Santa Clara Tops Gauchos in Overtime
Scottsdale, AZ - UCSB fought back from 5-1 and 8-4 deficits at the hands of top ranked Santa Clara to take the lead at 9-8 on a pass from sophomore Meg Cruse (San Diego, CA) to senior Sam Lutz (San Diego, CA) with 2:41 remaining in regulation. The contest was the 5th place game at the USL WDIA National Championship Tournament after both WWLL teams were upset in the quarterfinals but won their placement games to see each other again one more time this season. The Cruse to Lutz connection looked to be the game winner and provide 4th ranked UCSB with an improbable comeback. Sophomore goalie Jeni Centner (Tustin, CA) turned back two shots by the Bronocs in the waning moments and UCSB cleared the ball into their offensive end looking at only needing to keep the ball with time running out to win 9-8. An errant UCSB pass into a crowd back upfield gave the Broncos the ball with 35 seconds. It didn't take Santa Clara that long to score. Junior Gracie Binder (Seattle, WA) scored unassisted to tie it 9-9 with 19 seconds remaining and send the game into overtime. A UCSB feed into the middle with 3 seconds to go was knocked down by Santa Clara and time ran out with the ball on the ground. UCSB won the first draw control of overtime but a Bronco double team immediately took it away and Santa Clara settled in on offense. The result was an unassisted goal by senior Jenna Choquette (North Kingstown, RI) 2:01 into the six minute regulation overtime. Santa Clara won the resulting draw and looked to be running out the clock when, with less than a minute left, UCSB took a chance and used their goalie to cover an attacker while everyone else pushed out to double team the ball. The gamble didn't pay off and Santa Clara senior Claire O'Leary (Del Mar, CA) was the lucky recipient of a pass from Binder and an open net goal with 37 seconds left in the game. The Broncos again won the resulting draw and then ran out the clock. Centner finished with 12 saves for 52.2% for UCSB and freshman Katie Mitchell had her 5th consecutive game with 8 or more ground balls. The midfielder had 9 ground balls, 4 caused turnovers and 3 draw controls while also scoring a goal. Lutz had 4 assists to go with her goal, junior Ashley Antoon-Algieri (San Ramon, CA) scored 3 goals and senior Maggie Aker (Oakland, CA) scored 2 goals. Senior Krista Shaw (Denver, CO) of Santa Clara led all scorers with 4 goals. Both teams had 6 players score. Santa Clara sophomore goalie Renee Eligio (South San Francisco, CA) had 25 saves on the 34 UCSB shots that were on goal. UCSB finished the season 15-5 overall and 14-5 in the WDIA. Santa Clara improved to 21-2 overall. Lacrosse Magazine On-Line Article
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