And on the seventh day, the UCSB men’s soccer team had enough energy to defend to the end and make one goal stand up for a victory.
And what a victory it was, the No. 7-ranked Gauchos beating 23rd-ranked and defending Big West-champion UC Irvine 1-0 in the conference opener before 4,511 fans at Harder Stadium on Sunday night.
Waid Ibrahim scored the game’s only goal on a penalty kick in the 21st minute. It came after forward Michael Nonni received Danny Barrera’s through pass and was chopped down from behind in the penalty area by Irvine defener Eric Shuffle.
For the rest of the night, the Gauchos turned to their defense and goalkeeper Sam Hayden to frustrate the Anteaters. Hayden made an acrobatic save in the 84th minute to preserve UCSB’s sixth win of the year against two losses and a tie. Irvine fell to 6-3.
UCSB’s defensive approach on Sunday was a stark contrast to their usual wide-open, attacking style. But coach Tim Vom Steeg said the game plan he designed was necessary given the team’s past Sunday performances and their poor outing last Friday at San Diego State, a 4-2 loss.
“We gave up four goals on Friday and we’ve been horrible on Sundays,” Vom Steeg said, “so I got up late last night and I said, ‘We’re not going to be bad tomorrow. … We may be bad but at least we’re going to defend.’ ”
In their three previous Sunday matches, the Gauchos were 1-1-1, with the lone win coming in double overtime against Pittsburgh (4-3).
“Every Sunday we’ve gotten behind and we’ve chased the game,” Vom Steeg pointed out. “Unfortunately we expended a lot of energy on Friday chasing that game, so Friday was a bad day for us. I knew we didn’t have the energy tonight. I knew we weren’t going to have the energy to run all over the place like we might normally. I’ve learned enough about soccer to know sometimes you just have to get a result. I knew I had to do something different on a Sunday game than what we’ve been doing.”
Resorting to the defensive posture put a lot pressure on the Gauchos, but they held up and got a couple of breaks.
“The tactics,” Hayden explained, “were to clog up the midfield and stop No. 9, because Irving Garcia is a great player and their offense goes through him. And just stay on our marks, stay backside.
“We have a great attack,” he added. “Kudos to them; they worked really hard in the back on defense and our midfield dropped in. We had a few scares in the second half but we pulled through in the end and that’s all that counts.”
The Anteaters generated a great chance in the 52nd minute as Spencer Thompson sent a through ball to Kevin Santora, who had only Hayden to beat. But Santora fired wide at the near post.
A minute later, Jonathan Prieto blocked a clearance by defender Rob Hoyle and was all alone, but he shot the ball wide.
Hayden made a save on Carlos Aguilar in the 71st minute and then found himself facing Spencer from point-blank range. Spencer, however, misfired, hitting the ball wide.
Hayden then came up with the save of the night. He leaped far to his right and snared a blistering shot by Aguilar.
“It caught me by surprise,” the goalkeeper said. “He hit it off the side of his foot so it had a little bit of spin on it, so I just threw myself and luckily I was able to get my hands on it. I had to stretch as far as I could.”
The missed opportunities left UC Irvine coach George Kuntz frustrated.
“That’s as dominant as you can be in the second half,” he said. “We had plenty of good chances. We just got to put them away.”
Vom Steeg noted that the Gauchos’ tactics were the same a lot of teams use against them.
“When we went in at halftime, I said we get to finally do something that people do to us.”
The coach praised the play of Luis Silva, who was dropped from midfield to a centerback position, albeit reluctantly.
“I had to convince him today,” Vom Steeg said. “I thought he was the difference because wherever you put him things just take care of themselves. He reads the game so well.”
More personnel changes can be expected on the Gaucho backline. Vom Steeg got word late last week that JC transfers Chris Hunter and Evan McNeil, both defenders from Yavapai College, would not be eligible to play this season and would take a redshirt year.
“I’m not sure what we’re going to be doing in the back yet, “ Vom Steeg said. “But what I do know was we had to play differently because it’s Sunday.”
The Gauchos are back in action on Friday when they host seven-time national champion Indiana in an 8 p.m. nationally televised game. Before the game, UCSB will honor the 2004 soccer team that reached the NCAA College Cup final and lost to Indiana in a penalty-kick shootout.
