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UCSB Advances To National Championship Game For First Time With Come From Behind Upset of BYU

Box Score

May. 10, 2013

Colorado Springs, CO - It did not look promising. The Gauchos huddled up at halftime glancing over at a scoreboard that showed their opponent leading by 5 goals in their semifinal of the WCLA National Championship Tournament. UCSB was not playing well and the 8-3 lead held by 2nd seeded Brigham Young could very well have been insurmountable. It was not.

The 11th seeded Gauchos came back on the Cougars with two quick goals to start the second half that rattled BYU into calling a time-out with 28:45 left in the game. Steadily the young UCSB team chipped away at the lead to eventually tie it 10-10. The Gauchos fitness looked  superior in the second half and UCSB started winning the ground balls, getting more draw controls and outrunning the Cougars. The Gauchos took the lead at 11-10 only to see BYU respond to tie the game at 11-11. The Gauchos got the game winner with under 20 seconds left that proved to be all they needed.

A BYU possession on the draw had the door open for another tie but the UCSB defense clamped down and the Cougars did not get a shot. The Gauchos stepped up on defense in the second half and held BYU to three goals to enable the offense to work their miraculous comeback. UCSB outscored the Cougars 9-3 in the second half.

For the first time in program history UCSB has advanced to the national championship game. The Gauchos will play Colorado State at 2:30pm Mountain Time at the El Pomar Sports Complex. The Rams are 21-0 and top ranked in all the land. Tune in to TooTall.com to catch the action.

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UCSB improved to 16-7 overall while BYU dropped to 18-6. The Gauchos played Colorado State close on February 16th in a 9-7 loss at the Santa Barbara Shootout. In that game UCSB fell behind 6-2 at halftime before rallying to pull within 2 goals before they ran out of time to complete a comeback.