RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Women's Soccer team dropped their first match of the season to California Baptist Thursday night. Despite outshooting and being awarded more corner kicks than the Lancers, the Gauchos were unable to break through, falling 2-0.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Unlike the Gauchos' first three games, it was the opposition that started fast and was in control of the game from the opening whistle. The Lancers were aggressive in the attacking third, getting a shot off in the third minute of play. The Gauchos responded by maintaining position for a bit, but that quickly flipped after California Baptist received a goal kick. The Lancers forced
Maddie Buckley to make her first of two saves in the half in the eighth minute. Buckley made another save just over a minute later, deflecting the ball out of bounds, which earned the Lancers a corner kick.
On the ensuing corner kick, CBU struck, giving them a 1-0 lead in the 10
th minute of play. The Gauchos nearly got the goal back after
Ava Jarolimek forced the Lancer goalkeeper to make a save. The Gauchos outshot the Lancers 8-4 in the half, but only had three shots on goal. After the opening 10 minutes, it was the Gauchos that controlled the tempo and pace of the game, sustaining possession throughout.
UC Santa Barbara sustained their pressure to begin the second half, but the momentum was cut after a few substitutions for California Baptist came in after receiving a throw-in. After the ball was back in play, the Lancers netted their second goal of the game to double their score.
The Gauchos were unable to get anything going offensively after the goal. Three shots from
Dakota Watterson,
Sophia Moness and
Regan Stiner were all blocked or missed the net. UC Santa Barbara was unable to break through and dropped their first game of the season.
UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara will now travel to former Big West institution UC Davis on Sunday, August 30. The Gauchos and Aggies will kick off at 7 p.m. in Davis, California. For those unable to make the trip, the match will be streamed through Mountain West+ with live stats available through ucsbgauchos.com/WSOCLiveStats.
