SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Women's Soccer team battled Cal State Fullerton to a 1-1 draw Sunday afternoon at Harder Stadium. After gaining the lead in the 66th minute the Gauchos were called for a penalty and the Titans would tie the game up on a penalty kick goal.

"They (Cal State Fullerton) came out in the system we were expecting and we dropped into a system we thought would work against theirs," explained Head Coach Paul Stumpf. "For the first 20 minutes, we weathered the storm, but shifted back to our initial system, and then we started to take over the possession. Overall, I am very happy with how we played, especially the first 30 minutes of the second half. Lastly, playing a player down for the final 20 minutes, I couldn't be more proud of the effort of our group."

After a scoreless first half, UC Santa Barbara opened the scoring when Samantha Christie scored her first goal of the season in the 66th minute, assisted by Lauren Helwig and Emily Caughey. Christie would head the ball to the bottom left side of the net after Caughey crossed a ball into the left side of the box where Helwig got a touch to direct it towards Christie where she would finish the play with a goal.

The Titans evened the match on a goal from Isabella Cruz less than five minutes after the Gauchos took the lead. Cruz was taken down inside the 18-yard box by Brenna Madruga. What looked like just a common foul, Madruga received her second yellow card of the match and was sent off with her double yellow turning into a red.

The Gauchos finished the game with 10 players and held on to the 1-1 tie to split the points with Cal State Fullerton.

UC Santa Barbara will be back in action on Thursday, Oct. 5 as they travel south to take on UC San Diego. The match is scheduled for a 7 p.m. kick-off. For those unable to attend or make the trip in person, the match will be streamed through ESPN+.