It’s been a dream start for the UCSB women’s soccer team.
Erin Ortega scored two goals in the last nine minutes of the first half and the Gauchos added two more in the second half to rout Saint Joseph’s, 5-1, Friday for their third straight victory to start the season.
“That was fun to watch,” said UCSB head coach Paul Stumpf. “Especially after we scored our second goal to take the 2-1 lead.”
Ortega ran onto a through ball from freshman Erica Shelton and beat Hawks’ goalkeeper Christine Neal with a shot inside the right post for the go-ahead goal at 35:27.
A little over five minutes later, Ortega collected a loose ball and ripped a shot into the upper left part of the goal from 22 yards for a 3-1 advantage.
Shelton scored her first career goal at 50:02 when she took a pass from senior midfielder Jacqui Simon just inside the top of the box and lifted a high shot over Neal to give Santa Barbara a 4-1 lead.
The Gauchos scored their final goal on a set piece in the 71st minute. Senior Jessie Edmonds launched a corner kick to Kylie McDonald about five yards in front of the goal. McDonald collected the corner and shoved the ball straight in.
Junior forward Alissa Sanchez gave the Gauchos a 1-0 lead over the Hawks just 1:04 into the match. She drove down the right sideline, cut in and scored unassisted from 10 yards out into the far post. It was her second goal of the season.
St. Joseph’s equalized in the seventh minute. Midfielder Maggie Lupinski slid the ball through traffic in front of the goal to forward Mo Hawkins, who tucked the ball just inside the left post, past UCSB freshman goalkeeper Makenna Henry.
Despite giving up a goal, UCSB dominated the match, outshooting Saint Joseph’s 27-5 overall and 13-3 in terms of shots on goal. Henry had one save in picking up her third win. She was replaced by Taylor Gonzalez in the 55th minute. Gonzalez, in turn, was replaced by former Santa Barbara High star Kat Serdio in the 81st minute. In all, the Gauchos used 26 players.
“I thought coming out of our Blue-Gold scrimmage that we had two pretty good soccer teams and tonight we showed it,” Stumpf said. “Our subs were fresh and really kept on dominating. They got quality minutes and took advantage of it.”
UCSB, which is 3-0 for the first time since 1993, has outscored its first three opponents by a 9-1 count and outshot them 55-13.
The Gauchos will play their first road game of the season on Sunday, when it travels to the University of San Francisco for a 1 p.m. match at Negoesco Field.
