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UCSB Moves Up to Seventh Spot In National Rankings

Mar. 5, 2014

Baltimore, MD - The Gauchos moved up to number seven, from being ranked eleventh, after two wins on the road. UCSB upset then 6th ranked Cal Poly SLO 12-9 last Friday night and followed it up with a 15-8 win over then 22nd ranked USC. The U.S. Lacrosse WCLA poll was released today and there was quite a bit of movement. Former number one Pittsburgh dropped to second even though they won three games and lost none. The club from Florida supplanted them at the top after improving to 10-0 with wins over then #8 BYU, then #10 Colorado State and then #12 Texas. The Gators moved up from 4th ranked to Top Ranked with wins over three ranked teams. Pittsburgh played three unranked teams and the pollsters took notice of the Florida accomplishments.

Speaking of ranked teams, UCSB continues to look to have one of the strongest schedules in the country based on the rankings. Wins over two ranked teams moved them up four spots and here come the 6th ranked UCLA Bruins. The other blue & yellow team is 8-1 overall after two wins on the road at unranked University of Arizona and at unranked Arizona State.  The Gauchos are 5-3, 2-0 while UCLA is 8-1, 0-1. The game is for first place in WWLL Central for UCSB and a shot at being second or better in the region for the Bruins, who have played only two Top Ten teams so far this year. UCLA lost 13-14 in double overtime on the road at then 6th ranked Cal Poly SLO. 

"I was cursing at myself during the Shootout when we went 1-3 playing all Top Ten teams," comments UCSB head coach Paul Ramsey.  "It didn't feel good at all at the time but now we are hungrier and tougher because of it."

Injuries slowed the Gauchos early too and as players return to the line-up it just gets better for UCSB. It's a good thing too since eleven of fourteen regular season games on the UCSB schedule are with Top 25 teams. Battle tested already and starting to perform the Gauchos welcome UCLA to town for a 12:00pm game on Saturday. Choose your shade of blue before you go to the game.

"We are a really good team ready to explode on someone," added Ramsey, "and this is a good game to do it."