DAVIS — Sophomore Nic Ryan scored his first career goal in the 52nd minute to help lead UCSB to a 2-0 men’s soccer victory over UC Davis at Aggie Stadium on Wednesday evening in a Big West Conference match.
It was the sixth straight win for the No. 18-ranked Gauchos, who improve to 9-3-2 and 5-1 in the Big West. UC Daivs had a three-match win streak snapped and fell to 4-9-0, 3-3-0.
The game-winning play began when Ryan received a cross that he headed toward the Davis goal. UC Daivis Goalkeeper Omar Zeenni blocked the shot, but failed to secure the loose ball and Ryan followed by one-touching the ball into the right side of the goal for the eventual winning strike.
UC Davis had a chance to equalize the game in the 68th minute when Alex Aguiar crossed
the ball to Alex Henry who had a wide-open shot that went just high of the Gaucho goal.
In the 74th minute, Henry crossed the ball to Lance Patterson on an Aggie corner kick.
Patterson shot the ball but Danny Barrera deflected it out from the right post.
Luis Silva secured the UCSB victory with his third goal of the season in the 86th minute. Silva collected a deflected ball and beat the goalkeeper with a shot to the lower left corner.
The Gauchos outshot Davis 13-6.
UCSB lost defender Chris Hunter to a red card in the 90th minute. He’ll miss Saturday night’s clash with Cal State Northridge at Harder Stadium.
