Box Score RIVERSIDE, Calif. (Oct. 16, 2022) – The UC Santa Barbara women's soccer team played their final regular season road game of the season. The Gauchos made the trip east to take on the UC Riverside Highlanders. UC Riverside has yet to win a match in Big West play while the Gauchos are trying to move their way up the Big West standings.
The Gauchos brought their hopes to life as they were able to take down the Highlanders 3-2 on the road.
HOW IT HAPPENED
From the start of the match, the Gauchos and the Highlanders had a physically-demanding game, with both teams grabbing a combined eight fouls in the first half alone. This style of play would not stop UC Santa Barbara from making key plays. Just 12 minutes into this first half, the Gauchos found the back of the net. A pass from Elise Ziem led Manuri Alwis forward, allowing her to put the ball above the opposing goalkeeper's head to make the score 1-0.
The score remained the same through the rest of the first half, but not for a lack of trying. The Highlanders had an opportunity to score on a penalty kick, but Evann Smith read the attacker beautifully, stopping the penalty kick from reaching the back of the net while also terminating the Highlanders' follow-up attempt. This kept the Gauchos up 1-0 heading into the final 45 minutes of play.
Once the second half began, the Gauchos were able to score yet again. In the 54th minute, Lauren Helwig took the ball all the way across the field, scoring an unassisted goal to put her team up by two.
However, the Highlanders were awarded another penalty kick in the 57th minute, which squeezed past the Gauchos to put the bad guys on the board. Less than 10 minutes later, UC Riverside scored the equalizer to add pressure on the Gauchos.
UC Santa Barbara could have fallen under these conditions, but they refused to stay stagnant. Helwig came back yet again, this time off a pass from Krysten Vasquez, to put the ball in the bottom left corner of the net to put her team up by one in the 68th minute to reignite their fire.
Once the Gauchos got this goal, they could not be stopped. UC Santa Barbara defeated UC Riverside 3-2 to end the Gauchos' road matches for the season.
LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS
- Helwig scored two goals in today's game, which now makes her the leading goal scorer for the Gauchos. This now puts her at 11 points on the season, which also makes her the first Gaucho to reach double-digit points. Not only did she score two goals, but she put up four shots today with all four of them being on goal.
- Alwis' goal is her first collegiate goal since sporting the Blue and Gold. This is the second game in a row where she registered a point as she earned an assist in UC Santa Barbara's previous game against Cal State Fullerton.
- The defense for the Gauchos helped keep them in control of this game. Besides Smith, Kate Killer and Brenna Madruga both played all 90 minutes in today's game along with midfielder Emma Corcoran, who contributed to the team's defense in the middle as well.
UP NEXT
The Gauchos have two more games left in the regular season that will both be played at Harder Stadium. UC Santa Barbara will welcome UC Irvine to the pitch on Thursday, Oct. 20. First kick will be at 7 p.m. with the live stream available through ESPN+ along with live stats available through ucsbgauchos.com.
