Give it time, Gauchos.
Two filet mignons of college soccer met at Harder Stadium Saturday night, and the more seasoned steak was much better.
The other one was just cooked.
Talent-wise, it doesn’t get much better than No. 14 UCSB’s roster, but it was Wake Forest’s cohesiveness that made the difference in the Demon Deacons’ 6-2 win.
“They have some real chemistry on the field, and that’s what we’re working on,” said Gaucho senior forward Nick Perera. “When it comes, it’s going to be great, but we need to be patient.”
UCSB started five freshmen in the match, and five more came in to get minutes off the bench. Danny Wenzel was the only freshman to see any time for Wake Forest.
The rest of the Demon Deacons won a national title together last season, and it showed in their ball movement.
“What you saw tonight was a team that was always looking two passes ahead… It’s a team that is really on the same page and really on a roll,” said Gaucho coach Tim Vom Steeg. “They only lost twice last year, and other than losing their two center-backs they return everyone else.”
As is often the case with youngsters, the Gauchos got flustered when things didn’t go their way. Perera’s goal in the second minute stood until just before the half, when Corben Bone equalized it with less than a minute left in the first half.
And when Ike Opara soared above the rest to head in the go-ahead goal just after halftime, the Deacons pushed the floodgates wide open and UCSB wasn’t quite sure how to respond.
“It’s the tale of two teams, and I told them no matter what the score was tonight that they were going to have to grow up a little bit,” said Vom Steeg.
It’s hard to blame the UCSB freshmen. It’s their first year of college soccer, before they’ve even taken a college class (move-in day was Sunday), and they’re thrown on the field with the defending national champions in front of 7,000 fans.
So when freshman Christian Dahlskog fails to clear the ball and Bone blasts one by freshman keeper Trond Helge Takset, it’s not a surprise to see the two Scandinavian Gaucho newbies stomping the ground in frustration.
It kills to give up a tying goal with 48 seconds left in the first half.
And when Dahlskog gets called for a foul inches outside of the box just 20 seconds later, you call it a rookie mistake.
As UCSB got more flustered, Wake Forest became more composed.
“Our idea is how much we can improve in every game, and then do some damage in league,” he said.
With trips to Indiana and UCLA up next, Vom Steeg will have to keep pouring the seasoning on his filet. mignon.
