On a gloomy, cold day at Campus Pool, No. 7 UC Santa Barbara struggled to find its offensive spark as it lost to No. 14 Concordia, 8-6, in overtime and then escaped with a narrow victory over Pomona-Pitzer, 9-8.
The Gauchos struggled to get started against Concordia and trailed, 2-0, after the first quarter and 2-1 at halftime. Freshman Chase Racich scored the lone goal in the first half for UCSB.
Santa Barbara came out stronger in the second half, scoring twice in the third. A six-on-five goal from Nick Tomasello evened the game at 3-3 with 34 seconds to go in the third quarter.
The pace quickened drastically in the fourth quarter, as both teams scored three goals. Brian and Derek Shoemaker each scored for the Gauchos and sophomore Matt Gronow added a man-up goal. The Eagles were able to go to toe-to-toe with UCSB and scored three of their own in the final eight minutes of regulation, forcing overtime.
Concordia’s Rex Learmouth scored twice for the Eagles in extra time – including one as the second overtime period expired – to give Concordia the upset.
In the Gauchos’ second game of the day against Pomona-Pitzer, both teams came out firing and the score was tied 3-3 after the first quarter. UCSB gained the advantage in the second quarter behind goals from Racich and Gronow, to lead 5-4 at the half.
After extending the lead to 8-6 after the third quarter, the Gauchos lost momentum in the fourth and Pomona-Pitzer was able to climb back into the game and tie it up at 8-8 with just 1:52 to go.
Sophomore Teddy Zhang came up huge for UCSB, scoring a man-up goal with 1:43 left in the game. The Gauchos held on for the 9-8 victory.
UCSB is now 8-4 on the season. The Gauchos will be back in action next weekend in Long Beach, Calif. at the Southern California Tournament. The opening match will pit the Gauchos against the Tritons of UC San Diego.
Concordia 8, UCSB 6
1 2 3 4 O1 O2 Total
Concordia 2 0 1 3 1 1 8
UCSB 0 1 2 3 0 0 6
UCSB Goals: Racich, Bishop, Tomasello, B. Shoemaker, D. Shoemaker, Gronow
UCSB Saves: Christian 12
Concordia Goals: Learmouth 3, Ragosa 2, Belamaric, Ivanovski, Hamilton
Concordia Saves: Freerks 16
UCSB 9, Pomona-Pitzer 8
1 2 3 4 Total
Pomona-Pitzer 3 1 2 2 8
UCSB 3 2 3 1 9
UCSB Goals: Racich 2, Zhang 2 , Bishop, McCunney, Gronow, D. Shoemaker, Smith
UCSB Saves: Lovero 11
Pomona-Pitzer Goals: Cox 4, Higgins 2, Hudnall, Moler
Pomona-Pitzer Saves: Hill 4
