BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – While most of us were waking up in Santa Barbara, UCSB was already finishing its 2nd match of the day and last of the Hoosier Invitational. At 5:00 a.m. PT., the #14 Gauchos faced off against #25 Iona. Shortly after at 7:15 a.m., UC Santa Barbara would play an intense one with #19 Harvard.
In the pool with Iona, the Gauchos seemed to undaunted by the time or the 1-3 Gaels. To open the scoring, Gaucho junior center Emily Martin would net one within the first twenty seconds of play. Shortly after, Gael's Megan Hofer would respond with of goal of her own to even the contest at 1-1. However after this, Iona would not put up much of a fight. The Gauchos would put up 10 unanswered goals after until Iona eventually would score their second and final goal of the match with 2:46 left in the fourth quarter.
Again, the defense shut down another ranked team by creating hard shots for the Gael opposition. Goalies Kenzi Snyder and Becca Buck would have a combined 17 saves in the game keeping them busy.
For the offense, usual impact players Kate Pipkin and Sarah Snyder made their wake in the pool by scoring two goals separately. Freshman attacker Mollie Simmons and sophomore Kate Coski would score two goals of their own as well. Attacker Shannon Moran would have the biggest stand out performance of the match though with three goals and an exclusion. With this the Gauchos would seal there 13-2 win over the Gaels.
With little downtime, UCSB would have to jump right back in the pool against an undefeated Harvard Crimson squad.
In the first quarter, the Gauchos would be in control going up 4-1 on the Crimson, only allowing them to take four shots on net. As the game progressed, the Crimson, although being down by five goals at one point, would battle back to within three of the Gauchos. While Harvard did fight, UC Santa Barbara would control a comfy three goal lead for the entirety of the game, proving once again how well their defense can contain. The end result would be 8-5, UCSB.
Both teams had relatively the same shots on goal with Harvard having twenty-four and twenty-five attempts for UCSB. Harvard goalie Cleo Harrington, although not getting the win and allowing eight goals, saved eleven in net while stealing the ball four times.
Natalie Selin, Sarah Krieser, Sarah Snyder, and Kate Pipkin would be responsible for all eight basket finders. Selin on four shots would sink three netters, doing the most damage on the attack. Krieser and Snyder would find goal twice in the match against the Crimson while Pipkin would find one herself while assisting twice.
Overall, the Hoosier Invitational proved to be a large success for the Gauchos, as they leave with a 4-1 record. As a result, UC Santa Barbara should slowly climb in the national rankings with two big wins over ranked opponents to improve their overall record to 7-3.
The next contest for UCSB will be on Feb. 10th in the Triton Invitational at UC San Diego. The official schedule for the invitational is still to be determined.
