LOS ANGELES — UCSB completed its champions tour of college soccer Wednesday night with a rare positive result at UCLA.
In a fierce battle that resembled a playoff game, the 15th-ranked Gauchos came away with a 2-2 tie against the four-time national champions after 90 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods at Marshall Field. Senior Chris Pontius scored the equalizing goal for the Gauchos (5-3-1) in the 77th minute.
With the draw, UCSB finished 1-1-1 in its ambitious stretch of matches against NCAA champions — the Gauchos, the 2006 champs, lost to defending champion Wake Forest and won at seven-time kingpin Indiana.
The record against the powerhouse teams was what UCSB coach Tim Vom Steeg was expecting from his young squad.
“We looked back at our schedule at the start of the year and we looked at the big three,” he said. “Our goal was to come away 1-1-1, and we didn’t care where the 1-1-1 came from. We had to find a win somewhere.
“I’m very pleased with the fact we had a positive result. Everything is preparation for league for us.”
It was the second straight positive result for the Gauchos against their UC rivals to the south. The last time the teams met, the Gauchos beat the Bruins 2-1 in the 2006 NCAA College Cup final in St. Louis. UCLA still leads the overall series 30-3-2.
Applying the lessons it learned from the 6-2 loss against Wake Forest, the Gauchos choked the Bruins’ attack in the midfield in the first half and controlled the game.
It would seem appropriate they would take a 1-0 lead on a goal by a midfielder. Freshman Luis Silva recorded his first collegiate goal in the 13th minute, drilling a shot from 22 yards past UCLA goalkeeper Brian Perk. Silva received the ball on a square pass from Danny Barerra, who was very active throughout the match.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Silva about scoring his first goal at UCLA. “I’m happy about it, but it’s too bad we couldn’t get a win.”
Pontius had a couple of chances to score in the first half and defender Michael Boxall had a goal nullified on an offsides call after a free kick.
Then came the start of the second half.
The Gauchos lost their edge coming out of the locker room and gave UCLA life.
The Bruins (2-4-3 and 0-2-2 against past national champions this season), took it to the Gauchos, scoring two goals in an eight-minute span. They beat UCSB down field on a counterattack with playmaker Michael Stephens feeding forward David Estrada on the right side of the penalty and Estrada pounding a shot that Gaucho goalkeeper Kristopher Minton blocked. The ball bounced right back to Estrada who buried his second shot in the back of the net to tie the score 1-1 in the 49th minute.
Eight minutes later, Prince Lapnet outfought a Gaucho defender for the ball at the end line and passed it back to Stephens, who fired a shot on goal. Minton couldn’t hang on to the ball and Maxwell Griffin pounced on the rebound to put the Bruins ahead 2-1.
Pontius said he wasn’t surprised by UCLA’s comeback.
“They don’t have the greatest record right now, so they’re coming out here to kill us, basically,” he said. “This is the most physical I’ve seen them play. They did a good job tonight fighting back like they did. I knew it was going to happen. We’ve just got to work on our second half. That’s where we’ve been slacking. It’s partly us and partly them. I don’t know what it is. We have to fix our mistakes.”
The early second-half woes are a mystery to Vom Steeg, too.
“We’re good in the first half, we’re horrible in the first 10 minutes of the second half of every single game and we give up our momentum that we earned in the first half, and we usually come around in the middle of the second half and battle. And then you just flip a coin because we have these stretches where we lose possession of the ball in the midfield, we do a good job and then we fall asleep.”
The Gauchos would wake up after the Bruins’ second goal. Barerra just missed scoring on a free kick in the 58th minute and Pontius made a dangerous run into the box before he was knocked down in the 74th minute
Pontius would get revenge in the 77th minute on a nice combination piece with Nick Perera. He received the ball from Perera and dribbled across the top of the box before unleashing a left-footed shot that beat Perk.
“It was all Belgium (Perera’s nickname).” Pontius said. “The ball was played into Belgium and he gave the ball back to me and (Kyle) McAthy made a run that cleaned things out and left me one-on-one with the keeper. It was a simple finish.”
In the overtime, Minton made a big save on a blistering shot by UCLA’s Jason Leopoldo in the first 10-minute extra period.
Wednesday’s match had three players from Santa Barbara County on the field. For UCLA, Zack Zerrenner started in the defensive back line and Christian Vasquez came off the bench late in the second half and played in the midfielder. Both are former Santa Barbara High stars.
Michael Tetteh from Dunn School in Los Olivos was a substitute in the midfield for UCSB.
