Gauchos Outscored 21-3 In Exhibition At Fresno State
Fresno, CA - UCSB opened the exhibition season at fully funded Fresno State to test the waters with their young team against an NCAA Division I program. The tempo was up from the get go and the Bulldogs were enjoying an 8-0 lead before the Gauchos scored two straight to get within 6 goals. The two tallies gave UCSB life with 14 minutes remaining in the first half but then Fresno answered with three more scores to take a 11-2 lead at halftime. During the scrimmage UCSB progressed from learning to react to the faster play by the Bulldogs and having trouble transitioning the ball onto offense to being able to transition and play some offense. Then the Gauchos became better at keeping the ball ahead of the relentless double teams sent by the Fresno State defense. It was rare for a UCSB player to have the ball anywhere on the field and face only one Bulldog. The ball was pressured by Fresno anywhere and everywhere and the Gauchos had no respite on any live ball. Despite learning a lot during the scrimmage UCSB was unable to make the progression in just the one game at this level toward becoming effective at finding the open player in the face of the pressure. "Win or lose we needed to be in this situation," said UCSB head coach Paul Ramsey after the game. "Facing a team that plays up tempo all over the field was good experience." "If we take this lesson and apply it to our own pace of play we can be where we want to be in April and May." The Bulldog program is on the rise in the western United States. Fresno beat MPSF counterpart UC Berkeley for the first time last year and won 18-6 over St. Mary's. Now that UCSB has experience facing a team that played up tempo and pushed a relentless pace the goal will be to attain that for themselves. The Gauchos are preparing this week for their WWLL opener at University of Arizona on January 30th. UCSB follows up with a Sunday game at Arizona State.
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