No. 17 UCSB suffered a tough 12-7 loss to No. 6 Arizona State, but came back with fire and beat Concordia.
Arizona State’s Alicia Brightwell scored the first of her four goals in the first three minutes of the first quarter. Junior Bryce Winton followed close behind scoring the first Gaucho goal of the game on a six-on-five making the score 1-1. Arizona State scored two more goals in the first quarter for a 3-1 lead.
Junior Kacey Creek scored the first of her three goals of the game in the middle of the second quarter, bringing the Gauchos their second goal of the game. Arizona State added three more in the second quarter, widening the gap to 6-2 at the half.
After another tough quarter with only a single goal by freshman Lauren Martin, Arizona State sunk four goals into the Gaucho net making the score 10-3.
With the Gauchos down by seven in the fourth quarter, Creek accumulated her hat trick when she scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter. Shortly after Creek’s two goals, sophomore Molly Hafferkamp scored her first goal of the game on a six-on-five, closing the seven goal gap to only four.
With the Gauchos on their three-goal scoring spree, Arizona State rose again scoring the next two goals. With only three minutes left in the game, Winton scored her second goal of the game, leaving the Gauchos to fall behind with a final score of 12-7.
After a tough loss to the Sun Devils, the Gauchos came out fired up against Concordia. Putting the past behind them, they came out with vengeance when Martin, Hafferkamp, and Winton scored the first and only three goals of the first quarter, kicking the Gauchos off into an early lead of 3-0.
The Gauchos were not quite done with their scoring streak when junior Katie Zakula netted the first goal of the second quarter. Concordia only scored one goal, and UCSB came out of the first half in the lead, 4-1.
The third quarter proved no different when Martin scored a penalty shot against Concordia’s goalkeeper, Chelsea Datt, 14 seconds into the second half. After three goals scored by Concordia in the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth quarter, it was all UCSB after that. Junior Shelby Haroldson and Creek finished off the fourth quarter, and UCSB took their first victory at home.
It was an exceptional second game for the Gauchos, having seven of their players score. The same can be said for junior Ruth Milne, who once again, had an outstanding day with nine saves in each game, leaving her with a career total of 625 saves.
After today’s games, the Gauchos stand at 3-4 on the season. They play again when they host the UCSB Winter Invite tomorrow, Jan. 28, and Sunday, Jan. 29. The Gauchos first game is at 8 a.m. against Sonoma State (1-0) at Campus Pool.
