RIVERSIDE — Sophomore midfielder Jacqui Simon scored two goals, the second of which snapped a 1-1 tie early in the second half, as the 23rd-ranked UC Santa Barbara women’s soccer team opened Big West Conference play with a 2-1 win at UC Riverside on Friday.
The game-winner came at the 50:24 as Simon scored from about five yards inside the top of the box after a pass from sophomore forward Kylie McDonald. It was her team-leading fifth goal of the campaign.
The Highlanders took a 1-0 lead in the match in the 26th-minute when Tessa Lennala scored her fifth goal of the season. She took a slot pass from Candis Novis and left-footed it into the left side of the goal.
Less than eight minutes after Lennala had given her team the 1-0 edge, Simon scored her first goal of the game. Freshman midfielder Cory Yoshida found junior forward Genelle Ives open on the right side of the box. Ives found Simon in the middle of the box and Simon found the back of the net. It was her second two-goal performance of the season as she also tallied a pair at Pepperdine on Aug. 31.
In the win, the Gauchos (8-4-0 overall, 1-0-0 in the Big West) outshot UCR (5-6-1 overall, 0-1-0 in the Big West) by a 14-15 margin, but the shot on goal difference was far more decisive at 17-8. Simon led both teams with six shots, all on-goal. Highlander goalkeeper Brittany Goetz had 10 saves to keep her team in the game. Freshman Ali Cutler, starting her third straight match in place of injured Tammy Lenham, had a season-high six saves.
UCSB remains on the road as it travels to defending Big West Tournament champion Cal State Fullerton on Sunday evening at 5:00 p.m.
