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Gauchos Spring 2 Spots In Poll Again, Pick Up Five 1st Place Votes

Mar. 21, 2012

Baltimore, MD - UCSB Women's Lacrosse moved up two spots in the U.S. Lacrosse WCLA National Poll even though they didn't play a game last week. The Gauchos, aided by University of Pittsburgh's 10-8 upset of top ranked University of Michigan on Saturday, hopped over similarly idle Brigham Young University.

The result of all the voting by pollsters is UCSB hurdling over BYU and Michigan to move from 4th ranked to 2nd ranked. The lone UCSB loss came in a game with Michigan on February 17th  when the Gauchos lost 11-8. It is the second straight week UCSB improved two spots from the previous poll. Last week UCSB moved from 6th to 4th following a 17-11 upset of 5th ranked UCLA on March 10th. Seven WWLL teams are now ranked in the National Top 20.

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The Gauchos (8-1 overall) received first place votes for the first time this season, collecting 5 top dog nods compared to first ranked University of Florida's 4 first place votes. The Gators received 223 points overall to the 220 points for the Gauchos to become the new top team. The Gators (12-2 overall) moved from #2 to the top spot by vritue of winning their only game last week, an 11-10 win over 15th ranked University of Central Florida on March 17th.

"They can have it," said Ramsey when he heard Florida was number one despite UCSB getting more first place votes. "We don't want that spot yet."

UCSB certainly doesn't want a premature top spot but came close to getting it as UCF led Florida for a good part of their game with the Gators and were up 6-3 at halftime. The Gauchos might have jumped from 4th to 1st if UCF had pulled off the upset. But May 12th is when the Gauchos would like to be the top team. That's the day the WCLA National Championship Tournament final is played between the two teams left standing through first round, quarterfinal and semifinal games three days in a row. UCSB has never advanced to the championship game on the fourth day despite eight straight national post-season appearances.

"It's not the singular summary of what we're all about here but if we're fortunate enough to have the top spot at some point we'd rather have the last top spot of the season," says Ramsey.

UCSB will be idle again this weekend following a week of final exams and resume play on Friday, March 30th, when they host University of San Diego at 6:00pm in UCSB Harder Stadium.