News|Schedule / Results|Roster|Officers &Coaches|

UCSB Tops Cal Poly SLO 15-11 in WWLL 3rd Place Game

Box Score

Apr. 17, 2011

Santa Barbara, CA - The Gauchos rebounded from a tough one goal loss in their WWLL Championship Tournament semifinal on Saturday by outplaying 11th ranked Cal Poly SLO in the WWLL Third Place Game. UCSB won 15-11 and led 14-7 with about 4 minutes to go before clearing the bench and getting everyone into the game. The Mustangs took advantage of that and scored two quick goals to make it 14-9. The Gauchos put the starters back in and answered with a goal of their own. It was 15-9 in favor of UCSB at that point with 2 minutes to go so some reserves went back in and Cal Poly took advantage again scoring the last two goals of the game.

"We got everyone in against Cal Poly and that was nice to be able to do," said UCSB head coach Paul Ramsey. 

"I thought it was more important than running up the score and while it did bite us a little it didn't affect the outcome and it was good experience moving forward into the post-season." 

Prior to the liberal personnel changes UCSB had held the Mustangs to two second half goals and outscored Cal Poly 5-2 over the first 20 minutes of the second half. That kind of control of a game as exhibited against a good team will carry the Gauchos well down the road. On paper it shouldn't have been that way. Missing for UCSB was starting attacker Maegan Cruse (San Diego, CA) for the third game in a row. Cruse, the third leading scorer for the Gauchos is recovering from a strained quadricep. In addition, early in the first half freshman midfielder Katie Hubbert (San Jose, CA) went down with a sprained ankle and was unable to return to the game. Junior transfer Jordan Venetis (Thousand Oaks, CA) was one of the players who stepped up to fill shoes. Venetis contributed 3 goals, 3 assists, 6 ground balls and 1 caused turnover.

UCSB was disrupted from their normal rotation of players in and out of the game as a result of Cruse being out and Hubbert getting injured during first half action but it didn't phase them. Sophomore defender Emilia Norlin (Mill Valley, CA) and the UCSB defense held Amanda Nespor (Pleasanton, CA) of Cal Poly to one goal and one assist. Nespor had torched Santa Clara in the semifinal loss to the Broncos for 4 goals. If UCSB hadn't contained Nespor the dangerous attacker would have had Cal Poly in the game.

"Our team is pretty versatile," commented Ramsey, "and the defense stepped up today against a team that scored 16 against UCLA and 12 against UC Davis this weekend."

Three Mustang players have led their offense all season. In their two previous WWLL Tournament games Nespor, senior Stacy Patch (Encinitas, CA) and junior Megan Michels (San Diego, CA) had combined for precisely 10 goals in each game, against 10th ranked UCLA and against top ranked UC Davis. The UCSB defense held the terrific trio to 4 goals total. The three not combining for 10 goals in this game made the difference. The UCSB team defense concept stymied the Cal Poly offense. Everyone was talking, listening, stepping up on ball and helping out off ball.

At the same time the defense was playing well and despite not being at full strength the UCSB offense was on.  There's no other way to put it. Nine Gauchos were involved in scoring plays and they were dishing out helpers at a ridiculous ratio with 11 of 15 goals assisted. Two of the 15 UCSB goals were scored on 8 meter free positions so that puts the field goal total at 84.6% assisted. Senior Ashley Antoon-Algieri (San Ramon, CA) led all scorers with 5 goals and 2 assists. One of the senior's goals came from selfless play by sophomore Katie Mitchell (Lafayette, CA). Mitchell had an 8 meter shot opportunity for herself in a set up from the center hash. Either shooting or passing off could have been the right decision. She drove in a few steps, pulled the defense over to her and passed the ball to Antoon-Algieri who finished it to make a good look a great play.

Helping the defense clamp down on Cal Poly in the second half was junior goalie Jeni Centner (Tustin, CA). Centner had 7 of her 14 saves in the second half and she was 56% on saves for the whole game. Just as importantly Centner stepped up her clearing game and had zero turnovers. Freshman Blair Evans (Santa Catalina, CA) had 7 ground balls, 4 draw controls and 2 caused turnovers to dominate the midfield. Junior Shawna Falk (San Diego, CA) led defenders with 6 ground balls and 2 draw controls.

Saturday UCSB lost 13-12 to Santa Clara in a semifinal but improved on a few concepts overnight and proved themselves ready for the Mustangs. Santa Clara went on from that semifinal win to upset top seeded and top ranked UC Davis 10-9 in the championship game to prove how good a team are the Broncos. The top three teams in the WWLL are ranked in the Top 10 and are all one goal apart. Cal Poly entered the WWLL Tournament seeded 5th and upset 4th seeded UCLA 16-15 in the quarterfinals. Then the Mustangs played top seeded UC Davis tough before falling 13-12 in the semifinals. Both WWLL semifinals had the identical 13-12 score.

"The strength of our conference showed this weekend at this event," said Ramsey after it was all over.

"The WWLL has five teams capable of doing well at the WCLA National Championship Tournament."

Five teams aren't going to make it out of the WWLL, however, but at least three should. Santa Clara won the league's automatic qualifer spot. UC Davis and UCSB seem likeley candidates for an at-large berth. Cal Poly and UCLA, ranked 11th and 10th in the country, respectively, are hoping for at-large spots themselves in the 16 team tournament.

UCSB improved to 13-7 overall while the Mustangs dropped to 7-7. Selections for the May 4th - 7th WCLA National Championship Tournament will be announced Wednesday.