San Marcos freshman goalkeeper Micah Villa stopped a penalty kick in the last 20 minutes, helping the Royals complete a 2-0 shutout over rival Santa Barbara High on Wednesday for their forth straight clean sheet in Channel League boys soccer competition.
Luis Campos broke the scoreless draw at Peabody Stadium in the 59th minute and Jose Ramirez tacked on the second goal.
San Marcos improves to 5-1-1 in league and 8-4-2 overall. Santa Barbara is 1-6-0 and 5-12-1.
"Santa Barbara was really hard to break down," said San Marcos coach Paul McLean. "They brought excellent energy and were tenacious defensively. For Micah to play so well in such a tight contest as a freshman speaks to his strong mental game. He made an excellent save to his right on their penalty kick in a big moment and had excellent distribution."
Julian Santana set up Campos for the tie-breaking goal. He played a ball through the back line and Campos beat the goalkeeper.
On the second goal, Jose Ramirez ran on to a feed from Sergio Ramirez and fired a shot that was deflected by the goalkeeper. Jose Ramirez pounced on the rebound and tucked it away.
McLearn cited the play of sophomore midfielder Yael Solano.
"He kept possession and changed the field for us by turning out of constant pressure," said the coach. "Sergio Ramirez worked hard for us up front on the press and created a lot of solid opportunities. It was a very tight match."
The Chargers suffered their third straight Channel League loss, falling at home to first-place Pacifica, 2-1
Pacifica (11-1-3, 5-0-2) converted a DP turnover into a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute. The Tritons struck again in the 61st minute on a rebound.
Dos Pueblos responded two minutes later on a goal by Chris Barreto.
"He played the ball to the near post after a slight deflection off the wall and beat the goalie to the front post," said coach Matt York.
York recognized Barreto as DP's Man of the Match.
"He not only had the goal to bring us within one, he gave us life late in the game. He was a hustling machine. Over the past two weeks, we've seen some great progress and budding leadership from him as well."
York also lauded the play of goalkeeper Isaac Jimenez and center back Andrew Gomez.
Dos Pueblos (7-3-2, 3-3-1) is back in action Friday at home against Santa Barbara.