After spotting SBCC an early lead, No. 12 Chaffey evened it up on a first-half penalty kick and then dominated the second half to record a 2-1 women's soccer victory at La Playa Stadium.
It was the second straight home setback for the Vaqueros (1-4), who had set a school record by winning 24 straight home games from Nov. 11, 2016 to last Friday – a span of nearly three years.
Angel Rodriguez scored the game-winner at 67:10 for the Panthers (4-0-2), who are tied for 12th in the CCCSIA state poll. Rodriguez sliced a shot between two defenders from the right side and it squeezed through a narrow gap between goalie Elizabeth Estrada and the right post.
Estrada, a sophomore from Carpinteria High, made her first start at goalie and recorded four saves.
Mekaylla White opened the scoring in the 10th minute. Sean O'Brien delivered a perfect lead pass into open space on the right side. White dribbled to the end line, then shot the ball across the goal-mouth and it caromed in off a defender.
Tuesday was the second time in five days that the Vaqueros scored in the first 10 minutes and ended up losing 2-1.
"It's frustrating," said White, a freshman forward from Folsom who leads the Vaqueros with three goals. "It happened to us last game, this game. We're just going to keep working hard and being super positive. As long as we keep giving effort and practicing hard, it will come out in the games."
Estrada made a leaping save of a 35-yard free kick by Madison Orchard at 22:50 and the ball deflected off the cross bar.
In the 39th minute, center back Elin Hedstroem bumped Rodriguez to the ground while trying to allow the ball to roll to Estrada and the referee called a foul in the box and a penalty kick. Niyah Sanders drove the PK into the upper left corner to make it 1-1 at 38:50.
"From our angle, we thought the foul was committed outside the box and their player fell in," stated SBCC coach John Sisterson.
The Panthers from Rancho Cucamonga outshot the Vaqueros 11-3 in the second half and 15-7 for the game with six shots on-goal compared to just two (both in the first half) for SBCC.
"They had the ball a majority of the second half and when we got it, we felt panicked and weren't able to possess it," said White.
Sisterson said he felt a bit of déjà vu with another early Vaquero goal and then giving up two to lose it. It was their third 2-1 loss of the season.
"We came out of the blocks playing well and scored a good goal, then I felt it was a little bit of a dubious penalty against us," he said. "Then our heads dropped. We had our backs to the wall in the second half and didn't create many chances. It was sort of déjà vu.
"We looked tired this afternoon, so we need to address that and find out what's going on and pick them for Friday because it's going to be an awful lot hotter at Taft. But it's still early days and this is a young team. We just have to keep working hard. It's not like we're losing by five or six goals."
The Vaqueros will make the long trek to Taft for a 2 p.m. game on Friday.
