Entering the second week of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference action, UC Santa Barbara (14-5) was handed a loss at home by No. 2 UCLA (18-2) on Saturday.
Falling to Stanford last week by the score of 9-7, UCSB has dropped its first two conference matches of the season, as the Bruins defeated the Gauchos, 10-5.
The teams’ second matchup of the season, Saturday’s showdown was expected to be an enticing game. UC Santa Barbara defeated UCLA, 11-10 in the Southern California Tournament, but could not prevail on top in their rematch.
UCLA struck first, as Chris Wendt scored a two meter shot on a 6-on-5 opportunity with 5:29 left in the first period. UC Santa Barbara came back quickly with a 5:16 goal as junior Teddy Zhang scored with a two meter shot to tie up the game. With 1:42 left in the period, Josh Samuels scored for the Bruins to give UCLA a 2-1 edge, but the Gauchos closed out the opening period with the lead with goals from Brendan McElroy and Bryce Miller.
The second period was all UCLA though. After the Bruins tied the game on a 6-on-4 opportunity, Chris Wendt scored his second goal giving UCLA the 4-3 lead with 3:27 remaining in the half. Another goal scored by the Bruins gave them a 5-3 edge after the first half.
UC Santa Barbara fell into a bigger deficit in the third period as UCLA really opened up their lead. The Bruins tallied on four more goals in the period with goals from Lucas Reynolds, Griffin White, Daniel Lenhart and Aimone Barabino. UC Santa Barbara was kept scoreless in the period and was trailing 9-3 with one period left in the match.
On a 3:59 goal from Brendan McElroy and a two meter goal later in the final period from Dylan Baliani, UC Santa Barbara fell to UCLA with the final score, 10-5. This is only the second home loss of the season for the Gauchos.
Brendan McElroy led the Gauchos with two goals as Teddy Zhang, Dylan Baliani and Bryce Miller had one goal apiece. Senior goalkeeper, Myles Christian once again had a solid game as he recorded 14 saves.
Next in line for UC Santa Barbara is an away match tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 21 at noon against No. 6 UC Irvine (14-4) at Anteater Pool. This is another rematch for the Gauchos as they were defeated by Irvine earlier in the season at the Northern California Invitational with the score of 12-11. The stakes are high for this match as it is another MPSF conference game.
UCLA 10, UCSB 5
1 2 3 4 Final UCLA 2 3 4 1 10 UC Santa Barbara 3 0 0 2 5 UCLA Goals: Chris Wendt (2), Josh Samuels (2), Daniel Lenhart (2), Lucas Reynolds (2), Griffin White, Aimone Barabino
UCSB Goals: Brendan McElroy (2), Teddy Zhang, Dylan Baliani, Bryce Miller
UC Santa Barbara Saves: Myles Christian (14)
