DAVIS – Third-ranked UCSB didn’t let a postponed game or the fact that three of its starters were out effect its latest streak on Thursday afternoon as the Gauchos rolled to their fifth consecutive win, defeating UC Davis, 3-0, at Aggie Soccer Stadium. The win was UCSB’s fifth straight shutout and fourth shutout win over a Big West Conference opponent.
With the victory, UCSB improves to 10-2-1 on the season and stays perfect in Big West play with a 4-0-0 record. The Aggies fall to 5-9-0 and 2-3-0 in conference games.
The game, which was originally scheduled to be played on Wednesday at 3 pm, but was delayed due to severe rain in Davis, finally got underway at noon on Thursday and just two minutes and 22 seconds later, sophomore midfielder Danny Barrera gave the Gauchos an early 1-0 lead.
Barrera received a cross from senior forward David Walker and volleyed the ball into the left corner from 10 yards out to put UCSB on the scoreboard.
The Gauchos out-shot the Aggies 6-3 during the first half and UCSB held tight to its 1-0 lead at halftime.
Just over three minutes into the second half, UC Davis’ Chris Beville received a red card, forcing the Aggies to play the remainder of the match a man down.
In the 75th minute, Barrera took a low shot to the lower left corner of the Aggie cage, stretching the Gaucho advantage to 2-0 with the unassisted goal. Barrera’s second goal of the game marked his fifth of the season, tying him for the team-lead with Michael Nonni and Walker.
UCSB was not done, however, and sophomore Joe Eubanks got in on the action with just 1:34 remaining in the match. Eubanks shot the ball to the left side of the goal from 12 yards out to tally his first career goal on his first career shot. Barrera recorded the assist on the goal, which put UCSB ahead, 3-0.
The victory is the Gauchos first in conference play this season that hasn’t come by way of a 1-0 score. UCSB has outscored its Big West opposition 6-0.
The shutout marked the eighth this season by UCSB, all with junior goalkeeper Sam Hayden between the pipes, moving him to fifth on the UCSB single season shutouts top-10 list.
Hayden recorded one save in the win while the Aggie goalkeeper Ryan McCown had four.
For the match, UCSB out-shot the Aggies 15-6 with a 7-1 advantage in shots on goal. Barrera led all players with five shots, three on-frame.
As mentioned earlier, three regular UCSB starters were absent from Thursday’s lineup. Freshman forward Michael Nonni and freshman defender Rob Hoyle were both out with injuries while sophomore midfielder Luis Silva had to sit out after accumulating his fifth yellow card of the season last Saturday at UC Riverside.
“I thought we all played really well today,” Barrera said post-game. “We were missing three starters, so that was definitely a challenge coming into the game. (Tim) Pontius and Charlie (Pettys) are both players that don’t always travel with us or get much playing time, but they started and went out there showed what they could do and Machael David also did a great job filling in for Silva.
“It’s our fifth shutout, which shows how well our backs are playing.”
UCSB will be back in action on Sunday when it travels to Cal State Northridge for a 3 pm match-up with the Matadors.
Sunday’s match will be broadcast on KIST 1490 and a live audio stream can be heard online by clicking here.
