STANFORD – The UC Santa Barbara women’s soccer team battled through a scoreless second half, but in the end it dropped a tough 2-0 contest at No. 4 Stanford on Thursday night.
The Cardinal (4-0) scored a pair of goals in a four minute span during the first half and then the Gauchos (2-2-1) tightened things up defensively and that was it as the teams went scoreless for the final 71:24 of the match.
Stanford scored its first goal when Ry Walker-Hartshorn rebounded a blocked shot by Chioma Ubogagu and rifled it home past goalkeeper Beth Ritter. It was Walker-Hartshorn’s first goal of the 2014 season.
Just over three minutes later, at 18:36, Ubogagu claimed a through-ball by Andi Sullivan and scored on a blast with her left foot into the right corner of the goal. It was Ubogagu’s third goal of the season.
Over the final 70-plus minutes the teams battled to a scoreless tie. Stanford had a 19-5 edge in shots and a 4-0 advantage in corner kicks.
UCSB goalkeeper Beth Ritter, a native of Northern California, was once more stellar between the posts as she had four saves. The Gauchos forced a pair of Cardinal ‘keepers to make a pair of saves.
The Gauchos return home on Sunday, Sept. 7 to host Loyola Marymount in a 6:00 p.m. match at Harder Stadium.
