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Gauchos Upset 6th Ranked Virginia at WCLA Tournament

Box Score

May. 8, 2013

Colorado Springs, CO - UCSB upset the 6th ranked club from University of Virginia in a WCLA National Championship Tournament first round game at the El Pomar Sports Complex. As the weather took a turn from bad to worse the Gauchos kept clicking and built a 10-3 halftime lead before winning 13-7. UCSB advances to a national quarterfinal match-up with 3rd seeded University of Georgia. The two teams will meet for the second time in their history in a 1:30pm game on Thursday. That's Mountain Time and the game will be streamed live on TooTall.com.

From the start of warm-ups to the end of the first half the cold rain and wind affected play and passing but it was the snow collecting on the peaks of the not too distant mountain tops that reminded everyone they were playing lacrosse more than a mile high. Despite all that the ten minute halftime is the only thing that slowed down UCSB. The Cavaliers, who came into the game with a 14-3 overall record and riding a twelve game winning streak, looked a little stunned. The Gauchos outshot the Cavaliers 24-16 with 18 of the UCSB shots coming in the first half. The good news for the Gauchos, despite the second half slowdown, was they were 3 for 6 on shooting in that frame while doing their best to control the ball amid all the precipitation. 

Seven UCSB players were involved in the scoring, led by senior Katie Mitchell (Lafayette, CA) who had 4 goals and 1 assist. Freshman Claudia Hammerschmidt (Armonk, NY) scored 4 goals, junior Blair Evans (Salinas, CA) had 3 goals and 1 assist while junior Katie Hubbert (San Jose, CA) and sophomore Lindsay Alex (Santa Ana, CA) each had three assists in a balanced feeding effort.

Senior goalie Megan Hughes (Santa Ana, CA) had 8 saves while freshman defender Cailan Howey (Charlotte, NC) gave the Virginia offense fits. Howey had 5 caused turnovers, 5 ground balls and 1 draw control offset by no turnovers of her own and no fouls to finish plus eleven. The Gauchos won 18 ground balls and 10 of the 22 draw controls in the game. UCSB improved to 14-7 overall while Virginia dropped to 14-4. 

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With the first and only meeting between UCSB and Georgia so far back in time, 2009, none of the current players were on the UCSB team that lost 9-10 in overtime in what was then an upset by Georgia on February 15, 2009.  Therefore, the only comparison to that game is it was an over-achieving 10th ranked Bulldogs squad that took down the then 4th ranked Gauchos. Now it's 11th ranked UCSB looking to pull the upset over 3rd ranked Georgia. Advancing to a national semifinal game is all that's at stake. UCSB continuing to relish the underdog role and working for upsets could get them there.

Two other WWLL teams, Cal Poly SLO and Santa Clara, also advanced to the quarterfinals.  The 4th seeded Mustangs beat the 13th seeded club from Maryland 17-12 and the 10th seeded Broncos upset the 7th seeded club from Florida 12-10. Ninth seeded USC was eliminated by 8th seeded Pittsburgh 21-11.