RIVERSIDE – Senior forward David Walker scored just 49 seconds into Saturday night’s match at UC Riverside, leading seventh-ranked UCSB to a 1-0 victory over the Highlanders in a Big West Conference game.
With the win, UCSB improves to 9-2-1 on the season and 3-0-0 in Big West games. The Gauchos have now won four straight, all shutouts. UC Riverside falls to 1-10-0 and 0-3-0 in conference action.
Less than a minute into the game, Walker tracked down a deflected ball in the UC Riverside box and slid it past Highlander goalkeeper Ryan Schmitz for the lone goal of the night.
The goal was Walker’s fifth of the season, tying him for the team lead with freshman Michael Nonni. It was Walker’s first goal since injuring his hand in a game against Loyola Marymount on Sept. 13, prior to which he had scored four goals in four games.
For just the third time this season, UCSB was out-shot 9-7 in the pairing. The teams were even with four shots apiece on-goal. Sophomore Michael Tetteh led all players with three shots in the win with one on-frame.
In the goal, Sam Hayden recorded his sixth shutout of the season and fourth consecutive. The junior is just one away from cracking UCSB’s top-10 for single season shutouts. Hayden tallied four saves in the victory, with three coming in the second half.
Nonni, who leads the team in points (five goals, six assists), was absent from the Gauchos’ lineup for the first time this season. The forward suffered an injury to his knee and is anticipated to be out for a couple of weeks.
UCSB will continue Big West action on the road next week when it heads to UC Davis on Wednesday, Oct. 14 for a 3 pm match-up with the Aggies.
