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UCSB Upsets Second Ranked Bruins 16-14

Box Score

Mar. 5, 2016

Westwood, CA - Thirteenth ranked UCSB upset second ranked UCLA on the road in Westwood today The weather was cool and cloudy but the game was red hot. Everyone got their money's worth in entertainment value at this one. Both teams took thirty-one shots each in the game but the Gauchos outscored UCLA 8-7 in each half to get a 16-14 win. The two teams traded shots throughout the contest but after UCLA scored the first goal of the game the Gauchos outscored them 16-13 the rest of the way.

UCSB goal keeper Morgan Ryan (Salt Lake City, UT) had 16 saves in the game. Ten of the senior's saves were in the second half against 17 shots on goal by UCLA in that period. Coming into the game the Bruins had been outscoring opponents 107 to 62 and had a 7-1 record. UCSB, non-plussed, led 16-12 until 1:16 remaining in the contest. The quick striking Bruins got a goal and a draw control and then another goal to make it a two goal game. The Gauchos got one more save from Ryan on the final UCLA possession and then kept the ball for the final 13 seconds to get the win.

UCSB freshman Hollie Pelland (San Diego, CA) led all scorers with 8 goals. The attacker put the ball in the net multiple ways. If Pelland wasn't scoring on the dodge she was scoring with quick cuts to the goal. Senior Madison Sabbag (Mt. View, CA) had six assists and Pelland was the beneficiary on three of them. UCLA issued a match-up assignment partway throught the first half and started face-guarding Pelland. The former Santa Fe Christian Academy standout then got open on cuts for feeds to score that way. When the Bruins fouled her trying to stop her from getting a clean shot Pelland went 2-2 on free position 8 meter shots in the second half. 

The Gauchos coming close to their season high output for scoring in a game with the second ranked team in the country was nice and necessary for the young team to get the win on the road today. What led to the scoring opportunities was a lot of hard work by the previously mentioned defense and also by all the Gauchos in the midfield. UCSB had 12 draw controls and took the ball away three times from UCLA draw control wins with a quick defense to force the turnover. The Gauchos had previously scored 17 goals against unranked University of Washington and was outscoring teams an average of 12-9. The defensive stops, the saves, the ground balls and the draw controls all fueled the UCSB offense to sixteen goals today. Possession statistics parallel all the other 50/50 ball winning too. The Gauchos had possession for 57% of the game time against UCLA even though they were attacking the goal to the tune of creating 31 shots on offense. Leaving UCLA with having the ball only 43% of the game came from all the midfield work. 

UCSB improved to 6-3 overall and 2-1 in WWLL Central. The Gauchos are tied for first in their division. UCSB plays next when they host University of San Diego at 4:00pm on Friday, March 11th. UCLA dropped to 7-2, 1-1 and has WWLL Central foe USC right away on Sunday.