A slow start cost the UCSB women’s soccer team in a 1-0 loss to visiting Minnesota at Harder Stadium on Sunday morning.
The Golden Gophers scored the only goal of the match at the 25:49 mark when Nicole Baier made a nice run in the box and curled a perfect feed to Taylor Uhl who shoved a shot to the left post, past UCSB goalkeeper Makenna Henry.
Minnesota (2-2-0) had a number of chances to score in the in the first half, but the Gauchos came up with five saves, four by Henry and one by freshman Kelly McGrath who cleared a shot off the goal line. In all, the Golden Gophers outshot UCSB in the first 45 minutes, 11-0.
“I’m obviously disappointed in the result,” said Gaucho head coach Paul Stumpf. “It didn’t start very well. Luckily for us our goalkeeper had a good day, otherwise we would have been down by a few more.”
Although outshot 7-6, the second half was much more evenly contested.
“From the beginning of the second half, we had many more opportunities,” Stumpf said. “We had some really good looks at the goal. I think we have to maximize those looks a little more and work on finishing.”
Defensively, the Gauchos played another solid game.
“We’ve given up one goal a game,” Stumpf said. “Over the course of 90 minutes, we need to be able to score a goal.”
UCSB did test Minnesota goalkeeper Cat Parkhill in the second half, but she came up with three saves to keep her shutout in tact.
Henry finished with five saves for UCSB, which in the end was outshot 18-6.
