It was a night of firsts at UC Santa Barbara’s Harder Stadium on Friday night as three different Gaucho women’s soccer players scored their first career goals in a 3-0 win over visiting Cal State Bakersfield. It was the team’s third win in a row.
In its last two matches, both 1-0 wins, UCSB scored its goals in the 88thminute and overtime. On Friday night, the Gauchos didn’t wait as long as Geneve Dromensk tallied her first career goal in the fourth minute.
Dromensk scored her goal off of an assist from Indiana Mead at 3:28 in the first half. Mead drove down the left side of the box towards the end line. She left-footed a cross through the goal mouth that eluded two defenders and another Gaucho before Dromensk, coming in from the right side, poked a shot inside the left post giving UCSB a 1-0 lead.
Santa Barbara doubled its advantage in the 63rd minute. This time, Paige Gankema lofted a ball behind the defense where freshman Dakota Griggs was staked out. Griggs settled the ball and right-footed it past Roadrunner goalkeeper Tori Ornela. It was her first career goal.
UCSB made it 3-0 at the 78:54 mark when another player scored her first career goal. Freshman Morgan Idso, just inserted into the game, redirected a centering pass from Dromensk and pushed it just inside the left goal post.
The Gauchos are 4-2-1 overall, and a perfect 4-0-0 at home. In fact, Santa Barbara has yet to allow a goal in a home contest, outscoring opponents by a 7-0 count. The three-game winning streak is the longest in three seasons for UCSB and all of the victories have come via a shutout.
Sophomore goalkeeper Beth Ritter recorded her third straight shutout and improved to 3-0-1 on the season. She had two saves in the win, including one at point-blank rank early in the second half when the score was still 1-0 Gauchos.
