Entering the final day of the 2013 Winter invite, No. 15 UC Santa Barbara (7-2) looked to recover from their loss last night to No. 5 Arizona State. Opening the final day’s action, UCSB faced off against No. 3 UCLA (8-0). Though the Gauchos could not bring down the Bruins, they ended the tournament with a win over the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens (0-2).
WINTER INVITE TOURNAMENT SCOREBOARD
UC Santa Barbara started off strong against UCLA as they showcased a stout and steady defense. The Gauchos limited the Bruins to only one goal in the opening period due to their defensive pressure.
Unfortunately, UCLA pulled away as they created a 4-0 lead. The only goal of the period for UCSB came on a late 6-on-5 opportunity where senior Shelby Haroldson netted a goal.
Facing a 5-1 deficit at the start of the second half, UCSB had its chances to cut into the Bruin lead. UCLA continued to play well, increasing their lead to eight goals during the fourth period. In the end, UCLA defeated UCSB by the score of 10-2.
Looking to bounce back from their earlier loss to UCLA, the Gauchos broke through offensively against the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens.
After Pomona-Pitzer scored the first goal of the match, UCSB never faced another deficit as they scored five unanswered goals in the first period. The second period was a bit tighter as the Sagehens cut the Gauchos lead to 7-4 at the half.
Pomona-Pitzer fought hard as they cut the lead to just two goals in the third period, but UCSB scored five unanswered with the help of Samantha Murphy and Rachel Nelson.
UCSB proved to be too much to handle for Pomona-Pitzer, as the Gauchos ended their tournament with a 15-7 victory.
Freshman Samantha Murphy is continuing to impress as she led the offense in today’s matches with a total of five goals. Jessie Porter, also a freshman, is showing her offensive talent as she tallied three more goals today. Senior goalkeeper Ruth Milne had four saves today as she did not play in the later game. Taking Milne’s place, freshman Mackenzie Brokaw had an impressive total of 14 saves against Pomona-Pitzer.
Looking ahead, UC Santa Barbara will be on the road the next two weeks as they face off against Redlands on Friday, February 8 at 4 p.m. Following the match against Redlands, the Gauchos will then head down to San Diego to compete in the two day UCSD Triton Invite on February 9-10.
UCLA 10, UC Santa Barbara 2
1 2 3 4 Final UCLA 1 4 3 2 10 UCSB 0 1 0 1 2 UCLA Goals: India Forster (3) Alexa Tielmann (3) Emily Greenwood, Rachel Fattal, Emily Donohoe, Becca Dorst
UCLA Saves: Sammi Hill (8)UCSB Goals: Jessie Porter, Shelby Haroldson
UCSB Saves: Ruth Milne (4)
UC Santa Barbara 15, Pomona-Pitzer 7
1 2 3 4 Final Pomona 2 2 2 1 7 UCSB 5 2 3 5 15 Pomona Goals: Sarah Westcott (4) Alyssa Woodward (3)
Pomona Saves: Sarah Tuggy (5)UCSB Goals: Samantha Murphy (5) Rachel Nelson (3) Bryn Hudson (2) Jessie Porter (2) Lauren Martin, Molly Hafferkamp, Mackenzie Baber,
UCSB Saves: Mackenzie Brokaw (14)
