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Santibanez scored in the 30th minute to lift Owatonna to a 1-0 victory and hand WSHS its first loss of the season Thursday at Paul Giel Field.
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Winona Senior High School’s Giovanni Borsari attempts a kick Thursday night during their game against Owatonna High School at Paul Giel Field in Winona. (Photo by Fred Schulze/Winona Daily News) |
“He’s probably the best player I’ve ever seen,” Winhawks junior goalkeeper Nick Ryan said. “We just
didn’t mark him up once, he got off a good shot and it went in. We played good besides that. That’s all you can do.”
On the 1 1/2 hour bus ride to Winona, the Huskies (5-2, 3-0) watched a highlight video of the 1,000 greatest European goals. After the game, Owatonna coach Robert Waypa said Santibanez’s goal — a midair right foot to the far corner — was of similar quality.
“His goal mirrored any of those goals,” Waypa said. “Just a beautiful goal.
“A normal person, 10 out of 10 times they’re not even going to hit the net. He’s a special player. He’s one of only a few guys in the state who can hit that shot.”
The Winhawks (6-1-1, 1-1-1) won six consecutive games to start the season, but were coming off a disappointing tie Tuesday at Rochester John Marshall, which scored for the first time this season in the 2-2 overtime decision.
“This was really a good game, considering what we did on Tuesday,” Winhawks coach Pete Weess said. “It was a good recovery. You could see the doubt in the first half and we got out of that phase a little bit in the second half.
“Playing, I think, the best team in the conference. We came away knowing we can play with them.”
The Winhawks spent much of the first half, and most of the game, in a defensive mode, opting to clear the ball over controlling possession.
Owatonna finished with seven corner kicks to four for the Winhawks. The Huskies also posted a 9-6 advantage in shots on goal, missed shots off the post and crossbar and were denied on quality attempts each half by Ryan.
Afterward, the Winhawks, who have a week off between games after what certainly was the most trying stretch this season, talked about playing with confidence and standing up to quality opponents.
“We played OK,” Weess said. “But we didn’t play well enough to win the game. We felt, the team collectively felt, we played about 40 minutes of soccer instead of a good eighty.”
