UCSB’s seniors wanted to make sure that Sunday’s match against UC Irvine would not be their last at Harder Stadium.
That became apparent quickly, as the Gauchos (12-6-1, 5-2-1) scored three goals in the first-half en route to a 4-0 drubbing of the Anteaters (8-9-2, 2-4-2) which ensured that Thursday’s Big West Tournament-opener against Cal Poly will take place on the grass in Goleta instead of the sod in SLO.
“This is a really big deal for us because playing at Cal Poly is so hard and there’s always a bunch of fans. I know that if we can get a lot of people out it will be great to have the support behind us,” said defender Rachael Ritchey, one of three seniors honored before Sunday night’s game.
“It’s the best feeling to have a bunch of people behind you and we’ll hopefully have a lot of momentum from this match.”
It was quite a resurgence this year for UCSB, which doubled its 2007 regular-season wins total by finishing with 12 in 2008.
“Doubling up the number of wins — especially for a group of seniors which had not gotten double-digit wins in their career — it means all of the goals have been achieved except for one,” said head coach Paul Stumpf.
Associate Head Coach Kai Edwards reiterated that goal to the team in his post-game speech.
“Two wins puts you on ESPN and the selection show. Two wins gets you to the NCAA Tournament,” he said.
The Gauchos were dominant in Sunday’s match, tallying 15 shots to Irvine’s five, including a 10-2 edge in the first half.
Jacqui Simon struck first as she took a cross from Kylie McDonald and fired it in point-blank to get the scoring started in the 23rd minute. Katy Roby blasted a low heat-seeker into the bottom right corner fifteen minutes later to make it 2-0, and McDonald did a shake-and-bake move on the Irvine defense before finding the left corner just before the half to put the Gauchos safely ahead at 3-0.
Kailyn Kugler finished things up by putting in a rebound of a Simon shot in the 58th.
So while the seniors were the honorees of the night, it was three sophomores and a freshman who wound up on the board for UCSB.
“We’re just a really young team. We have three seniors and two juniors, so it shows how bright our future is. I mean, we were in a legitimate conference-championship run with two seniors and two juniors on the field,” said Stumpf.
The team will receive an automatic berth into the Big Dance by winning the next two matches. Thursday’s match is set for 7 p.m.
