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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara men's soccer team defeated Westmont 3-0 in the 58th installment of the Santa Barbara Community Shield exhibition match on Saturday night at Harder Stadium.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Sophomore midfielder Nemo Philipp delivered a cross from the left side of the penalty area near the endline into the feet of freshman forward Salvador Aguilar, who tapped it in to give the Gauchos the first lead of the night.
- Redshirt freshman defender Lucas Gonzalez stepped up and scorched a direct free kick into the back of the Westmont net from 25 yards out.
- Senior attacker Ameyawu Muntari picked up a Westmont turnover in the opposition final third and sent sophomore forward Finn Ballard McBride through onto goal for the Australian to make it 3-0 on a right-footed effort.
- The Gauchos outshot Westmont 21-2 and forced six saves out of the Warrior goalkeepers. UCSB had several quality chances in the first half, but Westmont starter Mans Ingvarson made several point-blank reaction saves on shots from Ballard McBride, Muntari, and Diran Bebekian to keep the game scoreless heading into the halftime break.
QUOTABLE
- "It means the world to me. When I got hurt, I knew the difficulties that I was going to have to face and I just tried to face them head on. Thankfully, I was able to get through those and I want to thank the coaches, all the players, the physical therapists - it was a whole team that helped me get through it. To start these two games off in a good fashion, I'm definitely thankful for." - Lucas Gonzalez, on his journey from recovering from injury in the 2019 season opener vs UNLV to scoring back-to-back in the Gauchos' scrimmage and exhibition games against Pacific and Westmont, respectively.
NOTABLE
- UCSB's victory over Westmont in the 2021 Community Shield is their 30th victory over the Warriors in their all-time series, which now stands at 30-24-4 in favor of the Gauchos.
NEXT UP
- The Gauchos open the 2021 regular season on Thursday night against San Diego at Harder Stadium. The game will kick off at 7:00 p.m. A live stream and live stats will be available on UCSBGauchos.com.
Season tickets are currently on sale for the 2021 men's soccer campaign at UCSBGauchos.com.
UCSB is moving to mobile ticketing beginning this season. For more information, click here.
