To prepare for its Big West soccer matchup with Cal State Northridge, UCSB coach Tim Vom Steeg had his team watch film of the Matadors playing No. 1-ranked Akron earlier in the season.
Akron won the match 3-0, scoring all its goals within 35 minutes.
The Gauchos bettered that Saturday night. They put three in the back of the net in the first 13 minutes and added another goal early in the second half and romped to a 4-0 victory before 5,126 at Harder Stadium.
It was the seventh straight win for the 18th-ranked Gauchos, who improved to 10-3-2 and remained in first place in the Big West with a 6-1-0 mark. Northridge fell to 2-11-2, 1-5-1.
“Maybe that fired them up a bit,” Vom Steeg said of showing his players the tape of Akron putting Northridge away in the first half.
“We popped that tape in and we’re watching Akron absolutely dismantle them in the first half,” Vom Steeg said. “Everything Akron was doing was trap, pass and move, and then you expose (Northridge). As long as the ball moves and you trap, pass and get good movement off the ball, we can do the same thing, we can put in three goals.”
All three first-half goals were well-crafted
On the first one, Luis Silva weaved past two defenders on the right side of the penalty area and lifted a crossing pass to David Opoku who easily beat Northridge goalkeeper Michael Abalos with a one-touch shot from inside the 6-yard box.
Sam Garza then delivered a highlight-reel goal in the 12th minute. He froze two defenders on the dribble, cut across the box, composed himself and took a low shot that beat Abalos from 16 yards.
A minute later, Peter McGlynn had the ball on the right flank and curled a left-footed cross toward the far post. Garza, making a run on goal, got his head on the ball and flicked it into the corner for his second goal of the match.
“It was three good goals and that kind of killed the game at that point,” Vom Steeg said.
Garza completed a hat trick in the 58th minute of the second half on a fast break with Danny Barrera. Barrera dribbled up the middle, laid the ball off to his left and Garza came up and finished it with a shot under a charging Abalos. He now has nine goals for the season, tops on the team.
The hat trick was the first by a Gaucho since Chris Pontius tallied three against UC Irvine in a 4-0 win on Oct. 3, 2007.
“We’re pretty comfortable in what we’re trying to do offensively, and we we’re able to get that done,” Vom Steeg said. “Our attacking players are much more comfortable in front of the net right now.”
Not only are the attacking players getting it done, the defense also is playing well. Michael Boxall gave a solid performance in the middle of the defense and Tim Pontius filled in nicely for the suspended Chris Hunter (red card against UC Davis).
Northridge did get some good looks at the Gaucho goal, but goalkeeper Sam Hayden was sharp, picking up everything in his area. He showed no ill effects of the terrible fall he took in the UC Davis game on Wednesday. On one long ball into the box, he leaped up and plucked the ball right off the chest of a Northridge forward.
The shutout was the 22nd of his UCSB career.
The Gauchos outshot Northridge 13-7 and 10 of the shots were on goal.
Now comes UCSB’s biggest week of the conference season. They have matches at Cal Poly and UC Irvine on Wednesday and Saturday.
