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UCSB Gets Tenth Straight Post-Season Bid

Apr. 23, 2013

Baltimore, MD - U.S. Lacrosse released invitations and pairings for the WCLA National Championship Tournament and UCSB has been included for the tenth straight time. The Gauchos received the eleven seed in the sixteen team tournament and will face the sixth seeded club from the University of Virginia in the first round. The two programs have never met. The event is May 8th - 11th at the El Pomar Sports Complex in Colorado Springs. Top ranked Colorado State (18-0 overall) received the number one seed.

Lacrosse Magazine On-Line Article

There was some suspense toward the end of the season for the young UCSB squad unsure if they would qualify. The Gauchos returned only four starters from the 2012 team but battled through the program's usually tough national schedule anyway. The Gauchos played games against nationally ranked teams ten times this year. UCSB starts eight new faces and while things clicked often enough for the team to be ranked as high as fifth nationally at one point there were other times there was no clicking. A game with a nationally ranked opponent where past UCSB teams have succeeded was all of a sudden a tough match to get through. The Gauchos were 9-0 against unranked teams and 3-7 against ranked teams but oh so close in those ranked losses. Two games to ranked teams were 1 goal debits and another two games were only 2 goal setbacks, including a 9-7 loss to previously mentioned top ranked Colorado State.

Injuries in the middle part of the year prevented everyone from practicing and playing together, limiting the opportunity to improve as a team. The result was the Gauchos dropping as low as 9th in the country before finishing 8th ranked in the final regular season poll. That ranking was released before a WWLL Tournament where UCSB lost 14-8 in the semifinals to eventual champion Cal Poly SLO. The Gauchos did play the Mustangs closer than anyone else in that event as Cal Poly outscored Arizona 20-8 in their quarterfinal and thumped USC 20-7 in the final. If it seems unusual for those involved in a program to feel that finishing 8th in the national poll isn't up to snuff and they were unhappy over being unsure about an extended post-season then welcome to the UCSB standard.

For the first time in a while, perhaps, UCSB is just happy to be in the national championship tournament and in addition gets to play someone new rather than someone they've already played. With 8 automatic qualifier spots in the post-season and only 8 at-large spots getting into the WCLA Tournament wasn't a sure thing. Now that they're in, though, the Gauchos have a shot at performing well enough to turn heads the way an eleven seed advancing turns heads. UCSB had a close 9-7 game to the top-ranked and top-seeded Rams back on February 16th and have been one of the few teams in the country to play them that closely. Gauchos clicking together could get hot enough to see the Rams in the final.