No. 15 UC Santa Barbara (3-2) suffered its first two losses of the season on Friday as the Gauchos participated in the Northern California Invitational being hosted by Cal this weekend. No. 3 Hawai’i (2-0) posted a narrow 7-5 victory over the Gauchos before No. 4 Cal (1-0) handed UCSB a 12-7 loss later in the evening.
In the first game of the day, the Gauchos and Hawai’i battled through a tight first half. Neither team scored in the first quarter and both tallied two goals in the second to remain tied at 2-2 after the first 16 minutes of the game.
The Rainbow Wahine came out of the halftime break on fire and outscored the Gauchos 4-1 in the third. UCSB battled back in the final eight minutes, outscoring Hawai’i 2-1, but it was not enough as the Gauchos suffered a narrow 7-5 loss.
During the second game of the day, UCSB once again got off to a slow start and was outscored 2-0 by Cal in the first stanza. The Golden Bears had an even stronger second quarter, posting six goals to push their lead to 8-3 heading into halftime.
The Gauchos and Bears were even the rest of the way, each scoring four goals apiece as Cal came away with the 12-7 victory.
Junior Katie Kepner led the team with the first hat trick of the season in the loss to Cal.
The Gauchos will wrap up this week’s action at the Northern California Invitational with a pair of games on Saturday. UCSB will face Sonoma State and No. 1 Stanford at Cal’s Spieker Aquatics Complex.
Hawai’i 7, UCSB 5
UCSB…0 2 1 2 – 5
Hawai’i…0 2 4 1 – 7
UCSB Goals: Michelle Beaudreau, Claire Buchanan, Christie Clark, Elle Quane, Nancy Ruano
UCSB Saves: Ruth Milne 9
Hawai’i Goals: Monika Eggens 3, Carmen Eggens 3, Dagmar Genee
Hawai’i Saves: Serena Bredin 7
Cal 12, UCSB 7
UCSB….0 3 3 1 – 7
Cal….2 6 3 1 – 12
UCSB Goals: Katie Kepner 3, Sienna van Alphen 2, Kacey Creek, Christie Clark
UCSB Saves: Ruth Milne 6
Cal Goals: Emily Csikos 4, Erin Scully 2, Dana Oshsner 2, Stephanie Schnugg, Camille Hewko,
Lauren Bridges, Breda Vosters
Cal Saves: Stephanie Peckham 16
