SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – A goal in the dying minutes of a very physical Tuesday night match between the SBCC men's soccer team and Oxnard College put the Condors on top 2-1, handing the Vaqueros their first home loss of the season.
Despite being a man down, Santa Barbara (10-5-3, 4-3-1) had leveled things at 1-1 with a 78th minute counterattack.
Tanner Stevenson started the break with a pass to William Lindblom, who found Will Demirkol making a perfectly-timed cut through the Oxnard (11-2-5, 6-0-2) back line. A clinical finish across the face of goal would settle inside the far post, giving the Vaqueros a much-deserved moment of joy after they had battled back from a goal down for over 70 minutes of game time and throughout an excruciatingly competitive second half.
It was Demirkol's seventh goal of the season, good for second-most on the team.
The late Condor winner came off a set piece from the left wing around 10 minutes later. Goalkeeper Sunny Dhaliwal came up just short on his attempt to punch out the free kick from Pablo Orozco as the ball fell just over his reach. It then took a bounce off of the backside of Pedro Santos-Jimenez, who was making a far post run, before settling into the back of the net.
That handed SBCC its first loss at La Playa Stadium since Oct. 15, 2019. The Vaqueros are now 8-1-1 at home this year, where they will play one more time during the regular season.
SBCC heads on the road for its next match against Moorpark this Friday at 4:00 p.m.
