Goalkeeper Tammy Lenham came up with two clutch saves in the final minute to preserve a 2-1 UCSB victory over Cal State Northridge in a semifinal match of the Big West women’s soccer tournament Thursday afternoon at the Matador Soccer Stadium.
The victory advances the third-seeded Gauchos (9-9-2) to the championship match on Sunday.
The defending champions will play at Cal Poly in a rematch of the 2008 final won by the Gauchos in a penalty-kick shootout. Kickoff is 1 p.m. at Spanos Stadium. The winner of the conference tournament earns an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Cal Poly beat UC Irvine 2-0 in the other semifinals.
UCSB got off to a sluggish start on Thursday, which surprised coach Paul Stumpf.
“We just looked uncomfortable and were rushing things. We may have been a little tight,” said Stumpf.
“In the second half we were much better,” Stumpf said. “We had more energy and changed some things.”
The Gauchos took a 1-0 lead in the 68th minute on an unassisted goal by Jacqui Simon and then went up 2-0 in the 84th minute on an own-goal by Northridge. On Simon’s goal, Northridge’s defense misplayed a clearance and the ball ended up at Simon’s feet. She didn’t waste any time, firing a bending shot to beat goalkeeper Cynthia Jacobo at the far post. It was her fourth goal of the season.
Pressure by forward Genelle Ives created the second goal. Ives popped the ball into the air behind the defense and Katy Roby chested it toward the goal line. Northridge’s Sydney Vermillion tried to clear the ball, but instead she deflected it into her own net.
Stumpf said the goals were a product of the Gauchos sending several attackers at a three-player backline.
“As soon as we saw them switch to three defenders instead of four, we decided to press a little more,” Stumpf said. “The second goal was a nice play by Genelle and Katy. Genelle’s ball-pressure really created it.”
The Matadors (10-10-0) stepped up its attack to get back in the game and Farryn Townley delivered by scoring off a crossing pass from Brielle Slepicoff.
“There was a little letdown by us,” Stumpf said. “They (Northridge) threw numbers forward and we didn’t respond.”
In an act of desperation, Northridge pushed everyone into the attacking, including its goalkeeper Jacobo. But UCSB’s defense and Lenham stood tall and met the challenge. Lenham finished with six saves. She made back-to-back stops on shots by Jacobo and Heidi Farran during some frantic moments after a Northridge corner kick in the 89th minute.
“Tammy really came up big for us on at least three occasions,” Stumpf said. “She had a huge save really late and throughout the whole match she handled all of the set pieces and relieved a lot of the pressure by using her length and punching balls out.”
