UCSB’s Jessica Clegg was one of three goal scorers on Wednesday. (John Dvorak/Presidio Sports Photo)
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – UC Santa Barbara scored three unanswered goals in the second half of its non-conference match at Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday evening and cruised to a 3-0 win over the Roadrunners.
Freshman Mallory Hromatko, the Gauchos leading scorer, tallied the first goal when she dribbled into the box and struck a shot from 16 yards out to give her team a 1-0 lead with just under 39 minutes remaining in the match. The goal was Hromatko’s fourth of the season.
UCSB made it 2-0 less than nine minutes later when another freshman, Jessica Clegg, scored after a corner kick. Clegg deflected the corner and put the ball into the goal.
The final score came slightly less than three minutes later when junior Sara Feder scored her second goal in as many matches. Feder took a deflected corner and blasted a shot from about 16 yards out into the right side of the goal, giving the Gauchos their final 3-0 advantage.
“This was a very good team win,” said head coach Paul Stumpf. “We played a number of players and that was important to us.”
Santa Barbara finished the match with a 14-4 shot edge, including 4-2 on-goal. The visitor also had an 8-0 margin in corner kicks
“We were fairly dominant in possession, looks and goals,” Stumpf said. “I’m always happy with a shutout. We had really good team shape defensively and that is always something we strive for.
The win is UCSB’s sixth in the last seven matches and improves its record to 6-3-1. Bakersfield falls to 2-6-1. The Gauchos return home to host Pacific on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at Meredith Field at Harder Stadium.
