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UCSB Advances to Quarterfinals at WDIA Championship

Box Score

May. 7, 2008

Denver, CO - In the first round of the WDIA National Championship Tournament UCSB led 7-3 at the half against the club from Boston College and won 12-8 to advance to a quarterfinal game with Lindenwood University. The 8th ranked and 8th seeded Lions beat the Bruins 11-10 in a repeat result from the regular season. Lindenwood won 9-8 at UCLA on February 8th. The Eagles were unranked all regular season and 16th seeded in the tournament but they didn't make things easy for the Gauchos. BC did finish the regular season 8th in the RPI and may have received a bum deal getting the 16th seed and having to face the top seeded Gauchos.

"That was a good team we just played," said head coach Paul Ramsey after the game. "It took some work to put them away."

The point where the outcome seemed somewhat assured was when UCSB led 12-5 midway through the second half. However, the Eagles kept at it and scored the last three goals of the game over the final 15 minutes against UCSB reserves for the final 12-8 score.

UCSB sophomore Maggie Aker (Oakland, CA) led all scorers with 3 goals and 1 assist. Aker was one of 8 Gauchos to get a point on a goal or an assist. Sophomore Samantha Lutz (San Diego, CA) put in 2 goals and contributed an assist while sophomore Michelle Davis (San Diego, CA) scored 1 goal and had 2 assists. Junior Katie Moran (San Rafael, CA) and Monora Seth (San Diego, CA) led the UCSB defensive efforts. Moran had 6 caused turnovers and 6 ground balls while Seth had 7 caused turnovers and 5 ground balls. Freshman goal keeper Diane Clow (San Diego, CA) had 9 saves. UCSB used all 24 players who traveled and finished the game with all but two starters standing on the sideline.

"We accomplished our main goal by advancing to the quarterfinals," commented Ramsey. "We also played everyone and by doing that we rested our starting midfield and numerous other starters."

"I think our offense would have liked to score 20 goals but we're on track, regardless," added Ramsey

UCSB, now 19-0 overall and 17-0 in WDIA games, was successful in the only meeting with Lindenwood (16-7 overall) in the history of the two programs. When the Lions played at UCSB on February 9th the Gauchos came out on top 19-9. At half-time of that game the Gauchos were leading 9-4. Players on the Lindenwood offense who UCSB needs to account for are #6 Kandee Schroeder (Dundalk, MD) who had 3 goals the last time the teams played, #20 Laura Boland (Fenton, MO) who had 2 goals and 1 assist and #18 Lacey Vatland (Vero Beach, FL). Vatland had 1 goal the last time out against the Gauchos but only played 20 minutes before getting her second yellow card and leaving the game.

Vatland is the leading scorer for Lindenwood on the season with 78 goals and 24 assists. Schroeder follows with 55 goals and 10 assists while Boland has 45 goals and 21 assists. Goal keeping play appears even. UCSB's Clow is saving 52.7% and Amanda Shapiro (Rochester, NY) is saving 55.5% for Lindenwood. The Gauchos schedule was a little bit tougher all year with a Strength of Schedule rated 2nd in the country while Lindenwood's schedule sits at 19th in the country.

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