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Fourteen Recruits to Join Gauchos

Jul. 15, 2008

Santa Barbara, CA - UCSB head coach Paul Ramsey has every position covered in his recruiting class for the 2008-09 academic year. Fourteen new players will join the UCSB women's lacrosse program. The group is led by high school All-American goalie Jeni Center (Tustin, CA) of Foothill High School and goalie Brittney Slack (Lake Forest, CA) of El Toro High School. The breakdown by position makes 8 midfielders, 3 defenders, 1 attacker and 2 goalies new Gauchos. Eleven of the new players are freshmen and 3 are transfers from Santa Barbara City College. Notable are the addition of two starters from the 2008 CIF San Diego Section champion La Costa Canyon High School and a starter from the 2007 CIF San Diego Section champion Poway High School. The two teams are among the strongest in the San Diego Section and it's been one or the other vying for the San Diego section championship for the last four years.

"I am extremely pleased to be able to add two quality goal keepers to our program," commented Ramsey. "The rest of the class are accomplished and athletic players who are going to help make us better."

The three transfers are from SBCC. Kiersten Nagata (San Diego, CA) has made perhaps the most circuitous route to become a Gaucho. Nagata was recruited out of high school to Atlantic-10 Conference George Washington University in Washington, DC. Unhappy out of state, she returned home at the start of her sophomore year for a semester at Palomar Community College before taking advantage of the SBCC route into UCSB. Nagata has three years of eligibility remaining. Krystle Santos (Encinitas, CA) was a teammate of Nagata's at La Costa Canyon. Santos was recruited to Drew University in New Jersey but decided before leaving for school that she too wanted to stay in California. Santos has all four years of her eligibility. Kelsey Wyatt (Danville, CA) played as a freshman in 2007 on the UCSB B Team and earned Western Women's Lacrosse League All-League honors. Wyatt sat out the 2008 season after knee surgery and has three years of eligibility.

UCSB finished the regular season undefeated and ranked #1 in the country for all USL WDIA teams but lost 11-10 in overtime to Cal Poly SLO in the semifinals of the national championship tournament. Eight starters and 4 reserves from the A Team are eligible to return to the team. Four starters and one reserve graduated from a team that finished the season 20-2 overall.

"These are just the players who have been in touch with us ahead of time," added Ramsey. "There's always a group of players who come out the first week of school and earn a spot in the program."

UCSB sponsors three teams and Ramsey hopes to have at least 18 players on each team.