RENO, Nev. – The UCSB women’s soccer team took their time before scoring a goal in 2009, but when they did, they made it stand up in a 1-0 victory at the University of Nevada on Friday night.
The Gauchos’ victory evens the team’s record at 1-1 on the season and it gives 11th-year head coach Paul Stumpf his 100th career win, tying Tad Bobak for the school record.
Nevada goalkeeper Marie Cove made four saves in the first half to rescue her squad. UCSB goalie Ali Cutler, just a sophomore, had one save in the match, but posted the shutout.
The Gauchos, who were not credited with a shot or a shot-on-goal in a season-opening defeat to No. 22 Santa Clara, had 17 shots on Friday night. They also had seven on-goal.
UCSB tallied its first goal of the season at the 52:17 mark when junior Kailyn Kugler gathered a free kick from defender Alyssa Benjamin and pounded home a shot. It was Kugler’s 14th career goal and it snapped a 0-0 tie.
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The UCSB defense did the rest. In addition to Benjamin, defenders Nicole Romanowski, Alexa Stringer, and Kathleen Matthew sealed things up. UCSB allowed just one shot-on-goal and just six overall shots.
Senior forward Genelle Ives, limited to 15 minutes in the opener at Santa Clara, started against Nevada and had three shots, one on-goal.
The Gauchos, now 1-1, travel to Sacramento State on Sunday afternoon for a 1:00 p.m. match. A victory would give Stumpf 101 career coaching victories, a new school record.
