got a nice pass from Chloe and I was in the right spot," said Sheehy after tallying her eighth goal. "I was able to get my head on it and keep it down because the last two games, they've gone over the crossbar.

"We were connecting better and fighting for it and we really wanted it more in the second half. We just couldn't get that tying goal. We gave a 100-percent effort."

The Pirates had eight corner kicks, including three in a 45-second span that led to their first goal.

"In the first half, it was three errors that led to three goals," said coach John Sisterson. "We got our confidence back on that late goal in the first half. We switched it around a little in the second half and boy, did we go after them.

"It was all one-way traffic and I don't know how we didn't get that tying goal. We had two open nets and we couldn't put 'em away. We had all the momentum in the second half. Katherine and Blayne Shoffit played great in the second half. All our players were strong and aggressive."

The Vaqueros travel to San Luis Obispo to take on Cuesta on Tuesday at 3 p.m.