Ameyawu Muntari had a hand in all three goals on Tuesday night as No. 6 SBCC blanked Hancock 3-0 in its WSC North men's soccer opener at La Playa Stadium.
The Vaqueros (6-1-2, 1-0) snapped a 3½-game scoreless streak with its first score in 318 minutes. Hancock fell to 5-5-3 and 0-1.
The Vaqueros are 13-1-3 in their last 17 at home and undefeated in their last 12 WSC games (11-0-1).
Muntari, a sophomore striker from Ghana, had two goals and an assist. At the 32:31 mark, Celso Lagunas send a short cross from the left to a streaking Muntari, who banged it home for a 1-0 lead.
"I always knew the goals were going to come, it was just a matter of the team performing together," said Muntari, who leads the team with five goals and six assists for 16 points. "We really focused because tying two games in a row (both 0-0) was a little tricky for us. This is our first conference game and it was really important to get three points.
"Celso's cross was fantastic on the first goal and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I was getting a little frustrated on my corners because no one was attacking the ball, then Oscar attacked it really well."
Hancock's Ulysses Cardona skimmed a shot off the crossbar in the 66th minute.
Oscar Drevland, a sophomore from Norway, tallied his first goal of the year at 68:02. Muntari delivered a right-footed corner kick from the right side and Drevland scored with a flying header. Just a minute and 39 seconds later, Lagunas chipped the ball to Muntari and he beat the keeper from 20 yards out for a 3-0 lead at 69:41.
"It feels great to get my first goal of the year, it was almost identical to the goal I scored last year," Drevland noted. "I love those headers in the box. It was great to start scoring again and it's great to get a 3-nil win."
The Vaqueros outshot the Bulldogs 10-5 in the second half and 17-15 for the game. Hancock had six shots on-goal and Lukas Schuh made five saves for the Vaqueros. It was the third straight shutout and fifth of the year for Schuh, who hasn't allowed a goal in the last 284 minutes.
"It feels good to finally get a goal," said coach John Sisterson. "We spoke to them before the game and told them they'd be creating a lot of chances, we just need to put some in the back of the net. Those were some good goals and we could have had a few more."
Sisterson used eight substitutes in the 90-minute contest, including six in the second half.
"I was pleased with the whole team and thought the guys off the bench really made an impact. We put Juan Zarate at center back and he played very well as did Neil Gillies, Andrew Wakamiya and Andrew Angarano … our whole back-line played well."
The Vaqueros will travel to Oxnard on Friday for a WSC contest at 4 p.m.
