Wolverines Fall to GauchosBox Score
Feb. 16, 2008
Santa Barbara, CA - UCSB sustained the momentum from their Brigham Young win and used it in a great first half performance against Michigan enroute to a 13-8 win over the Wolverines. The Gauchos took an 8-0 lead in the first 21 minutes of play. It made for 14 straight UCSB goals against two different ranked opponents over 51 minutes spanning two games. Michigan snuck one in with 43 seconds remaining in the first half but a UCSB draw control by sophomore defender Alyssa Capuano (Stony Brook, NY) and a few quick passes resulted in a double pass scoring play inside the 8 meter. The scoring sequence started with a drive from behind goal by sophomore Michelle Davis (San Diego, CA) who beat a double team to feed junior Katie Moran (San Rafael, CA). Moran could have shot it herself but instead she chose to move the ball one more time with a pass to senior Kristen Dickey (Davis, CA) slashing in from the left side who put in a lefty quick stick with 1 second on the clock. In ice hockey it would have gone in the books as a double assisted play. It put the halftime score at 9-1 in favor of UCSB.
Michigan may not have appreciated the noise coming from the UCSB huddle at half-time. The jubilant Gauchos then learned that letting down your guard against a good team makes for an interesting second half. Michigan made a 7-2 run on UCSB and got within striking distance at 11-8 with 4:33 remaining in the game. During that run a UCSB timeout when it was 11-6 in favor of UCSB did little to change the momentum. It was pretty much all Wolverines and Michigan followed the UCSB timeout with two more goals. It looked like UCSB might need to use it's last timeout for a little strategy. Instead it was a change at center that made the difference. Attacker Dickey took the draw and former high school teammate Emily Ruby (Davis, CA) snared it on her way into the circle to gain possession for the Gauchos. It was all over for the Wolverines.
"We've experimented with Kristen taking the draw a little bit in practice," said head coach Paul Ramsey after the game. "She has quick hands, she's tall and she reacts well to the whistle."
"Maybe it only changed it up enough for us to make that play on the circle, maybe it was all Kristen or all Ruby or maybe it was a litle bit of everything," concluded Ramsey. "Kristen tends to win it when she pulls lefty so I went with it."
The Gauchos used that possession to silence Michigan and put the win in the score book. An early shot by Gherardi went wide and was backed up by a Michigan player on the endline giving the Wolverines the ball. UCSB was quick to get it back as Davis made a play at the restraining line on an overthrown clear bunting the ball to a hustling Moran who carried it back onto offense. Freshman Alyssa Nelsen (Denver, CO) drove hard lefty from behind the goal after backing up another shot and beat the Michigan goalie with 2:03 remaining. Another Dickey draw was won by Nelsen and UCSB had the ball on offense again. A few passes around gave junior Kelsey Seitz (San Diego, CA) the opportunity to tool her defender and beat the slide on a drive from behind the crease to provide the final 13-8 margin with 55 seconds left. Michigan won the final draw of the game but freshman goal keeper Diane Clow (Poway, CA) made a stop in front of the goal and UCSB ran out the clock to improve to 6-0.
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