BERKELEY, Calif. – After facing a pair of top-10 teams, No. 6 UCSB (6-3) went 0-2 in the second day of the Mountain Pacific Invitational following a 15-8 loss to No. 3 Cal (10-0) and a 9-6 defeat to No.7 Long Beach State (8-2).
No. 3 CAL
No. 6 UCSB was dealt its second loss of the season after being defeated 15-8 by No. 3 Cal (10-0) to start the second day of the Mountain Pacific Invitational.
Reed Cotterill led UCSB with two goals, whileIvan Gvozdanovic led the Gauchos in the assist column with two. Mitch Hamilton drew the most exclusions on the team with three.
Justyn Barrios had a busy day in the cage with nine saves and three saves.
Cal opened up the game with a goal at the 6:19 mark, but Cotterill did not let the Bears have time to create a gap as he scored a goal 1:28 later to tie the game. After a scoreless minute , Cal fired in another goal at 3:08 but was answered quickly by UCSB at 2:40 by Josh Jordan. The back-and-forth exchange would end just seconds later when the Gauchos took their first lead of the game with Gvozdanovic drilling in a score. The end of the quarter was drawing to a close and with 47 seconds left on the clock, the Bears made a goal to tie the game, but that would not last long, as Shane Hauschild snatched the lead back for the Gauchos with his goal at the four second mark, making the score 4-3.
The second quarter started off slowly as neither team made a goal until the 4:59 mark when UCSB Jovanovic gave UCSB's largest lead of the day at 5-3. From there, Cal answered back with three straight goals of their own until the Gauchos tied the game at 1:50 6-6. In the final minute of the quarter, the Bears scored at the 0:41 mark, but Santa Barbara snuck in another goal with only three seconds left, tying the game at 7-7 at the halftime break.
The third featured more of the seesaw battle between the teams, as Cal was able get hold of a one-goal edge at 9-8 heading into a decisive fourth quarter when they would officially seal the victory with six unanswered goals.
Leading Cal's offense was Johnny Hooper with a team-high five goals.
No. 7 LONG BEACH STATE
Nolan McConnell's four-goal first half was too much for the Gauchos, as UCSB fell 9-6 in their second match up on Saturday.
McConnell – a senior attacker – netted a hat trick in the first quarter alone, which led to the 49ers' 4-2 lead by the end of the period. On the Gauchos' side of the score sheet, Boris Jovanovic continued his strong play this weekend with his second two-goal performance. Rounding up the rest of UCSB's scoring were Samar Alkateb, Reed Cotterill, Ivan Gvozdanovic, and Shane Hauschild who each added one goal.
Hauschild also added a pair of assists to match Mitch Hamilton for the team-high. In the drawn ejections column, Cotterill led the team with four, while Alkateb was behind him with three.
Goalkeepers Liam Lenihan and Justyn Barrios split time in the cage, finishing with four and five saves, respectively.
After Long Beach State's 4-2 start, the Gauchos were unable to find the scoreboard again until the start of the third quarter when a Gvozdanovic goal made it 6-3 49ers. Later in the period, Jovanovic would net his second score of the game to cut the deficit to three, but Long Beach State would regain its four-point edge before the start of the fourth quarter.
The Gauchos would go on to score the final two goals of the game with scores from Cotterill and Alkateb, but the 49ers defense held UCSB scoreless in the final five minutes. UCSB was able to garner a pair of power play opportunities in the final minutes, but were unable to capitalize.
UCSB will finish tournament play tomorrow at 10 a.m. when it will play No. 10 Pepperdine.
