UCSB Just Short on Comeback at 4th Ranked Santa Clara
UCSB was on a tough two game road trip playing at 3rd ranked UC Davis Saturday and following that up with a game at 4th ranked Santa Clara on Sunday. The Broncos were fresh and rested having not played since February 27th when they beat Chico State 20-4. Still the Gauchos made a game of it after climbing out of the deep 5 goal hole. It was UCSB who looked rested and composed for most of the second half. The Gauchos forced 3 consecutive Santa Clara turnovers in the closing minutes and won 2 draw controls that let them score 4 of the final 5 goals in the game. Overall UCSB scored 7 of the last 11 goals to outscore the Broncos 7-4 in the last 25 minutes. Two UCSB goals came just 9 seconds of game clock apart. Senior Alyssa Nelsen (Denver, CO) won a draw control and spotted Ashley Antoon-Algieri (San Ramon, CA) streaking backdoor on the way to goal. Nelsen sent the ball over everyone and the team's other senior had just the goalie to beat. Her goal pulled UCSB to within 2 scores at 9-11. Just before that it was Nelsen herself who ripped a high corner shot from the outside that rippled the net for a goal. At the end of the game it was down to 1 score to tie it and with some effective riding UCSB forced a Santa Clara transition back to their goalie and the ball ended up loose and available. Then after a scramble the ball was suddenly rolling backward into the crease after an errant Santa Clara pass. It had enough momentum to make it into the goal but was off the necessary trajectory that would have favored the Gauchos by about two inches. The Broncos then controlled the ball for the remaining 7 seconds of the game to preserve a wild 15-14 win. Goalie Jeni Centner (Tustin, CA) was a big part of the Gauchos getting back into it. The junior had 8 second half saves on her way to a 12 save game that gave UCSB life. UCSB outscored Santa Clara 8-7 in the second half. Six Gauchos got 2 goals apiece and another two tallied 1 goal apiece against three-time First Team All-American goalie Renee Eligio (South San Francisco, CA). Sophomore Emilia Norlin (Mill Valley, CA) had 4 caused turnovers and 4 ground balls on defense. "Our shooting got better and better as the game continued," said UCSB head coach Paul Ramsey. "We worked for better looks and we were finishing shots at a time when fatigue could have affected us." UCSB gelled defensively after being a step slow on cutters early in the game and missing some second slides at the start of the second half. The Gauchos outhustled the Broncos at the end of the game.and UCSB looked fit. The Gauchos dropped to 5-4 with the loss but the setbacks have come at the hands of the #2, #3, #4 and #8 teams in the country. Two of the losses are by 1 goal. "I don't view this close loss to a very good Santa Clara team as all that much of a setback," said Ramsey. "Our strength of schedule is off the charts high right now and competing like we did at the end of our second game on a tough road trip is a huge plus." Indeed, UCSB has a shot at current #1 Colorado in April and between now and the end of the season has a nice mix of unranked teams, two teams ranked in the top 10 and another 3 teams currently ranked in the 10 - 20 range. UCSB has wins over 5th ranked Lindenwood, 12th ranked UCLA and 17th ranked Michigan. "It doesn't necessarily get easier because we still have to bring it to be successful," added Ramsey, "but now that 2, 3 and 4 are behind us and we have that experience it sets us up for when we play all the others." UCSB hosts unranked USC on Wednesday night in an 8:00pm game at UCSB Harder Stadium. It is a WWLL Central Region match-up. The winners of each of the three WWLL regions (North, Central and South) get an automatic qualifier spot in the WWLL Championship Tournament UCSB is hosting April 16th - 17th.
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