On Friday, January 17th, Lompoc’s Girls Soccer team played their cross-town rivals for the first time this season at Cabrillo High School. Lompoc was ranked 2nd, their only loss having been to Santa Maria, who held the first place ranking, and Cabrillo was ranked 4th in Sunset League. However, rankings often have little importance when a decades-long rivalry is at stake.
Cabrillo kicks off the game and Lompoc immediately brings the pressure and energy. The game is fast-paced, as the girls need to kick the ball long distances and keep it mostly in the air to avoid unpredictable bounces on the patchy and gopher-hole strewn grass. The degrading quality of the field makes running dangerous, and clean passing is practically impossible. This causes both teams to have to adjust their strategy accordingly. The key to winning this game is being first to the ball after it has been kicked in the air in order to remain in possession.
Barely ten minutes into the first half, the game starts to become hostile in nature. It seems that the Braves are frustrated by their struggle to control the ball on the bumpy grass. Their irritation is only worsened by Cabrillo’s sideline audience, who are loudly reacting to every small event, or even taunting Lompoc players. Lompoc receives their first foul, resulting in a Cabrillo free kick. They take it quickly, without hesitation, using this momentum to get downfield. The free kick results in a struggle near Lompoc’s goal, where it is kicked out by a Lompoc player, giving Cabrillo another corner kick at the eleven-minute mark. A Cabrillo player anticipating the incoming ball is able to get a foot on it and it is knocked into the net without touching the ground first. The audience is ecstatic to be the first team to put a point up, jumping up and down and screaming in celebration. The score is 1-0 and Cabrillo is in the lead.
From this point forward, the game becomes exponentially more aggressive. Lompoc increases their intensity, determined to close the deficit, and Cabrillo cannot handle the pressure, resorting to holding and fouling Lompoc players who have the ball in a desperate attempt to regain possession. Twenty minutes in, Cabrillo player Marie Terrones receives her first yellow card for pushing Lompoc player Eriana Carbajal after the ball has left their vicinity. Eriana had been defending her, and the Cabrillo player abruptly turns around and pushes her to the ground with both hands in response.
The fouls on Lompoc continue until the end of the first half, with lots of back-and-forth long kicks, intense races to the ball, and multiple unsuccessful shots from both teams. Lompoc kicks off the second half with renewed determination to make up for their lost point. They quickly drive upfield, immediately shooting the ball within the first thirty seconds, but Cabrillo returns with reciprocated energy and a shot of their own. Seven minutes later, Lily Drysol receives a pass to the left of the goal. Lily gives a perfect cross to the backside of the goal where a waiting forward, Amelia Anguiano kicks the ball into the back of the goal. The game is tied up.
Seventeen minutes into the second half, Cabrillo’s Marie Terrones receives her second yellow card of the game. She and Lily Drysol had been fiercely battling for the ball, but it is not until after she loses the ball that the Cabrillo player lashes out, hitting Lily while she is facing the other direction. However, Lily got her revenge in the form of an assist about two minutes later. Receiving ball thrown in by Lily Drysol, Amelia Anguiano turns the ball around, dribbles past four Cabrillo defenders, and shoots a stunning goal from the right side of the goal, past Cabrillo’s goalie, Katie Springer, and into the far left-top corner. Lompoc leads by one.
Adding insult to injury, Lompoc scores their third goal of not only the game, but the half. In the thirty sixth minute, Gabi Arias, a Lompoc forward, receives the ball a few yards past midfield and dribbles it all the way up the field, evading two Cabrillo defenders in the process. Gabi then finishes her run beautifully, taking a shot into the far-right bottom corner of the goal. The ball flies in front of the goalie, hits the inside of the bar, and ricochets into the back of the net. Lompoc leads by two.
Like the sun setting on the soccer field, so is Cabrillo’s hope of recovering from a two point deficit so late into the game. Both teams put their subs in, indicating that the game has been decided. When the final whistle blows, signaling the official conclusion of the match, Cabrillo is disappointed to have given up their lead, and Lompoc leaves with the satisfaction of quieting Cabrillo’s taunting audience; something that even Cabrillo’s coach couldn’t- or didn’t want to- do. Lompoc is certainly proud of pulling off such an impressive feat; coming back from their very rocky start and scoring three goals in the second half, despite the odds against them, and securing a decisive victory.
